And so it started (again) … the post race endorphins that led to my signing up for the Dopey Challenge were gone, and 18 weeks of early mornings and long runs began. The Dopey Challenge is unique – 4 races over 4 consecutive days, starting with 5k, 10k, half marathon, and finally full marathon. I have a goal of running a marathon in under 4 hours 30 minutes, but this was not the race series to attempt that. My goal was simply to complete all the races.
The demands of racing on 4 consecutive days giving a cumulative mileage of 48.6 miles, meant that a traditional marathon training plan would not have worked. Bearing in mind the race, my available time to run (early mornings, early evening, and Saturday), and the risk of injury I based my training around Hal Higdons Dopey Challenge training, modifying it initially fit my schedule and then adapting it as my fitness and circumstances changed.
I maintain a base of around 25 miles per week, so 27 miles for week one was easily achievable, although having a 13 mile long run on week one was surprising, and highlights why the Dopey Challenge is really not for new runners. While the mileage was well within my capabilities, it was surprising to still have some hamstring discomfort following a hamstring injury which occurred during the 2017 Chicago marathon. Just shows that injuries really can take a long time to resolve even with PT, massage and careful running.
During the first couple of weeks I felt more tired than usual, especially after “effort days” when I was doing a tempo run or hillwork (as this challenge was about endurance and not speed, I decided not to incorporate intervals in this training cycle). Listening to my body I modified my training, maintaining the overall mileage, but changing rest days and effort sessions, switching running and cross training days, as well as modalities used. Strength training continued as planned. For September the weather was hot so I traded some outside running for the treadmill – the coolness of the gym compared to outside was nice, but man, treadmill running quickly got boring. I don’t listen to music when I am racing, but during training, a good playlist, with a beat that fitted my 175-180 bpm cadence was vital.
As with any training cycle I learned to expect the unexpected. Within the first week I needed to change things up because of Hurricane Florence that put pay to several running days. While losing running miles, I was able to work on my cardiovascular fitness with indoor cycling and elliptical work.
I have to admit that when I first started training I was concerned about the total mileage (perhaps too low), and the higher mileage running weeks alternating with the lower mileage cross training weeks. What I didn’t see, and what was the most important, were the consecutive running days with increasing mileage over these days. Additionally I rethought my cross training, making it more running specific, focusing on swimming, cycling and elliptical work, rather than general fitness activities (e.g. yoga, cross fit, boot camp).
Three weeks prior to the Challenge I completed a “Dopey simulation”, running 4 consecutive days with mileage of 2.5, 5, 10, and finally 20 miles. This simulation showed:
- I was physically ready for the challenge.
- I knew that I could complete the challenge (psychologically ready).
- My gear was in good shape (shoes and socks, phone belt, running costume)
- My in race fueling strategy was good, but my post race fueling strategy for the shorter races needed tweaking (I was low on energy at the end of the 10 and 20 mile runs and did not recover as quickly as I usually do).
Read on to find out about Marathon Weekend and if I completed the Dopey Challenge …