On Your Mark, Get Set, GO! Walt Disney World Marathon Training Is Here!

Whether you’re running 26.2 miles of magic or going for 39.3 (…or even 48.6!), training for the 2020 Walt Disney World Marathon, Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge and Dopey Challenge officially begins this week! We’ve pulled together a few training tips from official runDisney training consultant and Olympian Jeff Galloway to help you get started on the right foot.

‘Go the Distance’ with Long Runs on Weekends

Long weekend sessions are the key to success when training for one of these events. As your distance increases, your body prepares to go further during event weekend. You can’t go too slow during your run: the goal is simply to finish with strength. Your long run pace should be at least 2 minutes slower than your current predicted marathon pace. Check your breathing during your pace - on long runs, you want to be able to carry on a conversation throughout, even at the end.

‘Just Keep Running’ and Maintain Your Training

Two “maintenance” runs each week are needed to keep up the conditioning needed. According to the official Training Plans, these are done on Tuesday and Thursday for 30-45 minutes. If that doesn’t work for your schedule, just be sure to take a day off in between each running day.

Getting Ready for the Big (Race) Day

Get an idea of what your expected pace is for event weekend with race day practice! On your Tuesday run of each week, after your warmup, time yourself for 2 miles and run a pace that you feel is realistic on race day. During these segments, use a variety of run-walk-run strategies to find the right ratio for you.

Mastering the Magic Mile

The “Magic Mile” time trial (MM) is a reality check on your goal pace on race day, and has been the best predictor of finishing under the race time limit of 7 hours. After you have run three of these on different occasions, take your best time and multiply by 1.4 – this is the fastest pace you could currently expect to run under ideal conditions per mile.

Just Have Fun!

Have fun with your training fun with these tips:

Take your training run to a course of your choosing and change it up each weekend. Many cities and public parks offer scenic, paved trails for runners to utilize.
Grab a few friends to run together for a more exciting experience. Some cities have local running clubs that may offer a group run that evening for additional training motivation.
Enjoy the process! Share photos of how your training is going in social using #WDWMarathon.

Check out our official Training Plans:

Want to join in this four park race celebration? Spaces remain in select race events so head over here and register today!

For more runDisney running tips from Jeff Galloway, visit here.