A Week in Disney

Well, this past week was my recovery week in the marathon training. Every three weeks, the training plans has a week of shorter runs to allow the legs to recover. So, from my plan, I was suppose to do about 2o miles this week instead of the 35-40 I typically do. The plan had me doing 4 miles on Tues, rest Wednesday, 5 miles on Thursday, rest on Friday, 6 miles on Saturday, and 4 miles on Sunday. No problem and sounds easy, right? Well, this week was also my family's first trip to Disney World in Orlando. So here is a quick (and no way complete) recap of the Disney trip...


Sunday, 1/17/10 -ran an easy 4 miles at home before getting ready to leave... travelled from Dulles to Orlando, and take bus to Caribbean Beach Resort. Walked around resort, checked in, had dinner, went to bed


Monday, 1/18/10 - Magic Kingdom - On the Bus by 9am, spent all day at the park, saw many characters, did many rides (love that Haunted House!), saw parades, and stayed for the fireworks, which were amazing. Got back to the resort at 9:30pm and was exhausted. We had to have walked 10miles. Feet were tired and a bit achy.

Tuesday, 1/19/10 - Epcot - got up at 6:30 and put in 4.5 miles. The resort had a 1.2 mile loop around a lake, which I ran about three times. The weather was wonderful, about 55F and slightly windy. We were on the bus by 9am that morning to Epcot. We spent the whole morning doing a Kim Possible adventure that took us to many of the countries at Epcot. Later in the day we did several rides and attractions including Soaring, which was amazing. Again stayed for the fireworks, and did not get back to the resort until 9:30ish. Again we must have walked 10miles and my feet hurt.


Wednesday, 1/20/10 - Hollywood Studio - on the bus just after 9am. We still did a lot of walking and went on the Tower of Terror and the Indiana Jones show, which was cool. We got back to the resort by 8ish and just relaxed. Feet felt a little better, but legs were a bit achy. In bed by 10pm


Thursday, 1/21/10 - Got up at 6:30 and put in just over 5 miles. Today I left the 1.2 mile loop and ran through the resort and parking lots. Not bad, it was a bit warmer this day, about 70F at 6:30 and 90% humidity. I was soaked after this run. Went to Animal Kingdom - We knew this was going to be a short day since the park closed at 5pm - Got on the bus at 9am, saw some shows, saw some animals, went on Expedition Everest roller coaster - now that was a great coster. Went back to hotel after park closed, but instead of relaxing, we left the kids with the inlaws and went to Downtown Disney. Walked more, had dinner at the Planet Hollywood (thought they were all closed), and walked some more. Again, my feet were hurting by the end of the day. We must have put in another 10 miles.

Friday, 1/22/10 - Back to Magic Kingdom. On the bus by 9am, and saw new characters, and new attractions, but also visited some rides we went on Monday. It was a great day. At 3:30pm we left and went to a musical dinner review called Hoop Dee Doo. It was a great time, and there was no walking!! After dinner we went back to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. We get back to the resort at 9pm-ish and was in bed before 11pm.

Saturday, 1/23/10 -Got up at 6:30am and put in my last 6mile run of the week. I wore shorts and t-shirt all week, and this run was really nice. The weather was perfect. We had breakfast in the resort, checked out and headed to the airport for the trip home. Got the kids to bed about 9pm.

All-in-all, I'm glad this was a light running week for me. The amount of walking made my legs and feet ache, and a hard running week may have spoiled my time at Disney. I'm not sure it was really a recovery week. I guess I'll find out this week as I get back to the harder training. My plan calls for 38 miles this week, with a 14mile run on Saturday. I plan to do the Cloud Half Marathon on Saturday for my long run.... but more on that later this week.