Marathon Weekend 2024

[GollyGadget]

…and so it begins…

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I really hope someone cracks this password someday but I also know that the content inside is in no way ready to share.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I really hope someone cracks this password someday but I also know that the content inside is in no way ready to share.

 

[Naomeri]

I really hope someone cracks this password someday but I also know that the content inside is in no way ready to share.

Considering it’s barely ready to share when they do the actual release, can you imagine the sort of wrong information that would get posted if someone cracked the code?

 

[lukemorenus]

I really hope someone cracks this password someday but I also know that the content inside is in no way ready to share.

...anything is possible

 

[azrivest]

Considering it’s barely ready to share when they do the actual release, can you imagine the sort of wrong information that would get posted if someone cracked the code?

Haha I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

Same vibes here bud, my butt is still giving me all kinds of issues so I’ll be bringing up the rear. Life comes in waves, there are crests and troughs. Sorry you’re in a down spot, things will get better. See you at the finish line, we’ve got this.

And thanks to the advice from everyone, insanely helpful and should be stickied!! Do I need to join VQ if I’m picking up pre-ordered merch? I’ve heard about the madhouse on here before and think I got everything I wanted/could afford already.

I just had an IT band injury from Goofy flare up this past weekend so I will most likely be at the back of the pack on all races for Dopey if I even finish. It's been a pretty discouraging last few days.

Anyone else been able to finish Dopey with an IT band injury or something similar? I could really use some encouragement right now. I've been training really diligently and smartly since June and I'm pretty bummed out right now.

 

[camaker]

I just had an IT band injury from Goofy flare up this past weekend so I will most likely be at the back of the pack on all races for Dopey if I even finish. It's been a pretty discouraging last few days.

Anyone else been able to finish Dopey with an IT band injury or something similar? I could really use some encouragement right now. I've been training really diligently and smartly since June and I'm pretty bummed out right now.

It wasn't an IT band, but I was rehabbing a torn hamstring during my first Marathon Weekend and had only gotten back to a ~12 mile long run at 1:00/3:00 run/walk intervals in training. While not quite Dopey, it was still the 10k + Goofy with my first marathon. The key was to take it slow and easy, one mile at a time. It got the job done. Hang in there and take each race on its own and don't worry about what's to come. It's like March Madness. Survive the race you're in and advance to the next one.

I'll be out there struggling a bit with you, too, this year. I haven't been able to run more than 6 miles at a time or more than two days in a row because of a medial hamstring/quad issue. Finally decided rest wasn't going to get the job done and saw my PT about it yesterday. Let me tell you, having a quad dry needled, especially an aggravated one, was my worst needling experience yet! We'll see how much progress was made in a test run later today.

 

[dobball23]

I just had an IT band injury from Goofy flare up this past weekend so I will most likely be at the back of the pack on all races for Dopey if I even finish. It's been a pretty discouraging last few days.

Anyone else been able to finish Dopey with an IT band injury or something similar? I could really use some encouragement right now. I've been training really diligently and smartly since June and I'm pretty bummed out right now.

I had an IT band issue going into Dopey in 2018. I was not as smart or knowledgeable about training then as I am today. It really flared up after a ~16 mile run in November. I went to PT and hit it hard. I completed Dopey (doing the HM with my much slower wife) and finished my first marathon in 3:54. I missed many of my runs over the final month of training but was still able to finish. And my IT band didn't really bother me during Dopey weekend. You can overcome this!

 

[Zutroy]

I really hope someone cracks this password someday but I also know that the content inside is in no way ready to share.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I just had an IT band injury from Goofy flare up this past weekend so I will most likely be at the back of the pack on all races for Dopey if I even finish. It's been a pretty discouraging last few days.

Anyone else been able to finish Dopey with an IT band injury or something similar? I could really use some encouragement right now. I've been training really diligently and smartly since June and I'm pretty bummed out right now.

I fought ITBS for 8 years before working with a coach. My glutes weren't firing, which we fixed with strength training, and she finally got me to focus on activation exercises before my runs to wake up my glutes. You know, I would just put my shoes on and go out and run. My left glute was especially lazy, leaving my right leg to do all the lifting, and giving me shooting pain where the ITB connects at the knee.

If you can't get to PT this quickly, the classic is clam shells, and you can make it more challenging with a resistance band. Single leg squats are a doozy, curtsy lunges, single leg bridges and regular bridges, side-lying leg lifts with a resistance band or dumbbell, have all targeted my issues and will leave me sore in my piriformis. The main point is to target the glutes and wake them up.

I have done dry needling too in the past. My calves and quads needed that attention. Quads were OK, calves had all the knots.

 

[RuntheMouse]

I just had an IT band injury from Goofy flare up this past weekend so I will most likely be at the back of the pack on all races for Dopey if I even finish. It's been a pretty discouraging last few days.

Anyone else been able to finish Dopey with an IT band injury or something similar? I could really use some encouragement right now. I've been training really diligently and smartly since June and I'm pretty bummed out right now.

Hello fellow ITBS friend! I battled with this last year and I finished Dopey in 2023 with it. I found Some relief while running by using an IT band strap. I was able to run without it for the 5k and 10k but wore it for both the half and full.

I have been working really hard on strength training this year and have been doing well but I too am having a bit of a recurrance. I am back to wearing the strap as a precaution and so far so good, no pain while running and while not running, it is more of a background whisper but I know she’s lurking!

 

[jrsharp21]

I just had an IT band injury from Goofy flare up this past weekend so I will most likely be at the back of the pack on all races for Dopey if I even finish. It's been a pretty discouraging last few days.

Anyone else been able to finish Dopey with an IT band injury or something similar? I could really use some encouragement right now. I've been training really diligently and smartly since June and I'm pretty bummed out right now.

I finished the marathon of a Dopey with an IT band injury two years ago. First three races were fine. Then as soon as I got out of Magic Kingdom and was heading down Floridian Way a sharp shooting pain went down the side of my left knee. It was hurting so bad that I actually texted my wife and told her I don't know how I was going to finish the run. I ended up getting my knee wrapped up at one of the medical stations (over the top of a layer of Biofreeze) and popping some pain meds. I was able to run on that for a few miles with minimal pain, then it would come back. I would have to come to slow jog or walk for a minute or two and then I would be good to run again for a few miles. This ended up being my routine to finish the run. I did have to stop one more time to get my knee re-wrapped.

When I got back, I took a few weeks off from running. I found the root cause of the IT band was the weakness in some places in my leg. Did some rehab and strengthening for those few weeks. It helped out big time. I was back at running in about 3 weeks.

This video here is what got me back in the game:

I still do the stretches before heading out for runs.

 

[PrincessV]

I just had an IT band injury from Goofy flare up this past weekend so I will most likely be at the back of the pack on all races for Dopey if I even finish. It's been a pretty discouraging last few days.

Anyone else been able to finish Dopey with an IT band injury or something similar? I could really use some encouragement right now. I've been training really diligently and smartly since June and I'm pretty bummed out right now.

Hi, chronic ITBS sufferer for reasons beyond what I can control! Here’s what I do to keep it at bay for as long as possible and that has gotten me through 4 Dopeys, 7 marathons, and more 5K/10K/13.1s than I can recall:

1. Control what you can control - for me that was getting rid of shoes that exacerbated the problem (neutral runner in store-recommended stability shoes that cause major over-supination), making sure I change up where I’m running during a run so no one leg is constantly running the same camber (so if the pavement’s been leaning to the left for half a mile, I make sure the next half mile is spent with a camber to the right - this is also critical for building strength to handle WDW’s steeply cambered roads), and strength training to help muscle structures balance the load.

2. Foam roll session before and after every run - you can find ITB-specific technique on YouTube. You don’t want to overstretch the ITB area, just work out any knots in the fascia.

3. Run-walk, but add more walk breaks and/or walk longer if I feel the tell-tale ITB pain begin - the goal is to delay the inevitable: if you wait until the pain is excruciating, it’s too late and walking won’t help. But if you do it right away, it allows the ITB to relax a bit and buy you more time to run-walk.

4. ITB strap. The holy grail, quite frankly. Start your run/race with it in place and it lifts pressure off the ITB to reduce or even prevent entirely the rubbing that causes the debilitating knee pain. You’ll find them easily with an internet search. I like the kind with a rubberized backing for wearing over tights, while the neoprene version is better on bare skin.

5. Hit the med tent. 2023’s marathon did me in and by the time we got to BB, the pain was debilitating. I stopped at the med tent there and told a volunteer what was going on - she got a big blog of BioFreeze and massaged it in in HARD in just the right spot. It totally bought me enough mileage to finish!

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

I knew I could count on everyone here to offer helpful suggestions and give me some hope. I am so determined to finish Dopey and I think I can get there with some adjustments to my running plan. I'm going to give run/walk a try and I've got a good arsenal of strength exercises and stretching to do thanks to @jrsharp21 suggesting that awesome video!

I already have an IT band strap and used it for the first time on a 3-mile run yesterday. I felt great until the last .25 miles when I started to feel the pain creep back in. I will keep using it and implement more walking breaks.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[The Expert]

It's like March Madness. Survive the race you're in and advance to the next one.

Love this!

 

[jrsharp21]

Love this!

Agree. Love it also. Someone asked me this past weekend that question that I am sure many of you get "how do you get through four runs four days in a row". I always said just get to Sunday and then becomes a matter of survival. You have to get from point A to B. Not everyone does it the same. You have to do what is required to survive that last run.

 

[Grabnar]

I knew I could count on everyone here to offer helpful suggestions and give me some hope. I am so determined to finish Dopey and I think I can get there with some adjustments to my running plan. I'm going to give run/walk a try and I've got a good arsenal of strength exercises and stretching to do thanks to @jrsharp21 suggesting that awesome video!

I already have an IT band strap and used it for the first time on a 3-mile run yesterday. I felt great until the last .25 miles when I started to feel the pain creep back in. I will keep using it and implement more walking breaks.

Thanks again everyone!

I don't know if it'll help with ITBS but for my glute injury doing like 2 miles, walk 1/3-1/2 mi, repeat, has really helped me. I think it helps reset my form some so I'm not pushing the forces that are injuring that glute muscle. It's slowing me down a lot but so far it's not getting worse and slowly getting better. Hoping this'll be sustainable through Dopey C2C.

 

[accm]

I just had an IT band injury from Goofy flare up this past weekend so I will most likely be at the back of the pack on all races for Dopey if I even finish. It's been a pretty discouraging last few days.

Anyone else been able to finish Dopey with an IT band injury or something similar? I could really use some encouragement right now. I've been training really diligently and smartly since June and I'm pretty bummed out right now.

You've gotten a lot of really helpful advice.

Last year I was dealing with IT band issues that regardless of going for massages, physio, chiropractor, stretching, would not go away. I got so annoyed by it that I just stopped running at the end of November. It was my first Dopey and marathon, so to say I was scared was an understatement. By the time Marathon Weekend rolled around, my IT band was no longer bothering me, but I also hadn't run in over a month. I took it one race at a time, and tried to make sure I was running slowly (which is surprisingly hard when you're running down Main Street). I not only finished my marathon, but I felt really strong at the finish line with zero pain.
Would I recommend following what I did? No. But at the time I also knew that running was only making it worse, so it's not like I had much of a choice.

Something else you can try if you're seeing a massage therapist is cupping. It helped with my IT band issues. I also had good luck with dry needling for SI joint issues, so that might be worth looking into as well.

 

[nekonekoneko]

…and so it begins…

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[BigEeyore]

Even though this will be my 8th MW - I can't remember when the course maps will be released? Anyone recall?