Dumbo Double Dare Training Plan

In previous training, I always trained for one race at a time. This time, taking on the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge, I'm training for two races, one day after each other. 

Dumbo Double Dare Challenge
Saturday, August 31st : 10k
Sunday, September 1st: Half Marathon 

Dumbo Double Dare Training Plan

I took into consideration my own training for my past two half marathons and Jeff Galloway's (official runDisney trainer) Goofy training plan to create my own training plan. It includes the mileage I know I personally need, along with shorter days to improve my pace. 

The weeks start on Tuesdays (see my Training Tuesday posts), but the count down refers to the Saturday within that week. Tuesdays are a 3 mile maintenance run, Thursdays and Fridays are for working on my increasing my pace. The Fridays before a back to back Sat/Sun run are rest days. Mondays and Wednesdays are up for cross training at your discretion. I tend to do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred as a quick bit of cross training. Sundays are always for long runs and the weekdays tend to keep the same shorter distance. 

If you're training or interested in seeing how my training plan works out, join in on my Training Tuesdays posts.

What are you training for? Do you stick to a plan? 

Training Tuesdays

Welcome to the first post of my Training Tuesdays! Every Tuesday I'll share about how the previous week's training went and what's next for my training plan. I welcome you to follow along and share your own progress with your training. For me, I'll be posting about my training for the Dumbo Double Dare (see my next post for the actual training plan I created). 


As you know, I'm running the Disneyland Half Marathon for the 3rd time in September. This year will be a bit different as I'm doing the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge, which involves running the 10k (6.2 miles) on Saturday and then the half marathon (13.1 miles) on Sunday.

In past years, training would involve a few short runs to improve my pace during the week and then a long run for distance on Sundays. Obviously this year will be different since I have to be able to run back to back days. Dearest and I are planning to make the 10k more of a fun run (we're running in costume) and take the half more seriously. I'm aiming to shave about 15 minutes off my previous time and finish in under 2:10.

In planning my training, I looked at Jeff Galloway's (the creator of the official runDisney training programs) Goofy Challenge plan, which trains you to run a half marathon and then a full the next day. My plan was to just cut all the distances in half since Dumbo is essentially half the Goofy. Unfortunately, I felt that the distances would be too short and I would feel unprepared.

In the end, I took my previous training plans and Jeff Galloway's timing for the Sat/Sun back to back runs to create a plan I feel will prepare me for the distance while also improving my speed and help me achieve the PR I want. :)


All that said, lets get on to our Training Tuesday!

Previous Week
Tuesday: 2 mile run
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: 2 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 3 mile run
Sunday: (got lazy and skipped a short run)
Monday: rest

This Week / T-23 Weeks until the Run
Tuesday: 2 mile run
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: 30 Day Shred 
Friday: 3 mile run
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 4 mile run
Monday: rest
I do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred to supplement all the running. In a quick 20 minutes, I get enough of an upper body workout to sustain my muscle strength and a good kick of cardio to start my morning.

What's on your workout agenda this week? 

Race Shirt Tote Bag Tutorial

A few weeks ago I posted about a tote bag I made from my Disneyland Half Marathon race shirt. If you're like me and your shirts are just hanging in your closet, here's a tutorial to make your very own race shirt tote. If you have questions, leave a comment. :)

Apologies in advance, I forgot to take some pictures, but tried to explain it as best as I could. There are also no measurements because you may have a different sized shirt to start with. 

Finished product vs original shirt

Materials Needed:
- Race shirt (mine was a small)
- Fabric for lining (~ 1/2 a yard)
- Heavy interfacing (~ 1 yard, for shirt layer and lining)
- Matching thread (I used white to match the lining and for contrast of the outside)

First, lay your shirt down flat. I ironed mine on a low setting (too high and the tech fabric will melt) to get out some small wrinkles. Cut off the sleeves (save them- you'll need one of them for the "runDisney" logo later). Cut off the collar of the shirt. To maximize the size of your tote bag, cut as close to the seams as possible. 

Iron on heavy interfacing to the back side of the front panel of the shirt. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.) Make sure to cover as much as possible. 

Fuse the heavy interfacing to the back as well. 

Next, measure around the logo of your shirt. Be sure to add a couple inches to the bottom to account for the boxed corners. At this point, measure your back panel. You need to make sure the back panel can be the same height as your logo piece. I.e. If your logo piece is going to be 9" x 9", your back piece should be at least 9" tall x the width of the original shirt. 

Cut out your logo piece. 

Unfortunately, this is where I got carried away with making the bag and forgot to keep taking pictures...

I trimmed the back panel to the same height as the logo piece. From one side, I cut a piece the same size as the logo piece. Measure the remaining fabric and divide that by two to create two equal pieces. Don't waste any fabric or your bag won't be as big. 

You should have 4 pieces:

Cut off the "runDisney" logo from the sleeve (or any other little touches you want to add). I zig zagged around it. The top left corner of the logo piece has some of the original seam from the race shirt. 

*More missing photos... Sew all four pieces together in this order:  

Logo piece + skinny piece + Back panel + skinny piece

Use lots of pins! The tech fabric is slippery! 

Then sew the Logo piece to the last skinny piece to create a big tube. 

Match up the seams- the skinny pieces should be the sides and the logo and back panel should match up.  Sew the bottom of the bag. You'll have the outer layer of your bag. 

Sew boxed corners on the outer layer of the bag. I measured ~ 1" in from the corner, or 2" across. 

Making boxed corners: Pinch the corners so that the bottom seam matches up with the side seam. This is more difficult with how I made the tote because there aren't any side seams to go by. You can estimate or iron your sides down to create a guide. Then measure 2" across, marking a line perpendicular to the bottom seam. Sew across. Don't trim the corners off. Instead, fold them in and tack them down. It'll provide more shape and stability for you corners. 

Make your lining. (No pictures for this either...) Iron the heavy interfacing to your lining fabric. Cut pieces slightly smaller than your outer layer. I only cut two pieces, instead of the four for the outer layer.

Note: don't sew the bottom seam all the way. Leave a 4" opening to flip the bag inside out.

Box the corners as well. Fold them in and tack them down. 

You should now have your outside piece and lining, both with boxed corners. Flip the outside and insert your lining piece. They should fit snuggly together. 

Sew straps for your bag. From the lining, cut two pieces 24" long by 4" wide. Fold in half and iron, then fold the sides in to line up with the crease. You should have two long skinny pieces that are 1" wide. Top stitch along both sides of the strap. 

Flip the lining and outer layer inside out again, sandwich the straps between the layers and pin. Sew along the seam. Back stitch over the handles for extra strength. 

 Flip right side out through the hole in the lining. 

 Sew up the hole in the bottom of the lining. 

And you're done! 

Some pictures of what my finished product looked like. :) 

Daylight Savings: Good or Bad?

This week has been rough, mostly because of the time change. Sure, getting that extra hour of light in the evening is nice, but that first morning after the change is not fun. I'm not talking about Sunday, come on, I'm sure all of us slept in. Monday is my early shift when I usually wake up at 6am, which suddenly became "5am." Yes, I'm still rationalizing in my head "well, it's really only supposed to be..." The sunny evenings have been nice and getting home while it's still light out helps me to relax after work. 

Unfortunately, the time change has made running in the morning almost impossible. I don't like to run when it's dark out (yes, I'm a little scaredy cat), but there's not enough time after sunrise to run, get ready and get to work on time. I'm trying to squeeze in runs when I can. I think I've pinpointed Fridays (speed training) and Sundays (long run) and hopefully a day or two in between. We'll see how it pans out. 

How are you handling the time change? 

Trying Something New

The first time I trained for a half marathon, I started from scratch with zero running under my belt. My fuel belt that is. ;) And yes, I'm one of those people who run with those little belts on to carry my stuff. Though recently I created/invented/made something to replace it. More on that later. 

Anyway, the first training session, I started with a run/walk method: run 1 minute, walk 1. Then the next week, run 2 minutes, walk 1, working up to running straight for 30 minutes. The second time training, I only took a short break and it wasn't hard to work back up to 4-5 mile runs. Two months before the race, my long runs were up to 7-8 miles. Less than a month before the official 13.1 miles, I did my longest run at 12 miles. 

This time around, things are different. 

- I took a 4 month running hiatus. The longer the break, the harder it is to get back into it. 

- Dearest kept running. He's logged over 200 miles this year (compared to my measly 25 or so). It's definitely hard when the person you train with is way ahead of you. 

- We have further to run this year. Instead of the half at 13.1 miles, we're doing the Dumbo Double Dare- 6.2 on Saturday and then 13.1 on Sunday. 

On the bright side, things are already looking promising. Dearest suggested a different approach to my training. Instead of the walk/run method, I'm running straight through and adding a minute to my time each week. As of now, I'm at 21 minutes, running 4 times a week and it's going really well. I'm also running in the morning and surprisingly I don't mind waking up at dawn. Maybe it's a sign I'm getting old? ;) 

My time has also improved significantly. Last year during training I was averaging 11-11:30 min/mile. Our race clocked in at just under 11 min/mile. So far, I'm in the low 10 min/mile range. If I can keep up the pace, I'll put me around a 2hr 11min finish time- my goal is 2hr 15mins. Dearest runs his half regularly in 1hr 50min, so his goal for us is to finish in under 2 hrs...  Yes, I gave him the side eye. But judging by last year's time, even with our pace slowing dramatically at the end due to injury, adrenaline will do a lot. We'll just have to wait and see. :)