Now that the 2014 Dumbo Double Dare training plan has started, I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about the future. After the OC Half Marathon this Sunday, I will have a lot of time between races. Thank God I’ve got the Galloway designed training plan to get me through the summer!

So, after the Dumbo Double Dare, I’ve got more races after that. Following the Walt Disney World Marathon, this year, I’ve felt a bit lost on the training front. I’ve been very unsure of what I should be doing with so many races on the calendar. I mean, the Disneyland Half Marathon training plan is 19 weeks (including the week after the race). So, that’s fine if you have those weeks to train. However, I had 3 weeks between the Walt Disney World Marathon and the Surf City USA Half Marathon. Then, 7 weeks between the Surf City USA Half Marathon and the Hollywood Half Marathon. I’ve followed that up with 4 weeks between the Hollywood Half Marathon and the OC Half Marathon. So, how do you plan your training in that situation? Well, I failed at that. Part of the failure was due to illness and part of it was that uncertainty. So, when I looked at the Dumbo Double Dare training program I knew that the first week of that program would have to be slightly be altered because, according to the plan, I should only be running 3 miles this weekend. I have a half marathon to run instead. So, I’ll be putting in more miles this week than what is scheduled. I learned last year that’s okay.

Last year, when I started the Dumbo Double Dare training plan, I had an ultimate goal of finishing the Walt Disney World Marathon in my thoughts. So, I planned my training around that ultimate goal. This year, the goal is the Los Angeles Marathon in 2015. In between the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend and the 2015 Los Angeles Marathon I have the following races in my plans…

The Long Beach Half Marathon to complete my Beach Cities Challenge…

The Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon….

The Inaugural Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon at Disneyland…

The New Year’s Race Half Marathon (Possibly)…

And the Surf City USA Half Marathon or Marathon.

All of these races before the goal race of running the 30th Annual Los Angeles Marathon on March 15, 2015. So, how on earth can I plan so far in advanced?

It all starts with the Dumbo Double Dare training program. With only the first week needing any real alterations, this is a good place to start. So, starting next week (week 2), I’ll be trying my best to keep to this plan. With the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon also happening at Disneyland, I’ve decided that (depending on the weather), the Disneyland Half Marathon is a race I’m going to target for a good finish time. When I get closer to the race, I’ll have a better understanding of whether this will be a PR attempt or a Disney PR attempt. Either way, I want to best my previous runDisney half marathon PR set at the Disneyland Half Marathon last year.

Once the Disneyland Half Marathon is finished, I had to find a way to bridge the gap between that race and the Los Angeles Marathon. So, I started by looking at the training plan for the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon to see how the weekend long runs lined up with the rest of the races I had for the rest of the year.

I also pulled out the training plan for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon to look at the same information. Only with this plan, I took out the calendar and changed the dates to make the plan finish on March 15, 2015 instead of January 11, 2014. Here’s what I came up with when I laid out all three of these plans into a chart…

As you can see with the first 15 weeks, the first overlap of schedules happens. The Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon training plan starts on week 12 of the Dumbo Double Dare training plan.

Then, the next overlap happens in Week 19 of the Dumbo Double Dare plan, or Week 8 of the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon plan. That’s when the marathon training pans starts. Since week 19 of the Dumbo Double Dare plan is more like a rest kind of week, I didn’t include it in the consideration for the training plan I would come up with for the Los Angeles Marathon.

This is how it all rounds out. By week 31, we’re down to just the marathon plan. The races mentioned in red are the ones I’m either registered for or will certainly register for in the future. The races in black are races I’m considering but haven’t completely made up my mind about. In the training plan tab, you will find the finished product. However, I wanted to take this post to give you insight into how I came up with that plan. Last year, in week 9 of the Dumbo Double Dare plan, I was able to run the Pasadena 10K and it worked out pretty good for me. So, I’m mulling over 10K options around that week again.

So, what’s the plan?

Well, I’m going to follow the Dumbo Double Dare plan as is from week 2 until the Dumbo Double Dare happens. Then, I’ll come into the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon plan where it is at that point (week 8). I’ll follow that plan until the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon. From there, I’ll jump into the Marathon training plan until the Los Angeles Marathon is over. I’ve decided to make the Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon a PR attempt. At that race last year is where I set my current PR in the Half Marathon distance. So, it would be great to repeat that again this year. Plus, by that point, my mileage will be rather high and I should be in good shape to think about a sub 2 hour 30 minute half marathon. If I can’t reach that 2 hour 30 minute goal by then, I still have the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon to make that attempt. Although, I would love to have the Avengers half be one for fun. The Santa to the Sea Half Marathon in December is the most iffy race I’ve listed. When I was training for the Walt Disney World Marathon last year, the Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon landed on that week of the training plan and I PR’d the race. However, the Santa to the Sea Half Marathon also falls one week after the Disneyland Candlelight Processional (which I plan on singing in again). So, it might be wise to just skip it. Also, I’m going back and forth on whether to sign up for the Surf City USA Marathon or Half Marathon. When you look at the miles I’m supposed to do that week, doing the full might make some sense. I could use the first 23 miles as training and take it easy for the last 3.2 miles. Or, I could push the 23 mile long run up or back one week. I’ve still got some time to make up my mind.

***All of the above training plan options could change drastically later this month. I plan on checking out the Pasadena Pacers this month. If I like running with them, there might be a different training schedule recommended for me. However, I felt like I needed a plan to get me to the Los Angeles Marathon and now have one.***

As you read this, keep in mind that I am not a trainer and my thoughts and opinions come from someone who is still learning. I just thought it might be interesting to record how I came up with the plan I’m aiming to follow. As I look at the calendar, the months of October and November cause me the most anxiety as they will be very high mileage. However, if I take the Long Beach Half Marathon and the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon as training kind of runs, it should be okay.