Mid-marathon cycle travel for a week - advise on ideal substitute workouts? (Read 263 times)

I'm using Hansons Beginner schedule for a March 24 marathon.

During week 10, I will be unable to realistically run long (say, longer than 6 miles or so) more than once, and even once will be a stretch, as I will be on a family vacation to Disney World, and going 24/7 with our kids to parks/parks/parks. (5 day park hopper deluxe passes sounded like a good idea when I bought them, lol.) So, allowing for 10+ miles a day of walking, plus swimming, etc, I don't think I'll have the time or energy to run for more than an hour many days.

In Hansons book, they provide instructions for adapting to missing a week of running (due to illness, lol), and it sounds to me like if I can run a few times, even short runs, it'll help me not lose my running fitness too much, especially since I will be having huge volumes of low-intensity exercise that week. So, my inclination is to get in as many short runs as possible, aiming for most days 4-6 miles, at least 20 miles that week, and trying to schedule in at least one longer run of 10ish miles. My question is, what would the best use of that limited time/miles be for me in these circumstances? Can I just omit my "easy" miles that week and do short/fast runs most days -- just so my legs remember how to move fast(er)?

Runs I've thought of might be:

1 mi wu + 2 mi half marathon pace + 1 mi cd

1 mi wu + 4 mi MP + 1 mi cd (plan would call for 8 mile tempo at MP, but that'd be 10 miles, and would be really rough to do before a whole day in the parks)

Prescribed "strength" repeats of 4 x 1200 at 5k pace (which was what is called for in the plan, and would be under 6 miles, so I'd have time)

If I can find time for one long run that week, would I be better off doing the tempo run (8 miles at MP, plus wu/cd) or the 10 mile prescribed LR (which is done slower, at MP+ 50 sec)?

FTR, the plan would call for in Wk 10:

M - 7 easy

T - 4 x1200 @5k pace (+ wu/cd)

W - REST

Th - 8 "tempo" @ MP pace (+ wu/cd)

F - 5 easy

Sa - 8 easy

Sun - 10 LR (MP + 50 sec)

(I could do hard on M though, since I'll definitely have Sa & Su totally off from running, and will have moved that prior week's runs to earlier in the week, so will be fresh by M)

What do y'all think? What would your priorities be in this circumstance? Which of the above (or other!) runs do you think I should prioritize that week?

THANKS!

You're not going to loose aerobic or muscle fitness in that short of break, especially since you're coming into that week with the base of a steady training cycle.  Plus you're going to be doing a lot of walking and other vacation activities most days...so it's not like you're laying on the couch for a week.

I'd back away from trying to find all sorts of structure and just run what you can, when you can with a focus on preserving your mental health and decompressing from all the damn upbeat Disney crap stresses and burning off some calories so you can have a good time on vacation.

Jog some miles, run some miles at tempo, keep your legs fresh and ready to get back to your training after vacation.

I'm using Hansons Beginner schedule for a March 24 marathon.

 

During week 10, I will be unable to realistically run long (say, longer than 6 miles or so) more than once, and even once will be a stretch, as I will be on a family vacation to Disney World, and going 24/7 with our kids to parks/parks/parks. (5 day park hopper deluxe passes sounded like a good idea when I bought them, lol.) So, allowing for 10+ miles a day of walking, plus swimming, etc, I don't think I'll have the time or energy to run for more than an hour many days.

 

In Hansons book, they provide instructions for adapting to missing a week of running (due to illness, lol), and it sounds to me like if I can run a few times, even short runs, it'll help me not lose my running fitness too much, especially since I will be having huge volumes of low-intensity exercise that week. So, my inclination is to get in as many short runs as possible, aiming for most days 4-6 miles, at least 20 miles that week, and trying to schedule in at least one longer run of 10ish miles. My question is, what would the best use of that limited time/miles be for me in these circumstances? Can I just omit my "easy" miles that week and do short/fast runs most days -- just so my legs remember how to move fast(er)?

You are somewhat contradicting here.  You know it--chasing kids, walking about, swimming and all that; it "won't even have energy left to run".  Why?  Because you had just as much energy expenditure chasing your kids!!  It's very different from missing a week due to illness--then you'll be bed-ridden (in a bad case) and you'll be wiped out when you get back to running.  Vacation like that is completely different--you'll be physically actually working out; it just so happens it's not running.  I'd vote for "forget about it and just move on".  

When I helped my wife run her first marathon, she was running 2-3 hours (only one 3-hour) on weekend and she did maybe once or twice of 3-4 miles during the week.  That was it.  Rather than promoting "run less, run better", the whole point is that she was working at the time as a financial planner and her day's work involved a lot of walking around, visiting people, etc.  By the time she got home, she was physically exhausted.  What's the point of getting out and run just say you did it?  She was working plenty so I figured rather than pushing, count that as a workout.  She ran 3:54.  Not great; but not too shabby considering.  If in doubt, do less.

Now that said, if you CAN, and if you have the inclination to do so, I'd highly suggest you get up early and sneak out before everybody gets up and get a few miles of easy running in.  A kind of life-style you'll have during the vacation, that would refresh you and maintain your sanity as well.

I've done the week Disney vacation in the middle of a marathon cycle and it worked out fine. I got base miles, a tempo workout, and a long run. In the end I explored about 50 miles of the resort and discovered so many interesting behind-the-scenes things I would have otherwise missed. Running in Florida in February in shorts and a t-shirt was refreshing.

Rigidly planning your running according to your run times probably won't work out. I'd go with an open mind and be ready to run when the opportunity presents.

All the walking and eating out sapped my energy but running an easy 6-8 then jumping in the pool always seemed to return it.

I've got some Disney runs buried in my log. Depending on where you are staying they might be useful. If interested I can link to them. Connecting between resorts and different areas can be done. It's just not obvious.