Have you ever wanted to participate in Walt Disney World Marathon weekend but thought that there is no way you could run the 26.2 or 13.1 distances? Welcome to your own personal Philoctetes(Phil). With every good hero and tales of mythological proportions, we have to start at the beginning. Which in this case, would be the Mickey 5K (3.1 Miles). Hercules had to start somewhere, and so do you. With running, you have to start slowly and build up your base. If you just took off out the door today and ran 3 miles, you would definitely feel some pain in places you did not know you had. I only ask that you dedicate 10 weeks to the Disney Driven Life Zero to Hero Plan, and you can go from Zero miles to running a 5K.
I am not asking that you make this journey alone. I will be there to help you along the way, just like Phil did with Hercules. If you dedicate yourself, and heed my advice you will finish your first 5K. After that, maybe you can work on a 10K or maybe even the Walt Disney World Half-marathon. While some people can jump right into training for a Half-marathon with little to no training, I just ask that you curb your excitement and start slowly. It will make running more enjoyable and hopefully keep you involved in a great activity for a long, long time.
Please remember that this is a gradual plan, I am not asking you to go from not running to running 3 miles overnight. This is a 10 week progression plan to get you from Zero to Hero. There will be some sore muscles and hurt pride at the beginning, but we all have had to start somewhere, and this will only be temporary.
The plan calls for you to commit to running/walking 3 days a week. The spreadsheet I will provide has defaulted to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can use any 3 days you want, I just ask that you leave a day between workouts for recovery. Feel free to submit to me any questions or concerns, I am here to help you meet this challenge!!
I will leave you with this. Christopher Robin once told Pooh, “Promise me you will always remember: You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
You can do this, please do not get down on yourself if a workout gets missed or does not go well. It happens, just pick yourself up dust yourself off and keep moving forward.
(note: we now have the a page for the Disney Driven Life Zero to Hero Plan)
Contributed by: Thom W. (NDD#145). Thom is our resident health and fitness expert.
