Marathon to Dopey How Do You Train in 10 Weeks?

Season 2 of Running to the Castle Podcast w/ Dr. Ali Marty

Episode 169 How to train for Dopey after running a Marathon in October 2025 runDisney Races

In this episode of Running to the Castle, Dr. Ali discusses how to continue training for Dopey after a Marathon with 10 weeks to go.

Dr. Ali discusses how you need to let your body recover from the first marathon before continuing on to training for Dopey and this is a mistake runners often make that prevent them from reaching the starting line.

She outlines what the next 3 weeks could look like to allow yourself to recover from the first marathon, then goes on to discuss options for long run mileage in the subsequent weeks.

Dr. Ali notes that because the runner has already completed a Marathon, the 10% rule doesn’t need to be followed because these aren’t “new miles” and instead are cycling through 10-20 miles of long runs to train for Dopey with the addition of speed workouts if speed is a concern, and to incorporate 2 weekends of back-to-back-to-back-to-back simulation weekends to simulate the Dopey experience of running 4 days in a row.