Ever been swept at wdw marathon or half?

[derekleigh]

Yes. Also keep telling myself it's about endurance, not so much about the speed. I need to stop stressing about going fast and just...going.

Exactly. The Tortoise and the Hare story....and we all know that that one ended.

I think he meant training runs SHOULDN'T be an all out effort.

YES YES YES! Thank you for pointing that out, I've since changed it.

 

[1lilspark]

I will tell you that your friend is most likely 95% correct. This is my experience, my daughter and I did the Tink 10K in May our first, first Disney first 10K, I had run a few 5k before that , at roughly 45mins, so I was in our shoes. I had put a 13min finishing time when I signed up, as I really thought I could get to that point by the time we did the race since you sign up so far in advance. I ended up hitting a brick wall so to speak with my training, so never really made it to that point, I was lucky I could do the 15min( shin splints, shortness of breathe, you name it) we were far enough up in the corrals, I think there were 2 behind us, that we were able to run?walk the race and still stopped for a few pictures( not the characters , but in front of the castle, etc), and we finished it in front of the balloon ladies. My other fear was I had never managed to ran past 4miles. so Fast forward, it's now August and I'm training for the Wine and Dine 10K, I'm up to about a steady 14min mile for the most part on my 5K's, but I feel as long as I continue to train using galloways 10K plan, I will be in a much better place, then I was in May, but still worried. But I can say I did the Tink 10K and had fun, so keep training( don't over train) and you will be fine. Just remember it's about getting to the end, not how fast, we have 2 1/2 months to add the miles, right now I believe with galloways pln, this coming sunday is only 3.5miles.

I'm following the Galloway plan posted on the official site in terms of doing 30 mins tue/thu and long run Sat though I'm not as consistent on run/walk intervals as I'd like to be
the only time so far I've deviated was last week my tue/thu became wed/fri due to scheduling but I got them done...

 

[noochez]

I don't know if this thread has made me feel better or worse about not being swept at the W&D half. This is my first half marathon and I have been running 5k and 10k's and have been following Galloways 19 week training plan. I'm currently running anywhere from a 15:15 - 16:30 min/mile. Everyone keeps telling me I will be fine since I'm training on lots of hills and I know it will be a lot flatter surface in FL. I did a 6 mile run with a 16:34 min/mile with an elevation gain of 301 ft. I think Disney is about 1/2 that. My fitbit also told me that I had climbed 56 flights of stairs! Does anyone have experience with training on hills and than running on flat surface? Did you find that you had a better time? Thanks!

 

[Tasmen]

I don't know if this thread has made me feel better or worse about not being swept at the W&D half. This is my first half marathon and I have been running 5k and 10k's and have been following Galloways 19 week training plan. I'm currently running anywhere from a 15:15 - 16:30 min/mile. Everyone keeps telling me I will be fine since I'm training on lots of hills and I know it will be a lot flatter surface in FL. I did a 6 mile run with a 16:34 min/mile with an elevation gain of 301 ft. I think Disney is about 1/2 that. My fitbit also told me that I had climbed 56 flights of stairs! Does anyone have experience with training on hills and than running on flat surface? Did you find that you had a better time? Thanks!

You will absolutely have a better time. I started doing some hill training myself and noticed when I run one route with very little elevation vs one with a little more, I go faster on the one with very little elevation gain.

 

[limabeanmom2003]

I don't know if this thread has made me feel better or worse about not being swept at the W&D half. This is my first half marathon and I have been running 5k and 10k's and have been following Galloways 19 week training plan. I'm currently running anywhere from a 15:15 - 16:30 min/mile. Everyone keeps telling me I will be fine since I'm training on lots of hills and I know it will be a lot flatter surface in FL. I did a 6 mile run with a 16:34 min/mile with an elevation gain of 301 ft. I think Disney is about 1/2 that. My fitbit also told me that I had climbed 56 flights of stairs! Does anyone have experience with training on hills and than running on flat surface? Did you find that you had a better time? Thanks!

I train in NC and we have LOTS of hills. It gets you in shape and you'll love running in flat florida! I always think about how much hills can slow my pace down, and you won't have that problem (for the most part). You will also benefit from adrenaline the day of the race. Good luck and have a great time!

 

[kydisneyfans]

I'm a weird one here, my personal bests on 5K and 10K courses are on hilly courses.
My personal half best was Star Wars Disneyworld, but I've only ran 3.

 

[noochez]

You will absolutely have a better time. I started doing some hill training myself and noticed when I run one route with very little elevation vs one with a little more, I go faster on the one with very little elevation gain.

Thanks, that makes me feel better. My biggest fear is being swept and I get so frustrated when I can't do better than a 15:15 min/mile

 

[noochez]

I train in NC and we have LOTS of hills. It gets you in shape and you'll love running in flat florida! I always think about how much hills can slow my pace down, and you won't have that problem (for the most part). You will also benefit from adrenaline the day of the race. Good luck and have a great time!

Thank you!!!

 

[Tasmen]

Thanks, that makes me feel better. My biggest fear is being swept and I get so frustrated when I can't do better than a 15:15 min/mile

Do you have the ability to run a 10k before time submission cut off to get a time to submit? I've heard if you submit a time, even if not super speedy, you'll end up in a better corral than if you submitted no time at all. I'm not expecting a high corral with the time I submitted, but I figure anything outside of the last one gives me more buffer room for bathroom breaks, pictures and/or plain old walking.

 

[Niki384]

Do you have the ability to run a 10k before time submission cut off to get a time to submit? I've heard if you submit a time, even if not super speedy, you'll end up in a better corral than if you submitted no time at all. I'm not expecting a high corral with the time I submitted, but I figure anything outside of the last one gives me more buffer room for bathroom breaks, pictures and/or plain old walking.

I did the princess this year and I am slow. I didn't submit a time but when asked the time when registering I put 3:20 (I was hoping to have gotten faster by the race). I was assigned to Corral L out of I believe P. Honestly that buffer made a huge difference for me.

I didn't stop for pictures but I did stop to use the restroom once we got to Tomorrowland and the line was LONG and that did take a chunk of time. My time ended up being 3:50 with an avg 17:37min mile. I never once saw sweeper buses, balloon ladies or even the end of the pack from the top of the overpass. I also walked the entire bit of Epcot, stolled really, because I knew I was safe and just wanted to enjoy the last bit of the race.

I'm not making any guarantees that things would be the same but don't be discouraged. Just keep trucking on towards that finish line and you'll be there before you know it!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

If your training runs are at least meeting the minimum stated pace, you should be just fine to finish without being swept. Being a slower runner myself, I have to cut out some character photo stops that I would otherwise love to make (BB-8 during this year's Star Wars 1/2 at Disneyland for instance), but I've still had a great time at every race even without stopping for every character.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I don't know if this thread has made me feel better or worse about not being swept at the W&D half. This is my first half marathon and I have been running 5k and 10k's and have been following Galloways 19 week training plan. I'm currently running anywhere from a 15:15 - 16:30 min/mile. Everyone keeps telling me I will be fine since I'm training on lots of hills and I know it will be a lot flatter surface in FL. I did a 6 mile run with a 16:34 min/mile with an elevation gain of 301 ft. I think Disney is about 1/2 that. My fitbit also told me that I had climbed 56 flights of stairs! Does anyone have experience with training on hills and than running on flat surface? Did you find that you had a better time? Thanks!

I am outside of the norm, but my personal bests at all levels (5K, 10K, half) have all been on courses with hills. I'm thinking that since I am still a hybrid walk/run person, the uphill walk is a portion I would walk anyway, but going downhill I run faster than usual due to gravity.

My first half was a Disneyland half back in January, I was scared to death of the sweepers. I was in the last corral to start and arrived ultra early to be the first one out of the corral. Once I got into the race, I realized that in order to sweep, they were going to need a fleet of buses because the foot traffic around me was heavy. It remained that way through the entire race. My wife/son were at the 5 mile marker cheering me on and I had asked them to text me the sweep time, I was at MM 8 when they swept at mm 5. My training estimate put me at 3:23, I finished at 3:22:56-amazing how close it was based on training runs. I logged 3:14 at both the Star Wars Disney World and VA Beach RNR(running into tropical storm force winds the last mile).

My timing method is to take a 5K(lets say :40, plus the next 5K is :45,plus the next 5K is :50 and add the final 5K is :55). This comes out very close to what I have done is my 3 halfs and 4 10Ks this year.

You also feed off the on course entertainment and other runners. Whether it's a DJ, cheerleading squad, marching band, or high fiving the thousands of spectators, you will find that you won't remember that you are running. I've never matched my 5-10K personal best times on training runs, they have all been in actual races.

Relax and have fun, that's what it is all about.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I don't know if this thread has made me feel better or worse about not being swept at the W&D half. This is my first half marathon and I have been running 5k and 10k's and have been following Galloways 19 week training plan. I'm currently running anywhere from a 15:15 - 16:30 min/mile. Everyone keeps telling me I will be fine since I'm training on lots of hills and I know it will be a lot flatter surface in FL. I did a 6 mile run with a 16:34 min/mile with an elevation gain of 301 ft. I think Disney is about 1/2 that. My fitbit also told me that I had climbed 56 flights of stairs! Does anyone have experience with training on hills and than running on flat surface? Did you find that you had a better time? Thanks!

I have exercise-induced asthma and hills make a HUGE difference to me. My sister and I have also had various knee/hip issues over time that have made hills challenging.

My neighborhood has TONS of hills. We usually try to avoid many of them on long runs, but there are always some. Our long runs are usually at maybe a 13:10-14:10 pace. A week ago, a big race in the area closed down many streets and we were stuck doing an 8mi run with LOTS of hills. It came in at closer to 16min/mi average!

This past weekend we then did the W&D Half (after doing the 5K and 10K before it), and came in at a 12:20 pace! All of this to say that flatter surface + race day excitement makes a HUGE difference for us!!

 

[mslezalie]

I was swept at the WDW marathon 2015. I was overly ambitious and signed up for the Goofy Challenge. I have ran half marathons before, but this would have been my first marathon. I completed the half and still felt good for the marathon the next day. The beginning of the marathon was great, but as the miles came I was slowing down. I made it to Animal Kingdom where I was told I did a great job and to hop on the bus. I remember there was two buses waiting. As I got closer I noticed the stage area for some jungle theme photo opts. After getting on I noticed the 14 mile marker and sadly watched as they turned the timer off. Seeing that made it all click into place that my race has ended. On the bus I waited over half an hour. I was amazed at how many runners/walkers were still behind me. All were tired, many disappointed and only a handful were physically unable to continue their race. Sadly it took over an hour to make it to Epcot. One woman fell out of her seat and almost bumped her head, however kept insisting she was fine. Another was feeling sick. Our bus driver pulled over by the wastewater treatment plant. Medical assistance was called in and they came to assist the sick woman. Once we finally arrived at Epcot, we exited to the side after the finish line and were handed medals. I felt hallow as I only earned half of that medal. Regardless the whole thing was a positive learning experience. If I had to get swept I'm glad it was at Disney. It was good to know that all the staff, volunteers, medics (and anyone else I might have forgotten) were amazing, efficient, and simply wonderful. I hope to run the WDW marathon again, however it won't be for a couple more years.

 

[banzai25]

This isn't a personal story but relevant here. For the WnD Half, I had a bad summer of training - lots iof hay fever issues and a cold. I knew I would do awful but I planned to just tough it out anyway. I did OK and we still stopped for 6 pictures but at an over pass after the 10 mile point, we spotted the balloon ladies coming up the road and they had a lot of people behind them. The busses were waiting right at the turn onto the overpass. It was a bit disheartening to watch those folks and imagine their dejection. Still, we were later surprised by how man people were still strung out behind us. The next morning, I ran into one of those people on a bus. She said that, although she was well behind the balloon ladies, she, and most others were allowed to continue without challenge. She was surprised but very grateful. This was at about 10.5 miles.
It's hard to know what to make of this but they were obviously not hard over to sweep folks at that point.