How strict is Disney about the pace requirements?

[Erin_Akey]

As a VERY new runner i am really nervous about the maintaining of the 16:00 pace for the half marathon in January. I know i will need to build up to the 13.1 miles, but for instance today my run this morning was 3.7 miles and it shows my pace of 14.6.

i just fear when i work up to 13 miles, my pace will be a lot slower. I DO NOT want them picking me up and not letting me finish. Doing a half is a huge goal for me after tons of weight lost over the last 16 months.

How strict are they about this? Anyone else run the half before who was a newcomer and slower?

Thanks for any info.

 

[joel_maxwell]

As a VERY new runner i am really nervous about the maintaining of the 16:00 pace for the half marathon in January. I know i will need to build up to the 13.1 miles, but for instance today my run this morning was 3.7 miles and it shows my pace of 14.6.

i just fear when i work up to 13 miles, my pace will be a lot slower. I DO NOT want them picking me up and not letting me finish. Doing a half is a huge goal for me after tons of weight lost over the last 16 months.

How strict are they about this? Anyone else run the half before who was a newcomer and slower?

Thanks for any info.

Good question. Hey, keep up the good work and Im sure you wont have any problem. :wave:

 

[MCC1]

I know people do get swept - you have a good amount of time to continue your training and build up to keep ahead. You may want to post your question over at runningoftheears.com, I know there are some there who've had the experience of being swept so would have better info on did they leave any kind of buffer for people. Good luck in the training!

 

[Wilt Dasney]

you have a good amount of time to continue your training and build up to keep ahead.

This is what I was thinking as well. If you stick with your training, I would think you would find yourself well under your current pace on the early miles.

Also...I don't know this for certain, but my assumption is that the 16-minute pace is not enforced for every individual mile, just your average time at the checkpoints. That would mean any time you shave off that 16 on your early miles would accumulate as your "buffer."

So, to take your last run as an example, it sounds like you could easily go 4 miles in an average of 15 minutes, shaving one minute off of each mile. That would mean you'd need to take 20 minutes (16+4) to get picked up on the next mile. The more miles you finish under 16 (and the further under 16 you can get), the larger your buffer will become.

But the biggest thing is probably just to keep at it. If you adopt a solid, consistent training plan, you should be going a lot faster by January.

 

[dreamfinder]

You should be able to do that at a brisk walk pace even if you can't run the whole thing. They only have a few cut off points. I don't know which they are exactly for the half, but say at like mile 4 and 9. They will have some people riding on bikes, and when they get to the cut off point, they will use the bikes to block the road, and any one behind them will need to board a bus. Based on past reports, if you are near the cutoff point, they may tell you as much and do everything they can to help motivate you to go faster to not get swept. They don't want to sweep you, but they have crews ready at a set time to start to break down the course to open the roads back up, so they do need to be pretty strict about it.

If you make it through the last cut off point, they will let you finish. However, you may not get a finishers certificate as those only go to people who finished in the allotted time.

Do keep in mind that they build in time to that 16 minute pace. It is a 16 minute pace from the time the last runner crosses the start line. So depending on where you are in the pack you could have a cushion of as much as 30 minutes. (The last wave is scheduled to start 25 minutes after the first wave. Then add another 5 minutes or so for everyone in that last wave to cross the start line.) So if the last person crosses the start at 5:55, and you started at 5:45, you have a 10 minute buffer, or another 45 seconds or so per mile.

 

[Phonedave]

This is what I was thinking as well. If you stick with your training, I would think you would find yourself well under your current pace on the early miles.

Also...I don't know this for certain, but my assumption is that the 16-minute pace is not enforced for every individual mile, just your average time at the checkpoints. That would mean any time you shave off that 16 on your early miles would accumulate as your "buffer."

So, to take your last run as an example, it sounds like you could easily go 4 miles in an average of 15 minutes, shaving one minute off of each mile. That would mean you'd need to take 20 minutes (16+4) to get picked up on the next mile. The more miles you finish under 16 (and the further under 16 you can get), the larger your buffer will become.

But the biggest thing is probably just to keep at it. If you adopt a solid, consistent training plan, you should be going a lot faster by January.

Right, from what I understand, the sweepers ride bikes at roughly the slowest pace allowed.

The get to each checkpoint slightly ahead of the pace, and then when the time clicks over, the block that checkpoint and sweep any stragglers.

They also start sweeping when the last corrall leaves the starting line. So depending on where you are in the starting order, you can have some extra sweep time built in.

-dave

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I've often wondered if it's a lot of people that get swept?

 

[Erin_Akey]

WOW, I need to train hard. it would absolutely KILL me not to finish and to be picked up on a bus. I do not care if i finish dead last as long as i finish. Thanks for the info. This gives me a lot to work towards.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

WOW, I need to train hard. it would absolutely KILL me not to finish and to be picked up on a bus. I do not care if i finish dead last as long as i finish. Thanks for the info. This gives me a lot to work towards.

How long have you been running, Erin? I know in my case that speed is something that has naturally improved as I gain stamina. Are you running your miles completely at this point or alternating walk/run?

 

[Andrew54]

You can do it, the 16:00 pace is pretty much a walking pace.

 

[Erin_Akey]

How long have you been running, Erin? I know in my case that speed is something that has naturally improved as I gain stamina. Are you running your miles completely at this point or alternating walk/run?

I have only been jogging for a couple of months. Ran my first 5k last weekend. I do not run the full time, but alternate and def. do not expect to run the whole 13 miles, BUT i really do want to finish without getting picked up.

I have been trying to get healthy for a couple of years and being able to jog at all is a huge thing for me. I just want to be realistic in my goals too though.

I AM DETERMINED to do this!

 

[Phonedave]

I've often wondered if it's a lot of people that get swept?

16,883 people finished the 2010 marathon - how many registered ?

Of course not all who registered and did not finish got swept. Some may have quit, others not shown up, or injuries, etc.


You can see past results for all WDW races here.


http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventLinkageID=17218

-dave

 

[Erin_Akey]

WHOA!!! 16k people!!!! I had no clue this would be SO HUGE!!! Now I am even more nervous!!! But my pace time today was in the 14's and I still have six months so I guess I will be ok!

Thanks for sharing that link.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

You might already be familiar with this, but a lot of people use the Couch to 5K plan to improve their stamina. You're already ahead of the game since you've done a 5K, but the idea is to get you running the full 3 miles in 9 weeks. I could barely run 10 feet when I started and it worked like a charm for me. If you're worried about pacing, then getting to the point where you can run the first few miles without walking will bring your times down drastically. It sounds like your determination will be your biggest weapon.

 

[dorothy_l]

Kudos- for you! I say you are doing a bang up job and just remember you will be running at Disney! I ran my first marathon last year and let me tell you it wasn't pretty, but I finished. I too am running the w&d 1/2 this year. I am not experienced by any means with running marathons or 1/2 marathons as this will be my 2nd race....but as long as you keep up the training you will do just fine. The Disney scenery itself along with the fans and staff are so motivating it suprised even myself of how fast I finished. Just remember as Walt said "if you can dream it, you can do it"

 

[MKCP 1985]

I got swept. :lookaroun

This past year, I trained for the full marathon, and my wife registered for the half marathon - but only if I would do it with her and promise not to abandon her on the track. Over the course of the year, for various reasons, she was not able to train and January came way too quickly.

The first sweep station was around the third mile. There were plenty of warnings and people were given the opportunity to make an effort (any effort, really) to get past the bicycles and we made it through that point with plenty of time to spare (and I am guessing the people who were swept were pacing at a slower rate than 20 minutes per mile).

The next sweep station was around mile 5 - it was between the TTC and the Magic Kingdom if I remember correctly. We had to pick up our pace to get through that one, and we were about 100 yards past it when they stopped people. The funny thing was people on bicycles would come by us and tell us where we were in terms of how many minutes behind schedule and then they would unfailingly say, "keep up the good work." They were always very encouraging.

There were no more sweeps before the Magic Kingdom and it was great knowing we could enjoy the sights and sounds of the Magic Kingdom with a few other suffering souls :lol: and know that we would not be stopped.

Leaving the Magic Kingdom, it was probably half a mile to the Mile 7 marker and the bicyclists at that point were telling us that we could get on the bus at any point, but they were still leaving us the option of picking up the pace and trying to continue. My wife had gone as far as she could go, and so we got on the bus there.

What I would tell you from that experience is that if you are physically able to go the distance and you are moving a little slower than the 16 minute mile, you will probably not have any problem being allowed to finish the race.

So train as best you can and then relax and enjoy the race. :wave:

 

[Erin_Akey]

So if right now i am doing 4 miles and my paces are all under 15:00, by January i should be ok right? My fear is how bad i slow down when i add distance. Should i really worry about that?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Erin, you're doing great! I don't think you'll have any problems accomplishing your goal!

First & foremost, I'm totally out of whack on my intended schedule/plan for a whooooole lotta unforseen reasons. I'm not happy about that. I diiiiid have a good plan going when the crappola hit the fan, tho. First, I was working the Couch to 5K plan another poster mentioned. Once I had that down I was gonna switch gears to the novice 1/2 marathon schedule in the book that I bought here. MarathonRookie.com had a ton of great info that you may find helpful, too.

Good luck to ya! I'm sure you'll make it with plenty of time to spare! :wave:

 

[Fievel]

My advice would be to try and get near the front of whatever coral you are placed in. The 16:00 pace doesn't even start until the last runner has crossed the start line...now that time can vary, but I've heard that it can mean that those in the front can pace at about 19:00 and still be ok.

First, build mileage - then keep that mileage up, and the stamina for a better pace will come naturally.

 

[Erin_Akey]

So is it better for me to try and work up to running a full mile or two with no walk breaks, or FIRST work up to run/walk/run up to the thirteen miles and then increase run time?

Tomorrow will be a 4 mile run/walk/run. That is my longest distance so far. We are trying to add a mile each week until we get to 13. Then from there we can improve how much of that 13 we run. Does this sounds like the logical plan? Or is it best to get to where I can fully run the 4 miles etc.

I am so new to all of this!