Shéamus wrote in his blog, “I mean, in a half-marathon, you wouldn’t wait until mile 8 before you had some water, would you?”
I respond to him by writing:
Sometimes, I don’t do the smartest things in the universe. For example, I was past mile 9 when I finally took water from the station during my Half-Mary. True, it was the winter, but dehydration knows no boundaries. It was the first time I have ever tried to do the grab, pinch and pour during a race … and I still ended up with a large volume of water going down my front. The water station was a t a turn, so I should have slowed down, but I like to speed up around curves.
I tried two more times to pinch the cup and slurp water, but when I got some on my shoes, I tossed the cup. Good riddance and be gone, evil water vessel.
I know that it must be the best method for taking a drink during a race, so I half to wonder what I am doing wrong? There are little tasks that I need to prepare myself for to complete the marathon. What is the best way to deal with a shoe lace that comes undone? How do you get a drink on the run without using water bottles? I actually have thought about doing some type of training to deal with these training delemas. The grab, pinch and pour will be very important as tempratures at mile 14 will be in the 70's and the humidity will be high during the Walt Disney World Marathon. There will be water or POWERade from about mile 5 almost every mile there after.
I need to start planning when i'm going to take down water more efficentally thatn I have before now. Durring my latest 13+ mile training run I took water at about 1 hour, or about 8+ miles. I have gone over 1 hour 20 minutes before, but that doesn't make any sence if I'm going to be moving at a higher pace. I'll need to drink at mile 7 and refuel before mile 14 with Clif-shot or something.
The deal is, I need to plan this just like I plan training for my troops. I need to train it and drill it ... repetition, repetition, repetition. Writing this I am thinking that I need to take a gel at mile 10, and before mile 20, and again near the end ...
The best tasting apple I ever had was the one I ate at the end of the half-mary in December!
2 comments:
They had water stops at each mile point in the 5K I recently ran and did the 'grab, pinch and pour' thing there for the first time ever.
Thing is, I've seen so many Hawaii Ironman tapes that it had clearly become instinctive to me, and I had no problems at all. (One cup I drunk, the second I dumped over my head, which led to my 'Yeeee-AHHHH!' moment that I mentioned in my blog.)
Here's what you do:
1. Grab the cup. You'll spill a bit here. Don't worry about it.
2. Intentionally spill a bit more OR take an opening gulp - I recommend the latter. Even if it goes on your face or shirt it will still feel good. You want to work with two-thirds of a full cup.
3. Move your fingers to the top of the cup and gently pinch it closed, leaving a gap of about one-half inch at the front.
4. Sip and enjoy. :)
As for the long run hydration problem, as you know that's something I'm working on myself. I noted in his video that Todd Baum stashes about a half-dozen bottles of water in a bucket of water in hidden places along his route. That sounds sensible, but he appears to run in the country. I don't have that option, either here or at home! And I fancy that if dozens of cars drive by me stashing something in a bush, *somebody* is going to come and have a look...
I have only stashed drinks on the 1 mile track. I'm looking for a spot near the trail I use often so I can come back to it and do longer loops around main post. I also can use my office if I get into long (and hilly) runs as it is 4.6 miles away without tacking on extra milage.
My current focus is the Expert Infantryman's Badge road march. It is twelve miles in full gear and light rucksack with water being carried. As I am already a badge holder, I can just do the requirements with my guys once (next Thursday), then supervise them if they have to repeat it. My goal is to jog the route and beat my EIB time in September 1994 of 2 hours and 20 minutes.
It's good to have goals!
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