Thursday, April 30, 2009

Hydration Plan B: Training Run Testing

Regarding marathon hydration, it seems my lack of coordination makes taking water from aid stations and consuming it without stopping impossible. I either spill it out of the cup, dump most of it on my face and chest (an unsightly wet t-shirt contest consisting of one dude), or get so little it’s not worth my while. So, I have developed two possible alternatives to address my hydration difficulties during the marathon.

As some background, during my long runs I place these wonderful 8oz Ice Mountain water bottles on my course. They come with a very convenient twist top that makes water consumption extra easy.

Possible Alternative Hydration—Alpha Plan (PAHAP) [please not this awesome acronym is also a palindrome] involves carrying cone shaped paper cups with the ‘v’ portion of the cup cut off. Said cone shaped cups will be turned upside down on the top of the marathon cup (which the kind organizers at Bayshore have already informed me are 7oz cups) to form a water consumption device da Vinci would be impressed with. The coned shaped paper cups are very light and can easily fit into my marathon shorts pockets, plus they are reusable and crushing them flat doesn’t affect their performance. I will be testing PAHAP on Saturday’s 10M run.

Possible Other Hydration—Omega Plan (POHOP) involves strategically placing my trusty Ice Mountain 80z water bottles on the marathon course the night before. I plan on arriving early Friday and driving the course, and I think I can find some a few places to stash my water later in the evening. POHOP also involves including a very nice note rubber-banded to each bottle saying, “I belong to a marathoner who would love nothing more than to consume me tomorrow/today. Please leave me here because my owner is sufficiently uncoordinated enough to take the water given out by the volunteers. Thank you!”

And as for running, last night’s goal was to negative split my 10M run. Splits went 6:52, 6:42, 7:00, 7:12, 6:45, 7:00, 6:47, 6:48, 6:52, 6:43. Success by about 20 seconds. 6:52/M average.

5 comments:

Amy said...

I'm going to assume you've already tried this... but here's what I do... I pour half of the water out (seriously, who needs a whole freaking cup of water at a water stop?) and then squeeze the top part of the cup with my hand, so that the top of the cup is now a long, narrow slit and from one end of the slit, pour the water into my mouth. Kind of a similiar concept to your PAHAP, but doesn't involve carrying anything extra around. If you've already tried that method, I'm not sure what to suggest...

Nitmos said...

Wow, you've put some thought into this.

I'm also a spiller and, as such, I've resigned myself to grabbing a cup, running past the end of the aid station row, pulling off, stopping, and swigging a big mouth full. Pitch and run on. Total time lost = approx 3 seconds.

Sun Runner said...

I like the PEEHOP plan myself. ;) I think we already discussed that.

(Mostly because it sounds funnier.)

After my race last night I finally know what it feels like to run as fast as you. I liked that new territory.

Irish Cream said...

Thus far, I've somehow only run races long enough to require water in hot as hell conditions . . . and I didn't actually mind spilling all over myself. I feel like Amy's trick might be a good one to try, but at the same time I'm sure I could f*** that one up somehow!

Great splits on the 10M! And good luck figuring out your hydration strategy! :)

Unknown said...

why not consider a fast draw handheld bottle?