July 2018 Running Challenge

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  • LaDispute57
    LaDispute57 Posts: 371 Member
    sarahthes wrote: »
    I can't imagine eating a sandwich in the middle of a race but I know ultras are a whole other ballgame as far as race fueling goes.
    Ultras are famous for being running buffets with a smorgasbord of real food. I try to get 200-400 calories an hour between food and energy drinks... eating something about every 30 minutes.
  • kevaasen
    kevaasen Posts: 173 Member
    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    PastorVincent wrote: »
    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    Here are my thoughts on waste and such at aid stations, and I know there are many runners who will disagree (which is a big reason why I asked):

    The race I'm talking about will provide the cups and the aid station sponsors will provide trash cans / cleanup. I love to see cup-less races, but have only seen this once. At that particular race, it was a half-marathon (so no BQ's anyway) and they gave out refillable cups at packet pickup. The cups clipped onto a waistband and you squeezed it to open. You could opt out of this and save $2.00 off the race fee (I did this) and bring your own bottle. But there were no cups given out. You filled your own at the aid stations. They had quick-pour spouts (seriously, these would fill my 20 oz. in about 2 seconds, no joke). This was just outside a national park and done as a destination race. There was an important "No trash" policy. Aid stations did have snacks with wrappers and trash cans (mostly Honey Stinger as they were a sponsor). It was very clearly stated in the rules that you would be DQ'ed and banned from future races by this organization if you were caught littering. When I see pictures of cups everywhere on the street around aid stations at the big city races, I cringe because I know this can work. Yet I always get a lot of runners telling me there is just no way. At my last road race, I did what everyone else did (just threw the cups on the ground), but only because there were no trash cans provided at many of the aid stations. Of course it isn't possible then! But yea... I hate littering and waste.

    This particular race is a "trail run" on a rails-to-trails trail. It gets much of the road runner crowd and not technical trails crowd, but the trail is only around maybe 10-15 feet wide and crushed limestone. They estimate 400 runners, so this is a pretty small crowd. I've run smaller (smallest had 19 total runners for the marathon and probably 3-4 times that for the half marathon race starting half-way along as both were point-to-point), but 400 is still a pretty small race.

    I really like the reusable cup idea for drinks but I can imagine at a major race like the Pittsburgh Marathon, the condition at the water stops might get very complex when you have 100s of runners all at once - must of which appear to be dumb-dumbs. (meant in the best possible way of course).

    When I did my 50k trail race, I brought my own bottles (the set that matched my belt) and topped off at each station. No waste that way. Worked very well in that environment but massively fewer people in that race, and I imagine only more serious runners show up for a 50k. So that probably helps a lot.

    I've heard that, but I'm not convinced. The race where I saw this had probably around 5K participants, more or less, and the concept just scales to a larger number. There would just be more Quick-Fill spigots / color-coded dispensers as the quantity of runners increases.

    At the race expo / packet pickup, they had these spigots available for practice even... so everyone knew how to use it (not like it was terribly complicated.

    Likely this product: http://www.hydrapouch.com/ they have the pouch for the runners, and the ultraspout for quick refills. I used the pouch during my marathon and give it high marks. The race still had paper cups, but it was so easy to
    - take paper cup and pour into pouch on the run (sometimes first took a sport drink first and a second cup of water to dilute)
    - since transfer was quick, I didn't have to do the run/drink/spill routine or stop/walk/drink and/or gulp. I drank in a controlled fashion and as I needed, often for up to 2-5 minutes.
    - I was able to immediately get rid of cup (doesn't avoid trash issue), but as noted, pouch does allow you to drink as you wish and when hydrated, dump the remaining liquid and place back on belt/pocket,etc
    - I also was able to better control pick my pickup spot and avoid runners halting and making for an easier on/off experience

    While I have seen the spout in a race, it does look quick from the video. I don't think you will ever see at a Chicago/NYC Marathon given the size and inability to get runners to 100% adapt, but a race of a controlled size and with advance notice of needing either own bottle or provided pouch would be able to easy implement.
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
    I've only run a few races... the 5Ks I've run I don't even bother with a water stop.

    At the Shamrock half marathon I grabbed a cup of Gatorade at just about every stop. I was aiming for a PR so I didn't want to slow down - I grabbed from a volunteer holding a cup out, tried to drink as much as I could without slowing down, then tossed the cup toward the trash can. Honestly, the trash cans weren't placed well at all and I missed almost all of them. I do think each aid station was responsible for picking up all the cups/trash around their station. My daughter's swim team volunteers for an aid station and they bring rakes and brooms to clean up all the cups.

    I listened to the runner's world podcast and one of their staff member's run the race route the following day after the Runner's World half marathon to pick up all the trash that is missed. He was saying the goo packets are the worst thing to have to pick up.

    If I was trying to BQ, I don't think I'd be stopping at aid stations anyway other than for water or Gatorade. I'd think BQ'ers have prepared their own fueling and aren't slowing down to grab a snack along the way.

    I'd be ok with volunteers with gloved hands handing out snacks/food, but dipping my hand into a communal bowl wouldn't be my thing. I'm not one to eat during a run, but if I do end up running a marathon I will probably change my mind. Although, I'd probably have my own fueling plan planned.

    A friend told me the best thing she ever had during a warm marathon was icy pops or Otter pops or Popsicles or whatever it's called where you are from.



  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    Just popping in and have waaay too much catching up to do, but I was skimming through and wanted to make a comment on the aid station question for @midwesterner85 . By far, my favorite treat during a marathon is orange slices. They are the perfect snack because they taste like heaven at mile whatever and the waste issue is pretty much non-existent. I also like the idea of Twizzlers or Starbursts for candy. Twizzlers minimizes the "sweaty hands" issue and there is no waste. Starbursts eliminate that issue and the waste/litter is minimal because most people will shove the wrapper in their pocket.
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    edited July 2018
    Meant to post this earlier: Killian Jornet smashes Billy Bland’s 1982 Bob Graham Round record
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    Lots of interesting ideas on aid station fixes. There is such a thing as edible cups, but I have never seen one in person and only know of their existence in passing. I wonder how those would work? Drink your fluid and then eat the cup. No waste.
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    PastorVincent wrote: »
    Lots of interesting ideas on aid station fixes. There is such a thing as edible cups, but I have never seen one in person and only know of their existence in passing. I wonder how those would work? Drink your fluid and then eat the cup. No waste.

    Nothing new on race day?........ :D
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    girlinahat wrote: »
    PastorVincent wrote: »
    Lots of interesting ideas on aid station fixes. There is such a thing as edible cups, but I have never seen one in person and only know of their existence in passing. I wonder how those would work? Drink your fluid and then eat the cup. No waste.

    Nothing new on race day?........ :D

    I think I have broken that at every major race so far... and some of the smaller ones! :lol:
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    kevaasen wrote: »
    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    PastorVincent wrote: »
    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    Here are my thoughts on waste and such at aid stations, and I know there are many runners who will disagree (which is a big reason why I asked):

    The race I'm talking about will provide the cups and the aid station sponsors will provide trash cans / cleanup. I love to see cup-less races, but have only seen this once. At that particular race, it was a half-marathon (so no BQ's anyway) and they gave out refillable cups at packet pickup. The cups clipped onto a waistband and you squeezed it to open. You could opt out of this and save $2.00 off the race fee (I did this) and bring your own bottle. But there were no cups given out. You filled your own at the aid stations. They had quick-pour spouts (seriously, these would fill my 20 oz. in about 2 seconds, no joke). This was just outside a national park and done as a destination race. There was an important "No trash" policy. Aid stations did have snacks with wrappers and trash cans (mostly Honey Stinger as they were a sponsor). It was very clearly stated in the rules that you would be DQ'ed and banned from future races by this organization if you were caught littering. When I see pictures of cups everywhere on the street around aid stations at the big city races, I cringe because I know this can work. Yet I always get a lot of runners telling me there is just no way. At my last road race, I did what everyone else did (just threw the cups on the ground), but only because there were no trash cans provided at many of the aid stations. Of course it isn't possible then! But yea... I hate littering and waste.

    This particular race is a "trail run" on a rails-to-trails trail. It gets much of the road runner crowd and not technical trails crowd, but the trail is only around maybe 10-15 feet wide and crushed limestone. They estimate 400 runners, so this is a pretty small crowd. I've run smaller (smallest had 19 total runners for the marathon and probably 3-4 times that for the half marathon race starting half-way along as both were point-to-point), but 400 is still a pretty small race.

    I really like the reusable cup idea for drinks but I can imagine at a major race like the Pittsburgh Marathon, the condition at the water stops might get very complex when you have 100s of runners all at once - must of which appear to be dumb-dumbs. (meant in the best possible way of course).

    When I did my 50k trail race, I brought my own bottles (the set that matched my belt) and topped off at each station. No waste that way. Worked very well in that environment but massively fewer people in that race, and I imagine only more serious runners show up for a 50k. So that probably helps a lot.

    I've heard that, but I'm not convinced. The race where I saw this had probably around 5K participants, more or less, and the concept just scales to a larger number. There would just be more Quick-Fill spigots / color-coded dispensers as the quantity of runners increases.

    At the race expo / packet pickup, they had these spigots available for practice even... so everyone knew how to use it (not like it was terribly complicated.

    Likely this product: http://www.hydrapouch.com/ they have the pouch for the runners, and the ultraspout for quick refills. I used the pouch during my marathon and give it high marks. The race still had paper cups, but it was so easy to
    - take paper cup and pour into pouch on the run (sometimes first took a sport drink first and a second cup of water to dilute)
    - since transfer was quick, I didn't have to do the run/drink/spill routine or stop/walk/drink and/or gulp. I drank in a controlled fashion and as I needed, often for up to 2-5 minutes.
    - I was able to immediately get rid of cup (doesn't avoid trash issue), but as noted, pouch does allow you to drink as you wish and when hydrated, dump the remaining liquid and place back on belt/pocket,etc
    - I also was able to better control pick my pickup spot and avoid runners halting and making for an easier on/off experience

    While I have seen the spout in a race, it does look quick from the video. I don't think you will ever see at a Chicago/NYC Marathon given the size and inability to get runners to 100% adapt, but a race of a controlled size and with advance notice of needing either own bottle or provided pouch would be able to easy implement.

    Yes, that is it. Like I said, I just brought my own hand-held bottle anyway, so did not get a hydrapouch.
  • mcw2018mfp
    mcw2018mfp Posts: 84 Member
    Aiming for 50 Miles

    July 1 - 3 miles 35:00 Happy Canada Day
    July 2 - 5.58 Miles 60:00 Hilly, windy, and cold on this holiday Monday.
    July 3 - HIIT class so no run.
    July 4 - 3.25 miles 37:30
    July 5 - 5.4 miles 56:30 Intervals 400;800;1200;1600;1200;800;400m
    July 6 - No run
    July 7 - 7 miles 1:17:25 This was a struggle today. I wanted to stop after a few steps! Then I just put one foot in front of the other.
    July 8 - 3.5 miles 42:00 slow and easy today.
    July 9 - 3 miles 50 minutes A combination of hill repeats - running and walking
    Total: 30.73

    July 15 - The Moose Is Loose 10k trail run
    Goal- under 60 minutes
  • ContraryMaryMary
    ContraryMaryMary Posts: 1,639 Member
    Running challenge

    1 July: 5.30 at 5:09 pace (race pace)
    2 July: yoga
    3 July: 7.01 at 5:45 pace
    4 July: yoga
    5 July: 12.66 at 5:50 pace (“unproductive" according to Garmin)
    6 July: rest
    7 July: yoga
    8 July: 15.2 at 6:01 (slow and steady)
    9 July: yoga
    10 July: 6.0 at 6:02 pace (probably faster but I had a child on a bike in tow who kept needing a push - I certainly had to work harder) plus another 1.8km at about the same pace with similar issues getting the younger daughter to kindy.

    47.97 of 150km for July
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    LaDispute57 wrote: »
    PastorVincent wrote: »
    No waste.

    Until later.

    Well no additional waste then! :lol:
  • ContraryMaryMary
    ContraryMaryMary Posts: 1,639 Member
    _nikkiwolf_ wrote: »
    PastorVincent wrote: »
    Paper cups would be far more sanitary and could be composted. Just an option.

    If I saw 100s of sweaty people dipping hands in a blow of candy, I would pass it by and think bad thoughts. No thanks. :)
    yeah, but it won't be 100s of people touching your candy before you eat it. If everyone just grabs something from the top , it will be a handful of peole (no pun intended :D ) whose hands might brush the candy piece you get for a fraction of a second. (( and how much is anyone actually sweating on the -hands- while running?) Wouldn't bother me at all.
    Spread it out on a tray rather than in a bowl, even less problems.
    What about the fact that the hands of one or more people touched the orange slice that you grab, is that also an issue?
    I'd rather worry about touching the locking mechanism of the porta-potty doors if I wanted to start freaking out about unsanitary things in a race >:)

    It's not the sweat that bothers me. How many people blow/wipe their nose en route? How many use a portaloo before they begin? I can only imagine the bacterial cocktail that is a communal sweet basket. Ew.

    Also, my personal belief is your should know exactly what fuel you may need during your event and take it with you. Eating foods/lollies/candy that you haven't trained with can really throw your event if they disagree with you (or get stuck in your teeth). I learnt very early on to skip all treats on offer - at one of my first events I got given a shot of Red Bull about 2km from the end. I felt amazing for about 100 metres then totally died. Never again. I see no need for aid stations to have anything other than water (and a secret stash of glucose/electrolyte drinks for those in true need of aid and are about to DNF).
  • marisap2010
    marisap2010 Posts: 909 Member
    7/1: 4.5 miles
    7/3: 2.5 miles
    7/4: 6.3 miles
    7/6: 3 miles
    7/7: 5 miles
    7/8: 5.2 miles + 3.3 mile hike
    7/9: 2 miles

    Total: 28.5/85

    Upcoming Races:
    Wineglass Marathon 9/30

    Only got in 2 of my planned 4 miles. I plan to get up early tomorrow to do intervals for the other 2.

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