Water/Walk Strategy

I've been struggling in my mind with race execution all week. I go back and forth between being extremely confident to extremely worried. Which pace should I go? Should I just have a great run, or should I try to do the very best I can do on this day? I'm so confused!!!

Well, last night I think I arrived at the winning combination of elements to my race strategy. I'll put it all together in a paragraph soon, but here's the final piece.

There are 16 water stops on the course. Here's how I will approach them:

• Walk through every water stop
• Refill your bottle, which should be half empty
• Place a 1/4 electrolyte tablet in your bottle
  
• Continue to walk for 1 min during every other water stop

Let me explain what this does. First, it maintains my way of keeping track of how much water I take in. In previous races, I have passed water stops when I have water in my bottle, letting the bottle go empty before I stop again. I drink 12 oz of water for every 3 - 4 miles. I didn't think I could fill at each station and maintain this "monitoring," but if I use the half empty rule, I can. Another thing that kept me from considering this is the size of my tablets. I cut 24 oz tablets in half to 12 oz size. Now all I need to to is cut those in half so I have 6 oz tablets. This allows me to keep the same concentration of electrolyte stuff. Intake and dosage solved. Second, it gives me regular walk breaks. I had planned to take a 1-min walk break every 3 miles anyway. Due to the location of these stops on the course, I can use the even-numbered water stops as my mileposts for 1-min walk breaks. I won't have to keep track of them, either... just do the 1-min break at every other stop. Third, I will only have to catch up with the pace group every 3 miles. Walking through the stops long enough to fill my bottle will not put me behind the pace group, which is going to slow down for every stop anyway. The odd numbered water stops are just gravy--a little rest and added boost of confidence. Fourth, the more frequent filling of the bottle means I need to add less water; this makes a big difference, as it takes several cups to fill a 12 oz bottle. During the National Half in DC I was able to ask volunteers to pour directly into my bottle from jugs, but even then that wasn't always an option. By stopping at every station, I can add a cup or two each time. Finally, this strategy allows me to stick with the exact amount of water and electrolyte that I have been used to during training. I think it's going to be perfect.

On a larger scale, having this strategy will give me tons of confidence. I don't do well "winging it" in situations like this, so I will have the security of knowing there is a plan. If I need to deviate from this plan a bit, that is fine--I am not rigid. I just like to know what is happening next. It gives me a sense of control.

This means that I won't really need Todd for any water, but I will have him carry some just in case. I will also have him carry my second-half dry goods: the Gu Chomps and electrolyte stuff. How much of that will I need? I will be drinking 8 12oz bottles of fluid and eating 16 Gu Chomps on the course. That's two packets of 8 each--one packet for the first half, one packet for the second half.

Dehydration vs. Hyponatremia

I've heard about people drinking too much water in a marathon; Mike Worel had this problem, and it can be very serious. I just did some Internet surfing and found a great article on this. My hydration rate, which has worked well for me in the past in races and in training, is just fine. 12oz every 3 miles gives me a total intake of about 96 ounces during the 4-hour race. This is within the recommended amount of water intake. Cool.