dcm- getting stuff passed to you on route

Ososlo

I plan on getting some drinks passed to me on the course. I really want to use the same mixture I've been using in training and it's a real hassle trying to do this myself whilst running. I'm going to pick the spots really carefully and make sure that the people passing me drinks know exactly where to be and what time etc and I'll make sure they have flags and I wear a bright top.

Have you done this with success/failure before?
I'll arrange it so that it's before a water stop so that if it all falls apart I have a backup.

Krusty_Clown

It would certainly be far easier if you had your supporters meet you at quiet spots en-route, rather than the busier spots. If it's a nice day, there will be lots of supporters. Some suggestions:
1) Mile 5-6: Chesterfield Avenue - Pick a landmark (not on the corners).
2) Mile 9: Chapelizod Hill - under the bridge (also known as RacoonQueen's spot!).
3) Mile 15-16: Alongside Bushy Park
4) Mile 20-21: Roebuck Road
5) Mile 22-23: Nutley Lane (after RTE).
6) Merrion Road / Shelbourne Road

ThePiedPiper

Ososlo,

You'll also need to work out what your actual requirements are, and what you're starting with, etc.

For example, if you start with one bottle of your own drink, how long can that take you? Have an exact point earmarked for your friend to be at, for example, 100 metres after the 8 mile mark on the right hand side of the road or something. Nothing worse than searching frantically for someone when you're depending on them.

I did this in a couple of my early marathons, had a family member pass me on a bottle of Lucozade Sport. Worked well. The way I did it was to get two of them who were supporting me to work together, one of them stayed about 50 metres away from the other, so if I missed the first one, I got the second... Strategy was good, but resulted in one of the funnier in-race incidents I ever had, my overzealous father-in-law running at full speed across the road to give me a drinks bottle, nearly clattering about three angry French men in the process, about 19-20 miles in at the Paris Marathon... Hilarious...

Cleanman

I cycled most of DCM (from about mile 10 to mile 23) last year supporting a friend. I had a bag full of her goodies. The strategy was to cycle at the general pace she was running at (I didn't cycle along side her but was never far away) and every now and then, she'd let me know what she needed (vasaline, sports drink, food etc). I'd then cycle ahead about 200 meters and have it ready for her. Worked a treat. She was going at a nice slow pace which made it a lot easier. Don't know if it would work as well with someone going sub 3 hour pace.

ThePiedPiper

Ososlo,

Please don't do what Cleanman is suggesting. It is a total distraction, annoyance and possible danger for other runners, and is against the rules in the vast majority of races for a reason.

TRR

RunForestRun wrote: »

Ososlo,

Please don't do what Cleanman is suggesting. It is a total distraction, annoyance and possible danger for other runners, and is against the rules in the vast majority of races for a reason.

Agreed, bikes not allowed on course and marshalls and Gardai are told to remove cyclists. Nothing wrong if off the course (although cycling on footpaths raises different issues).

Best thing to do is look at the course map and figure out what you want and when and then pick a couple of good spots, one person can easily get around 3-4 spots on the route by taking shortcuts etc Some runners have tried this approach too

Murph_D

I wonder though Ososlo - is this really the way to go? What you are proposing is going to add a lot of stress and hassle to your day. What is this mystery mix anyway? Could you get by with a few packets of jellies and the odd Zero tab?

RacoonQueen

I would agree with Murph, you'll have even added stress if someone isn't where you expect them to be on the day.

What I would do is plan to carry what I am going to need and have people standing at certain points with emergency rations. It'll be a bonus then if you get this stuff but you won't be relying on it.

There are plenty of quiet parts on the route, where you can set up people to be exactly where you want them to be but bear in mind with traffic restrictions etc they may not make it there when you need them.

Ososlo

thanks for the replies folks.
Murph and RC, yeah I realise it could be stressful. But I'm not going to let it be. My ideal scenario is if I get passed my bottles seamlessly, but in reality I know that might not happen. I do have a backup plan.
Was just wondering if other people here have done it with success and it's not a totally stupid idea.
Lucozade sport I find hard on the stomach so want it watered down as i've been doing all along in training. I can do it myself if necessary and add in my electrode tab.
As I said, its just my ideal scenario. Both myself and the people waiting for me know not to stress out if it doesn't go to plan. They want to be out supporting me anyways, so they might aswell do something useful:D

I picked out 3 spots today and the very understanding and patient OH (deserves a medal himself after what he's had to endure lately:o) drove me to each spot and I got familiar with them as I don't know the southside very well. Picked a very specific spot on Chesterfield Avenue in park, an area past Halfway House Pub on Walkinstown Road and a spot on Clonskeagh Road.
Thanks again for the suggestions/advice. If it happens it happens, if it...

SnailsPace

Or do what I did last year and hopefully this year...

Make up 2 bags of stuff and go out at 7pm on Sunday night and stash them in hedges...

Believe it or not uts the business.... No- one is looking through their front garden hedges between 7pm and 11am..

SnailsPace

About 10 secs twice in the race, at my pace it dies not really matter.

10 secs spent on the bag saves 15 mins if you hit the wall.

Dogs do not tend to piss 3 foot up in air , bags are double bagged with zip locks inside.

Peckham

Is it against the rules to have anything handed to you during the race, apart from through official aid stations? Or does this rule only apply to those competing for prizes?

kkcatlou

Ososlo wrote: »

I plan on getting some drinks passed to me on the course. I really want to use the same mixture I've been using in training and it's a real hassle trying to do this myself whilst running. I'm going to pick the spots really carefully and make sure that the people passing me drinks know exactly where to be and what time etc and I'll make sure they have flags and I wear a bright top.

Have you done this with success/failure before?
I'll arrange it so that it's before a water stop so that if it all falls apart I have a backup.

I did this last year. Didn't bring any gels or water with me. Had my boyfriend meet me in five spots with them. He had done DCM three times before with his family doing this (for 3 hr marathon) and it worked no problem. We both know the route really well, and he could spot me ages away, so he was calling for me long in advance....I was a bit nervous as I don't wear glasses/ contacts while running, but honestly, it worked without a hitch. This time I'm going to carry 3 gels with me and have people meet me in 2 spots. The marathon passes the front door of my house, so it's very handy as an aid station!

I can't see anything to stress about as people have said. Just make sure you wear something distinctive and are responsive to your name being called...and know what side of the road he'll be on!

Krusty_Clown

Peckham wrote: »

Is it against the rules to have anything handed to you during the race, apart from through official aid stations? Or does this rule only apply to those competing for prizes?

I think it's the same as the 'pacing' rule, i.e. only applies to those competing in the National Marathon Championships. I guess it's a little biased in favour of the elite runners who have their own official drink stations available (certainly in other marathons), though without any travelling international elite runners, I'm not sure if that'll be the case this year.

Condo131

For info:
IAAF Rules of Competition 2012-13

These rules apply to all races run under IAAF (...and AAI) rules. In reality, outside top level competition, they are certainly NOT policed.
As a race organiser, I'm certainly not going to prevent anyone receiving refreshments during a race, however a Championship race would be a different matter.

Drinking / Sponging and Refreshment Stations
8.
(a) Water and other suitable refreshments shall be available at the start and finish of all races.

(b) For all events up to and including 10km, water only drinking / sponging stations shall be provided at suitable intervals of approximately 2-3km if weather conditions warrant such provision.
Note: Mist stations may also be arranged, when considered appropriate under certain organisational and/or climatic conditions.

(c) For all events longer than 10km, refreshment stations shall be provided at approximately every 5km. In addition, water only drinking / sponging stations shall be placed approximately midway between the refreshment stations or more frequently if weather conditions warrant such provision.

(d) Refreshments, which may be provided either by the Organising Committee or the athlete, shall be made available at the stations nominated by the athlete. They shall be placed so that they are easily accessible to, or may be put by authorised persons into the hands of, the athletes. Refreshments provided by the athletes shall be kept under the supervision of officials designated by the Organising Committee from the time that the refreshments are lodged by the athletes or their representatives.

(e) Such authorised persons may not enter the course nor obstruct any athlete. They may hand the refreshment to the athlete either from behind, or from a position no more than one metre in front or to the side of, the table.

(f) In competitions held under Rules 1.1(a), (b), (c) and (f), a maximum of two officials per Country may be stationed behind the table at any one time. No official shall, under any circumstances, run beside an athlete while he is taking refreshment or water.

(g) An athlete who collects refreshment from a place other than the refreshment stations renders himself liable to disqualification by the Referee.

Krusty_Clown

Ososlo wrote: »

thanks for the replies folks.
Murph and RC, yeah I realise it could be stressful. But I'm not going to let it be. My ideal scenario is if I get passed my bottles seamlessly, but in reality I know that might not happen. I do have a backup plan.
Was just wondering if other people here have done it with success and it's not a totally stupid idea.
Lucozade sport I find hard on the stomach so want it watered down as i've been doing all along in training. I can do it myself if necessary and add in my electrode tab.
As I said, its just my ideal scenario. Both myself and the people waiting for me know not to stress out if it doesn't go to plan. They want to be out supporting me anyways, so they might aswell do something useful:D

I picked out 3 spots today and the very understanding and patient OH (deserves a medal himself after what he's had to endure lately:o) drove me to each spot and I got familiar with them as I don't know the southside very well. Picked a very specific spot on Chesterfield Avenue in park, an area past Halfway House Pub on Walkinstown Road and a spot on Clonskeagh Road.
Thanks again for the suggestions/advice. If it happens it happens, if it...

Ososlo, it's definitely worth investing some time in future to reduce your dependency on external parties to provide you with fuel. It very much limits your options in terms of long runs and foreign marathons. As far as I remember, the sports drink tables are in close proximity to the water bottle tables, so in theory you should be able to grab one of each and dilute as needed, but you'd likely need to slow down. There should be no need to add an electrolyte tablet to a sports drink (if that's what you were suggesting) as I'd imagine that the Lucozade would contain a very similar profile of electrolytes. But at the end of the day, if that's what you trained with, you might as well stick with it for your first marathon and worry about perfecting your in-race fuelling for subsequent races.

My first marathon was in Longford, and my OH was good enough to drive around to various parts of the course (not on the course!), to hand me gels and sports drink and by the end of the race I was as sick as a dog. Complete sugar over-load. The temptation for your first marathon is to over-think everything; to believe that success lies in having absolute control over everything throughout the race, where in fact, it's more important to make adjustments as you wind your way around the course, to suit your specific needs at each point in time. Nowadays, if I can't carry it, then its not worth carrying. If there are drinks on the course, I do my best to use them occasionally during training, otherwise, I give them a miss and rely on water and the gels I'm carrying. Anyway, that's all for another day. Enjoy the final week of taper.