Run Aid Stations Best Practices Input Please...
Counting down the days to IMTX 2015, and I am looking for more input from you guys...don't let me down! 
I really love the "Go Bag" approach, and I am hoping you can help me speed up my aid station times. Basically in Kona and even Tremblant last year, I found that I was giving up lots of time to my competition at each aid station.
It's a "long" game where i bet on a faster overall 26.2, but basically if I enter an aid station with someone and do my thing (See below), they are a good 200m up the road by the time I start running again...after a while it felt like I was really racing the same 4 people all day in a bad game of seesaw.
Even our own Dave Tallo, who outexecuted me in Kona last year, showed no mercy through the aid stations.
Here's what I do:
- Run into station, grab sponge for face / head.
- Stop at Ice Person to get ice for hat / shorts.
- Walk to fluid person for a cup of sports drink (if I am eating this aid station, I will eat just as I enter to speed that step up).
- Sometimes two cups.
- More ice or water for head, then run it out.
This usually takes me 20 to 30 seconds per mile. I have "lost" races to folks where my running pace (Garmin) is faster, I just "out-aid-station" them.
I have thought about maybe walking every other aid station, assuming the HR is in a good place...but I am curious how you make this work faster?
Thanks Team!!
Comments
Hey Coach,
I had second thoughts about this very same thing after reviewing my Garmin/TP run file after TX last year. I was appalled to find that many of my "10-second" walk breaks were, in reality, 30-40 seconds. You "give up" 30 seconds at 20+ aid stations, and the math is gut-wrenching. My HR does indeed go down during each AS walk, but it jacks back up very quickly after I resume running. My quandary: If I hadn't taken those 20+ breaks, where my HR very temporarily decreased, would my HR have eventually hit the danger zone (for me, 160), causing me to walk it in, with the net being a slower overall time? Or could I have run 10 minutes faster by jogging through the AS instead of walking? I just don't know. But I've thought about it and am willing to mix things up (I've completed 5 IMs without a single walk break, so I know it's possible). FWIW, I plan on trying #4 below later this year.
Nothing you propose doing in the AS requires stopping or walking. So, you have options, depending on whether the weather is awesome (below 75) or just "cool for The Woodlands in mid-May" (75-84):
1) Don't fix what ain't broken. Go back and look at your run split from three years ago, when you stopped at each AS, and completely destroyed every single other guy in your AG.
2) Stick to the old, tried and true plan, just shorten the walks to 10 steps, perhaps only for ice re-load.
3) Stop at every other one unless you need to stop for HR or heat management. I think there were three AS stops at TX where I seriously needed to stop and ice off because that place got really hot for a while. I could have skipped the rest, especially on the third loop when strong wind "cooled" things off a bit. But if I had hit 160bpm, I definitely would have slowed and then walked the next AS.
4) Stop only if you need to for HR or heat management. This is what I would do if I were locked in a back-and-forth between 1st and 2nd or between 7th and 8th (I don't know how many KQ spots you expect in your AG for this Champs race with 75 total). You don't want to look back and reflect, "Sure, I missed a KQ by 1:40, but at least I executed my walk breaks perfectly."
5) One of the above, except stop the walk breaks at a pre-determined AS (i.e., Mile 18 or 20), at which point it's all running, all racing.
If the temps are "normal" (85-90), then I would fall back on #1 and do what you know works.
If the temps are extreme like 2013, then none of ^^ comes into play. It's just a game of survival. There were a lot of 4-hour AG-winning runs that year, and those AG winners weren't sprinting through the aid stations. They were shuffling from ice bath to ice bath.
The above potential approaches involve a balancing act between need and speed, depending on how your body is reacting to the conditions SW Texas delivers on May 16. I know you want the latter, but not at the total expense of the former. I hope you find that balance and tear it up. I'm very much looking forward to watching you and the rest of the team execute some great performances.
Coach - I literally jumped out of my seat when I saw the word "Stop" in that bullet list!
Here's my thought: if you are treating this race as a "Kona or Bust" affair, then you have to minimize the time spent walking, much less stopping. Some suggestions to consider; not necessarily intended to ALL be implemented:
I just did a half marathon on Sunday and did not stop or slow down once. I grabbed cups the same way I do on the bike, reaching out, and letting my arm flow back with the cup before pulling it away. I am a big believer in strategic walking on the IM marathon - my IM life changed when I started doing that. But you may not have that option?
I've never done one of these BUT I did volunteer for Run station 9 at Florida. The people who got what they wanted, fastest...outside the lead pros (who had a cyclist with (in front of) them barking out requests) were the ones who YELLED what they wanted early. I mean those guys were fast AGers who wanted stuff and LET US KNOW IT! We scrambled for those guys/gals. Many just didn't bother and went to the next station (I assume).
No need to be nice or pleasant up front... it's tough to know what you need if you don't speak up... if you feel the need to be nice, THANK you goes a long way. But really...we get it...I felt everyone at my station was TOTALLY into being fast, efficient, and pleasing the athlete. I wouldn't worry at all about coming off as a jerk. It doesn't even register.
Also, HITS Naples, same thing and it was hotter...the people who needed stuff, sponges, ice started barking it out early. They didn't want to stop or walk for long. You seem like a very nice person... if you can bark out some orders without raising your HR, do that.
While we're brainstormin':
-Your aid station starts about 30 seconds before you actually hit the aid station. It's here that you either slow down your running, or move into your walk break - with Job #1 being to get your heart rate down so your gut can absorb the yumminess, gels and fluids ahead. By the time you hit the station and grab your fill, you're starting to go again.
-folded cups. Pretty basic, but when you get a dixie cup of whatever fluid, kind of crush the rim so it folds into a oval, and drink from the spout on either end. Less fluid lost when jostled by running. And lets you carry 3 or 4 mostly full cups per hand.
-multiple loop courses. If you're fop and running a multiple loop course, have a very clear strategy and very clear fallback to provide for the very crowded aid stations on laps 2-plus. Anticipate that you may have to skip a station because it's too crowded to access anything. Expect that you will have people in front of you with different race expectations, and be prepared to do what you need to do to get nutrition. Expect overwhelmed volunteers who might not have a gel or bananna in hand at the moment you pass by, and have a contingency.
-And that contingency includes always always always grab two gels when you only need one. No matter what, no matter when in the race. So, you'll always have a extra gel in your jersey, which is critical for the above bullet, but better yet, if you skip back to bullet #1, and at 30 seconds out from your upcoming aid station, you eat that gel, slow down, get water to wash it down/ ice / etc, and you're back at it with minimal run VI.
-I agree with the earlier point about yelling your request at the station. I'm Canadian, so I yell "Please, may I have ... sir/madam," but you get the point. And no joke on this: use this in combination with looking at the volunteer with your beverage of choice Directly in the Eyes, and actually point at them as you shout "water," or whatever. Remain locked onto that volunteer. Overkill, maybe, but for that brief 5 seconds you are bonded like Avatar and there is no way your water is going to go to anyone but you.
-Pee. Kinda gross, but if we're counting seconds, the aid station shuffle / slower run pace is where it happens. But it doesn't happen in the port potty. I've only been able to achieve the fabled "pee without dropping pace" in a few races; otherwise, it's bringing the run down to a shuffling jog, making what needs to happen happen, dumping some water to give the fiction of being cleaned up, and moving' on.
-Plastic baggie for ice. This goes against a recent post I made about cooling clothes and other gear, but it is worthwhile to have a sturdy ziplock baggie - not the sandwich ones, the thick freezer ones - in your singlet. at an ice station, pull that out and dump the ice from your cups into it. There, you have a longer-lasting ice pack than the open melting pieces to stuff in your shorts, hat, or jersey and keep the ice icier, longer.
-As with everything in tri execution, the simpler, the better.
thanks for the topic.
i like the freezer bag for ice idea. will do that.
I think the main thing that got me done to 3:25 at texas last year was moving faster through the aid stations. for us big guys, like folks are saying, we do have to take the time to get the cooling stuff - water and ice.
for bike aide stations, i do the stare and point thing to get bottles and gels. i need to do this more on the run. i do the shout thing but adding sir/madam, etc. sounds like a way to do it without sounding like a jerk.
The only thing I'll add to what's already been suggested is not to do everything on your list at every aid station. For example, get ice at every third station, get a sponge at every other station or every 4th or 5th station. When you skip the sponge pour water over your head. If you get ice, skip the sponge. Of course take in fluids at every station. So, instead of doing 4-5 things at every aid station, you'll be doing 2-3 things, which will shorten your walk time. I was forced to make these decisions at a couple races because there were lines for ice and sponges at several aid stations. Good Luck.
No matter what you do (regardless of temps/conditions) walk at every aid station... Minimum 10 steps (this is enough time to slow , take a breath, drink , take a breath and get moving ) maximum 20 steps but count them this is where time disappears ... No exceptions this is by far the best advice on execution I have ever received from EN.... But only to eat/drink because doing those 2 things will cause your HR to go up.... Everything else "heat management" can be done on the fly without causing the HR to go up! At somewhere between mile 18-23 , I would give yourself permission to "run thru".... At mile 23-24 I even stop drinking anything at an aid station since your mere minutes away from all the fluid you can handle ....
Just like transitions.... Less moving parts.... Go over everything you do and see if you can eliminate any moving parts... I like a gel flask with my gels and any added sodium I want mixed into it... Run with in my hand, put it in top of tri-suit thru aid stations to free up hands.... The only thing I need at an aid station is fluid and heat management !
Updated below...thanks so much to all of you...very helpful to have a strategy here. I know I run well, but in my relentless search for improvement, no stone can be left unturned!
Here's what I am thinking...any additional feedback appreciated for sure!
Aid Station Process -- Execute and Back to Running 10 steps or less!
Eating / Sponge Stop (Think: Eat + Drink):
Eat gel / block prior to entering station.
Call volunteer for specific fluid, walk TEN STEPS, spike and drink.
Start running.
Grab extra water / sponges on exit.
Drinking / Ice Stop (Think: Drink + Ice):
Run past sponges.
Call volunteer for specific fluid, walk TEN STEPS, spike and drink.
Start running.
Ice in Ziplock as you run.
Grab any sponges / extra water on Exit.
Closing Miles (18 to 22):
Really tighten this up. Fuel and anticipate final mile push. Get calories and steel self mentally.
Final Miles (22+):
Run through aid stations.
Switch to coke only.