I refuse to carry anything. Just hate doing it. Thus, all of my long runs involve stops for water at a bare minimum. I stash bottles and stop to drink. I have never checked the time but I probably stop for a minute or so. I did a 20 mile run yesterday and between stopping to drink and stopping to cross the road a couple of times, I was stopped for a total of 7 minutes but I ran for 2:35. Importantly, I put in 12 x 1 minute accelerations with 1 minute jogs after Mile 15 but I made sure when I was on the quality portion that I was on part of the route where I wouldn't need to stop. In looking at several of my previous long runs, I'm typically stopped anywhere from 3-7 minutes out of the 2:00-2:30 that I'm running.
I figure that as long as I don't a) stop during a quality portion of the run or b) let my heart rate drop under 100 b.p.m., then the stopping is irrelevant.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
It used to bug me, but running outside for 3 winters now has immunized me from it. In one 2 hour run this winter, I had to stop 4 times. My bladder really can't handle the cold. That's just the way it is. Does it affect my run? It does give me some rest, that's for sure. But I never stop unless I have to. I couldn't decide not to stop even if it was proven that it is better not to. Again, that's just the way it is, for me.
MTA: You were seeking for an opinion, and I gave you a slice of my life. That's just the way it is with this forum
I got into the habit when I first started doing runs over an hour of eating Cliff shots before I got to the county regional park, then getting water at the park and using their indoor facilities. Every time. Even if I didn't really need the water, shots or pee break. I think this year, I have only used the park facilities once. But it is nice to know there are indoor facilities on my route.
You sir, have nailed it.
Former Bad Ass
I don't really put much attention to that because the necessary stops I have during a normal run (I cannot evade lights down here and I don't have trails to run consecutively) never happen in the race. My guess is that any breaks (being so short even though cumulatively large) will not affect too much to be a concern.
Damaris