cewait
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2000
- Messages
- 5,695
Its the beginning of training season for many winter and spring marathoners. There are lots of new runners who may have a few questions on how to keep hydrated in both training and the race. Hydration is important as too little (dehydration) or too much (hyponatremia) are both detrimental to performance and frankly dangerous in the extreme. Performance can degrade to the point of dropping out if you lose 2% body weight during a run
that equates to a 3 pound loss for a 150 pound runner. Put another way that is approximately 48 oz under hydrated through the race or just missing 2 ounces every aid station in the marathon. However, it is also important to note that following the old rule of drink now, drink often and do not wait until thirsty is not always a wise rule to follow.
Staying properly hydrated is not an exact science. Likewise, my personal hydration plan may not work for many who may read this. The key word is personal. Endurance athletes need to determine out how much liquid you should bring on board per hour of exercise. It is not hard to figure out if you understand that a pint of water weighs just over a pound. A pint (16 oz) is two 8 oz cups or about 4-6 paper cups of fluid on race day. Paper cups are in the 6 ounce range and are generally only half full.
How do you figure out what your hydration needs are?
The best method is to weigh yourself before you dress for a training run. Note the weight and the amount of any fluids you drink after weighing. Dress and then head out the door. Ideally, your run should last at least an hour so that you are out long enough to need water and so that the initial few moments of little or limited sweating does not play a large role in the math. When you finish your run, come in, strip off the wet clothing, dry and reweigh. If your hydration was perfect, your weight would be the same post run. That means that you drank exactly what you sweat. If you weight is less, you did not bring on as much fluid as you lost and likewise, if you weigh more, then you drank more than required. Using the 1 pint = 1 pound relationship, if you lost a pound in an hour run, you were about 16 oz of fluid low on your intake. A half pound; 8 oz per hour low.
Now that you know if you were short or long on hydration needs; look at the volume you consumed during the run. If you drank 16 oz in an hour and lost a pound your hydration needs are 32 oz of fluids an hour (16 oz consumed plus 16 oz light). Keep a log of this every long run. After a few weeks you will start to zero in on the correct fluid intake. The log will also help you understand weather impacts as well as previous nights food/drink impacts. Generally, you will not need as much fluid on a 60F day as you will on an 80F day. However, do not fool yourself into believing that say at 30F you have no hydration needs. You will sweat even in subzero weather just not as much as 100F.
So what should you drink?
Absent anything else, water. There are benefits of training with a sport drink on longer runs, but this can be a hassle if you are say a 15 minute pacer and are running 20 miles. That is 4 hours worth of liquids you need to have on the ready. If you do train with a sport drink, try to consume the drink used in the race. It is always a great idea to do this a few times anyway, especially if your target race is using a sport drink new to your system.
You may want to mix the sport drink at half strength. Also, using a powder mix is preferable to a premix, especially in training. All races mix sport drink on course. It is done by good intending volunteers who may not fully understand how to get powder into solution. Fortunately, many RDs ask these crews to mix at 50% strength. This is not to save money as much as it is an attempt to get as much powder into solution. You really do not want to serve sport drink with crystals floating in the solution. Also, since most long races are run in cooler weather, it is harder to mix powder into cool water. I say this to let you know that your race day sport drink will taste weaker than out of the bottle. Also, to let you know that some bottled versions of sport drink are not the same as those mixed from powder. The most notable example is PowerAde where Coke uses a slightly different supplement pack and HFCS for the simple carb in the bottled version.
What else should I think about?
Hydration is really more than what do I do during my run or workout. It should be a daily priority for athletes. One should drink 8-10 glasses of water daily. Your urine should have just a pale color unless influenced by you vitamin pack. You should note that a cup of coffee or glass of tea is really a neutral liquid input. The caffeine brought on board through the drink can also function as a diuretic, offsetting the glass you just consumed. While 8-10 is a guideline, dont go out and try 18-20 thinking that if 1-10 is good then 20 must be better. There is a balance.
I think this sums up my thoughts. I am sure that there is something that I may have glossed through or over or just plain missed. Feel free to ask questions.
Have fun as your training programs kick off!
Staying properly hydrated is not an exact science. Likewise, my personal hydration plan may not work for many who may read this. The key word is personal. Endurance athletes need to determine out how much liquid you should bring on board per hour of exercise. It is not hard to figure out if you understand that a pint of water weighs just over a pound. A pint (16 oz) is two 8 oz cups or about 4-6 paper cups of fluid on race day. Paper cups are in the 6 ounce range and are generally only half full.
How do you figure out what your hydration needs are?
The best method is to weigh yourself before you dress for a training run. Note the weight and the amount of any fluids you drink after weighing. Dress and then head out the door. Ideally, your run should last at least an hour so that you are out long enough to need water and so that the initial few moments of little or limited sweating does not play a large role in the math. When you finish your run, come in, strip off the wet clothing, dry and reweigh. If your hydration was perfect, your weight would be the same post run. That means that you drank exactly what you sweat. If you weight is less, you did not bring on as much fluid as you lost and likewise, if you weigh more, then you drank more than required. Using the 1 pint = 1 pound relationship, if you lost a pound in an hour run, you were about 16 oz of fluid low on your intake. A half pound; 8 oz per hour low.
Now that you know if you were short or long on hydration needs; look at the volume you consumed during the run. If you drank 16 oz in an hour and lost a pound your hydration needs are 32 oz of fluids an hour (16 oz consumed plus 16 oz light). Keep a log of this every long run. After a few weeks you will start to zero in on the correct fluid intake. The log will also help you understand weather impacts as well as previous nights food/drink impacts. Generally, you will not need as much fluid on a 60F day as you will on an 80F day. However, do not fool yourself into believing that say at 30F you have no hydration needs. You will sweat even in subzero weather just not as much as 100F.
So what should you drink?
Absent anything else, water. There are benefits of training with a sport drink on longer runs, but this can be a hassle if you are say a 15 minute pacer and are running 20 miles. That is 4 hours worth of liquids you need to have on the ready. If you do train with a sport drink, try to consume the drink used in the race. It is always a great idea to do this a few times anyway, especially if your target race is using a sport drink new to your system.
You may want to mix the sport drink at half strength. Also, using a powder mix is preferable to a premix, especially in training. All races mix sport drink on course. It is done by good intending volunteers who may not fully understand how to get powder into solution. Fortunately, many RDs ask these crews to mix at 50% strength. This is not to save money as much as it is an attempt to get as much powder into solution. You really do not want to serve sport drink with crystals floating in the solution. Also, since most long races are run in cooler weather, it is harder to mix powder into cool water. I say this to let you know that your race day sport drink will taste weaker than out of the bottle. Also, to let you know that some bottled versions of sport drink are not the same as those mixed from powder. The most notable example is PowerAde where Coke uses a slightly different supplement pack and HFCS for the simple carb in the bottled version.
What else should I think about?
Hydration is really more than what do I do during my run or workout. It should be a daily priority for athletes. One should drink 8-10 glasses of water daily. Your urine should have just a pale color unless influenced by you vitamin pack. You should note that a cup of coffee or glass of tea is really a neutral liquid input. The caffeine brought on board through the drink can also function as a diuretic, offsetting the glass you just consumed. While 8-10 is a guideline, dont go out and try 18-20 thinking that if 1-10 is good then 20 must be better. There is a balance.
I think this sums up my thoughts. I am sure that there is something that I may have glossed through or over or just plain missed. Feel free to ask questions.
Have fun as your training programs kick off!
so I would appreciate any inputs you have Coach (or anyone else) who has found a personal formula that works.
