water water water (Read 1978 times)

 

BUT hyponatremia seems to be more common in marathons than in ultras.  That may be a selection bias or some confounding, or it may relate to greater use of salt supplements in longer events.

Probably related to all the beer we drink. 

Drink Beer. Mostly after the race. Sometimes during.

How long of a run warrants water?  I feel like I'd need it after a half hour or at least my routine is a bit after a warmup.  (I need my routines!  But I'll get rid of the water break crutch if I don't need it...I generally stay hydrated during the day and especially before workouts.)

 

And how do you guys get it/carry it when you're running outside?  Any bags/holders of choice?  There are nice trails around where I live and so I looked into lumbar and waist packs 'n stuff but it's hard to find one that says "great for running!" with definitive good reviews since the reviews end up being people who say "5 stars - great for running errands, very comfortable for walking" and the like. 

 

(And since these forums seem to be quite the community, if you've read my other posts you know that I'm not really "there" yet where I'd /need/ water since I'm not even really running yet...but I am just being excited and just thinking ahead.  plus my job isn't exciting.  And while I'm thinking super far ahead, I hear that after an hour is when you might need to start bringing some calorie replenishment...)

First of all, as far as I'm concerned, when you had decided and took that first step out, you are already "there". 

That said, let me be a usual pain in the a$$ and give you the "analysis" of hudration.  I'd say it's 50% marketing; 30% habbit; 20% necessity.  You need to hydrate because, in order to cool your body, you need to sweat and by sweat evaporating and taking heat as it does from the skin.  And in order to keep sweating, you need liquid in your body; otherwise your cells will get dried up...sort of.  That's the main reason why you need to hydrate.  So...in other words, if it's cool enough and you really don't have a build-up of excess heat in your body, you really don't need to "hydrate"; or your exercise so short that there's no excess body heat build-up, then you probably don't need to hydrate.  A few years back, I was at Boston with my wife and we jumped in and participated their 5k race the day before (I think) the marathon.  It was like 50F tops; and it's a 5k race.  We saw a guy with one of those water bottle belt around his waist, not just one or two bottles but full 4 of them!  Chances are, he probably didn't need any of them.  On the contrary, your body is probably taking extra blood away from your working muscles in order to absorb water that went into your system; that means you'll be running slower.  Actually, probably best way to cool yourself may be just dump water over your body. 

Of course, for some, shoving a few seconds off your racing performance is not necessarily your objective of why you run.  You may actually rather "look cool" and fulfill running business marketing scheme and purchase whatever "they" tell you you'd need; that's fine too. 

Of course, marathoning, and beyond, is a bit different.  It is probably a good idea to start hydrating BEFORE your body starts sending a signal of thirst.  And it may even pay to start hydrating even if it feels rather cool.  You want to conserve energy as much as you can.  You can start cooling your system from the core earlier; if you start to sweat in early on, then your body will more likely to go in the over-drive earlier.  But for marathoning, hydrating should start 2 or 3 days before the actual race day.

I usually never take any sip but when I run with a runner in the summer, beyond 1:30 or so, I'd like to hide a frozen water bottle at about 1:15~1:30 into the run.  I would freeze a plastic water bottle the night before and a few hours before our run, I would drive over the course and hide the bottle in the bush or something.  During the run, it'll melt and, by the time we reach there, it'll be nice freezing cold water.