Forums >Health and Nutrition>Beware Overhydration
not bad for mile 25
The BAA article is pretty good, but on one point disagrees with the Science of Sport series; namely, BAA says that sports drinks may delay the onset of hyponatremia, whereas SoS says they may actually accelerate it by increasing thirst.
Why is it sideways?
I think that the danger of hyponatremia is exaggerated.
The basic point is the human body (for reasons that should be pretty obvious considering our natural history) does not require an absolutely full tank of liquid to run to its maximum potential.
Given that reality, and the fact that human attention has a narrow bandwidth, whatever mental energy that is spent on keeping the tank totally full is probably misplaced at best, possibly detrimental to performance (especially if you are peeing a lot, given weight considerations, not to mention disrupting your running rhythm every mile or so to drink, stomach issues, getting run over by Dopplebock at the water stop, etc.) in the case of the super-water conscious could lead to illness and potentially death.
So, yeah, plan to drink some water in the race, especially if it's hot. But don't worry about keeping the tank totally full.
Good Bad & The Monkey
BAA says that sports drinks may delay the onset of hyponatremia, whereas SoS says they may actually accelerate it by increasing thirst.
I am not sure there is adequate evidence on either side of this issue.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
My point is that people want to wave the ultimate flag of "possible death oh my god" in order to make the case that we should beware of overhydration, when you can make a simple common sense and performance-based decision about this without invoking such extremes.
It's important to be aware that behind much of the advice you hear about nutrition and fueling during a marathon and/or training may lie a market interest. That market interest is hardly ever going to say that less is more when it comes to consumption of pretty much anything.
+37.
About a month or so ago, I went for a run around MN's popular running area--Lake Harriet. It was pretty cold--not like the last few days when it's unseasonably (crazily) warm at 70-80 but more like 30s and cold wind was running over the icy lake. I had a hat on but regretted it because the cold wind was making my ears hurt (and head)!! We saw a whole bunch of people running with a bunch of water bottles around their waist or in their hands. Unless you're running for a super long time like 3 or 4 or 5 hours, which, God knows, they might but I kinda doubt it. I just kept thinking, would we really need to hydrate ourselves in a condition like this? Now, they MAY have been heading out for their super long runs, who knows... I still remember; 2006 Boston Marathon, we ran the 5k race the day before. It was barely 50F and we were running 3 miles... And we could spot at least a half a dozen people with one of those water bottle belt...
When I posted the picture of those stupid Japanese students driving right into the ocean, this is the thing. Someone, or an article, said you should drink every 4 miles; so you drink every 4 miles until you go unconscious...or dead???