my truck said 95 yesterday also, and I thought it was wrong. we went to summer and I think it is still technically winter.

 

glad I had a water on my way to the mail box yesterday

It is 8 degrees here today.  So yeah, it's definitely still winter   It won't be warm here until the first week of June, and probably won't even be "not cold" until May.

In terms of 5k water stops - meh.  I don't use them, and I never did even when I was a noob because I didn't feel like fighting crowds, but they don't bother me.  It doesn't slow me down at all because few people near me use them either so there is no crowding.  If they help someone out, then great.

Is there a distance we ALL would agree that there is no need for water aid station ? Mile ? 1k ? 800 meters ?

I'd assume that nobody would need water for 100 meters dash, but apparently a lot of people think that there is a need for it during a 5k race.

Just for the record, I could not care less if there are or are not water aid stations in 5k races. Doesn't affect me, but others might appreciate it so why not.

Just like the resolutioners at the gym.  Without the guys paying for an entire year and not using it, the gym rats would have to pay more.

And thank goodness all those resolutions get broken, otherwise the locker rooms would be as crowded the rest of the year as they are in January.

Hmmm, without online sources I didn't know there were races, Without online forums, I would have never known to expect aid stations. With real life input from LRS, I was told that trail races generally don't have aid stations - and they knew where I'd gotten the misinformation. 5k races might be in mountains or on snow and take a bit longer. I just take my own stuff and don't expect anyone to provide for me in most races. If it weren't for the internet, I wouldn't have expected anyone to provide for me. And I'm one of the last finishers.

But that's fine if races want to provide an aid station and people want to use it.

While our temperatures are generally cool, a hot day with competitive racers can bring even the fastest and most experienced down, and that was for a 3-3.5mi race (course record about 43+min, iirc).

As an RD (mtn bike race - about 45-90 min for most), it's not something I would have even thought about doing - partly because I've never seen it done in any of my races. (one of my 10ks and one HM have had aid; both marathons had aid; ultras didn't) And it never occurred to me to advertise there was no aid, and no one's ever complained. (we did have local ice cream at the finish )

Go to any track meet and watch the 10,000. How many water stations do you think you'll see? "Want" and "need" are not synonymous terms.

On very hot days the organizers may, I repeat may, set up a sprinkler or have someone with a hose to spray water on runners if requested.

While I and others may comment on how we used to run marathons, even in the heat, with no water or aid stations back in the day, that shows it was possible een if it wasn't wise. That was also in ignorance of the need for hydration and its importance. Pop running mags and gurus have brainwashed us into believing a set of basic rules that have some basis in fact, but have been tossed around so much, misused, abused, and twisted (like needing hydration in a 5K or the 10% rule), that they've almost becoome useless except as a starting point to correct misconceptions.

So at what point is hydration "needed" during a run? Ever?

When you get thirsty. That may sounds sarcastic, but that's what most recent studies have shown. Drink when you're thirsty. Mild dehydration of 1-2% of body weight loss through perspiration is not going to hurt you and will have minimal impact on performance. It's when you get up to 3-4% and more that it becomes a problem. Keep in mind there is also a limit on how quickly you can absorb fluids, so drinking more will just have it sloshing around in your stomach.

It does seem there are two schools of thought, forgetting about the 5k example but consider a marathon. Most of what you read these days will state you should drink x ounces of water per y minutes or miles, relating to temperature, body weight, intensity, whatever. This school states you should drink water/gatorade at a certain frequency; if you wait till you're thirsty it's too late to counteract the effects of insufficient hydration.

The other school I have been seeing more of recently is exactly "drink when you're thirsty".

 

For anyone who's still following this thread - comments?

I've trained myself to not rely so much on hydration and fuel during my training runs. To do that, I wait as long as I can before stopping for water. I've gone from 7-8 miles in the beginning to being able to do 20 miles without any stopping for hydration. Of course, I'm not talking about summer temps, here. But even in warmer temperatures, I'm able to last quite a long time. In a race, it's different. I want to drink before I feel thirst. Just a few sips is enough. 4 or 5 times in a marathon. Usually after the 10th mile. I don't even feel thirsty at that point, but I make a point to drink anyway. I've made the mistake of waiting until the 16th or 17th mile before, when I was already thirsty at that point, and the finish of that marathon was disastrous... It was a 30F day that day, which shows that we need to drink even in colder temps.