How to get fully hydrated for long runs

guest — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:57:01 GMT

Nancy, I am training for a marathon. I know I should drink on my long runs but where I run, no water is available. Is there any way I can super-hydrate so I don't have to drink on the long runs?

No, you cannot super-hydrate. Your body is like a sponge and can absorb just so much fluid at one time. Then, it starts to seep. You can start your long runs fully hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids the day before. Drink enough so your urine is pale colored and you have to urinate at least every two to four hours.

On the day of the long run, drink plenty of fluids (water, juice, even coffee or tea are OK) up to 1.5 to 2 hours before the start of the run. Then stop drinking, so you’ll have plenty of time to eliminate the excess and hopefully avoid the need for an unwanted pit stop. Within 15 minutes before you start the long run, drink again to get water into your system.

To enhance fluid retention on the day of the long run, eat something salty with your pre-run breakfast. This will help keep water in your body.

--Add some salt to your oatmeal.

--Enjoy some chicken noodle soup.

--Eat a bagel with peanut butter.

--Have salted rice or potato.

These foods offer far more sodium than you will get from any sports drink. (Compare labels and you’ll discover 8 ounces of Gatorade has only 110 mg sodium, whereas a Thomas’s bagel has 400 to 500 milligrams sodium.)

I also suggest you hide bottles of sports drinks or water along the running route. Part of training is to train your intestinal tract. For you to go from drinking nothing during training to consuming fluid every 20 minutes during the marathon might be asking for transit trouble. Be wise and practice drinking during the long runs. You'll not only run better but will also recover better.

Exercising in the heat

guest — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:47:17 GMT

June 10, 2008

We’ve had a streak of hot weather here in Boston, and most endurance athletes aren’t use to it yet. Be sure to not only drink enough fluids during exercise but also add a little sodium to your pre-exercise stint in the heat if you plan to be outside for a while. The sodium helps retain the fluids in your body (as oposed to have them go in one end and out the other) and can help delay dehydration and enhance your endurance. While on a daily basis you want to monitor your sodium intake, a little extra before hot weather exercise can be a wise choice.

Some possible choices are chicken noodle soup (or any canned brothy soup), V-8 juice, salted pretzels, pickles, ham and cheese sandwich with mustard – or any salted/salty food, before you go. This will be a change in eating patterns for health-conscious endurance athletes who cook their oatmeal without salt, rarely eat canned or processed foods, and have no salt shaker on the table.

You might lose 800 to 1,000 mg sodium per pound of sweat. (Weigh yourself pre and post exercise to figure our how many pounds of sweat you lose in an hour.) While you need not get obsessed about replacing sodium milligram for milligram, reading food labels can give you a frame of reference regarding how much you replace via foods. For example--

A quart of Gatorade offers 440 mg sodium

A can of chicken noodle soup offers 2,350 mg

Eight ounces of rrange juice has only 5 mg

Generally, if you crave salt, you should eat salt. The chapter on Repalcing Sweat Losses in my Sports Nutrition Guidebook offers more information. (See www.nancyclarkrd.com)

Enjoy that pretzel!

Nancy

Blog Posts From Active Expert: Nancy Clark RD CSSD Tagged With dehydration

How to get fully hydrated for long runs

Exercising in the heat