Hydration

[Fredrick Teichert]

How do you stay hydrated on long runs?
At mile six of my run today I followed the prompting to go into the bushes and then I just stood there like a kid with stage fright. Nothing. (I'm trying to keep this family friendly.) So I decided I must not be hydrating properly. Then I thought I might not even know how to hydrate properly... but I know a bunch of people who do. So, tell me everything. How do you stay hydrated on long runs? Do you carry water/sports drink with you? Set it out? How much? What's your favorite drink? Do you use fanny packs, camel paks? What do you like? Any and all information will be helpful. And thanks in advance.

[James Winzenz]

I am sure everyone has their own method - the important thing is to find out what works for you.  I have used a camelbak before - I can't use them.  It was just very irritating with the way it sat on my back and slid around, even when I tightened it up.  Personally, my favorite is to break my long run into about 6 mile segments that loop back to my house, and I stop and get a drink and a gel or something like that.  However, I know of others who will go out the night before and set out drinks and gels at certain points - that would certainly work as well.  You may want to consider experimenting with a couple different methods to find out what works best for you.  If you are running in an urban location, you could also consider just planning your route to include some gas stations or other places where you could stop and get a drink.  During the cooler months here in Arizona, I usually don't bother drinking during the run unless it is more than an hour.  Once it starts heating up, I will have to change that and hydrate more often, since I will be sweating much more.

That being said, I'm not sure that your experience shows you are not hydrating properly.  One good indicator of proper hydration is the color of your urine.  If it is clear to light yellow (think the color of lemonade, without the cloudiness), you are probably well hydrated.  If it is the color of, say, apple juice, that would indicate you are dehydrated and need to take in more fluids.  Listen to your body - it will tell you if you need more fluids.  If you find yourself thirsty a lot, your body is probably trying to tell you that you need more fluids.  Hope this helps.

[Adam R Wende]

The color test James mentions is the easiest indicator. As far as methods go there are plenty. I never stopped for water in the Chicago area for runs in winter only on summer runs over 10 miles, in St. Louis I would pick loops with drinking fountains. I didn't start carrying water until I moved to UT. Now for runs over 15 miles in the winter or over 10 miles in the summer I will carry water and gatorade in an Amphipod belt or run near parks with drinking fountains taking water every 3-4 miles. One thing that I do practice however for hydration on the longs runs is proper pre-hydration. I play with how much I can drink the night before and just before I head out to get me maximally hydrating without having to take a tree stop. Not that there is anything wrong with stopping to go in a marathon but working this out has helped prevent me from having to stop in 6 of my 7 marathons...

[Sasha Pachev]

I never drink anything during a training run unless it is 90 degrees or so. In which case I try to run at a better time of day if at all possible, or just slow the run down to decrease sweating. During a marathon I just drink Powerade or Gatorade at aid stations. I never force myself to drink - I am not thirsty I do not drink.

My opinion on hydration - the best way to avoid dehydration is to teach your body to retain water. I did notice increased ability to retain water as I kept improving my diet.

[steve ashbaker]

The best way is always to hydrate before. I drink 20-32 ounces of sports drink or water depending on the event. Any more will give you gastrointestinal issues and possibly be even dangerous.  That should be sufficient for training runs though. Competition is another story however and is always good to drink as frequently as possible along the way. Personal testimony I give you on that advice. Tim Noakes "lore of running" teaches optimal hydration strategy also. So I highly recommend it as it is packed with lots of useful data and advice on the subject.

[adam]

I try to always make sure I drink some water before heading out, usually a few hours beforehand (maybe 2x 16oz bottle over a few hours). But, for a morning run I will just grab a quick sip or two-mostly to get the morning breath out and wake up. I've had expierences were I haven't had much of a drink all day, and ran great, and had the opposite happen as well. I go by the color test most of the time, but I don't force it.

The body's mechanism for hydration allows it to keep what it needs and discard the rest, at least to a certain point. Which is why you "discard" clear and sometimes in high amounts. To much drinking can lead to hyponatremia.

When the body is dehydrated is when the hormones associated with water retention (ie, ADH) are firing at their highest rate (which is one reason you may drink alot afterwards and not discard much at all).

[Fredrick Teichert]

Awesome help, everybody! Just what I was hoping for. I'm experimenting now to see what's going to work best for me... and I'm sure I'll have to be flexible as I build up miles and as the weather changes. By the way, Sasha, didn't you tell me at one time that you didn't drink sports drinks during races? I think they gave you a stomach ache, so at the time you were drinking water and eating bananas. Has that changed?

[Jeff Linger]

Hydration isn't really something I've paid too closely attention to during runs, unless its over 90 in the summer here in St Louis. However, since I began increasing my mileage and intensity I have noticed that ever so often I will begin to 'cramp up' on some runs. Mostly its a gut-oriented cramp. Usually with some focused breathing I can fight my way through it. A few people mentioned that perhaps it was related to salt loss. I'm a considerable sweater and usually drink quite a bit after my runs. I tried playing around with a cup of hot water and a bouleon cube a few nights a week, but then stopped doing this when the cramping went away. I haven't had cramping issues in the last few months, but I've switched over to drinking a lot of gatorade and tang during the evening hours.

Any thoughts from some of the pros on the salt loss side of this discussion?

[Jon Allen]

I would say for high mileage runners, too little salt can be a bigger risk than too much salt, at least when it is hot out and you sweat a lot.  Unless you live on only TV dinners and other highly processed food, you don't really have to worry about too much salt.  Too little is a risk, though, such to the point that some professional runners (i.e. ultra runners) have to take sodium during long, hot summer races to avoid cramps.  I have never tried them, but I don't sweat very much.  I usually drink some gatorade immediately before/during long runs in the summer (though partly because I can drink more when it has a bit of flavor).

I'm curious what other think, since I'm kind of shooting from the hip here.

[adam]

Salt is essential in the body for a number of functions ranging from nerve impulses to muscle contraction and even down to cell maintenance. Salt loss can affect each one of these and other body functions. One interesting thing is that consuming electrolytes by themselves can cause severe problems, but when mixed with water (like in gatorade) they can replenish salt and other electrolyte levels quite well.

[Sasha Pachev]

One time I had a bad tempo run, see

http://sasha.fastrunningblog.com/blog-Started-morning-with-1-mile-jog-T/03-25-2006.html

I keep track of my pace and splits in my head, I know every quarter, how fast I should be running it on a normal day, so I know when I am on or off instantly even if it is by as little as 5 seconds a mile, and on that one it was a definite off.
It took me a while to figure out what was going on, see the story, but I finally did. I was low on sodium. So I learned that sodium was very important.

[Tom]

Amen on the importance of adequate salt/sodium. My 2nd marathon (and only one I didn't finish) I learned the hard way as I went loopy in the head about mile 21 and ended up in the ER for most of the day. I guess I finally passed out around mile 25. I don't remember anything much after about mile 24 and I wasn't able to think straight until about 1pm or so. Not a fun experience.

[Sean Sundwall]

I don't drink on runs less than 12-14 miles. Racing of course is different, but for training runs I dont' bother. I just make sure to rehydrate thrughout the day.

On the longer runs, I carry two 16-18oz water bottles with me and usually finish both of them. I've just gotten used to carrying them so it doesnt bother me.

[Dawson Hinton]

I guess I am a wimp, because I will carry a hydration pack with me on anything more than a one hour run (which for me will be about 6-6.3 miles).  I usually do not finish everything I take with me, but it is nice to know I have it if I start to feel kind of weird like sasha was talking about.  I usually use an electrolyte mix in water, although I cannot remember the name.  One thing I do know though, is that it took some time to get used to the taste!  A lot of the time I will mix it in crystal light to tame the aftertaste down.