All runners need to understand the role of hydration in their health and performance. It’s as simple as that. How good we are at putting fluids into our bodies can be the difference between feeling good and dropping out of a race — it’s that important. Why? Let’s start with a basic fact: Your body is mostly water. Different types of fluids comprise your blood, help your muscles work, allow your food to digest and keep your brain functioning. Your body is a complex machine in which fluids play many different functions.
Fluid also plays a key role in keeping you cool. When you get hot, sweat flows out through your skin’s pores to cool you down. For all the inside of your body knows, that liquid is gone. It’s no longer there to be a part of your blood volume, your digestive system or to keep your muscles functioning. When fluids get low on the inside, every system has a tougher time doing its job.
If you still aren’t convinced of hydration’s importance, keep in mind these bodily fluids’ chemical make-ups need to maintain a certain composition to perform their individual functions. A group of key minerals called electrolytes, for one, allow their liquid hosts to move through some barriers like cell walls while still remaining in the spaces they’re allowed. When we run low on these minerals — sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium, to be specific — the body’s chemistry gets out of whack. This disruption can lead to cramps, diarrhea, swelling, headaches, confusion and more. All in all, your job as a runner is to keep this careful mix of fluids and minerals in balance. Otherwise, you run the risk of facing all these problems.
[See: Summer Workouts: How to Handle the Heat.]
So before you take another step, take a sip — and ask yourself these five questions:
1. Are you drinking enough fluid?
Most runners generally don’t drink enough liquids. Healthy humans need to consume a fair amount of fluid in their daily lives to keep their bodies functioning correctly. Runners need even more because they lose some of it through sweat when they’re exercising. Guidelines vary as to how much fluid we need to drink in a typical day, but as a general rule, men should drink 2 1/2 to three liters of fluid a day and women should drink two to 2 1/2 liters. Your goal as a runner should be to stay well hydrated all day every day, not only when you’re prepping for a big workout or race.
2. Do you know how much to drink during exercise?
Once you’re well hydrated off the road, you need to figure out how much more you need to chug while you’re running. The best way to do that is to perform a sweat test. Here’s how: Weigh yourself naked, get dressed, run for 30 minutes, get undressed and weigh yourself again on an accurate scale that measures ounces. Then, double the difference to find the amount of fluid ounces you lose every hour while running. Keep in mind that both temperature and intensity affect your sweat rate, so the best way to do this test is to run at your race pace and at race day temperatures. You can conduct a series of these tests to see the difference in your sweat rate based on temperature and pace.
3. Are you drinking the right fluids?
Once you know how much to drink, you need to know what to drink. When exercising, runners should drink a fluid that replaces those key electrolytes rather than plain water. Throwing back an electrolyte replacement drink or dropping electrolyte tablets in your water is the best way to ensure you’re getting enough of these key minerals. Keep in mind that most sports drinks contain some electrolytes, but not enough to replace the amount lost by the intense sweating of marathon runners. I recommend using a product like a Nuun tablet, which turns a bottle of plain water into an electrolyte brew.
[See: 6 Reasons You May Need to Eat More Salt.]
4. Are you drinking too much plain water?
Drinking too much plain water when running long distances can actually lower the sodium level in your blood to dangerous levels. This condition, called hyponatremia, can be very dangerous. However, don’t let the fear of acquiring it keep you from drinking fluids — you’d have to drink a lot of plain water (think: a gallon or more at a time) to dilute your blood sodium level enough to make yourself sick. The simple solution is to drink an electrolyte-rich fluid to keep your sodium level where it needs to be.
[See: Signs You Should Stop Exercising Immediately.]
5. Do you adjust your hydration plan based on the conditions?
Finally, it’s important to remember that the harder you run and the higher the temperature, the more you sweat. This means that your hydration plan is not a one-size-fits-all solution. You’ll need to drink more on hot days and can drink a bit less when you’re not running as hard. The key is to experiment and find what works for you under a wide variety of conditions.
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Runners: Are You Hydrating Correctly? originally appeared on usnews.com
