Hydration is a high Priority for Runners
Running for long distances burns huge amounts of calories, so you need to ensure you have the proper nutrients and fluids in your body before, during and after your workouts to increase your chances of success. A runner should never feel thirsty and should drink up to a liter of water before an event and up to two liters a day during training. During the hot and humid days, your body can lose much needed water and weight loss by 1-4kg depending on how far you run. This will not only decrease speed and efficiency, it can also lead to stomach problems, muscle cramping and dizziness.
What is Dehydration?
Dehydration means your body does not have as much water and fluids as it should. Dehydration can be caused by losing too much fluid, not drinking enough water or fluids, or both. Dehydration can be classified as mild, moderate, or severe based on how much of the body's fluid is lost or not replenished. Many runners malfunction as a result of dehydration during the long race.
Typical Symptoms:
(1) Dry or sticky mouth
(2) Low or no urine output (concentrated urine appears dark yellow or worse scenario in coffee brown color)
(3) Lethargic
(4) Dizziness
Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated is critical to your running performance and, more importantly, for preventing heat-related illnesses. Dehydration in runners may lead to fatigue, decreased coordination, and muscle cramping. Other heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke, have even more serious consequences. Runners need to pay attention to what and how much they're drinking before, during and after exercise.
Running in heat and humidity condition such as at ECP/Costal route (Singapore) can put you at risk for dehydration, heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses. The easiest way to avoid heat disorders is to keep your body hydrated. This means drinking fluids before, during and after exercise. The body's fluid needs vary with exertion, climate, humidity, terrain, and other factors. The new fluid recommendations for runners say that they should "obey your thirst" and drink when their mouth is dry and they feel the need to drink. In training, drink before workouts and make sure you have access to fluids if exercising longer than 30 minutes.
Pre-Run Hydration
If you're doing a long run or race (more than 15km-21km), it's important to make sure you're well-hydrated during the few days leading up to your long run. You know you're well-hydrated if you void large volumes of pale urine during the day. In the days leading up to your long run (or race), drink plenty of water and nonalcoholic fluids. Not only does alcohol dehydrate you, but it can also prevent you from getting a good night's sleep. In addition, alcohol inhibits oxygen uptake. Moreover, most alcoholic drinks are high in empty calories. While the odd beer will not drastically affect a runner, alcohol consumption does little or nothing to help the runner's performance.
Also, avoid excessive amounts of caffeine. Caffeine, like alcohol, is a diuretic. In addition, high amounts of caffeine inhibit iron absorption. Again, like alcohol, caffeine does little to enhance performance. A few cups of coffee drunk 60 minutes before competition have been shown to aid runner's performance. However, runners who are using caffeine loading are advised to try it a few times in practice before using it in competition. Caffeine can cause stomach upset to runners who are not accustomed to it. Additionally, a little extra hydration is needed to deal with the diuretic affect of the caffeine.
An hour before you start your run, try to drink 16 to 24 ounces of water or other non-caffeinated fluid. Stop drinking at that point, so that you can void extra fluids and prevent having to stop to go to the toilet during your run. To make sure you are hydrated before you start running, you can drink another 4 to 8 ounces right before you start.
Drinking on the Run
Here's a general rule of thumb for fluid consumption during your runs: You should take in 6 to 8 ounces of fluid every 20 minutes during your runs. During longer workouts (90 minutes or more), some of your fluid intake should include a sports drink (like 100plus, H2O, Gatorade etc) to replace lost sodium and other minerals (electrolytes).
An adequate supply of water is needed to permit the needed biological and chemical reactions necessary to produce the energy for running. After a workout, water helps in recovery by "flushing out" waste products through urination and defecation. It is very difficult (but not impossible) to "overdose" on water.
For the vast majority of runners, dehydration, not hyponatremia, will be the key challenge. However, runners should be cautioned that hyponatremia during marathons is the result of aggressive over-drinking of any beverage, actually drinking so much that substantial weight is gained before, during, or after the event, and under those circumstances, runners should cease drinking immediately. Consuming sports drinks during a marathon helps runners replace some of the sodium lost in sweat and that will help assure proper hydration, reducing the risk of both dehydration and hyponatremia.
The two most important things runners can do to protect themselves from hydration-related problems is to drink according to their individual fluid needs and make sure to consume adequate sodium.
If you don't have access to water on your running routes, you'll have to carry your own fluids with you. If you're looking for a waist fluid carrier, do take note of the following:
(1) Comfortable fit and not too heavy
(2) Very little bouncing
(3) Ventilated foam pads are breathable, so your waist doesn't get sweaty
(4) Easy access to bottles
Post-Run Hydration
Don't forget to rehydrate with water or a sports/recovery drink after your run. You should drink 20 to 24 fl oz. of water for every 1-2kg lost. If your urine is dark yellow after your run, you need to keep rehydrating. It should be a light lemonade color.
Running for long distances burns huge amounts of calories, so you need to ensure you have the proper nutrients and fluids in your body before, during and after your workouts to increase your chances of success. A runner should never feel thirsty and should drink up to a liter of water before an event and up to two liters a day during training. During the hot and humid days, your body can lose much needed water and weight loss by 1-4kg depending on how far you run. This will not only decrease speed and efficiency, it can also lead to stomach problems, muscle cramping and dizziness.
What is Dehydration?
Dehydration means your body does not have as much water and fluids as it should. Dehydration can be caused by losing too much fluid, not drinking enough water or fluids, or both. Dehydration can be classified as mild, moderate, or severe based on how much of the body's fluid is lost or not replenished. Many runners malfunction as a result of dehydration during the long race.
Typical Symptoms:
(1) Dry or sticky mouth
(2) Low or no urine output (concentrated urine appears dark yellow or worse scenario in coffee brown color)
(3) Lethargic
(4) Dizziness
Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated is critical to your running performance and, more importantly, for preventing heat-related illnesses. Dehydration in runners may lead to fatigue, decreased coordination, and muscle cramping. Other heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke, have even more serious consequences. Runners need to pay attention to what and how much they're drinking before, during and after exercise.
Running in heat and humidity condition such as at ECP/Costal route (Singapore) can put you at risk for dehydration, heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses. The easiest way to avoid heat disorders is to keep your body hydrated. This means drinking fluids before, during and after exercise. The body's fluid needs vary with exertion, climate, humidity, terrain, and other factors. The new fluid recommendations for runners say that they should "obey your thirst" and drink when their mouth is dry and they feel the need to drink. In training, drink before workouts and make sure you have access to fluids if exercising longer than 30 minutes.
Pre-Run Hydration
If you're doing a long run or race (more than 15km-21km), it's important to make sure you're well-hydrated during the few days leading up to your long run. You know you're well-hydrated if you void large volumes of pale urine during the day. In the days leading up to your long run (or race), drink plenty of water and nonalcoholic fluids. Not only does alcohol dehydrate you, but it can also prevent you from getting a good night's sleep. In addition, alcohol inhibits oxygen uptake. Moreover, most alcoholic drinks are high in empty calories. While the odd beer will not drastically affect a runner, alcohol consumption does little or nothing to help the runner's performance.
Also, avoid excessive amounts of caffeine. Caffeine, like alcohol, is a diuretic. In addition, high amounts of caffeine inhibit iron absorption. Again, like alcohol, caffeine does little to enhance performance. A few cups of coffee drunk 60 minutes before competition have been shown to aid runner's performance. However, runners who are using caffeine loading are advised to try it a few times in practice before using it in competition. Caffeine can cause stomach upset to runners who are not accustomed to it. Additionally, a little extra hydration is needed to deal with the diuretic affect of the caffeine.
An hour before you start your run, try to drink 16 to 24 ounces of water or other non-caffeinated fluid. Stop drinking at that point, so that you can void extra fluids and prevent having to stop to go to the toilet during your run. To make sure you are hydrated before you start running, you can drink another 4 to 8 ounces right before you start.
Drinking on the Run
Here's a general rule of thumb for fluid consumption during your runs: You should take in 6 to 8 ounces of fluid every 20 minutes during your runs. During longer workouts (90 minutes or more), some of your fluid intake should include a sports drink (like 100plus, H2O, Gatorade etc) to replace lost sodium and other minerals (electrolytes).
An adequate supply of water is needed to permit the needed biological and chemical reactions necessary to produce the energy for running. After a workout, water helps in recovery by "flushing out" waste products through urination and defecation. It is very difficult (but not impossible) to "overdose" on water.
For the vast majority of runners, dehydration, not hyponatremia, will be the key challenge. However, runners should be cautioned that hyponatremia during marathons is the result of aggressive over-drinking of any beverage, actually drinking so much that substantial weight is gained before, during, or after the event, and under those circumstances, runners should cease drinking immediately. Consuming sports drinks during a marathon helps runners replace some of the sodium lost in sweat and that will help assure proper hydration, reducing the risk of both dehydration and hyponatremia.
The two most important things runners can do to protect themselves from hydration-related problems is to drink according to their individual fluid needs and make sure to consume adequate sodium.
If you don't have access to water on your running routes, you'll have to carry your own fluids with you. If you're looking for a waist fluid carrier, do take note of the following:
(1) Comfortable fit and not too heavy
(2) Very little bouncing
(3) Ventilated foam pads are breathable, so your waist doesn't get sweaty
(4) Easy access to bottles
Post-Run Hydration
Don't forget to rehydrate with water or a sports/recovery drink after your run. You should drink 20 to 24 fl oz. of water for every 1-2kg lost. If your urine is dark yellow after your run, you need to keep rehydrating. It should be a light lemonade color.
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