Question re. fluid intake before a race

Waaay too much, IMHO. A quart in an 8-mile bike ride? Plus 40 ounces pre race? Am I reading that right? Either would be too much for me.

I eat light food 2 hrs before event (like bagel with a little peanut butter & honey with some tea), then 8-12 oz water or electrolyte drink an hour before.  Quick pit stop before event to offload extra fluid, then I'm good to go.  You drank 40oz just before race, then another 32oz during?  Sounds to me like you drank too much & your gut rebelled.

BTW- I drink Accelerade after event, but it does not agree with me during.  For 1-1.5 hr event I'll drink 1 bottle water & take 1-2 gels.  Maybe 2nd bottle if it's hot. 

Thanks for the comments.  I was more concerned with dehydrating but I guess I overdid it.  I have another race coming up in a few weeks so I'll reduce my intake and see how that works. 

Wow that's a lot of fluids.  My pre-race is typically a banana and half a bar (~120 cal), large coffee and ~ 12 oz water driving to the race.  ~6 oz water with a Gel 10-15 before the swim, ~10-14 oz on the bike for a 15 mile sprint.  Of course all this is with proper hydration the days leading up to the race.

Even in an olympic distance race I will barely drink a small bottle on the bike and take a few slurps from the aid stations on the run course just to wet my throat.  And that is well over 2 hours in an event.

Of course that depends on the weather.  Even so, for a shorter event it is much better to err on the slightly dehydrated side than the overly hydrated and running with GI distress.

Oh, and welcome to BT!  Hope your stay is a good one!

Edited by Daremo 2009-08-24 10:55 AM

Thanks!  Wow, I did drink alot.  I'm sure that also explains the bloatedness that I felt. 

Hydration is super important, but keep things in perspective.  A sprint Tri is 1.5 - 2 hrs.  While training I'm sure you've had workout that were similar in length.  I'm guessing you probably didn't force down fluids before during and after before a regualr workout/training session.  Its easy to get overwhelmed on race day and overdue it.  Perpare well, listen to your body, and have fluids availible in transition and on the bike. 

I sip about 16oz of Cytomax prior to my bike rides.  During a 30 mile ride, I drink 32 oz of Cytomax and 24 oz water.  When I got home I chugged a 12oz G2 and I still ended up being 2lbs less.  I don't stop to pee at all.  After everything I have read on here about hydration, I can't help but to wonder if there is something wrong with me. 

Still, even I don't imagine I could handle drinking 40oz before I started.

Edited by Pector55 2009-08-24 11:13 AM

there is a good document on nutrition and drinking on the Hammer site

http://www.tinyurl.com/ndudt7

WOW! You just drank way too much!

In my sprint yesterday, I drank about... uummm... 8 oz the whole race. I took two sips on the bike and one sip on the run. I have found that more liquid is bad for my stomach... and I stay properly hydrated daily (always drinking water), so I know I can go for 1 hour and 15 minutes without a whole lot of liquid.

Less liquid the better for me.

I lose ~4 lbs during every swim session (2000-2500yds).  My wife has fits about my post workout clothes because they are invariably at their water retention limit.  You're not alone.

I was at the end of a 5K one time.  A kid had just come over the finish line and lost everything.  He then made a comment to his friends that he wished he hadn't eaten that large stack of pancakes right before the run.

My stomach seems to have a critical quantity.  If I exceed it, it never seems to empty.

It is a little old fashioned...but...I think the best mechanism for determining whether one needs to drink is whether one is thirsty...

Especially before exercise...

That's more than I would consume during a 100-mile bike ride... dehydration is bad, but over-hydration is really no better... you only need to drink enough to replace what you are loosing during a race, and that won't be that much... also, unless you are going long and it's hot, skip the sports drink.

And as mentioned above..make sure you are hydrated in the days leading up to the race. That will solve a lot of problems. Hydration is a process and it takes a few days to get it all evened out. I always aim for pale-lemonade colored urine the day before/day of the race. You dont want clear urine..then you are over-hydrated and risk diluting your electrolytes. Assuming you are well hydrated, you can just take in what you need on the bike, which shouldnt be much more than 10-15oz for me on a relatively warm day.

Don't mean to start a flame war, but realize that Hammer pamphlet is marketing.  It is not entirely consistent with best available science, but like most company ads it cherry-picks a few articles to help sell their products.  BTW- I'm not anti-Hammer (e.g. make some tasty gels), but caveat lector. 

MUCH better source of unbiased science-based info:

American College of Sports Medicine paper on fluids, 2007.

Can't find direct link at the moment, but go to www.acsm.com and search "fluids electrolytes".  In the search results click on item: "Exercise and Fluid Replacement Position Stand" for direct download of the pdf (~200k).   The paper is 14 pages with 151 references, and covers exercise-appropriate fluid, electrolyte, and carb intake.  Scientific reading, but gives you balanced overview of available studies and controversies.

Similar to the above posts...

If you hydrate a LOT the couple days before the race, then maybe 20 oz of something to rehydrate after sleeping is all you should need (or I should say all I need).  The two days before an event, I just cary a nalgene bottle around with me and keep drinking.

If it's a sprint, I probably won't drink at all during the event.  I don't pack it on the bike and MAYBE take a sip on the run.  I'm not fast, but I don't need anything for a workout/race less than 90 minutes.

For an olympic, again, no speed demon  here, is about a 2:30 to 2:45 duration event.  I will bring one bottle on the bike and drink (or not) at the aid stations on the run.

HOWEVER, hydrate fully AFTER the event.

Web site correction: www.acsm.org

Link to article: http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&section=20071&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentFileID=1223

Reading now....

Hi all,

That is a pretty good article/guideline. Dangers of over-pre hydration pretty clear. Also clear is wide variation in physiologies and responses to various conditions. So...

On my run today I decided to experiment and learn. Ran 40 minutes. Temp 77. Humidity is 97% (ugh). No wind. Cloudy. Weight loss was 2 1/4 lbs which equals 1.3% of total body weight...on a SHORT run. I know I am high sweater but if I had gone another couple of miles, I would have cleared the 2% TBW loss that is shown to correlate to rapid deterioration of aerobic function. Hmmmm.

Seems wise to occasionally check oneself and see what losses are approximately expected under various conditions and plan accordingly. One may be tempted to gut it out when over-all times may be better (and safer) to slow down and fluid restore...Next chore is determining electrolyte replacement plan...then calories...I get the feeling I am learning what tri people learned at Kona in the 80's???