Liquid intake

it really does matter how much you sweat, what I would do is weight yourself before and after a ride and then see how much you lost and then figure that into how much you need to drink per hour to maintain your weight.

I typically drink about 1/2 to 1 bottle an hour based on how I feel, type of workout and weather.

This should help.

http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/Cracking-the-Code-on-Sweat...

Sweat rates vary wildly from person to person (and of course also depend on circumstances).  There can't be a general guideline here.  I've seen studies where the sweat rates range from 24oz/hour to 60oz/hour for different people under similar circumstances.  Apparently Alberto Salazar sweated out around 120oz/hour while preparing for the 1984 Olympic games (not an average person, average intensity, or average circumstances!)

So yeah, as other poster said, measure your sweat rate, and try to understand how it changes with circumstance.  But you don't have to replace everything that you sweat out.  In fact, most people (apart from sports drink companies) say you shouldn't even try.

So I was wrong about Salazar -- he sweat even more than I remembered reading! (The original article was in Physician and Sports Medicine from 1986 -- I don't think you can get it online though.)  The point, if I recall correctly, was that he purposefully increased his sweat rate in an effort to stay cool during the hot race.  The authors of the article (including I think Jack Daniels?) claim that this measure was not necessary.


Edited by Experior 2009-07-08 8:35 AM