Let's talk hydration

If you drink when your thirsty, it's too late.

As you train you tend to figure out how much you really need and drink to a schedule.

Hi Amy, I'm also Amy :-)

I tend to just drink to thirst and that has always worked for me. If it's really hot though, I have to add some electrolytes or no amount of water will keep me from getting that heat exhausted feeling after I'm done with my workout.

Yup this is what I've found as well.

Nice you meet you - beautiful name :-)

Anything over an hour and I use an electrolyte mix. I also pre-load during the summer because I think that makes a big difference in how I feel. Have you tried that?

It sure is, isn't it? :-) By pre-load, do you mean to just drink a ton of water all day before exercise? That I have tried but it seems like I just pee more and don't net anything going into the workout. If it's under 70 degrees and under an hour I think the drinking is more of a security blanket for me ;-)

I normally do the hard arse thing on running and if it is less than 12 miles I just tough it out. Tried that this past Sunday and really paid for it. Struggled to hold my normal long run pace. Had to short cut home and knock a mile off my scheduled run and felt like death. I weighed myself and I lost 5 lbs over the course of the run (I had weighed myself that morning). The thing that really got me is that Monday and Tuesday I had a tremendous amount of muscle soreness. Like I had run a marathon. I rarely have residual muscle fatigue over a day and it's mild at best. But this was real bad. I think I did some damage running on E. Anyone hear of that?

Dehydration can lead to muscle soreness. Your body can't flush out all the build up from the workout. That sounds really uncomfortable though. I hope you feel better.

So if it was 70 degrees I would do a happy dance. Here it's 83 at 7 am and crazy humidity. So the day or even 2 days before a set of big workouts I make sure I'm drinking plenty of water. Not extra but plenty of water. And because I do such long stuff I will use extra salt the day before a big workout.

So that's what I mean by pre-loading. I think if you start a hot workout behind the ball on hydration - you can really pay a price in feeling crappy and also performance.

All times except the summer I follow that one hour rule too. But here it's just too humid and hot already so I am carrying my handheld with me for all my runs. I actually don't drink during my masters swim sessions (my stomach can't take it) but it would be better if I could.

When I did my sweat test I go through about 19 ounces an hour. So just under one bottle. A bottle an hour is a good estimate. I know guys who need much more though. And if I'm going more than 90 minutes I don't drink water but an electrolyte drink with sodium and some calories. This is when I think sticking to the schedule is important. When it's hot and humid you may not feel like having another sip of water ... you aren't thirsty per say but if you don't stay on schedule you can pay the price later. That's my opinion. I agree carrying cash is a good thing.