Muscle Care Tips- Marathon Training Tips
February 17, 2017
Nutrition For Runners – Marathon Training Tips
March 17, 2017
Hydration and Running
Tip 1- Why hydration is important
Staying well hydrated is vital to successful marathoning during training, and racing. Dehydration causes your blood volume to drop, which lowers your body’s ability to transfer heat and forces your heart to beat faster, negatively impacting performance.
Blood and other fluids help remove waste products and bring nutrients to tissue for repair.Dehydration in athletes may lead to fatigue, headaches, decreased coordination, and muscle cramping.
Tip 2 What to drink
One can
Drink water
Juice
Sports/isotonic drinks
Tea or even coffee
Some studies have however shown that caffeine may cause dehydration and cancel out its performance enhancing benefits. Sports/isotonic drinks are a mixture of water, electrolytes (sodium and potassium-which starve off cramps, nausea, and hyponatremia) and easily digestible simple sugars, which provide you with the energy needed to run for long lengths of time and also help the body to absorb fluids faster. There is no need for drinks that contain electrolytes or additional calories if doing short runs under an hour.
Tip 3-How much to drink
This is dependent on a number of factors like sweat rate, which varies from person to person, weather conditions (more hydration on hot days), distance one is running amongst others. One can determine their sweat rate by checking weight before and after an hour’s run-http://www.runnersworld.com/hydration-dehydration/how-to-determine-how-much-to-drink. Over hydration can also lead to a serious condition called hyponatremia where the body salts due to sweating etc are overly diluted setting off an electrolyte imbalance.
Sweat test rate can be done under different weather conditions to determine how the conditions affect ones sweat rate.
Tip 4 How to hydrate
Runners need to pay attention to what and how much they’re drinking before, during and after exercise.
Pre-Run Hydration
Ensure you are well hydrated during the few days leading up to the run. You know you’re well-hydrated if you void large volumes of pale urine at least six times a day
Race day
Before race
Drink 0.25-0.5 liters one to two hours before a run another 0.125-0.25 liters an hour before race. Practice this intake during training to come up with the best intake that doesn’t give you too many bathroom stops
During the runs
Take in at least 100ml of fluid every 15 to 20 minutes during the run. Plain water is sufficient for runs of less than an hour. Practice hydration strategy well before race day
After a run
Determine amount of fluid loss by weighing before and after race. For each kilogram lost during activity, drink about 1.5 litres. of fluid. If your body weight increased, you have over hydrated and you should drink less fluid in future exercise sessions.
Tip 5-Ways To Stay Hydrated While Running
The hydration backpack
Also called camel pack. This is a bag carried on the back and it contains a water bag with a tube to drink from.
Hydration belt
Has a provision to insert one big bottle.
Fuel belt
Has options to slot in a few small water bottles, which distributes weight around the belt.
Handheld bottle
This bottle has a handgrip friendly shape creating a natural grip.
Hiding bottles in strategic positions
Ask a Friend or friends
To meet you at various spots.
