Hydration

Wednesday 30th April

Much has been written about the holy grail of hydration and of its importance to runners.

Most of it is useless, incomprehensible and fails to give clear guidelines.

After my lack of hydration in Richmond on Saturday I resolved to get to the bottom of the hydration-saga.

This little gem from the UK Government’s Food Standards Agency:

“It’s important to make sure you drink enough fluid when you’re training and when you’re running the race, but it’s also important not to drink too much. If you get dehydrated or if you drink too much, this can affect your performance and be bad for your health.”

Errr, thanks, that’s really helpful. It gets better:

“To perform at your best in the race it’s a good idea to listen to your body and drink whenever you feel thirsty. If you don’t feel thirsty, there’s no need to drink. And remember, you don’t need to drink at every water stop.”

So I need to drink exactly the right amount? Not too little but not too much? Ok thanks, that's great.

Better advice is found elsewhere:

It's important to begin the run properly hydrated. That means drinking at least 2 litres a day in the weeks leading up to the race and then 500ml of fluid two hours before the run and another 150ml of fluid just before you start.

Studies have shown that the average person loses 500ml - 1.5 litres of fluid per hour of exercise.

Replenising this is important, since a mere 4% drop in hydration levels leads to a 25% drop in performance.

Most people recommend taking 125-250ml of water or sports drinnk every 15-20 mins. That seems like a lot to me. Which is probably why I felt so dreadful on Saturday.

For a three hour run, that means you'd need around three litres of water. You'd probably also need to "do a Paula."

After a long run you should drink 500ml - 1.5 litres more, monitoring the colour of your urine as a guide to when you've had enough.

You're looking for the colour of pale straw apparently. Good luck!