As the temperatures and humidity rise in South Texas, so does the need for proper hydration. Our body composition is 66% water. Fluid and electrolyte balance is a major function of homeostasis, which is our bodies ability to maintain its internal environment as it adjusts to challenges and stress. To the extent our bodies are able to adjust to these challenges the state of good health is maintained. Proper hydration is important for cellular metabolism, blood flow and therefore athletic performance.
Hydration easy to experiment with. The main issue is to make sure that you take in enough liquid to sustain your body weight during your long workouts. How you do this is simple. Weigh yourself before you head out the door for your long rides and runs. Keep track of the amount of time your workout takes you and also how much liquid you take in during your session. Then when you get home, weigh yourself again. If you have hydrated well, your finishing weight should be within a pound or two of your starting weight. Even in the longest workout, you will lose at most a pound due to fat burning. So if you lose five pounds or more during your workout, the bulk of it is due to water loss. And even a small percent loss of water as it relates to your total body weight and your performance will start to drop off.
Your maximum sweat rate is reached well below your aerobic maximum heart rate when the heat is high. This is a good thing because it enables you to start to collect a mental log of how much you need to drink to maintain your body weight without going at race pace to do it. If you find that you are good at keeping your weight up during the workouts, great! If you are coming home significantly lighter than when you start, work at upping the amount of liquid you take in during your workouts.
Having a good hydration strategy is critical to performance. A general guideline to determine how much water you should be consuming on a daily basis is to divide your body weight by half. That is the amount of water in ounces you should be consuming daily without exercise. Add another 8 to 16 ounces for every 60 minutes of exercise you do.
Cyclists are recommended to drink 24oz of fluid each hour cycling for distance events.
Runners are recommended to drink 16- 27oz of fluid each hour running for distance events.
Maintaining hydration and electrolyte balance is critical to nerve and muscle function, and as such, is a key consideration for athletes hoping to achieve their optimum athletic performance. Electrolytes are molecules capable of conducting eletrical impulses and include sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and chloride. Both muscle tissue and neurons are considered electric tissues of the body. Muscles and neurons are activated by electrolyte activity!
Research has shown that after about three hours of maximum sweating, performance begins to drop off if sodium is not taken in. On average, a person loses 350mg of sodium per hour. So after you lose about 1000mg of sodium the performance begins to drop. Keep in mind that this is VERY individual. Some people will sweat out twice this and others only half. Experiment with what you need.
Muscle contraction is dependent upon the presence of calcium (Ca2+), sodium (Na+), and potassium (K+). Without sufficient levels of these key electrolytes, muscle weakness or severe muscle contractions may occur. Adequate sodium balance is necessary for transmitting nerve impulses and proper muscle function, and even a slight depletion of this concentration can cause problems. Ultra distance running events that take place in hot, humid conditions, and have athletes competing at high intensity have conditions prime for hyponatremia (life-threatening dilution of plasma sodium levels) to develop.
Keep track of how much sodium your electrolyte drink is providing and how you feel during your workouts, especially after about three hours. Try taking in a salt tablets or other forms of salt/magnesium combination and see how your body and energy levels respond. Start conservative and build up until you find the right amount for you, especially during hot and long workouts.
There you go! Refining the liquid amount and sodium amount of intake you will need can answer a lot of questions about what to do during a race.
Happy Training!
For questions or comments contact Coach Dawn Elder at dawn@trisitionarea.com
Tri-Sition Area is not affiliated with any particular coaching service nor does it support any specific method or philosophy of training
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