“On my second marathon,” says
Bill Howard, a runner from Toronto,
“I thought I had it all figured out. I
got in all of my miles with no inju-
ries and even picked up the pace from
my last training cycle. I dismissed my
worries about my GI difficulties by
experimenting with different high-
carbohydrate drinks and gels in lots
of configurations. On race day, I told
myself, I would crack the code between
drinking too much sugary drinks and
getting stomach rot and not drinking
enough and getting dehydrated. But,
as I headed into the last third of the
race, my stomach began to feel sour
and heavy and my GI system was iffy.
I stopped drinking my usual carbohy-
drate heavy-drinks because the last few
drinks had made it worse, but it was
hot, and soon my thirst soon began to
tell me that dehydration was on the
way if I didn’t take in some hydration.
I just didn’t know whether to switch
to plain water so I played it safe and
waited it out. Later, as I stood in the
line for the porta potty, checking my
watch and feeling my PB slipping away,
I cursed myself for pretending I had
it beat a problem which had vexed me
throughout my training.”
We all know that Bill is not alone.
One of the biggest challenges any
runner faces while training and racing
is hydration. A drop of just two per cent
from your optimal hydration level can
lead to an 11 per cent decrease in your
power output. So, we know that we
need to be drinking during our work-
outs and races, but what should we
drink? Will water do the trick?
It won’t. The water in our bodies
is a solution of glucose, electrolytes,
minerals and amino acids, so when we
add pure water to the mix, our bodies
work hard to get rid of it and we become
more dehydrated.
That’s where sports drinks come in,
you’re thinking. And you’re right, to a
point. The problem is that most sport
drinks are designed to taste good rather
than hydrate. Research shows that the
optimal hydration formula should be a
1.5 to four per cent solution of minerals
and other electrolytes. Many of those
popular hydration drinks feature six
per cent and more solutions with lots
of carbohydrates and sugars that are
too concentrated for the gut to handle,
so your body can’t absorb the liquid.
Anyone else ever had that achy, bloated
feeling in their gut at the end of a long
marathon run or training session?Hydration 101
with Nuun
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