Been having some problems balancing my long runs with the proper amount of water and sports drink I consume. I have been able to get up to running 5 miles a day per week so far and sweat alot. I started to feel the effects the other night and immediatley drank a bottle of pedialyte which seemed to help. Just wondering if anyone has the same situation or could recommend something. I guess get a better ratio? I still consider myself a novice runner yet and may just need to learn more about this type of conditioning before moving forward.

Drink water continuously during the day so make sure you're hydrated without guzzling lots right before the run, which will cause cramps (for me). Just drink a full glass when you wake up, and keep drinking the rest of the day. You should be able to go 5 miles without feeling seriously dehydrated, although make sure to replenish after the run.

Com. Kep33,

The rule of thumb is that if you do not pee once an hour, you are dehydrated. As Com. Coney said, drinking through out the day will help accomplish this. I carry a gallon jug of water with me all day. If you want to drink a sports drink of some sort, dillute gatorade of powerade by one half and drink it. Forget about pedialyte. There is no reason to waste your money.

Also look at your breathing patterns and your nutrition factors as they too will have an affect.

Nate

SSgt Morrison, I have seen you mention breathing pattens for both running and cals. Can you elaborate on this? I did a search in the running forum, but didn't come up with anything along these lines. Thanks.

SSgt Morrison, just saw your post concerning the new milfit letter regarding powerbreathing. I look forward to reading it.

Just for insight, when I was playing collegiate football, the excercise scientist coaches literally forced us to drink enough water throughout the day that our urine was constantly clear. We were told that if it was not clear in color, we were already dehydrated, and hence would suffer the consequences on the field at practice... They were right!!! This was division one football where thousands upon thousands of dollars is spent in creating ultimate athletic machines. I am confident in this idea... There are also some excellent books on www.amazon.com and Barnes and Noble as well, about the effects of drinking enough water to aid in hydration and even combating disease.

Com. Laddie,

The next MILFIT will deal with Breathing extensively. For now, some tidbits:

-When running, concentrate on exhaling. Why? Because when you do, inhaling happens automatically which is a good thing. Why? Because when the average person focuses on inhaling he takes a "Chest" breath which is very fatiguing. If you let it happen by itself it will be an abdominal breath which is the most efficient, especially for those of us wearing body armor and ruck sacks.

Stay tuned.

Nate

Something to remember about hydration is that your body can only absorb about 1 litre (~32 oz) of water per hour. Anything more than that and it just gets flushed out. So the advice to drink all day is the best bet. Once you're dehydrated it's too late to catch up unless you stop your workout for an hour or more to allow your body to absorb enough water.

I have three of those 1 litre Nalgene water bottles. I carry them everywhere with me and drink a little all day. That way when I do my heavy Workouts in the early evening, I don't need to worry about dehydration.

Another thing to think about, if you work out in the morning. When you wake up in the morning, you're probably already dehydrated from 6-8 hours without any liquids, even more so if you had some sodas or beers the night before. A good thing to help with this is to drink maybe two glasses of water before you go to bed. It's better to have to get up in the middle of the night to visit the can, than workout dehydrated in the mornings.

Thank you gentlemen.

Com. RKC,

I have my jug w/ me now and won't be going anywhere w/ out it. I appreciate all of the feedback.

One more question. Does anyone know if there is any thruth to having to much water? I have been told that drinking a little bit of sports drink will replace the electrolytes washed away by drinking alot of water. If this isn't so I won't be buying anymore Gatorade and I'll just stick to water. Thanks

I find that a little bit of both helps best. If I just drink the sports-drink stuff it's too syrupy and cramps up my stomach so I use a 50-50 mix.

Comrades,

There is such a thing as too much water. The condition is called Hyponatremia which in laymans terms means that you have flooded out too much of the electrolytes in your body. Are you at risk?

Maybe. This condition is encountered when athletes or soldiers are pushing themselves very hard for very long periods of time. In the military this shows up on long road marches and seems to occure most in relatively untrained persons, though the occasional pro will fall victim from time to time.

The long and short of it is that during these prolonged periods of heavy activity, the body loses water and electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, etc... at a very rapid rate. While drinking water replaces the fluid, it does nothing to replace the electrolytes. Old dogs remember salt tabs and Oral Rehydration Salts. Both were horribly nasty to drink, but they were your life line! These days we have Gatorade and such. But do you need to drink alot of Gatorade and if so, when?

No, you don't need to drink alot of Gatorade or similar drink. Mixing and drinking one quarter to one half strength gatorade or other drink (like Ultra Fuel) works very well and will not upset the stomach. Drinking high concentrates will actually hurt you. Drink this before, during, and for an hour or two after prolonged activity (like a 5-10 hour road march). If you do a challenging run, then weights, and an afternoon swim, or something to that effect with long breaks between events (hours) then simply supplement during the breaks. Equally important are good eating habits which means stay away from the coffee and soda! Keep in mind that Gatorade or its equivilents should never be consumed at full strength!

GOOD LUCK!

Nate

SSgt Morrison, I noticed you said "that Gatorade or its equivalents should never be consumed at full strength!" ... I like having a sweet Gatorade bottle before a run (6 miles)... It's easy to swallow and tastes great... But I notice after the hard running that I can't even touch the stuff without wanting to "up chuck", so I carry an extra bottle of just plain water and that seems to be what my body wants more... Could I possibly be super saturating my cells with electrolytes this way? (I really don’t know what I’m talking about/doing) If you could, please elaborate more on why one shouldn't have full strength Gatorade.

Com. AANeeded,

There is a saying in the medical community that says, "water follows salt". So, if you drink full strength gatorade, it will draw water to the stomach and intestines to balance things out. So, you have actually dehydrated your cells in your body's attempt to seek balance. This is why you are so thirsty for just water after the run.

Nate

water is a crutch, everyone know if you keep your body dehydrated all the time it gets used to it. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

and you're also useless to your team if you are dehydrated