If you think this is another post telling you to drink your water, you're wrong. This is a post about the stuff you don't already know about optimizing hydration, even though you NEED to know it!
Dehydration has immediate effects on our performance. If you finish runs feeling achey, exhausted and/or like you were just hit by a bus, then you probably need to adjust your hydration plan.
You can check out the video below to learn tons about hydration if you'd rather listen than read. Remember, I do free trainings like this in my free facebook community several times a week!
Hydration is not just about getting enough fluid, its also about absorbing enough electrolytes. Electrolytes are minerals that allow our body to conduct impulses and allow our heart to beat, our muscles to contract, etc. So it makes sense that when we are dehydrated and low on electrolytes, everything feels harder! We lose control over conducting important impulses through muscles in our body.
One of the first steps to figuring out your hydration is to drink HALF YOUR BODY WEIGHT in ounces daily as a minimum. So a 150 pound person would drink a minimum of 75 ounces a day.
Before you tell me that that's WAY too much fluid, I want you to listen up. I've got a secret tip that I share with my 1:1 clients. It's called the CHUG N' GLUG. Set alarms on your phone 2-4 times during the day, have your water bottle handy and get ready to chug whatever is left of your water bottle each time the alarm rings.
Okay, so now that we have our baseline established, let's figure out accounting for sweat losses.
Before you step outside for a 60 minute run, I want you to weigh yourself in the nude. Then, weigh yourself when you get back after using the bathroom but before drinking anything.
For every 1 pound lost, you need to add 16 ounces of additional fluid to your baseline intake.
When exercising in hot weather or humid weather, you may want to drink some of that fluid DURING your run. That's cool, ESPECIALLY if you're running for 60+ minutes or if its humid!! Since sugar helps our body absorb electrolytes, you should choose a hydration beverage with calories during runs >60 minutes or on very humid days! So your zero calorie Nuun is not gona cut it. I recommend Skratch Labs Hydration Mix and drinking 1-2 ounces every 15 minutes.
Cool, cool. You're about to feel 1000x better on your runs this summer!! Make sure you share with me how helpful these tips are in my free facebook community. I can't wait to hear from you!
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