Monday, January 22, 2007

Hydration

This may be annoying, but as I come across stuff I don't know in these books I'm going to write them here. Maybe it will help everyone else as well.

So one thing I've been noticing about my heart rate is that on my longer runs, my heart rate recovery time is pretty awful. Well I sweat... a ton! I think one run, my pre-run weight to post run weight was 3-4 pounds different.
I'm certain I don't replace enough water while I'm running. The book explains why hydration is so important. Your blood can actually thicken enough to be tougher to pump. Which causes higher BPM and bad recovery times.
Needless to say, I'm now trying to work taking drinks of water at regular intervals.

6 comments:

CSquared said...

I try to drink more throughout the day. Drinking a tall tumbler about an hour before a workout also helps. Don't do 15 minutes before, you get real sloshy.

catmarlson said...

I agree that you can't eat/drink too much right before a workout. The stomach cramps can get pretty bad. This will be something I'll eventually have to work on to prepare for the mooseman.
Most of my training has been in the evening. I'm not sure when the mooseman starts but it's certainly not 6PM. So I'll have to figure out what and when to eat prior to the race. (plenty of time to figure that out obviously).
As you've said, good hydration all day long certainly will help too.

catmarlson said...

I guess I should have added that it says dehydration can add as much as 10-12 BPM to your heart rate.

CSquared said...

Watching the Tour de France they use to talk about BPM slip on real hot days 90+. Most of it was due to dehydration, the body couldn't get fluids fast enough. The next issue is your body starts to protect your organs, so energy that is usable to move your carcass goes down. Which means you slow down.

Prof. Bikers know what BPM should cause what output and knew what there energy loss was. I only feel really rotten when it happens to me.

McA said...

I drink about 8 to 10 ounces of water as soon as I get up and then at least six more 'servings' throughout the day. Typically I go through 6 to 8 pints a day. The best measure I've found to know I'm hydrated is to "pee clear." When it isn't yellow, you're doing OK.

Ethanol said...

Please don't go too far. Electrolytes are important too and you can flush a lot of them out if you over-hydrate.