Hydration for marathon
Marathons can be long and grueling, which means that even the shortest races can require a lot of energy. To fuel your body and keep it running smoothly, it’s important to keep your fluids up. But when you’re miles and miles from the next water stop, how do you keep up your hydration without breaking your bank or your stride? We looked into some of the best tips for long-distance runners to keep their fluids up during a marathon.
1) Us hDrop, the new hydration wearable device to track and plan through your practices and develop the best hydration strategy for race day.
2) Drink before, during, and after the race. When you’re racing for two hours or more you’re right on the threshold at which good hydration practices start to become crucial if you want to perform at your best.
3) Starting well hydrated! Optimal hydration maximizes your blood volume and this helps general cardiovascular function and your ability to dissipate the heat produced by your working muscles. BUT! Don’t just drink lots of plain water before the race. This will dilute your body’s sodium levels before you start and could cause Hyponatremia. Know your body’s fluid balance and drink just the right amount with the right amount of electrolytes before the race. What is your right amount? You can use hDrop to discover it!
4) Drinking a stronger electrolyte drink the night before the race will boost your plasma volume and allow you to retain more fluids in your body during the race.
5) Every athlete is different. Looking from a general perspective, very few runners can comfortably drink much more than 1L (33oz) per hour. Check yourself during your practices, see how you feel and how much fluid and electrolytes you are consuming.
6) Personalising your hydration strategy could really make a tangible difference to your result. This is exactly what hDrop is about.
Track, optimize, and improve performance!