Adequate Hydration During Training or Racing
- Dehydration limits the ability of the body to increase skin blood flow for the purpose of transferring heat from the body core to the skin surface
- When the blood volume decreases, the heart needs to pump more often (to get the same amount of blood to the working muscles)
- 2% dehydration may cause performance to be decreased by 3-5%
- and 4% dehydration your capacity for muscular work declines significantly
If you were to do the math, a 50kg female would only have to decrease her weight by 1kg to equal 2% of body weight and impair performance.
Perhaps she races 10km run in 60 minutes. A 2% dehydration can cause a performance decrease of up to 5%…So 60min x 0.05 = 3min … making her time 3min slower to 1:03 !!
How Much Does Your Water Bottle Hold?
- Know how much you are drinking during a training session or race
- On a hot day many triathletes will need between 1000m to 1500ml of fluids or for some up to 2000ml per hour of fluids
- On a cool day or an easier workout you may only need 500ml/hr
- For exercise sessions lasting longer than an hour, a sport drink with appropriate electrolytes and carbohydrates is recommended
- A properly balanced sport drink will decrease urine output, enable fluids to empty quickly from the stomach, promote absorbs ion from the intestine and encourage fluid retention – we want this!
The 3 R’s of Recovery
“95-98% of recovery is optimized through nutrition and sleep.”
- Rehydrate
- Refuel
- Repair
We as humans rely on fluid and electrolyte intake to maintain total body water and blood volume.
By Sheryl Ross M.Kin., B.Ed., Sport Nutritionist (Dipl. IOC)
NCCP Certified Triathlon and Swim Coach
www.sherylrossportscience.com