New approach to hydration...

tHE vAGGABOND

I thought this was interesting reading it the other day. I have read a couple of Matt Fitzgerald's books [article author] and he generally speaks sense...

http://www.active.com/nutrition/Articles/The_new_rules_of_hydration.htm?cmp=17-4-2859

What do folks think?

rom

"More: 11 Hydration Strategies for Hot Weather
Because a sports drink contains dissolved minerals (key electrolytes such as sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphate) and carbohydrates, it's absorbed into the bloodstream more quickly than water, which has fewer or no dissolved particles.
Moreover, electrolytes and other nutrients play important roles in regulating fluid in the body. They help determine how much fluid enters muscle fibers and cells, and how much remains in the blood. That's why sports drinks do a better job than water of helping the body maintain an optimal fluid balance.
Water is fine for short (less than an hour) workouts of easy to moderate intensity in which you don't sweat a lot. But in any workout where sweat losses are substantial, and especially in warm weather, use a sports drink."


I find full strength sports drinks make me more thirsty. I think people over use them too. Everyone is different but for about 15 miles I would drink about 500ml of fluid in total and that would be all I would need. I have made the mistake of gulping water to cool down in a race when I should have spat it out and poured the rest over my heat.



For myself recently I have compared what water would do and different drinks over the same route a week apart with same effort/avg hr (yes not 100% accurate due to the variables but seeing an 8 mins difference over 100 mins is more than a margin for error). I am getting to know more that what suit me.

Younganne

By providing fuel to working muscles at an accelerated rate, caffeine helps athletes work harder for longer periods of time.
But don't overuse it. Reserve caffeine consumption for races and occasional high-intensity workouts. "The best use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid [energy booster] is prior to competition," says Jose Antonio, Ph.D, author of Supplements for Endurance Athletes. "The beneficial effects of caffeine on athletic performance are reduced with habituation, so the more often you rely on it, the less it will do for you."
Although no major sports drink brand contains caffeine, some flavors of sports gels do, such as Gu Chocolate Outrage, Strawberry Clif Shot, and Chocolate Accel Gel.

from the above mentioned article...

Just wondering if anyone ever uses the "red bull" type caffeine drinks either the cheaper version or the full version.. could these give the same effect as a gel containing caffeine....i can't take the gels with caffeine and just wondering if these could be an alternative before a race(HM/mar) and then use ordinary gels during the race.....

hardCopy

Younganne wrote: »

from the above mentioned article...

Just wondering if anyone ever uses the "red bull" type caffeine drinks either the cheaper version or the full version.. could these give the same effect as a gel containing caffeine....i can't take the gels with caffeine and just wondering if these could be an alternative before a race(HM/mar) and then use ordinary gels during the race.....

AFAIK, the active ingredient in Red Bull is Taurine rather than Caffeine, maybe you could get a similar effect from flat coke mixed with an electrolyte tablet?

rom

The amount of caffeine is very small and its to keep your mind focused rather than a stimulant I think. I think that drinking red bull would be a very very bad idea for a race.

Younganne

wasn't planning it, can't stand the stuff, just wondering!!!...might see about the flat coke with the electrolyte tablet...i know they use it in the ultras!!!!

Murta

You can get electrolyte tablets with caffine. I use both types depending on time of day or sleepyiness.

cwgatling

hardCopy wrote: »

AFAIK, the active ingredient in Red Bull is Vodka rather than Caffeine

Fixed that for you

Raighne

The article is essentially a summary of Noakes' latest book "Waterlogged - the serious problem of overhydration", which is basically a comprehensive view on an issue he's been trying to highlight with the modern view on hydration for the last 15 or so years.

What's more entertaining is that the first pieces of advice are nothing new, but have been conventional wisdom for thousands of years until they were suppressed by erroneous assumptions with the rise of Gatorade. New research is simply correcting these last 30-40 years of a few silly ideas having been generally accepted. There are a long list more of these to go, so glad to see one beginning to be stricken off the list.

The key around dehydration is not fluid levels anyway - its osmolality (ratio of salts and other minerals in proportion to fluid levels), which is a topic well worth spending some time researching for anyone wanting to understand why we should drink by thirst, why electrolytes are more effective than pure water in most circumstances etc. etc.

Krusty_Clown

An additional interesting study might be a comparison between the benefits of a sports-drink and the benefits of water (with appropriate salts and minerals added to speed absorption and avoid hyponatremia). I would imagine it would be pretty easy for a bottled water company to produce a 'sports-water'. Wouldn't be in the interests of a company like Deep RiverRock (Coca-Cola) who would be competing with their own brands (PowerAde), but perhaps a Ballygowan or a Tipperary...

Sure, there are solutions like Nuun tablets, but something that can be offered pre-mixed, particularly for large-scale deployments, like marathons.

Peterx

Always carry 3 dioralyte sachets on your person in any endurance event.
Either mixed with water or simply swallowed they kill cramp. dead. fact.

A Nuun tablet in your bottle helps too.

nerraw1111

As Raighne mentions, it's basically a summary of Noakes' waterlogged.

Irunfar has a really good feature on the book.

http://www.irunfar.com/2012/07/waterlogged-a-dogma-shattering-book.html

Plus one on the diarolyte sachets. Magic stuff