Hydration

Running, as does all forms of exercise, causes people to sweat, because exercise raises ones body temperature, and this causes sweating to occur as the body attempts to remove heat to lower its temperature.  Sweating means water is being removed from ones body, and because of this this loss of water, it is desirable that one try to reduce sweating. In the winter, this can be done by wise use of layers, specifically the number of layers and the type of material in the layers. Summer running, however, presents challenges since there is a modesty limit to how many layers can be removed. However, there are ways to reduce sweating in the summer. T-shirts are made of technical material that causes moisture to be removed from the skin and evaporated. In addition, some runners can choose times of day or night for running to take advantage of lower temperatures. But, the fact remains that most runners sweat while they run.

In addition to control of sweating through the wearing of proper clothes and running when temperatures are lower, there are several things a person can do to have proper hydration of the body.

• Drink extra water (or other liquids such as Gatorade). However, the drinking of too little water will allow ones body temperature to rise, and the drinking of too much water can lead to death because of the depletion of body salts.
  
  
• Use the urine test after your workouts to see if you are drinking enough water. A slight yellow color is OK. Anything very dark means you are dehydrated and need more water during your workouts. The darker the color, the more the dehydration.
  
  
• Weigh yourself before and after a workout to see how much body mass you've lost due to sweating. Water weighs about 1/2 pound per cup. Sweat is probably heaver than water, but you can use 1/2 pound per cup of sweat as a ballpark figure. Kim Mueller, a sports nutritionist and active runner, says that you shouldn't lose more than 2% of your body weight during a workout. So, by weighing yourself before and after workouts, you will know how much weight you've lost. If you've lost more than 2% of your body weight, you can calculate, using the 1/2 pound figure given above) how much additional water you need to consume. For example, if I lose 5 pounds of body weight, and my 2% is 3.5 pounds, I need to consume 1.5 - 2 pounds of additional water, and that translates to 3 - 4 cups of additional water.

I use a FuelBelt to carry water while I run. The Belt holds six 8-ounce bottles. Each bottle is one cup of water. If you use a larger water-bottle, each 8 ounces is one cup of water. Because of my age, I'm a slow runner, and when I run, I alternate running and walking, and I take a swallow of water during each phase of walking. This corresponds to a cup of water each mile.