Runners, how do you stay hydrated?

How is your hydration prior to running?

For a 5k you definitely shouldn’t need any hydration mid run. You may not be hydrating enough throughout the day as a whole. I can run 12-15 miles without hydrating mid run, but I drink a crap-ton of H20 throughout the day outside of my runs.

Be sure to properly hydrate the day and night before a race. The day of, don't over do it, however.

Are you thirsty, or is your mouth dry? For the latter, try running with gum in your mouth.

I'm a bottle runner. I have always run with a plastic sport bottle filled with Gatorade (G2/ low calorie actually) no matter the distance - 5K on up to half marathon. Sometimes I too feel like the only one out there with a bottle, but I'm not. Sure you can run 5K+ without drinking anything, but why not have it in case you do want a sip? I enjoy my run and if carrying a drink is what I want to do I do it.

Chante - welcome to running and good luck with C25K - you can do it!

TimothyFish wrote: »

Davidsdottir wrote: »

MichSmish wrote: »

For a 5k you definitely shouldn’t need any hydration mid run. You may not be hydrating enough throughout the day as a whole. I can run 12-15 miles without hydrating mid run, but I drink a crap-ton of H20 throughout the day outside of my runs.

Yup, I've never hydrated during a run less than 18 miles, but I drink a gallon of water a day on average.

That is well below the hydration guidelines. You should be drinking something every 10 to 20 minutes, even in the winter. In the summer it is even more important. People have died from not drinking enough water while exercising.

Do you have clear evidence of this? Only from what I understand there are NO recorded deaths due to dehydration during running. Of all the symptoms of dehydration, the very last one is death, and even that would take several DAYS to occur. Drink to thirst, not on any schedule and you'll be fine.

OP. hydrate well before your run, and you'll find you don't need water. Most runners don't feel they need fluid up to an hour or so of running, depending on the climate.

I take a water bottle with me out on most runs (only able to run around 3km), I am fairly new to running (been on and off C25K since May/June) I drink 3 litres of water a day most days and still feel thirsty when running. If you do still feel thirsty nothing wrong with being the one person carrying a water bottle, don't worry about what everyone else is doing, you do you!

Most runners generally find they don't *need* to hydrate during a 5K (although many races will have water available mid-race). If you're finding yourself thirsty on shorter runs, I would recommend focusing on your hydration the rest of the day and see if that helps.

But at the end of the day, if you feel better running with a water bottle on shorter runs, *do that*. There's no rule that you have to run the way everyone else does. You should run in the way that helps you feel your best. Maybe it will be something you do temporarily, maybe you'll do it forever. Either way is okay.

Every single runner is differnt and everyone trains differently. Some people don't like to eat/drink on long runs and others like a snack every mile on the mile. However we also have different definitions of a long run. When I first started a 5k was my long run and I would want water half way through. Now my distance is much greater and my needs for water more trained. If you can plan your runs around "public water stations". I hate carrying a water bottle so I would plan my route to pass the water fountain at the school, the water fountain in the park, pass the grocery stores that offer water samples (olivers market and Whole Foods usually have these) and if I really needed it there is almost always a Starbucks closeby where I can get a free cup of water. If you don't like to carry anything there are usually ways around it. Get creative and find what works for you. Have fun out there. Just remember you are a boss! You run and that makes you awesome!

TimothyFish wrote: »

Davidsdottir wrote: »

MichSmish wrote: »

For a 5k you definitely shouldn’t need any hydration mid run. You may not be hydrating enough throughout the day as a whole. I can run 12-15 miles without hydrating mid run, but I drink a crap-ton of H20 throughout the day outside of my runs.

Yup, I've never hydrated during a run less than 18 miles, but I drink a gallon of water a day on average.

That is well below the hydration guidelines. You should be drinking something every 10 to 20 minutes, even in the winter. In the summer it is even more important. People have died from not drinking enough water while exercising.

Just who's guidelines are those? Hyponatremia (drinking too much water, thereby lowering your sodium concentration) is more dangerous than dehydration. I can point to cases of runners dying of hyponatremia. Can you find cases of runner dying from dehydration?

That bit about drinking every 10 to 20 minutes is bad advice. Drink to thirst. That's all that's needed.

From this research-based article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5334560/ and condensed for brevity:

Dissemination of more appropriate hydration guidelines is critical, and we recommend that education programs stress the following concepts that are evidence based:

Excessive fluid replacement that goes beyond thirst has not been shown to decrease the development of fatigue, muscle cramping or exertional heat stroke (9).

Modest levels of dehydration are tolerable and pose little risk in healthy individuals. Studies indicate that fluid deficits less than and up to a volume approximately equal to 3% of normal body mass (or ~5% TBW) can be well tolerated (96).

Utilize strategies during exercise to prevent overhydration.

• Drink according to thirst. Because fluid losses through sweat and urine are highly dynamic and variable across individuals participating in a variety of outdoor activities, recommending fixed ranges of fluid intake is not appropriate. The most individualized hydration strategy before, during, and immediately following exercise is to drink fluids when thirsty. Following thirst as a real-time guide appears safe and effective (9, 97).
  
• Reduce the availability of fluids along the routes of exercise.

For a 5K run I wouldn't worry about it. It's virtually impossible to get hyponatremia in a run of that distance (and IS impossible to get dangerously dehydrated in that amount of time)

So, to the OP @chante_04 I would say ignore what every other runner is doing and do what you need to do to make the run a great experience, bring your water bottle, and if you're thirsty, have a drink. If you're not, don't. Better to have it and not want it, rather than want it an not have it. Over time as your body adapts, you may find you can go farther and farther without taking in water.

Be careful with drinking too much before a run or race too. I was needlessly concerned about being dehydrated for my first 5k and drank quite a bit before the race. Big mistake!! It's hard to run your best when you have to pee really bad!!

As far as carrying water, I find for shorter runs (a relative term) a waist pack with the water bottle at the back works well. Another option is a hand-held bottle like this:



With any system, be it a waist pack, hand-held, or a backpack, it will take time to get used to it, so give it several runs before you judge it. Also experiment with moving the pack around. With my waist pack I find I have to push it down low on my hips to feel decent.

Good luck with the running!