Are you hydrated?

[rforsythe]

I know Rybo already mentioned it, but with the forecast showing low 90's even with the possibility of rain, take the time to take care of yourself!

Did you know:
- Dehydration is a significant cause of rider fatigue! If you are racing endurance in a couple days, starting on it now may be the difference between you maintaining a useful pace throughout and finishing well, and not finishing at all.
- Being dehydrated causes muscle cramps, headaches, decreased visual acuity, slower reaction times, and crappy decision making. At a minimum it's one hell of a distraction that will slow you down. At worst, well, dehydration = fatigue = crashes.
- Your body needs time to absorb water. IIRC it can realistically take in 0.5L per hour on average, though under periods of heavy exertion you can actually sweat out up to 1L per hour or more (like when you strap yourself into a sealed leather suit, and sit on top of a 200-degree motorcycle). This means you can start out being overly hydrated, and even drinking 0.5L/hr still end up dehydrated. Start out dehydrated and you're going downhill before you even begin the race.
- That giant bottle of water you slammed 5 minutes before the race isn't helping you much. You still only absorb 0.5L/hr of it, and the majority is going to end up flushing your bladder. Drink a lot, but drink slowly enough to let your body take it in.
- Medics don't like to cause pain, but if you're dehydrated enough to need IV saline your semi-collapsed veins are going to cause some while they try to hit one.

It takes at least 2-3 days to reach a level of hydration that won't leave you feeling like crap at the end of the race. Start now if you haven't already!

[racer316]

Found some useful information on hydration:

Fereydoon Batamanghelidj, M.D, who has researched hydration for several decades, state that we need to drink ½ of our (Imperial) body weight in ounces of pure water every day. (If you weigh 150 lbs you should be drinking 75 ounces of water. If you weigh 180 lbs., that's 90 ounces of water.) Perhaps even more than this since we live in a dry climate.

Tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages and sodas do not count as drinking water. Juice, soda pop, caffeinated beverages and alcohol are all diuretics and cause you to lose water. Therefore for every drink you have that is in the diuretic category, you must drink one more glass of pure water.

[mbohn]

Found some useful information on hydration:

Fereydoon Batamanghelidj, M.D, who has researched hydration for several decades, state that we need to drink ½ of our (Imperial) body weight in ounces of pure water every day. (If you weigh 150 lbs you should be drinking 75 ounces of water. If you weigh 180 lbs., that's 90 ounces of water.) Perhaps even more than this since we live in a dry climate.

Tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages and sodas do not count as drinking water. Juice, soda pop, caffeinated beverages and alcohol are all diuretics and cause you to lose water. Therefore for every drink you have that is in the diuretic category, you must drink one more glass of pure water.

Seems that for nearly every piece of medical advice you find, you can easily find the opposite. Before you give up your coke or java, you may want to read this which is based on more current research:

http://www.thebeverageinstitute.com/...feine_qa.shtml

If you don't have time to read it, let me quote the summary:

In other words, the common belief that caffeinated beverages don't contribute to hydration is a myth.

You may also be interested to know that the Tour de France riders drink coffee and coke:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...e=stein/090701

All part of a healthy 9000 calorie per day diet!

There's a lot more on the subject, let me google that for you:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=coffee+dehydration

[rforsythe]

Coke has its own issues (along with most sodas) just because there's some chemistry involved in those beverages anyway. Coffee is better IMO since it's basically just flavored water, particularly if you don't load it down with stuff. Soda and sugar-based coffee additives will still jack with your blood sugar, whereas straight coffee will give you a caffeine boost without inducing temporarily high glucose levels. You'll also burn it somewhat faster as your metabolism goes up, but no sugar high = no sugar crash, and I've noticed that since cutting that stuff out of my coffee I feel a whole lot better during the day. One thing I do know: without coffee I will probably stab people, so race or no race I'm drinking some.

That article was interesting though, especially the part about those with a tolerance to caffeine basically being immune to the diuretic effects. With as much water as you should all be drinking today/tomorrow anyway it probably won't matter regardless.

[cromer611]

i tried to snort coke once, but the ice cubes got in the way

[Jim 'smooth' Brewer]

i tried to snort coke once, but the ice cubes got in the way

Somebody offered me some coke the other day. I didn't want to do any drugs, so asked if I could just smell it a little.