Hydration while running? (not a sports drink)

[TiffyLove]

I have been preparing to begin training to run.

Everything I read suggests drinking a sports drink such as Gatorade about an hour before the run/training. I actually dislike the flavor of any of these drinks. I normally only drink water or tea.

Is there an alternative to sports drinks to getting all the electrolytes needed for running?

[Daffy Duck]

Water is really all you need.

Have you tried diluting the Gatorade? My girlfriend doesn't like the taste of it either (says it's too strong), but if she mixes a bottle with 50% Gatorade and 50% water, it's good for her.

[Acting Like Godot]

If you are just beginning to train to run, you really don't have to worry about electrolytes. It's very unlikely that you have enough stamina to run long enough to lose enough electrolytes to cause adverse effects to yourself.

Water will work fine.

[TiffyLove]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

Water is really all you need.

Have you tried diluting the Gatorade? My girlfriend doesn't like the taste of it either (says it's too strong), but if she mixes a bottle with 50% Gatorade and 50% water, it's good for her.

What a great idea. I will definitely have to try that. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

If you are just beginning to train to run, you really don't have to worry about electrolytes. It's very unlikely that you have enough stamina to run long enough to lose enough electrolytes to cause adverse effects to yourself.

Water will work fine.

I have been doing three to five cardio workouts a week for years now. But these workouts are in the gym, rotating cardio machines. I have tried to train to run before but it was hard on my body and my legs cramped pretty badly.

The training program I am doing is within 8 weeks I should be able to run 3 miles, no problem.

I want to start proper "running habits" now and am hoping that keeping my body hydrated correctly will help make the running go a little smoother.

My goal is to eventually get myself to a place where I can run 3 miles a day with some ease. I truly enjoy cardio workouts and would love to get away from having to go to the gym and be able to be outdoors.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by TiffyLove

The training program I am doing is within 8 weeks I should be able to run 3 miles, no problem.

Water would still be fine.

Seriously, there are many people who run, like, a half-marathon, on plain water, no fancy stuff, with no problems.

You are much more likely to have problems with not having enough water, than to have problems with not having enough electrolytes.

Incidentally, your body is supposed to be able to absorb cold water faster, so drink your water cold, before your run.

[TiffyLove]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Incidentally, your body is supposed to be able to absorb cold water faster, so drink your water cold, before your run.

Thank you, I am glad you mentioned this. I love water but I enjoy it room temperature.

I would prefer water over Gatorade if I could, so thanks for the tip.

[MightySunTzu]

Water yes or maybe Celery Juice

The Incredible Powers of Celery Juice

Gatorade Ingredients
water, sucrose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, ester gum, sucrose acetate isobutyrate, yellow 5

Pour the gatorade down the drain .

[LostMyMap]

I use this stuff: The Vitalyte Solution
after a heavy workout and it really makes me feel rehydrated quicker. Much better than icky sweet Gatorade.

[Tasek]

It's true that at three miles of running you don't really need to worry about hydration, but if you still want to, and don't like the commercially available sportdrinks (I agree, most taste horribly sweet) you can make your own using an ORS (oral rehydration solution).

It's simply a mixture of salts and sugars which you dissolve in water, normally used to combat dehydration (because of sickness/diarrhea). You should be able to get packages of it at your pharmacy, add to water and then simply experiment with some flavorings (e.g. some lemon or orange juice, or lemonade or whatever watersoluble flavoring you like) to make the sports drink you find most palatable.

Or if you really want to start from scratch, just add some sugar and a little salt to water (google ORS or ORT for measurements).

Now good luck on your training!

[Acting Like Godot]

Okay, this is just my own view (which means that I don't have a scientific study handy, to back myself up).

If you run, one of the reasons is that you want to keep fit. You want to burn fat. You may also want to keep your blood pressure down to a healthy level.

Consuming sugars and salts right before (or right after) running (BECAUSE of the running) seems counterproductive.

You want your body to metabolise your fat, but if you're drinking simple sugars right around the time you exercise, your body is going to rely on those simple sugars, instead of burning your fat.

As for salt, my theory is that if too much salt in your diet leads to health problems (eg high blood pressure), then among other things, regularly losing salt (through sweating, through regular exercise) will help to counteract the problem.

And consuming salts, right around the time you exercise, defeats the solution that counteracts the problem ......

---------------

Finally if you have ever had a bad case of food poisoning or salmonella, and lost a lot of fluids through vomiting and/or diarrhoea, you can make a good guess of how much fluids you'll need to lose, before you suffer symptoms such as muscular cramps (which is a sign of the electrolyte shortage).

As a very rough estimate, I'd say that if you have diarrhoea and/or you vomit three times within an hour, then you will start to have an electrolyte problem.

But I would suggest to you that it takes a huge amount of exercise to lose an equivalent amount of electrolytes, through exercise-induced sweating.

I mean, just think about the amount of sweat you produce in, even, 90 minutes of exercise, as compared to the amount of ♥♥♥♥♥ and vomit you produce, in three episodes of diarrhoea/vomitting.

-------------

The practical way, I guess, to learn about this for yourself is as follows. Over a period of time:

- Drink some water, run a little.

- Drink the same amount of water, run more.

- Drink the same amount of water, run even more.

As you increase your mileage, keep monitoring yourself for any adverse effects of electrolyte loss.

Anyway when I was running regularly, I was running more than 10 km, on one big glass of water, without any problems. (And I live in the tropics - so it is generally quite hot and humid here, all year round). So I've pretty much concluded that Gatorade and the like is not necessary.

Of course, immediately or very soon after the run, I would drink as much as I felt like drinking (which would often be quite a lot). Most often I would drink water.

[Lifeisamazing]

I get a little irritated when people turn to non-natural approaches. People think that our bodies are extremely weak when in fact, they are pretty damn strong and adaptable. Some people think that they need to wake up at night to eat to prevent their body from losing muscle. Some people suppose that they need to drink all the time or else their body becomes dehydrated.

There are professional athletes and normal individuals. Professional athletes pretty much abuse their body so that is why they need to take extreme approaches: drink different sports drinks, take supplements, etc.

Just like Acting Like Godot preached, when your goal is fat loss, then it's always better to drink plain water. When you want to maximize your endurance, then should you provide your body with more energy.

[RunningDude]

Hi,

You don't need to do anything differently if you're running distances up to 3 miles. You don't need to drink/eat anything in particular beforehand, you don't need to drink anything while running, and you don't need to drink anything after. Just make sure you are well-hydrated afterwards; just like you would normally if you hadn't been running.

As a rough estimate, multiply your weight in kg by the distance you run in km, this gives you roughly the number of calories your body will use to cover this distance. I weigh 70kg, so 70*3*1.6=336 calories for 3 miles. That isn't a huge amount, and isn't enough of a deficit to require a sports drink.

I've done 10 marathons, and the Ironman triathlon, and it's very rare that I use sports drinks while running. Sports drinks manufacturers would have you believe that you need a sports drink every time you look at your running shoes, it's not true! Once you start getting over 15 miles running, you will benefit from an sports drink during and/or immediately after, it will dramatically improve your recovery. Otherwise, just put your shoes on and run!

[TiffyLove]

Originally Posted by RunningDude

I've done 10 marathons, and the Ironman triathlon, and it's very rare that I use sports drinks while running. Sports drinks manufacturers would have you believe that you need a sports drink every time you look at your running shoes, it's not true! Once you start getting over 15 miles running, you will benefit from an sports drink during and/or immediately after, it will dramatically improve your recovery. Otherwise, just put your shoes on and run!

Do you have any other running tips? I have tried to train before and wasn't successful. I do 45 minute cardio sessions in the gym no problem with my heart rate at a high cardio rate. However, running seems to be so much harder on me. Is this all in my head or is there something I must be doing wrong?

[LostMyMap]

Originally Posted by TiffyLove

Do you have any other running tips? I have tried to train before and wasn't successful. I do 45 minute cardio sessions in the gym no problem with my heart rate at a high cardio rate. However, running seems to be so much harder on me. Is this all in my head or is there something I must be doing wrong?

Sounds like RunningDude might be the best to answer that.

For me, I never skimp on shoes. I am willing to pay more for good quality running shoes.

See if you can find someone near you like RunningDude that can watch you and check your technique. Stride, posture, arm movements, breathing. I notice people are sometimes tense when running in muscles that shouldn't be tense, like arms or chest area, hands, sometimes even their face is all bunched up.

[Elrond]

When running five km or less, drink water before and after.

When running like 15 km and longer, bring a camelbak... with water.

My experience.


Marketers want people to believe that you need stuff like protein powder, whey, supersophisticated running shoes... but less is often more.

Originally Posted by TiffyLove

Do you have any other running tips? I have tried to train before and wasn't successful. I do 45 minute cardio sessions in the gym no problem with my heart rate at a high cardio rate. However, running seems to be so much harder on me. Is this all in my head or is there something I must be doing wrong?

Try landing on the ball of your feet, not your heels. Let them act as springs. Works for me.

[joelr]

Benefits | ZICO: Pure Coconut Water


something like this gives the electrolytes but much less sugar. Gatorde = minerals + a roll of sweet tarts. Counterproductive.

[ginkgo]

First of all an electrolyte is just minerals dissolved in water. You can get all you need from food. But tea contains 4,000 chemical compounds in it and it is super healthy for you. See my signature for the benefits of it. Never ever drink those man-made drinks. The Chinese never drink water.

If you want to take man-made things then take drugs like Warfarin. It is rat poison. Or take nitroglycerin- a powerful explosive. Or take Premarine. It is PREgnant MAre (horse) uRINE.

[joelr]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

First of all an electrolyte is just minerals dissolved in water. You can get all you need from food. But tea contains 4,000 chemical compounds in it and it is super healthy for you. See my signature for the benefits of it. Never ever drink those man-made drinks. The Chinese never drink water.

If you want to take man-made things then take drugs like Warfarin. It is rat poison. Or take nitroglycerin- a powerful explosive. Or take Premarine. It is PREgnant MAre (horse) uRINE.

If you were found to have a pulmonary embolism you might consider taking Warfarin yourself. It does save people from certain demise.

[RunningDude]

I would echo a lot of what LostMyMap said, get yourself to a decent running-specialist shop to get a decent pair of shoes. First pair of shoes I ran in were too big for me and not suited to my gait, they gave me a lot of problems. Somebody looking at you running on a treadmill in a shop can look at how your ankle rolls as your weight transfers forward, and make a recommendation based on that.

Your body should be relaxed, LostMyMap is right, you do see a lot of people quite tense - especially upper body. Shoulders can be prone to getting tense, the result being they tend to get quite hunched, this can in turn compress your lungs, which is definitely not what you want. Running involves your whole body, that isn't immediately obvious, I do 2 exercises from Pilates to help,
Plank: Top 10 Most Effective Ab Exercises - Plank
Superman(?): How to Strengthen Your Back with Pilates - wikiHow
There are 3 exercises in there (the second one once for each side), hold each one for 30 seconds, and repeat twice (three in total). That takes you maybe 10 minutes? I find doing that twice a week really helps.

Running is hard, you asked if the problems are in your head. You do need good mental strength for running, and your head will almost always give up before your body does. Next time you see a large-scale marathon, count how many people are walking (when they don't want to be), compared to how many have passed out and need an ambulance. You will see a lot more people giving up mentally compared to those who's bodies have given up.

You will develop mental strength/techniques over time, but try run-walking, start with 8 minutes walking, followed by 2 minutes walking for example. Over time increase your running time, and reduce your walking time. This is a very popular way to start running, or finding somebody else to run with can also help.

Ultimately though, I find running is a very individual thing. You can get a lot of conflicting advice, and what might work for one person might not work for you.

[RunningDude]

That second exercise is 'Opposite Arm and Leg Reaches' - I don't do any of the others on that page.

[Doc Holliday]

I make my own athletic drinks out of whole fruits and vegetables to keep me going on runs that last more than a few hours.

Read about making them here.

[chrisrushton]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Okay, this is just my own view (which means that I don't have a scientific study handy, to back myself up).

please stop now

If you run, one of the reasons is that you want to keep fit. You want to burn fat. You may also want to keep your blood pressure down to a healthy level.

you might also want to increase your cardiovascular capacity, recovery time, general fitness

Consuming sugars and salts right before (or right after) running (BECAUSE of the running) seems counterproductive.

no, non strict studies done by the bbc have shown that if you quickly replenish the carbs you burn off during exercise you eat less later, i attest to this from my own personal experience too and would be very interested to see if a peer reviewed study backed this up

You want your body to metabolise your fat, but if you're drinking simple sugars right around the time you exercise, your body is going to rely on those simple sugars, instead of burning your fat.

true but increasing your overall health by running and making gains in muscle mass increases your base metabolic rate and you will burn more calories in the future. this is still probably the best point you made here. it's better overall to exercise and maybe take a sugary drink than not to exercise

As for salt, my theory is that if too much salt in your diet leads to health problems (eg high blood pressure), then among other things, regularly losing salt (through sweating, through regular exercise) will help to counteract the problem.

just wrong. the point is too much salt. there is such a thing as too much but you need a certain amount to survive.

And consuming salts, right around the time you exercise, defeats the solution that counteracts the problem ......

well it's self consistent at least, still wrong

---------------

Finally if you have ever had a bad case of food poisoning or salmonella, and lost a lot of fluids through vomiting and/or diarrhoea, you can make a good guess of how much fluids you'll need to lose, before you suffer symptoms such as muscular cramps (which is a sign of the electrolyte shortage).

As a very rough estimate, I'd say that if you have diarrhoea and/or you vomit three times within an hour, then you will start to have an electrolyte problem.

But I would suggest to you that it takes a huge amount of exercise to lose an equivalent amount of electrolytes, through exercise-induced sweating.

have you ever got sweat in your mouth? it's incredibly salty. this comparison is irrelevant though

I mean, just think about the amount of sweat you produce in, even, 90 minutes of exercise, as compared to the amount of ♥♥♥♥♥ and vomit you produce, in three episodes of diarrhoea/vomitting.

these things are not sweat. you cannot equate the electrolyte content of them. the only thing that you can compare (ish) is urine. like you correctly stated earlier, cramps etc are caused by the sodium inbalance, not the fluid inbalance (i actually learned that today reading to write this reply, i thought it was fluid) so you need to compare like to like

in principle i find it unlikely that you will need to take any electrolytes unless you're doing some serious running. i can play 3 hours of american football and only need about a litre of water and a glucose tablet to get me through but i do start to get a bit light headed and crampy at the end of a game / training session.

the base solution is very lightly salted water with some maltodextrin. you can also buy electrolyte tablets but i'd guess this is just overkill.

eat well and drink plenty of water and i'm sure you'll be fine

also, i don't really like to troll but the above post really irritated me. sorry to anyone offended but people should not be allowed to post rubbish and not be called out on it.

[LostMyMap]

I'm somewhat surprised of the common opinion that you probably don't need electrolytes if you only run shorter distances. There are many variables to include in how much you lose during a workout, including temperature and, it seems, age. I can go to the dojo and do the same workout as the younger guys and just be drenched, while they are just damp.

I can't cite any science, all I know is that for me, even after a short run, if I put some Vitalyte powder in my water, I drink it faster and feel recovered quicker than if I just drink water. I'm not one to go around pushing products on people, I just know it works for me.

[Drew78]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Water would still be fine.

Seriously, there are many people who run, like, a half-marathon, on plain water, no fancy stuff, with no problems.

You are much more likely to have problems with not having enough water, than to have problems with not having enough electrolytes.

Incidentally, your body is supposed to be able to absorb cold water faster, so drink your water cold, before your run.

I agree with this. A three mile run and longer can easily be done on water and basic proper nutrition.

[Drew78]

Originally Posted by TiffyLove

Do you have any other running tips? I have tried to train before and wasn't successful. I do 45 minute cardio sessions in the gym no problem with my heart rate at a high cardio rate. However, running seems to be so much harder on me. Is this all in my head or is there something I must be doing wrong?

You get better at running by doing it. The first time I ran in 2010 I went about two tenths of a mile before I was winded. A month later I was running 3 miles but it was still hard. Now 3 miles is a light run to me. Running does take some getting used to, but if you will do it several times a week and push yourself a little, you'll get better in no time. If you're in reasonably good shape and under 50, I would think 3 miles is an achievable goal for most in about a month.

[lap202]

The joys of being 16 =D
I can easily run a few miles at a time (I sprint, not into long distance).

I suggest you drink water before and after, but if you are looking for something that is tasteful before a run, I would suggest vitamin water or fuze. They are both healthy and taste great. Fuze is made of real fruits.

You should also consider whey protein, although for what you want, you wouldn't need much. It is more for people building muscles. Protein is what most of your body is made of, so it is great for assisting in healing muscles.

-My Suggestion for Cardio-
I do 15 minutes of cardio every day. My routine involves high Knees for 30 seconds, Burpies for 30 second, and then mountain climbers for 30 seconds. You then take a 30 second break and repeat tell the 15 minutes are up... It is completely doable at home and simple. Builds legs, arms, works your core, and improves endurance

Hope this helped!