Hydration 101: Prepare for Race Day

Hydration 101: class is now in session

nuun is our chosen hydration partner for the 2019 Ascension Seton Austin Marathon presented by Under Armour. nuun performance will be available on course on race day. We encourage all of our participants to train with what will be on course. You should also know why proper hydration is beneficial for you before, during, and after your long run. Hydration 101 will teach you about proper hydration’s benefits and how it affects your body. Use the 30% off code below and save. You will also find nuun and a rainbow of their flavors at our Health & Fitness Expo. Swing by their booth and meet nuun!

Hydration is energy (for your muscles)

Most people think that the purpose of hydration is to prevent dehydration and replenish electrolyte stores that may be lost via sweat. Although both of those are true (recent studies have shown that electrolytes may play greater roles in fluids absorption than sweat replenishment), the fundamental goal of hydration is to deliver oxygen to working muscles. Try to think about hydration or the fluid you are consuming as a way of helping your muscles breathe, which in turn gives them the energy they need to perform. Sometimes, it’s not so easy to just drink straight from a tap in order to help you hydrate yourself. You might find, that you are more likely to drink water if it is filtered. If this is something that interests you then you can check out Water Filter Way to help you find the best products to get pure water.

Water does not hydrate you

Yes, you read that correctly! While water does fundamentally provide your body with fluid, it does not truly hydrate you. Water needs to be in a specific concentration (composing of carbohydrates and electrolytes) to exit the stomach and move into circulation where it can be used by the body. Our water needs to contain sodium to ensure proper fluid absorption. To make matters even more complicated, your “water” should contain different amounts of carbohydrates and electrolytes before/during/after your workout.

Proper hydration will help mitigate gastric distress during exercise

To put it simply, when you are exercising, your body (stomach) is under stress. There are ways you can eat and drink to mitigate that stress or encourage it. When it comes to hydration, if the ratio of carbohydrates to fluid is too high or the electrolyte profile is too low, the delivery of fluid slows down. It sits in the stomach. That’s what causes sloshing and GI issues during racing.

Hydration will help you fuel better

This builds on the previous point. With proper hydration, you can help eliminate the GI issues that can come with it. This allows for faster and more efficient fueling. This is achieved by not overloading your system and using multiple pathways to absorb fluids and carbohydrates.

Hydration aids in recovery

One area that is critical to the recovery process is rehydrating. Rehydrating not only replenishes fluids lost during exercise, but it also aids in replenishing the electrolytes that were also lost. Keep in mind: drinking too much too fast can degrade the potential gains of the workout. Here’s why: over time your body has developed a strong immune system that helps repair itself when it is under the stresses of exercise. Therefore, naturally, your body begins repairing itself, slowly rehydrating, and continuing to hydrate throughout the day.

The experts at nuun wrote this Hydration 101 article. To learn more about nuun hydration, visit their website at nuunlife.com.