Running and Hydration – Choosing Your Fluids
Help in Choosing What to Drink During Exercise
Feb 24, 2009
Understanding that hydration plays a critical role in the performance and health of runners is one thing. Actually figuring out what to drink is another. Choosing a drink, or a combination of them, is the next step in mastering hydration.
Many Drinks From Which to Choose
Walk down the beverage aisle in the grocery store and there lies an astonishing array of products to drink. In recent years, there has been a literal explosion in the number of drinks calling themselves “sports drinks” or “energy drinks”, many of which offer little to no value to runners.
Today there are five types of products on shelves that might be marketed in the general direction of runners:
- Plain water – water with nothing added to it
- Water with additives – water with vitamins or other additives
- “Energy Drinks” – drinks that contain stimulants such as caffeine for energy
- “Sports Drinks” – drinks that contain sugar and electrolytes
- Electrolyte Drinks – products that contain only electrolytes and no sugar
DISCLAIMER: It should be noted before continuing that all individuals should seek medical advice before starting an excersise regmine. In addition, for those who may be on a sodium restricted diet for conditions such as high blood-pressure, please talk to your doctor before using products that contain sodium.
Plain Water -- Not For Runners
Drinking plain water does re-hydrate the body to some extent, but plain water does not replace electrolytes that are critical for muscle function and fluid absorption. Water is best used as a supplement to other products, such as energy gels that contain electrolytes and sugar and need to be “washed down.” Drinking too much plain water can lead runners down the path to hyponatremia, which is a condition of low blood sodium that can be a very serious problem.
Drinks Runners Should Avoid
Two categories of products that runners can simply avoid are those that would be classified as “water with additives” – such as waters that contain vitamins – and those products that called “energy drinks”.
- Waters with additives such as vitamins, minerals or other supplements may be fine for drinking outside of workout times, but during workouts most of them lack the electrolytes that need to be replaced during exercise.
- “Energy drinks” have become hugely popular over the past few years, with products like RockStar, Five Hour Energy, Red Bull and Monster promising boundless energy. These products should be likened to coffee or soda – they are primarily water with stimulants and in some cases lots of sugar. They’re good for a “rush”, but they have no benefit to athletes. The energy that athletes require comes from complex carbohydrates rather than stimulants. Products like these packed with caffeine may even dehydrate athletes.
Drinks Well Suited for Athletes
The best choices for athletes are to use products that fall into either the “sports drink” or “electrolyte solution” category:
- Sports drinks, such as Gatorade or Gu2O, are formulated to provide both energy and electrolytes to athletes, but they typically have a bias toward energy. The newer Gatorade Endurance Formula was created in response to the needs of athletes to provide more of the electrolytes (primarily sodium) that they need.
- Electrolyte solutions, such as Nuun Active Hydration, provide only electrolytes. They contain far more electrolytes than sports drinks, in the range of 4-5 times the amount of sodium, that runners require. Because these products don’t contain sugar, they are very easy to digest and are easily absorbed even when an athlete is already dehydrated. It is difficult to over-hydrate using a solution so rich in electrolytes, so these products can be drunk with limited fear of over-hydration.
As runners search for products that work for them, they should avoid those products that don’t provide them what they need and experiment with combinations of those that do. A mixture of “sports drinks” and “electrolyte solutions” should be a winning combination for most endurance athletes.
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