Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Hydration/Nutrition Advice

Found this in the July 2008 Northwest Runner magazine, and am putting it here so I can find it again:

General guidelines for maintaining energy and hydration:
Up to 60 minutes:
+ Hydrate with water to maintain body weight (16 -32 oz/hour)
asc>Hammer says max absorbtion rates are around 17-28 oz/hour
asc> I'm not a true believer by any means, but I really think Hammer Nutrition has some intelligent things to say about the maintaining body weight thing (essentially it's impossible, and potentially unsafe). Their Endurance Athlete’s Guide to Success has some very interesting stuff about absorbtion rates, etc.

asc> based on this advice I'm not sure what you're supposed to do from 60 to 90 minutes though. :)

Greater than 90 minutes:
+ Hydrate with water or sports drink to maintain body weight
+ Add carbs to provide 150 -300 calories/hour (gels, sports drinks, shot blocks, etc..)
asc>remember that sports drinks have calories
asc>Hammer says absorption rates are between 240-280 calories/hour

Greater than 120 minutes:
+ Hydrate with water or sports drink to maintain body weight
+ Add carbs to provide 150 -300 calories/hour (gels, sports drinks, shot blocks, etc..)
+ Add a source of electrolytes to maintain fluid balance

Remember you can't pour a sports drink over your head if you're hot. :) I've tried preloading some bottles with NUUN (for electrolytes), and will now add it on the run instead for that reason.

I've experimented a VERY little bit so far (max long run was 100 minutes) and seem to be doing OK with:
+ No water on runs up to 60 minutes (I've had good weather conditions, though)
+ Water from 60-90 minutes, shooting for about a 22 oz bottle every 45 minutes or an hour or so
+ Carb source at 45 minutes and every 30 minutes thereafter

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great info. Thanks!