I hit the big 5-0 last week and, overall, had a great week with the exception of Friday’s steamy 20-miler.
MON: 8 easy
TUE: 7 speed (fastest 800s to-date!)
WED: 7 easy
THU: rest
FRI: 20 long
SAT: rest
SUN: 8 tempo
Now I’m noticing a pattern with my dehydration. My left quad was sore Friday to Monday just like it was during the NJ Marathon. During the marathon I got pretty dehydrated, just like Friday’s 20-miler. Since I’ve never had any issues with my quads I definitely think there’s a link. For me, the NJM and Friday’s 20-miler are what I dubbed “stage 2” dehydration – headache and nausea. As opposed to my usual post-long run “stage 1” dehydration – just an annoying headache. Seem like stage 2 creeps in and so does the quad soreness. Thankfully the soreness goes away after a few days but it’s a pain in the ass.
Since this is starting to get on my nerves, I’m going to increase my water intake the night before and the morning of a long run. I must admit I’m pretty bad with this. During my long runs though I’m a model hydrator…drinking water like crazy, Shot Blok-ing, and electrolyte popping!
What are your must-haves to prevent dehydration during the summer? I tried nuun a few times. It didn’t see any real difference and I thought it was gross!
I pretty much live by my Nathan Catalyst tabs. I put 3 or 4 of them into my 2 liter hydration pack for a long trail run. If I do a road run, I put one in my hand held bottle. I like Nuun too, so if you don’t like Nuun, I can’t guarantee you won’t hate Catalyst too 🙂
I almost always feel a lack of appetite and lethargic after a long run, so maybe I’m not the poster child for hydration. I live in the “if you feel too good after a workout, you didn’t try hard enough” camp.
I do love lemon-lime gatorade! Never tried the NUUNs but I think the packaging is cute… glad I didn’t try them if they are gross!
Some people I know actually take salt packets with them and lick them! Can’t hurt!
I’ve used nuun before (also found them to be weird) and other electrolyte replacement products, but you can really get all the electrolytes you need through an everyday diet. So I try to have a good post-run snack with water soon after. But sports drinks and the tablets are easy, so I totally get the appeal!
I just have a really good water-drinking routine every day, and make sure I’m always extremely well hydrated, even on days I don’t run. For long runs, I’m obsessed with these gels called Go gels by Science in Sport, which is a UK company. They aren’t too thick so you don’t need water with them and don’t taste too bad either. When I move back to the US, I’m going to have to fill my suitcase with a few boxes!!
Interesting about the salt packets!!