A must read for those that train hard.

[S. Hord]

We all know the basics in training safely, using proper protective gear and such. But there are other things you need to know when working out or training.

I was reminded today about water intoxication due to a news event where a woman died from drinking too much water. Now this may seem crazy to you but many marathon runners are aware of this. When you see them in races and they are being checked out by medics, they are often being checked for water intoxication and not dehydration.

A person with two healthy kidneys can excrete about 900ml/h (0.24 gal). Consuming as little as 1.8 litres of water (0.48 gal) in a single sitting may prove fatal for a person adhering to a low-sodium diet, or 3 litres (0.79 gallons) for a person on a normal diet.

Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by a very rapid intake of water.

Body fluids contain electrolytes (particularly sodium compounds, such as sodium chloride) in concentrations that must be held within very narrow limits. Water enters the body orally or intravenously and leaves the body primarily in the urine, sweat and by exhaled water vapour. If water enters the body more quickly than it can be removed, body fluids are diluted and a potentially dangerous shift in electrolyte balance occurs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

I would think that it's better to drink something like "Pedialyte" while training than anything else. Pedialyte is the brand name for an oral electrolyte maintenance solution that is found in the baby section of your local grocery store or pharmacy. It's marketed for babies but it's great for adults.

[Eric Allen]

This is something that is very important for anyone who does extensive physical activity--or even doing anything where you sweat a lot (and is something I've come across in my profession--geology--where a lot of outdoor work and hiking is involved).

Electrolyte levels can be thrown out of whack by strenuous activity, but you are generally able to adequately replenish your levels via the food you eat.
BUT: fresh water is very low in salts (i.e. electrolytes). If your gut has a lot of fresh water in it, simple osmosis will move the electrolytes from your body tissues into this water. In addition to brain activity, ater intoxication can lead to cardiac arrest ("heart attack").

So really, the best advice is, drink plenty of water--but not TOO MUCH water. If you start feeling bad, especially if you develop a headache, STOP what you are doing, and take a break. If this happens, drink something like Gatorade or Powerade. You don't need to drink JUST electrolyte-heavy fluids when training to avoid the problem (too much salts can be bad for you as well), but at least be aware of the danger.

[LafayetteCCurtis]

And when drinking in small amounts, plain water is often better than the electrolyte solutions. Getting too much of the electrolyte drink in your guts when you haven't lost that much of the ions can do just the reverse--dehydrating you by drawing the water osmotically out of your cells.

It's all a balancing act. I've heard that some athletes actually learn to judge whether the're in high water/low ions or low water/high ions conditions so they can decide quickly on what drink to take.

[Mike Cartier]

Thats why i simply follow the historical method and drink beer

[LafayetteCCurtis]

Thats why i simply follow the historical method and drink beer

Must agree with that. Sometimes I'd prefer brandy, though. Dunno why.

[S. Hord]

Thats why i simply follow the historical method and drink beer

Yeah when you don't have your beer your eyes get all glassy and your speech starts to slur.

[Steven Blakely]

My brother was a wild land fire fighter and he worked for a company called Pat Rick. Now as you can imagine that is hot, hard, thirsty work.
not to mention when clearing fire trails you use a polasky. This is a tool that has an axe on one end and a hoe blade on the other. He told me that the best hydration you wil ever get is a solution of half water and half gatoraide. this gives you the best hydration. bcause driking too much gatoraide doesnt give you the proper hydration. And water doesnt always replace the elctrolytes that you need during a rigourouse work out.

[Jay Vail]

Thats why i simply follow the historical method and drink beer

The beer you drink today isn't the beer they drank way back when. It was different. No hops and very sweet and not much alchohol content.

[TimSheetz]

I think the water goes where the salt goes.

I have only seen one case in all my years of training where someone "went down" due to too much water... and it was because they were stupid, training hard in a field environment and decided to skip a meal except for a very small yogurt.... then proceeded to down a quart or two of water... His loss of salts through sweat, and then not replentishing it with a good old portion of SOS or whatever rations he was being served led to him collapsing... and also he was a cadet and not a soldier.

I have seen a TON more people drop due to not hydrating.

When I had a chance to go from upstate NY to Houston and train with John years ago in Spring.. .I suffered the huge temperature differences. During an afternoon - in the sun of sparring I drank over a gallon of water and it was not an inhibitor at all. Of course, I was sweating profusely for hours before that... and I drank it over the period of two hours or so.

My last story (I promise), when in Ranger School, I developed severe muscular cramping in my legs at one point, which we generally attribute to having minerals washed out of our body. So I took a packet of salt from my ration meal, downed it and chased it with a quart of water. Less than 5 minutes later, no leg cramps... I did this all while we were running so it wasn't like the cramping stopped cause I was resting.

We have to train smart. Just guzzling huge quantities of water without regard to our output is foolish, but I think we are more likely to go dry than we are to over-do intake.

I will always stay well hydrated. For me, it is a performance enhancer.

Peace,

Tim