Dehydration during long run..help please

[Sharmilee Sen]

I enjoyed my long run..not very long to many but long for me. was around 7.5 miles last weekend. The
previous night I did take a carb rich diet and I usually drink quite some water before runs. However
after my run, I didnot immediately eat anything..took anout an hour to go out and have my lunch. I
did gulp a glass of water immediately after my run. My run was sometime around noon and the rest of
the day I had to be out on social visits. Then in late evening to night, I suddenly started feeling
restless and a racing heart. Not too bad but the heartbeat was very high and later that night I
couldnot sleep.
7.5 miles is not too much for me. I have done my regular runs around 5-6 miles for a long long time
and eve run 7 miles a couple of times.

Doing some study on the net, I feel I was dehydrated. (I was normal the next morning.) I want to go
again for a long run this weekend but before that want to take caution that I don't land up in a
state as previous weekend.

Can experts in this group share with me please or point me to proper documentation on
fluid/nutrition requirement for long runs? before and after teh run? thank you very much.

[Topcounsel]

>Doing some study on the net, I feel I was dehydrated.

Two basic tests for dehydration: (1) Is your urine highly colored? (2) Are you having some
chills/shivers/goosebumps? If not, your elevated heart rate may mean that you may just be fatigued
and in need of rest. You may not need fluids DURING a 7-mile run (I never bother at that distance),
but you sure as heck should drink up afterwards, even if you don't really feel like it. Of course,
the amount you sweat is a big variable, and you didn't mention the temperature, the humidity, your
weight, etc. To manage fluids on my own longer runs, I sometimes make my house close to the midpoint
of the run and grab a bottle of water or Gatorade I have prepared in advance. By the way, I am not
an M.D. -- anything I say is based on my own experience out there on the roads.

[Sam]

www.gssiweb.com
"Sharmilee Sen" <sharmilee_sen@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4f7ac5da.0312161656.73bf6078@posting.google.com...
> I enjoyed my long run..not very long to many but long for me. was around 7.5 miles last weekend.
> The previous night I did take a carb rich diet and I usually drink quite some water before runs.
> However after my run, I didnot immediately eat anything..took anout an hour to go out and have my
> lunch. I did gulp a glass of water immediately after my run. My run was sometime around noon and
> the rest of the day I had to be out on social visits. Then in late evening to night, I suddenly
> started feeling restless and a racing heart. Not too bad but the heartbeat was very high and later
> that night I couldnot sleep.
> 7.5 miles is not too much for me. I have done my regular runs around 5-6 miles for a long long
> time and eve run 7 miles a couple of times.
>
> Doing some study on the net, I feel I was dehydrated. (I was normal the next morning.) I want to
> go again for a long run this weekend but before that want to take caution that I don't land up in
> a state as previous weekend.
>
> Can experts in this group share with me please or point me to proper documentation on
> fluid/nutrition requirement for long runs? before and after teh run? thank you very much.

[Dot]

Sharmilee Sen wrote:

> Can experts in this group share with me please or point me to proper documentation on
> fluid/nutrition requirement for long runs? before and after teh run? thank you very much.

Not an expert, but to add to what the others have already said, I'd consider eating more right after
the run - within .5 to 1 hr. There's an optimum window for replacing glycogen in that time period,
and it gradually closes in about 2 hr. The glycogen will be replaced over time, but it's much easier
to do it pretty quickly. FWIW, after an evening race, which I didn't get back from until near
midnight (4-5 hr after race - and had eaten some stuff (actually a fair amount of stuff including
Arby's but mostly >2 hr after finishing - owing to time to hike back to car, construction traffic,
and then underestimating food needs), I woke up with a growling stomach a couple hours after going
to sleep and couldn't get back to sleep again. I had drunk fluids after the race (but not during
even though I had water bottle with me), but again not enough for the effort level and didn't get
enough in me fast enough. I'll use a camelbak (rather than water bottle) in the future since they're
easier to use in trail runs.

A very general guideline (translated: somewhere toward the center of a bell curve, which may have
a very wide standard error and short amplitude) is that people may need *about* 20 oz of fluid /
hr - depending on weather, effort, etc. Different people have different requirements that you need
to determine for yourself. Some can get by on 5-10 oz / hour; others may need twice that. Check
pee color.

Fluid demands will be greatest with heat, dew point (slightly different from humidity), high
intensity. Fluid needs probably decrease with temperature to a certain point (let's say 10F, for
argument's sake), then increase again as it gets colder, but probably not at the same rate as for
heat. [Note: This is my experience with colder temperatures. I've heard other people who run in cold
weather comment on same thing. I've seen some web pages allude to it, but haven't found really good
documentation for it, but haven't looked in the last year.] Staying hydrated is important in
preventing hypothermia and frostbite.

And don't forget the electrolytes if you drink fluids.

While some people minimize food/fluid intake while running, the people that run or bike for long
periods during training (= ultra runners and im), eat and drink while running to keep the system
stoked. It reduces the recovery time.

If you do a google search on the group, you'll find an assortment of discussions on fluids /
electrolytes / fuel.

YMMV.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

[Drlith]

"TopCounsel" <topcounsel@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20031216200740.14243.00001273@mb-m28.aol.com...
> >Doing some study on the net, I feel I was dehydrated.
>
> Two basic tests for dehydration: (1) Is your urine highly colored? (2)
Are you
> having some chills/shivers/goosebumps? If not, your elevated heart rate
may
> mean that you may just be fatigued and in need of rest.

My money's on fatigue. I'm about where you're at as far as building my distance--the 5-7 mile runs
are a challenge (and 7.5, last week, is my longest long run), but they don't kill me. It's the
running around doing errands afterwards that makes you want to curl up and die. I moved my long run
building day from the weekends to a Wednesday/Thursday night for this very reason--I just can't
afford a few hours of lazing around on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon for proper recovery.

> You may not need fluids DURING a 7-mile run (I never bother at that distance),

There's a difference between someone whose slow gear allows them to complete an easy 7-mile training
run in under an hour, and someone for whom that's 90 minutes or so.

> but you sure as heck should drink up afterwards, even if you don't really feel like it.
Of
> course, the amount you sweat is a big variable, and you didn't mention the temperature, the
> humidity, your weight, etc. To manage fluids on my own
longer
> runs, I sometimes make my house close to the midpoint of the run and grab
a
> bottle of water or Gatorade I have prepared in advance. By the way, I am
not
> an M.D. -- anything I say is based on my own experience out there on the
roads.

Certainly, being more conscious of hydration wouldn't hurt. My understanding is that it's not *that*
exact of a science, especially for medium-length runs (2 hours or less, say). But I'd also look to
post-run activity (which unfortunately may not be easy to address). It's the days after a longer run
when I find myself limping, exhausted, through the grocery store two hours later, that I know I am
flirting with disaster.

[Ed Prochak]

sharmilee_sen@yahoo.com (Sharmilee Sen) wrote in message
news:<4f7ac5da.0312161656.73bf6078@posting.google.com>... []
> Can experts in this group share with me please or point me to proper documentation on
> fluid/nutrition requirement for long runs? before and after teh run? thank you very much.

I'm not an expert. But there are some easy guidelines that I try to follow.

Next run, weigh yourself before and after. This can give you an estimate of your fluid loss rate.
(Yes this varies with weather factors, individuals, pace of run and probably other factors) But from
this you can get an idea of how much fluid you have to replace during or after your run.

Thirst is not always a good indicator of fluid needs.

You can try to replace fluids during the run, but most runs you cannot replace it as fast as
you lose it.

Check the running FAQ for more info. http://www.faqs.org/faqs/running-faq/

[The Messiah]

ed.prochak@magicinterface.com (Ed prochak) wrote in message > Thirst is not always a good indicator
of fluid needs.

How about your shriveled up testicles Ed? Is dehydration why they look like raisins? Freese has been
talking...