28 Sep Hydration strategy: be ready for your race!
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
Hydration can be easily overlooked, but has a strong link to fatigue. Get to know your hydration status by weighing yourself before and after training sessions. If you are losing weight then it’s most likely you’re not adequately hydrating, which can have major impacts on performance. Fluid requirements vary a lot (temperature, size, gender, fitness level etc) but as a general rule of thumb you should be consuming between 500ml – 750ml per hour of an electrolyte hydration drink when working out, regardless of weather conditions.
Plan your hydration strategy before race day:
You have the opportunity to train on the product that will be provided at the drink stations on race day. This is super important to understand how your body works with this product, noting we’re all different. PURE Electrolyte Hydration will be available at all drink station on course so now’s the time to work out how the product works for you.
Carbohydrates are also important when it comes to endurance racing, calculate your bodies carbohydrate requirement by using this simple formula:
As a general rule of thumb, 0.8g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight, per hour of exercise (simply multiply your weight by 0.8).
For a 60kg person, you’d generally be requiring at least 48g of carbohydrates per hour (60 x 0.8). Once you have calculated your hourly carbohydrate intake apply the following:
Example: Three hour endurance event for an 60kg athlete drinking PURE Electrolyte Hydration.
- 48g carbohydrates per hour x 3 hour event = 144g total carbohydrates required for the race
- Consume 3 x 500ml of PURE Electrolyte Hydration during the race = 1.5L = 75.6g total carbohydrates
- 144g total carbs required – 75.6 carbs from PURE leaves an additional 68.4g of carbohydrates you’ll need from food or PURE Fluid Energy Gels (approx 23g per hour).
In the days leading up to your event its important to increase your fluid intake, consuming an electrolyte hydration drink the night before, and on the morning will insure your electrolyte level are toped up, however do this at least 30mins prior to starting and practice this during your training.
During the race its good practice to set your watch alarm at 10-15 minute intervals reminding yourself to top up your sports nutrition throughout the race.
Remember if you’re thirsty you’re already becoming dehydrated.
Now you’ve taken the time to understand your body and how it works from a hydration perspective during the race, its time to understand the importance of an exercise recovery post-race. Within the first 30mins of completing your event its vital to replenish your body with proteins, carbohydrates and electrolytes. Upon completing its always a good idea to finish off any sport drink you have left over from the race, however if you can have on hand within your race bag PURE Exercise Recovery this will give you the right balance of proteins, electrolytes and carbohydrates to help your body restore the lost nutrients. You also need to consider eating, so make sure you’ve put some money within your race bag to enjoy some of the treats at the race village – you’ve earned it!
