Vital fluids
v/ Martin Kreutzer
Dehydration is one of the most serious performance impairer. This is why it is important to carefully plan you fluid strategy during training and competition. Read here how to fill you body with fluids in the best possible way.
Training can be a wonderful experience, but only to the point where the loss of fluid trough sweat becomes so noticeable that it affects your body in a negative way. Most athletes experienced how great sweat loss can cause the legs to feel like metal. This affects the joy and gain of your training in a negative way.
It is highly important for the training value, that the fluid intake is optimal. All of the bodies´ processes are depending on fluids to work. Because of this it is important to drink enough during training with, where you sweat a lot. Loss of just a few percentages of the bodies´ fluids will affect your performance drastically and cause your other nutrition to due nothing. In a day without training the body needs two-tree litres of fluid, but during training the needs can incline to as much as 1,5 to 2,5 litres per hour. This is especially important under warm or moist conditions.
The risk of dehydration, set a side, it is important than you do not just poor fluids down. Too much fluid can easily irritate the abdomen and cause nosier. A good way to avoid this is to drink smaller quantities. Brining fluids on training days and drinking it in small quantities can easily solve the problem. At first in can seem a bit annoying to train with fluids in the abdomen, especially during running. With some practice it is possible to get use to it. The next time you have to train, try drinking half a glass of tempered water. This should not cause you any discomfort training with such a low quantity of water in your abdomen. The next session you try to drink half a glass more and notice how that feels. With a little patience you will be able to, gradually, increase the amount, and thereby accustoming the body to tree quarters of a litre more water.
Water is the primary fluid, but when you sweat a lot, you can, with advantage, add salt to the water. The salt enables you to obtain more fluid in the blood. At the same time it replaces some of the salts lost. The bodies’ internal fluid regulation it based on a very fine balance between the different salts, if disturbed, because of lack of salts, then you risk, in worst case, that water will assemble in unwanted places. Solve the problem with a small amount of salt added to the fluids you drink, or invest in sports drinks, as they contain different kinds of salts.
Resume: Dehydration paralyses your performance ability, before your energy runs out. Therefore it is important that you focus on your bodies´ fluid needs, by planning a reasonable fluid strategy for your training.
