Hydration

I live the Phoenix-metro area of Arizona where it gets incredibly hot (over 106 Farenheit and higher for days on end) during several months of the year. I'm no doctor, but I've managed to live in the heat for the past nine years without any problems, except for my first summer where I suffered heat exhaustion. Let me tell you, that only happened once. I quickly learned how much water I needed to be drinking. :D For non-workout days, I use the basic rule of thumb of taking my body weight, dividing it in half, and making sure I drink that much water each day. For me that would be at least 80 ounces of water. That may seem like a lot to some, but the humidity is very low here a good part of the year, and it is easy to become dehydrated without realizing it. When I'm working out in the pool, I add extra water using the rule of 2 ounces every 20 minutes. Now, spending time outside in the heat requires additional measure. I know from talking to others that electrolytes are critical for athletes working out in the heat. I typically do not do this as I work out in an indoor pool, so I can't speak to this from experience. Here's a good articles on the subject: dcp.psc.gov/.../FitforDuty_080307.htm Stay cool!

If your urine gets darker than light yellow you are not getting enough water.

David, If you weigh yourself before and after practice, you can figure out how much more fluid you need to consume to completely rehydrate you to the level you were at before practice. Drink 16 oz for every pound difference. Using this principle and applying it over the course of a day would be less accurate, but try weighing yourself before work and after work. Most likely you will weigh more in the afternoon than the morning, and if you don't, you need to consume enough water to make up the difference. Sports drinks contain electrolytes which you may need, but it really depends on your physiology and diet. If you have a bag of salty potato chips with lunch, and your dinner is well seasoned, you won't need as much in the way of electrolyte replacement as if you followed a low sodium diet. You will have to experiment to find your sports drink to water ratio and figure out what leaves you feeling the best. It might be 100% water. Drinking constantly over the course of the day is much better than drinking 2 gallons at the end of your shift.

If your urine gets darker than light yellow you are not getting enough water. Or you just ate a vitamin.

Or you just ate a vitamin. or beets. ;-) I start with a minimum of 1/3 body weight in ounces, more if working out or if it's really hot.

Or you just ate a vitamin. Actually I was once taking a multivitamin and noted it went a really odd yellow colour. Not the normal yellow so I stopped taking them. David

My rules of thumb are, "if you are thirsty, you're dehydrated." I try to have almost clear urine, especially before swimming to help with hydration and prevent cramping. I am constantly drinking water in those nalgene bottles. I carry them everywhere. During practice, I will have 32 ounces of watered down Gatorade and some OJ for extra potassium.

What time do you typically run? Here in Boise, it can get hot in the summer. It's a high desert here. If I am going to run, I make it before 10 AM, or else run later, after 8 PM. I can't deal with the heat. 6 AM to 8 AM is the ideal time. It can be quite nice, dry and in the 60s. I carry a hydration pack when I run. Another nicety is that Boise is extremely far west in the mountain time zone, so it can still be light at 10 PM. If you are up in the foothills at 10, you can make it back down by 10:30 when the sun goes down. This time of year, I try to get out during the day if I can when it is light out. Late afternoon is the ideal. In summer, I wake up extremely early, and am sometimes out running at 5am. For very long runs, sometimes earlier, especially in the worst of the summer heat. I try to be finished by 7 or 7:30am at the latest. Usually evenings in summer are still too warm. I can do a shorter run then, but certainly nothing over 5 miles. It takes too long for things to cool down (if you call lows in the 90s cooling down). We don't change time here in AZ, we're Mountain Standard Time year-round. Which basically is the same as Pacific Daylight in the summer. The sun can rise around 4:45 am.

I'm an indoor swimmer for most of the year and eventhough I usually drank some water during a 90 min. swim I didn't realize how important it actually was-until I found myself lying on the pool deck with a cramp so bad I was crying like a baby and couldn't move for a good 10 minutes.When I mentioned this to the Y club coach he suggested I up the water-like double it-and make sure I finish all of it. 32oz per workout mixed with some flavoring-more if I swim outdoors. And I must be needing it-usually no bathroom break neccessarry for the whole workout.

I also live in the Phoenix, AZ area, where I swim in outdoor pools, run outside, and recently began biking outside. Hydrating myself was never really an issue...I always have a glass of water with me, and drink regularly. A few hours before a workout, I'll start drinking a little more than normal, especially if I'll be outside when it is especially warm. When I'm outside doing a long run, I'll have certain points when I drink, whether or not I'm actually thirsty. Generally at least twice a mile, even in the early parts of a run, and even when it is cold. It helps later on, especially when outside working out more than an hour. I only use sports drinks when working out more than about 75 min. I'll start sipping about 40 min in, and then rotate between drinking water and the sports drink (sometimes chase the drink with water since it sometimes leaves a bad taste in my mouth). I don't see much benefit drinking vast quantities of sports drinks, they mostly seem like empty calories to me. I'll usually go for a low-cal/low-carb option.