Everyone wants to be fit and healthy. You see people running every day. Whether you are already an experienced runner or are just discovering running for yourself: to be fit you need the right training – with all the trimmings. To make endurance training effective, the body must be sufficiently hydrated.

No success running without water

Approximately 70 percent of the total weight of the human body consists of water. How high this proportion is depends on age, gender, but also on the proportion of muscle mass and fat.

Athletes have a higher proportion of muscle mass, which is why the proportion of water in their bodies is correspondingly high. This fluid level must be maintained if performance is not to decline.

Body fluids such as lymph, blood and digestive juices consist largely of water and play a crucial role in a wide variety of processes in the body. It is used to transport nutrients and metabolic products to and from the body, and water acts as a reaction partner in various metabolic processes. It regulates our body temperature and is a building material for a wide variety of cells. Nothing works without water.

And that is why it is so important to keep our bodies well hydrated, especially if we want to demand a high level of performance from them. We recommend drinking 1.5 to 2 liters a day, well distributed throughout the day. The right drink for this is calorie-free water or mineral water and juice spritzers, but coffee and tea should also be added to the daily fluid balance. However, if they contain caffeine or tea, they should also be treated as a stimulant.

Drink more while running?

If you run for 30 to 45 minutes, it is certainly too much of a good thing to do this with a bottle in your hand. Even at high outside temperatures, the body is able to survive the loss of fluids that occurs during this period without impairing performance or health. It is more important to drink regularly throughout the day and to start a run well hydrated. Mineral water is also a suitable drink here – preferably non-carbonated, in order to prevent the intestinal loops from becoming bloated. If you like a little more flavor, you can also have an apple juice spritzer. This provides carbohydrates to quickly replenish depleted energy stores.

As the duration of exercise increases, the situation is different with regard to the amount you drink. Here the body loses more fluid through perspiration than during shorter periods of exercise and electrolytes and minerals are lost with the sweat.

How much you sweat depends on the exercise bike, the duration of the run and the ambient conditions (temperature, humidity). If you run at race pace, you can expect to lose between 1.4 and 1.8 liters of fluid per hour, depending on the temperature. If you do endurance sports regularly, you don’t sweat less – in fact, you sweat earlier because endurance athletes have more efficient thermoregulation with a higher number of sweat glands. Countermeasures must therefore be taken earlier.

Refill announced

Refilling is then necessary, otherwise the body will dehydrate. The consequences of this include a thickening of the blood. As a result, muscle cells are no longer optimally supplied with oxygen and nutrients, and the muscles lose their performance capacity more quickly. In addition, the natural detoxification of the body via the kidneys stops and the blood circulation of the entire organism deteriorates. The resulting restrictions range from a mere reduction in endurance with an increased risk of cramps (from 2 percent fluid loss) to reduced strength (from 4 percent fluid loss) to serious health risks such as circulatory problems (from 5 percent fluid loss).

In order to be well hydrated at the start, runners should slowly drink 300 to 500 milliliters four hours before a long workout. Half an hour before the start of training or competition, it is recommended that you only drink a maximum of 200 milliliters so that the water can pass from the intestine into the bloodstream in time and does not become unpleasantly noticeable during exertion. On the way, you should drink about 200 milliliters for every 5 kilometers you run. A larger amount would make little sense, as the body cannot absorb more than 500 milliliters of fluid per hour from the intestine anyway. This quantity is reduced under load.

It’s all in the mix

The loss of potassium, calcium    Chemisches Element Ca mit der Ordnungszahl 20, Mineralstoff, der zu den Mengenelementen zählt. Unter den Mineralstoffen ha..., magnesium and trace elements during sweating impairs the ability of skeletal muscles to contract, performance decreases and people tend to suffer from cramps. The modern view is that the tendency to cramp is primarily due to a magnesium deficiency, which is expensive to compensate for. This leads to diarrhea with larger substitution quantities and can then go wrong.

In reality, however, the combination of a lack of water and salt and exceeding the performance limit leads to muscle hardening and the dreaded cramps. This can easily be remedied with a drink that is enriched with 400 to 500 milligrams of sodium per liter. It should also contain glucose, as these two nutrients increase water absorption. This allows the body to rehydrate more quickly. Glucose also ensures that lost energy is replenished more quickly.

Full power with good hydrogenation

If you pay attention to fluid loss when running and start well hydrated, you will be at a good performance level. If you are out and about for a long time or running a race, you should make sure you drink enough fluids in between without overtaxing your body with excessive amounts. Drinks that provide sufficient electrolytes and carbohydrates give the body what it needs for peak performance. At the same time, this prevents unpleasant muscle cramps and the resulting drop in performance.