Heat Related Illness in Sport

The Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii consistently highlights the significant impact of heat and humidity on human performance. Despite being prepared with your hydration and cooling methods, ALL athletes are at risk for a heat-related illness. As an athlete, it's critical to understand thermoregulation, the impact of heat on the body during exercise, heat related symptoms, risk factors, what to do if you suffer from it and how to reduce your risk. Stay smart, stay hydrated, stay cool and stay aware. Your health depends on it.

Thermoregulation

Thermoregulation is the maintenance of internal core body temperature by balancing heat generation with heat loss. 98.6 F (37 C) is the accepted norm for human body temperature. Hyperthermia occurs when your body absorbs or generates more heat than it can release. Your body is always adjusting to keep your body in homeostasis. Muscle contractions product heat as a by-product of metabolic processes. Because the body is very inefficient during exercise, ~75% of energy is released as heat (in other words, much of the energy used to fuel muscle contractions is lost as heat). 

When you get too hot, your body needs to cool itself down by offloading some of the heat into the environment. Heat can be lost through the processes of conduction, convection, radiation and evaporation. Evaporation is the primary method of cooling the body during exercise. The evaporation of sweat is the body’s natural air conditioner. To change from a liquid to a gas vapor, the water molecules break and the energy used to break those bonds is taken from the body in the form of heat. When relative humidity is high, the air is close to saturation and holds a significant amount of water vapor. As a result, there is less room in the air for more water molecules to change from liquid to gas, so evaporation slows down. This makes the body's natural cooling system less effective. This leads to sweat pooling on the skin (feeling sticky), causing you to feel hotter, even though you are sweating more.

If the body is generating more heat than it can release - often due to effort, hot and humid conditions, dehydration or other risk factors - it can lead to serious health issues, such as heat exhaustion, heat stroke or death.

 

Body temperature and hydration - racing in the heat

Tomorrow is the 2024 Men's Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The females showed us great resiliency, strength and courage on/by the mountains of Nice, France and tomorrow the men will battle it out on an island.

The heat and humidity in Kona is something that you have to feel to understand.

The human body can do incredible things - like race for 140.6 miles - but it thrives within a limited range of body temperatures. Muscle contractions keep the body moving but a substantial amount of energy is converted into heat. As a result, the body generates a large amount of heat which significantly raises the body temperature.

To help keep the body temperature somewhat stable and to prevent overheating, the body must dissipate heat through sweating, increased blood flow to the skin and increased respiration.

For the body to do what it needs to do to help you maintain a stable core temperature, you have a responsibility to keep your body hydrated. And hydration doesn't mean taking in copious amounts of salt or drinking large quantities of plain water.

A well-formulated sport drink provides a practical (and easy way) to obtain fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates, in the right formulation to optimize digestion and absorption. Because you will always need to consume water when you exercise for prolonged periods in the heat, a sport drink (with salt and carbs) is the most practical source to meet your fluid, sodium and carbohydrate needs.

Is your sweat rate negatively impacting your health and performance?

 

As the weather gets warmer, I often get emails from athletes asking me about my recommendations for sweat testing or if I can review sweat test analysis. Interestingly, almost every time I speak with an athlete in regards to sweat rate and sodium loss, they give a lot of focus to sodium. While sodium is important and plays a role in sport drinks (and in your daily diet), you can't load your body with sodium and expect your body to perform well if you are exercising in a dehydrated state.

The sweating response is a thermoregulatory mechanism designed to help cool down the body. Dehydration increases in hot conditions. Dehydration occurs from sweat loss. When you sweat you lose fluids. If you don't replenish these fluids as you are exercising, your blood volume drops, which causes your blood to get thicker. This makes it harder for your heart to supply blood to your muscles. As a result, your heart has to work even harder to pump that blood. Additionally, when fluid levels drop, you have a harder time controlling body temperature which causes the core temperature to rise even faster.

You are going to lose more fluid through sweating when your body gets warm. But you DO NOT lose sodium without fluids. Dehydration is fluid and sodium loss - not directly from sodium loss. If you are simply focusing on sodium, but not drinking enough water (fluid) each hour, the sodium will not benefit your high sweat rate.

You must drink enough fluid - in the right combination/formulation of sodium and carbohydrates - for those nutrients to be properly digested and absorbed, in order to keep you properly hydrated and fueled. 

When it comes to understanding your hydration needs in order to devise a personalized hydration and fueling plan, you need to take into account the following: how much fluid you are loosing each hour (ex. your sweat rate—usually measured ml/hr) and how much sodium you’re losing when you sweat.

You can't just focus on sodium and neglect water (and carbohydrates). They all work together to keep your body performing well and to stay in good health. 

To help keep your body functioning well as you advance your training en route to your upcoming endurance events, do the following:

• Keep yourself well-hydrated during the day. ~90 ounces of fluid for women, ~120 ounces of fluid for men.
• Rehydrate after sweaty workouts: ~16-20 ounce water + pinch of salt
• Follow well researched, practical sport nutrition and hydration guidelines before/during and after workouts.
• Do..... not ration your fluids to minimize stopping or try to "save weight" when biking by limiting how much fluids you have on your bike. 
• Make sure you are comfortable drinking while moving (ex. biking, running, between sets while swimming).
• Wear a hydration belt/pack everytime you run outside. I love my Naked Running band. Karel likes this belt (PYFK Running Belt Hydration Waist Pack with Water Bottle Holder)
  as well as the one he has from Compress Sport.
• There are a variety of sport nutrition powders on the market to help you take away the guessing to ensure you are meeting your needs. As a reminder, gels and chews are sodium low, concentrated sources of carbohydrates. If you are prioritizing gels, chews and solid food over sport drinks, you are likely falling short on your sodium and fluid needs. 

Your daily reminder to drink

 

There's a good chance that you don't drink nearly as much water as you should in the cooler months. During the summer, it's easy to tell when you are dehydrated. In the winter, you may not actively recognize your current hydration status. But there is still a need for water. Don't let the cooler temps fool you in thinking you are hydrated when you are really dehydrated. 

As mentioned in my book Essential Sports Nutrition: 

• Water plays a vital in many important roles within your body and you simply can’t survive without it.
• Water transports glucose, oxygen, and fatty acids through your blood to working muscles.
• Water eliminates metabolic waste products such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid in the form of urine.
• Water absorbs heat from your muscles, during exercise, and dissipates it through sweat via the skin, ultimately regulating body temperature. 
• Water helps digest food through saliva and gastric secretions.
• Water lubricates joints and cushions organs and tissues.
• Water nourishes the brain and spinal cord.
• Water is where all biochemical reactions occur.

Even though you’re made of water, you still need to drink water. Every day you lose 2 to 3 liters of water from sweating, urinating, breathing, and bowel movements. Ensuring that you’re adequately hydrated is essential to your health.

Drinking recommendations depend on many factors, but guidelines suggest a minimum of 2.7 and 3.7 liters a day of fluids for women and men, respectively.

If you struggle to drink adequate water on a daily basis, here are a few tips: 

• Keep a large (16+ ounce) water bottle filled throughout the day to encourage frequent consumption. 
• Figure out how you like your water - ice, no ice, straw, cup, glass, bottle? 
• Add a splash of 100% fruit juice, fresh lemon or lime for added flavor. 
• Set a reminder on your phone to alert you to drink once every hour. 
• Track your water intake. 
• Get into a habit of drinking first thing in the morning, as well as with all meals and snacks. 

Benefits of a hydration belt, vest or pack

I never run without my hydration belt. It's part of my running attire and I feel naked without it. 
It doesn't matter the duration or intensity of the workout or the weather, I always have a sport drink with me in my hydration belt. 

If you are a long distance athlete, you've likely experiences several pronounced and uncomfortable symptoms related to unsuccessful fueling/hydration methods. Headache, dehydration, swelling, bloating, sleepiness, lethargy, lack of appetite, nausea, chills, fatigue, deep muscle aches, moodiness and dizziness are not just performance limiting but they are also extremely risky for your overall health.

Proper fueling during intense or long duration exercise can help you sustain a desirable effort to maximize training adaptations.

Proper fueling/hydration also minimizes the stress load to help keep your body in better health.

Proper fueling/hydration in training also helps you practice fueling strategies for competition as you can train the gut to tolerate nutrition while exercise at various intensities.

Contrary to the opinion of other nutrition experts, I'm a huge proponent of prioritizing sport drinks during training. While this is easy to do while biking, most runners and triathletes are unable to apply well-researched, scientific nutrition guidelines to running because it's hard to consistently drink a well-formulated sport drink if you don't have one with you. 

A sport drink provides a practical and easy way to obtain fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates, in the right formulation to optimize digestion and absorption. Because you will always need to consume fluid when you train in the heat, wearing a hydration belt, pack or vest is a practical, convenient and easy-to-replicate way to meet your fluid, sodium and carbohydrate needs.

If you'd like to read more about the benefits and misconceptions with sport drinks, you can check out this blog I wrote. 

Knowing the importance of proper fueling and hydrating while running, many companies - like Naked, Fuel belt, Orange Mud, USWE and Nathan - have solved the issue of how to stay hydrated when you run. Lucky for you, there are so many belt, band, pack and vest options. Depending on the duration and intensity of your run, as well as the weather, it's important to choose the belt, pack or vest that offers the right amount of fluid-holding capacity for your needs. As a reminder, it's ok to stop and refill fluids - I actually recommend it as carrying more than 30 ounces of fluid while running can be heavy when you start running. But having fluids on you throughout your entire run will ensure that you are well-hydrated and fueled, minimizing the risk for dehydration, heat stress, GI issues and glycogen depletion.

As a starting point, aim to consume 3-5 ounces (3-5 gulps) of fluid, 20-40 calories and 80-100mg sodium for every 10 minutes of running. 
Example: 30 minute run off the bike = 9-15 ounce water + 60-120 calories + 240-300mg sodium. 

Sport Nutrition 101 - making a case for sport drinks

If you are a long distance athlete, you've likely experiences several pronounced and uncomfortable symptoms related to unsuccessful fueling/hydration methods. Headache, dehydration, swelling, bloating, sleepiness, lethargy, lack of appetite, nausea, chills, fatigue, deep muscle aches, moodiness and dizziness are not just performance limiting but they are also extremely risky for your overall health. 

Proper fueling during intense or long duration exercise can help you sustain a desirable effort to maximize training adaptations. 

Proper fueling/hydration also minimizes the stress load to help keep your body in better health.

Proper fueling/hydration in training also helps you practice fueling strategies for competition as you can train the gut to tolerate nutrition while exercise at various intensities.

Contrary to the opinion of other nutrition experts, I'm a huge proponent of prioritizing sport drinks during training. I've also had great success prioritizing liquid calories during long distance training (for myself and for the hundreds of athletes that have consulted with me on sport nutrition).

If you are training for a long-distance event (90+ minutes) or training intensely in the heat for 60+ minutes, a sport drink provides a practical and easy way to obtain fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates, in the right formulation to optimize digestion and absorption. Because you will always need to consume fluid when you train in the heat, a sport drink makes the most sense as the most practical, convenient and easy-to-replicate source to meet your fluid, sodium and carbohydrate needs.
Most sport drinks are very safe and effective but are often misused or neglected – especially in the heat.

Let's learn a bit more about sport drinks and clear up any confusion around sport nutrition products. 

Sport Drink Formulation
For a sports drink to work effectively, it must have the same or less than osmolality of blood. As a reference, blood plasma has an osmolality of 280-300 milliosmoles per kilogram and a bottle of Gatorade has an osmolality of ~330 mOsm/kg. A sports drinks osmolality (Iso-, hyper- or hypotonic) is dependent on the carbohydrate type (ex. glucose, fructose, maltodextrin) and concentration (grams) in a solution (fluid ounces) – in other words, how quickly it can absorb into your blood stream. If a drink’s osmolality is greater than the blood’s (concentrated or hypertonic), liquid will be pulled from the blood and into the intestine to equalize the two concentrations – this net movement of water is theoretically dehydrating. A iso- or hypotonic drink, in contrast, will provide a favorable osmotic gradient so that water diffuses into the cells. If you fail to replace the fluids and electrolytes (sodium) lost in sweat, a cascade of negative events occurs, such as a rise in osmolality, a drop in blood pressure and an increase in heart rate. In contrast, if you drink too much water too quickly and don’t consume drinks with adequate sodium, sodium levels will drop as body water levels rise, causing cells to swell. The tonicity of your sport nutrition is extremely important and likely the main contributor to GI issues, dehydration and early fatigue/bonking. The liquid component is very important and why so many athletes experience issues with only consuming solid food, gels and chews (especially when running). 
Takeaway: 
-Hypotonic - lower concentration of fluid, sugars and salt than the blood. Fast absorption into the bloodstream for quick hydration and electrolyte release. Ideal when you need to hydrate quickly and are not trying to maximize carbohydrate consumption (example during high intensity running, running off the bike and post workout).
-Isotonic - similar concentration of fluids, sugars and salt to blood. When your focus is more on carbohydrate delivery than on hydration/sodium. Because the energy and electrolyte release is slower, a isotonic beverage requires more time to get across the gut wall. This is ideal for long bike rides. An isotonic beverage would work well for a high intensity and/or moderate length bike workout, a swim session and low intensity longer runs. 
-Hypertonic - higher concentration of fluids, sugars and salt to blood. Because of the slow absorption rate, it's not advised to rely solely on chews/gels/bars during your workout. Concentrating your drinks (ex. multi-hour bottle of sport nutrition) is a culprit of Gi issues, nausea and feeling extra thirsty as your body has to move water from the bloodstream to the intestines to dilute fluids before absorbing them. A hypertonic beverage is ideal post workout when you are trying to maximize carbohydrate intake. 

What about Juice, Coconut Water or making my own sport drink?
Because fructose uses a different intestinal transporter compared to glucose and once in the bloodstream, has to be taken up by the liver to be processed into a usable fuel source for the muscles (which can take up to 90 minutes), juices are not recommended as a "sport drink" during exercise.

Although coconut water contains calcium, phosphorus and magnesium (electrolytes found in sweat), sodium and chloride are the major electrolytes because they reside in the extracellular fluid. Compared to a sugar-rich hydration beverage, coconut water is a safe and natural option to occassionally enjoy as an alternative to water. However, to sustain moderate to high-intensity exercise for longer than 90-minutes, the body depends on ingested carbohydrates and sodium – both of which lack in appropriate amounts in coconut water. Additionally, if you are paying extra for coconut water to increase your daily potassium intake, look no further than the produce aisle – a large potato contains 1553 mg of potassium! If you enjoy the taste of coconut water over plain water, choose it for light activity. But to prevent dehydration, replace lost electrolytes and provide the muscles with carbohydrates, a well-formulated sport drink is encouraged. In all other situations, plain water should be your go-to hydration beverage.

As for making your own sport drink - leave it to sport nutrition companies. Instead, make your breakfast, lunch and dinner as you can get more bang from your buck by preparing your meals instead of being a chemist in your kitchen. 

Gels, Bars and Chews
Gels, bars and chews are highly concentrated, portable sources of carbohydrates that are easy to consume during exercise but they lack the fluid and electrolytes that you’d find in a sport drink and are not in the right formulation by themselves to be easily digested and absorbed. Same goes for salt pills. Most gels and chews contain around 100 calories (or 25g of carbs) per serving. More concentrated in carbohydrates compared to a sport drink, gels and chews must be consumed with water to encourage gastric emptying. For every 25g of carbohydrates, at least 12-16 ounce of water should be consumed. Athletes may prefer to dilute a gel into a flask or bottle of water to create a more dilute concentration. Considerably low in sodium (50-100mg), gels and chews are ineffective to replenish sodium lost in sweat. Remember, your fluid, sodium and carb intake will be for nothing if it’s just sloshing around in your gut. As a refresher, scroll back up to re-read about the tonicity of a sport drink and how complicated fueling/hydration becomes when you try to meet your sodium, fluid and carbohydrate needs with different sources. 

This doesn’t mean that you can't consume solid food or a gel or chews during long distance training, but to minimize GI issues and to simplify sport nutrition, I strongly advise to prioritize liquid sport drinks when you train (and race) and use chews/swig of gel for a central nervous system pick-me-up and bars/solid food to keep the tummy happy.

Digestion and Absorption

When applying the topic of sport nutrition, it's important to understand that just because you are consuming carbohydrates, sodium and water, this doesn't mean that your muscles are receiving what you are consuming. If a product is not consumed properly (or formulated properly when mixed), it'll simply hang around in the gut - causing bloating, a sloshy stomach, heart burn, belching, vomiting, gas and/or diarrhea. fluid ingestion. This can further lead to dehydration and glycogen depletion.

Water is absorbed in the small intestines and by the time it enters the large intestines, roughly 80% absorption has occurred. The rate of gastric emptying and intestinal absorption are dependent on the volume and formulation of the beverage. The greater the concentration, the greater the osmolality. This is why you should never concentrate your sport drink – like putting 400-600 calories (2 or 3 hours worth of calories) in one bottle that only has 28 ounces of fluid. When you drink water, there’s a drive for the water to dilute the blood (water moves toward blood) but if you drink a more concentrated beverage than blood, like a hypertonic sport drink or soda or juice, water will move from inside the bloodstream and into the gut – which is dehydrating. The inclusion of electrolytes and glucose in a beverage promotes retention of fluids. When you add a little sugar with sodium (as in a sport drink), you can pull a great amount of water across the small intestines, optimizing water absorption. To help with fluid and electrolyte loss, it's not just about the carbs. You also need to ingest water and electrolytes from a sport drink to keep plasma volume at normal levels. 

There's also an added benefit of a sport drink having multiple carbohydrates for better digestion and absorption but I'll save that for another blog. 

With all this in mind, there are several reputable sport nutrition companies out there to help meet your needs. Here are a few of my favorite sport drinks: 

Swim and Run: 
-Skratch
-Clif hydration
-Fluid
-NBS Carbo-hydration
-Base
-Nuun endurnace 
-Osmo
-EFS

(Don't forget to wear a hydration pack/belt to make it easy to fuel/hydrate when you run. My go-to is Naked)

Bike: 
-Infinit (no protein/fat added)
-Carborocket
-Maurten 320
-Skratch superfuel 

What else should you look for in a sport drink? 

• Simple ingredients - carbohydrate, sodium, natural flavors, preservative (ex. citric acid). 
• Taste - vary the flavors of your sport drink. If you don't like the flavor or texture, you probably won't drink enough of it. If you love it and consume it too often/frequently, you may experience taste bud fatigue and dread it on race day. Consider refreshing and light-tasting flavors especially for the later half of longer workouts. 
• Texture - A sport drink should feel hydrating. If it leaves a funny taste in your mouth or if it's difficult to consume, it's not the right drink for you. 
• Avoid caffeine, protein, fat and other "boosters" in your drink. If you need a boost, get it from an outside source so that you aren't stuck with those added products in your drink (as many times they can cause GI distress). 
• Reach out to a sport dietitian for help. Finding and utilizing sport nutrition is a science and involves a bit of trial and error. Take away the guessing and reach out for help.

Hot Weather Long-Distance Triathlon Racing - How to Fuel/Hydrate

"Drink as much as you can and take lots of salt tabs!"

This is what I've been reading a lot of lately on social media as it relates to the advice that triathletes are receiving in route to their upcoming hot long distance race. 

Racing in the heat is extremely taxing on the body. The biggest consequences include heat stress/exhaustion/stroke and dehydration. Anytime the weather is above 86-degrees F, there will be some type of stress to your cardiovascular system. For the athlete with a hot weather race on the schedule, you must be smart, flexible, attentive and safe when exercising in the heat. Times will be slow(er) than normal and you can't chase metrics. Your primary goal is racing smart and doing the little things well. It probably won't be your fastest race and on paper, the race results may not showcase your current level of fitness but in such extreme conditions, your only goal is to reach the finish line without compromising your health.

Most athletes will overhydrate before and during a hot weather race. There will be many haphazard nutrition "plans" that involve the excessive consumption of salt pills, excessive consumption of sport drinks and lots and lots of water. Because you will be physiologically limited in the heat, there a limit as to how much sodium, fluid and carbohydrates your body can digest and absorb. You can't replace everything that is lost in sweat (and metabolic heat). 

There are several approaching triathlon races where the weather is predicted to be in the mid to upper 90's. That's hotter than hot when you are racing for 70.3 or 140.6 miles. To be honest, these conditions are not safe for the human body and racing in such brutal conditions poses a significant risk to health. While hot conditions are sure to compromise the health of the body, there are ways to mitigate the stress response to the heat and to safely reach the finish line. By understanding the body response when exercising in hot weather and learning how your fueling and hydration can help you , you will have the necessary tools to fuel and hydrate like a pro. 

Effects of dehydration on a body in motion

 

Although water has no caloric value, it’s the most essential nutrient required in your diet on a daily basis. Your body is made of water. It’s part of your blood, brain, heart, lungs and bones. As it relates to exercise, water maintains blood volume, reduces the risk of heat stress, regulates body temperature and is involved in muscle contractions.

To optimize your hydration status, you must be an active participant in your hydration regime by consuming adequate fluids and electrolytes on a daily basis - as well as before, during and after exercise. Leaving hydration to chance or ignoring dehydration symptoms can be hazardous to health and performance.

Sadly, once you are dehydrated, you can't 'make-up' for fluids lost.

Going into a workout dehydrated and/or not replenishing fluids and electrolytes lost during exercise can cause great strain on your cardiovascular system. As dehydration reduces plasma volume, blood becomes thicker and retains more sodium. This makes blood harder to circulate through your body. To compensate, your heart beats faster, which increases heart rate and blood pressure. Central venous pressure decreases which reduces the amount of blood returning to the heart. Less blood entering the heart decreases the amount of blood leaving the heart. An increase in core temperature leads to an increased rate of glycogen breakdown (carbs stored in the muscles), which causes an intracellular increase in acids. As lactic acid is produced, pH decreases causing skeletal muscle fatigue. Dehydration may also increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol - which reduces testosterone levels and impacts muscle growth.

Keeping your body well-hydrated on a daily basis - as well as before/during/after exercise helps your heart pump blood more easily, protects your body from heat stress and allows oxygen to reach your muscles to help the muscles work efficiently.

To learn more about mastering or fine-tuning your hydration needs during exercise, check out my book Essential Sports Nutrition. Not only do I discuss how to best hydrate before, during and after workouts and races but I also provide many guidelines on how to best fuel your incredible body in motion in training and on event day. 

Keep yourself safe when running in the heat

Remember that time when you were wishing for warmer temps? Well, that time has come.
I always run with hydration and fuel in my Naked running belt (all year long) but no surprise - I go through my fluids much quicker when it's hot and steamy outside.

Although it can be misearble (and sometimes dangerous) to train in the heat, there are a few ways to help mitigate the physiological response to exercising in hot and humid temps.

First off, it's important to understand why exercise feels so difficult in the heat.

1. Blood that would normally go to the working muscles in a cooler environment is now going to the skin for cooling (so heat can be released into the air).
2. Your body is trying to maintain a safe body temperature (homeostasis). If body temp increases beyond a safe level, normal bodily functions can't be maintained and your body will shut/slow down.
3. With a greater risk for dehydration and loss of electrolytes in the heat, your body can not maintain normal physiological functions. With less fluid in the body, your heart has to work even harder to keep blood volume up to function. In other words, when blood volume drops due to dehydration, your heart has to beat faster to circulate the same amount of blood through the body. When you are dehydrated and blood volume drops, it's incredibly difficult to meet all of the demands of the working body. Ultimately, the body will prioritize cooling and cardiovascular safety and you'll be forced to decrease your effort. If you try to fight it, you'll end up overheating and may fall victim to a heat-related illness.

Here are a few helpful reminders to keep yourself safe when training in the heat:

• Do not attempt a run workout in the hottest hours of the day. Run early morning or in the evening when the sun is not blazing over you. Don't try to be a hero - if it's not safe outside, take your workout indoors (ex. brick running).
• Wear appropriate clothing that keeps you cool, comfortable and protected- lightweight, loose-fitting, breathable and sweat wicking. Don't forget to use sunscreen, wear a breathable hat (and sunglasses) and utilize a cooling towel around your neck. Plan your route to include shade, water fountains, gas stations (for refilling) and off any new asphalt. 
• Don't ration your fluids - stop and refill before you run out of fluids. Aim for at least 10 ounce fluid, 80-100 calories and 240-400mg of sodium per every 30-45 minutes of running. Sip every 8-15 minutes. Use plain water for cooling the body. 
• Adjusting to the heat takes time. It needs to be taken with caution. Keep an eye on your heart rate - even if your pace feels "slow" your rising heart rate will remind you that your body is perceiving the effort as "hard."
• Adjust your effort during structured workouts. Think of intervals as progressive - try to get stronger as the workout continues. Start out easier to reduce the chance of overheating. Starting out too hard (ex. in an interval or in the early part of a workout) will inhibit the body from being able to cool itself. 
• Speed intervals, tempo work and race efforts require adjusted expectations in hot conditions (the best strategy is to not have expectations or a set outcome goal). You will likely need to give yourself more rest to lower the heart rate between intervals or incorporate more walking between intervals. Because the heart rate will rise quickly in the heat and will continue to rise (cardiac drift), your intense efforts should not be forced. It won't take much to increase your heart rate to a "strong" effort. 
• Don't be tempted to keep the pace of a training partner. Listen to your body cues to prevent overheating. Focus on your fueling/hydration needs - drink when you need to drink and stop when you need to stop. 
• Focus on your hydration and fueling in the 72 hours before and after the workout. Preparing for a hot weather workout does not mean only focusing on what you eat/drink in the hours before and after the workout. Because of the taxing nature of hot workouts, you need to prepare in advance and plan well after the workout is complete. 
• Monitor the signs and symptoms of a heat related illness. Chills, headache, nausea, dizziness, no urge to urinate, dark urine, confusion and light-headedness  during and after a workout are not normal and should be taken seriously. 

What you need to know about hot weather sport nutrition

You may be able to get away with haphazard fueling and hydration strategies in the cold winter months but if you are experiencing warmer temps, now is not the time to "wing it" when it comes to utilizing sport nutrition during your long workouts.

If you've ever struggled with understanding your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid needs during a long workout, you've likely experiences several pronounced, uncomfortable and performance-limiting symptoms related to underfueling, overfueling, dehydration and overhydration such as headache, no urge to urinate, sleepiness, lack of appetite, nausea, bloating, fatigue, muscle aches, moodiness and dizziness.

Proper fueling during intense or long duration exercise helps you sustain a desirable effort to maximize training adaptations. You can also practice fueling strategies for competition and train the gut to tolerate nutrition while exercise at various intensities.

Contrary to the opinion of other nutrition experts, I'm a huge proponent of prioritizing sport drinks during training. I've also had great success prioritizing liquid calories during long distance training (for myself and for the hundreds of athletes that have reached out to me for sport nutrition consulting). 

If you are training for a long-distance event (90+ minutes) or training intensely in the heat for 60+ minutes, a sport drink provides a practical and easy way to obtain fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates, in the right formulation to optimize digestion and absorption. Sport drinks are very safe and effective but are often misused or neglected – especially in the heat.

Sport Drink Formulation
For a sports drink to work effectively, it must have the same or less than osmolality of blood. As a reference, blood plasma has an osmolality of 280-300 milliosmoles per kilogram and a bottle of Gatorade has an osmolality of ~330 mOsm/kg. A sports drinks osmolality (Iso-, hyper- or hypotonic) is dependent on the carbohydrate type (ex. glucose, fructose, maltodextrin) and concentration (grams) in a solution (fluid ounces) – in other words, how quickly it can absorb into your blood stream. If a drink’s osmolality is greater than the blood’s (concentrated or hypertonic), liquid will be pulled from the blood and into the intestine to equalize the two concentrations – this net movement of water is theoretically dehydrating. A iso or hypotonic drink, in contrast, will provide a favorable osmotic gradient so that water diffuses into the cells. If you fail to replace the fluids and electrolytes (sodium) lost in sweat, a cascade of negative events occurs, such as a rise in osmolality, a drop in blood pressure and an increase in heart rate. In contrast, if you drink too much water too quickly and don’t consume drinks with adequate sodium, sodium levels will drop as body water levels rise, causing cells to swell.

What about Juice and Coconut Water?
Because fructose uses a different intestinal transporter compared to glucose and once in the bloodstream, has to be taken up by the liver to be processed into a usable fuel source for the muscles (which can take up to 90 minutes), juices are not recommended as a "sport drink" during exercise.

Although coconut water contains calcium, phosphorus and magnesium (electrolytes found in sweat), sodium and chloride are the major electrolytes because they reside in the extracellular fluid. Compared to a sugar-rich hydration beverage, coconut water is a safe and natural option to occassionally enjoy as an alternative to water. However, to sustain moderate to high-intensity exercise for longer than 90-minutes, the body depends on ingested carbohydrates and sodium – both of which lack in appropriate amounts in coconut water. Additionally, if you are paying extra for coconut water to increase your daily potassium intake, look no further than the produce aisle – a large potato contains 1553 mg of potassium! If you enjoy the taste of coconut water over plain water, choose it for light activity. But to prevent dehydration, replace lost electrolytes and provide the muscles with carbohydrates, a well-formulated sport drink is encouraged. In all other situations, plain water should be your go-to hydration beverage.

Gels, Bars and Chews
Gels, bars and chews are highly concentrated, portable sources of carbohydrates that are easy to consume during exercise but they lack the fluid and electrolytes that you’d find in a sport drink and are not in the right formulation by themselves to be easily digested and absorbed. Same goes for salt pills. Most gels and chews contain around 100 calories (or 25g of carbs) per serving. More concentrated in carbohydrates compared to a sport drink, gels and chews must be consumed with water to encourage gastric emptying. For every 25g of carbohydrates, at least 12-16 ounce of water should be consumed. Athletes may prefer to dilute a gel into a flask or bottle of water to create a more dilute concentration. Considerably low in sodium (50-100mg), gels and chews are ineffective to replenish sodium lost in sweat. Remember, your fluid, sodium and carb intake will be for nothing if it’s just sloshing around in your gut.
 
This doesn’t mean that you can't consume solid food or a gel or chews during long distance training, but to minimize GI issues and to simplify sport nutrition, I strongly advise to prioritize liquid sport drinks when you train (and race) and use chews for a central nervous system pick-me-up and bars/solid food to keep the tummy happy.

Digestion and Absorption 

When applying the topic of sport nutrition, it's important to understand that just because you are consuming carbohydrates, sodium and water, this doesn't mean that your muscles are receiving what you are consuming. If a product is not consumed properly (or formulated properly when mixed), it'll simply hang around in the gut - causing bloating, a sloshy stomach, heart burn, belching, vomiting, gas and/or diarrhea. fluid ingestion. This can further lead to dehydration and glycogen depletion.

Water is absorbed in the small intestines and by the time it enters the large intestines, roughly 80% absorption has occurred. The rate of gastric emptying and intestinal absorption are dependent on the volume and formulation of the beverage. The greater the concentration, the greater the osmolality. This is why you should never concentrate your sport drink – like putting 400-600 calories (2 or 3 hours worth of calories) in one bottle that only has 28 ounces of fluid. When you drink water, there’s a drive for the water to dilute the blood (water moves toward blood) but if you drink a more concentrated beverage than blood, like a hypertonic sport drink or soda or juice, water will move from inside the bloodstream and into the gut – which is dehydrating. The inclusion of electrolytes and glucose in a beverage promotes retention of fluids. When you add a little sugar with sodium (as in a sport drink), you can pull a great amount of water across the small intestines, optimizing water absorption. To help with fluid and electrolyte loss, it's not just about the carbs. You also need to ingest water and electrolytes from a sport drink to keep plasma volume at normal levels. 

Here's a snippet of a presentation I gave to the Trimarni coaching team on the topic of warm weather hydration and fueling.

Don't wait until a setback occurs to appreciate the power of sport nutrition and how a sport drink can enhance performance, protect your immune system and promote quick recovery.

Hydration and Performance

The first step to optimizing performance is mastering your daily hydration needs to maintain proper body functions. Fluids are critical to optimal health. They replenish what has been lost through normal physiological processes, such as respiration, sweating and urination. To optimize cardiovascular and thermoregulatory functions, it's important to subscribe to a comprehensive fluid-replacement program. Identify the best beverages to consume and plan your fluid intake - frequency and volume - around and during exercise. 

To help simplify this confusing topic, I highly suggest to listen to the Purple Patch Fitness Podcast with Andy Blow from Precision Hydration.  Matt and Andy go into the specifics of hydration and why athletes should pay more attention to hydration needs on a daily basis and during training. 

If you are like most athletes and desire specific guidelines and strategies for optimizing hydration intake, I feel you'll really find my book Essential Sports Nutrition practical and useful. Within the book, I provide several sport specific strategies on how to hydrate (and fuel) for better results.

I start the book by discussing fluid and electrolytes and how to identify dehydration (and overhydration) symptoms. I then discussing fluid balance - specifically fluid loss and fluid intake. With so many different types of fluids -from coffee and tea to sport drinks - I discuss several different types of drinks and the pros and cons. Within part two of the book, I spend three chapters discussing how to best hydrate (and fuel) before exercise, during and after exercise, on rest days and during competition. Respective to every type of workout or competition scenario, I give specific guidelines to help you fine-tune your hydration and fueling strategies. 

To fully understand and apply sport nutrition concepts, it's important to have a great understanding of exercise science, exercise physiology and sport nutrition. I feel Andy and Matt did an exceptional job dissecting this complicated topic and I hope my book can serve as a comprehensive - yet easy-to-read guide - to help you optimize your performance and maintain optimal health.

If you already have my book, THANK YOU! Because most online consumers are influenced by reviews when purchasing a product, after you read my book, it would be great if you could leave a review on Amazon. Click HERE and scroll down to Review this product. 

4 hydration mistakes you are probably making

As an athlete, if your diet and hydration meets the training demands placed on your body, you will perform at your best, reduce risk for injury and illness and improve longevity in your sport. If you suffer from flat training sessions, subpar race performances, inconsistent training efforts, fatigue, injuries, chronic niggles, digestive issues, sleep disturbances and a reasonable amount of cold symptoms, you probably lack the essentials of a training diet that will boost your immune system and encourage optimal training enhancements.

In my book, Essential Sports Nutrition, I start the first chapter discussing the topic of hydration. Why hydration?

Despite not providing the body with energy (in the form of calories), water is the most essential nutrient in a healthy, performance-focused diet. Every tissue, organ, cell and body system requires it. Whereas you can survive for over a month without food, you can only survive but a few days without drinking water.

Because your body systems (hormonal, neurotransmitter, metabolic, enzymatic) are put into high gear as they experience great stress through training , you want to look for ways to optimize these processes. One of those ways is through consistent hydration habits.

If you happen to be one of the many athletes who are neglected your hydration needs, here are a few mistakes to stop making.

1. Not drinking enough water during the day - The average adult is 50-65% water. If you weigh 150 lbs, you are likely carrying around 88 lbs (or 40 liters) of fluid inside of your body. Even though you are made of water, you still need to pay attention to your daily fluid intake when you aren't training/exercising. Because muscle tissue is ~75% made of water and bones are around 30% water, it makes sense to keep your muscles and bones well-hydrated (fat tissue is low in water, only around 10%) so that your body is primed to perform during exercise. Water is also the main components of your blood and blood carries hormones, oxygen and nutrients (like glucose) to your cells. Aim for 90 ounces a day for women and 120 ounces a day for men. Eighty percent of this amount should come from water and the rest from water-containing foods (watery fruit, vegetables, soup) and beverages (Smoothies, milk). Spread your intake over the course of the day and cut back around 2 hours before bed to avoid night-time bathroom trips. You should be fully emptying your bladder 4-5 times throughout the day. If you feel the urge to urinate every hour, you are drinking too much (and/or not consuming enough sodium in your daily diet). If you can easily go 3-4+ hours without the urge to urinate, you are not consuming enough fluid. 
2. Not rehydrating properly post workout - Although fluid (and sodium) losses vary, often based on environmental conditions, fitness level, gender, diet, intensity/volume, etc., it would be a mistake to only drink what feels like "enough" after an intense/long/sweaty workout. When you sweat, you lose a lot of fluid. Sodium loss varies. However, when you complete a session where you've lost a lot of fluid, your blood volume (volume of blood, specifically plasma and red blood cells) and total body water has decreased. Conversely, sodium content in blood increases. Simply drinking plain water after a fluid depleting session will quench your thirst but you will dilute your blood before blood volume has returned to normal values. The end result is that you will urinate a lot of diluted urine (to bring the concentration of blood to a normal level) but you will have neglected to rehydrate yourself. Consuming drinks with sodium after a fluid-depleting session will optimizing rehydration. Ideally, consume 20-24 ounce of a sodium-rich fluid post fluid-depleting training, for every pound lost during exercise - spread over several hours. 
3. Hydrating with the wrong types of beverages - Plain water is your ideal fluid choice - it's free of sugar, caffeine, calories, food dyes and artificial ingredients. If you have yet to appreciate the benefits of plain water, you can choose carbonated or mineral water (both of which are a great alternative to regular and diet soda). As long as your bubbly beverage is free of citric acid, sugar and phosphorus, there's little risk to your health. If you experience discomfort in your gut (or gas/belching), you are likely drinking your carbonated drink too quickly. As for alcohol, these calories are not used for energy like the macronutrients (carbs, protein, fat) found in real food. Alcohol is metabolized in your body as fat - alcohol by-products are converted into fatty acids and after being stored in liver, those fatty acids are sent to the bloodstream. While moderate alcohol consumption may be combined in an otherwise healthy training diet, alcohol consumed before, during or after training can impair recovery, affect motor ability, impair vitamins and mineral usage, increase dehydration (it acts as a diuretic), and may interfere with glycogen storage in the muscles and liver. Alcohol is also a vasodilator, meaning that it causes the blood vessels to expand. Consuming alcohol after a competition (or intense workout) may compromise healing and recovery, especially if soft tissue damage has occurred.  If you choose to drink, avoid before/during/after heavy training days (and competitions) and stick with one drink - 12 ounce beer, 4 ounce wine, 1.25 ounce of liquor. 
4. Not consuming water with gels - Gels and chews act as a convenience source of fuel during running workouts. However, the lack the sodium needed to maintain fluid balance. The typical gel contains around 50mg of sodium (compare that to a 90-120 calorie serving of a sport drink that contains 250-500mg sodium). Additionally, because gels and chews act as a portable, yet concentrated, source of carbohydrates, they must be combined with water to provide the optimal environment to optimize gastric emptying. Although a gel or chew may give you the boost you need when experiencing the effects of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose), for a sport nutrition product to work effectively as your primary fuel, electrolyte and fluid source, it should be equal to or less than the osmolality of the blood to create a favorable osmotic gradient. Only than can the produce effectively deliver fluid, carbohydrates and electrolytes to the working muscles. If your stomach is unable to empty consumed carbohydrates from a gel/chews (concentrated carbohydrates), the risk for bloating, gas, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramping, fatigue and dehydration increase. More so, once you get dehydrated, gastric emptying is delayed and any attempt to hydrate (or consume needed calories) will only upset your tummy even more. The ideal sport nutrition product should contain sugar/carbohydrates (10-14 grams) and sodium (at least 120 mg) for every 8 ounce fluid. 

Nutrition tips for training in the heat

Triathletes and endurance athletes are very susceptible to dehydration and even more so, a heat-related injury at this time of the year.  Whereas in the cold/cooler months of the year, athletes can get away with haphazard fueling and hydration strategies, now is the time in the year when a poorly planned (or early-season) fueling/hydration regime will negatively affect training sessions, racing potential and health.  

Let it be known that training in the heat is incredibly stressful for the body. Seeing that training (in any environment) already creates difficulty for the body to adequately digest and absorb nutrients and fluids, you can imagine why so many athletes experience harmful health issues, GI struggles, extreme fatigue and so many more issues during the summer months when training for an event.

If you think about those who succeed well in endurance events, every athlete is getting tired from glycogen depletion and dehydration and central nervous system fatigue but those who can minimize these performance-limiting issues the longest (ex. proper pacing, great fitness, excellent nutrition/fueling/hydration), is the one who slows down the least and keeps the body functioning in good health and thus, the one who is the most successful on race day. It's also important to note that each athlete will have his/her own threshold for when the body begins to experience a decline in health and performance from dehydration and glycogen depletion - particularly in the heat. 
To keep your body functioning well (in training and on a daily basis), it's extremely important that you do your part and not let your fueling/hydration regime become a game of guessing - especially during the times when you feel your health/performance suffering during training.

Why athletes struggle to stay in good health and perform well in the summer months:

-Not staying well-hydrated on a daily basis (before/after workouts and during the day)

-Not bringing along fluids/nutrition when running (especially off the bike)

-Not comfortable drinking while running/riding 

-Rationing fluids to avoid stopping (or not enough places to refill bottles)

-Not enough hydration bottle cages on the bike (or if they are on, not easily accessible)

-Not using sport nutrition products properly (not enough or too much carbohydrates, fluids and electrolytes)
-Afraid to use sport nutrition products or not planning ahead and relying only on water (or nothing at all)

-It's only a "short" workout - you feel you don't need it

I could go on and on and on. 

There are dozens of excuses and reasons that athletes have as to why fluid/electrolyte/calorie needs are not being met during training and racing and not only is it holding you back from training consistently and executing well during workouts, it is also extremely damaging to the body - placing you at risk for injury, sickness, burnout and other serious health complications. 

Common side-effects of dehydration: 

• headache
• dizziness
• blurred vision
• loss of focus
• chills
• no appetite post workout
• excessive sleepiness
• extreme weakness
• low blood pressure
• stop sweating
• dry mouth
• dark urine
• dry skin
• no/little urination
• extreme cramping
• bloating/puffiness 
• excessive thirst/lost of thirst
• rapid, elevated pulse (despite effort slowing down)
• muscle spasms (during and post workout)

Are you currently experiencing any of the above? If yes, your current fueling/hydration strategy is NOT working for you. 

Every human body is different but we must pay very close attention to our body signs/symptoms/signals when it comes to training and racing in endurance events. If you do not make the effort to keep yourself in good with proper fueling and hydration (and pacing), you will be forced to spend a lot of time getting your body healthy again before you start even thinking about training again. 

To help you out, here are a few very simple tips to ensure that you are staying hydrated during your workouts (and races): 

• Be sure to have a sport drink with you for all workouts lasting more than one-hour - this should contain a mixture of electrolytes, carbohydrates and fluids in an appropriate concentration to digest well and to be efficiently absorbed. I suggest a hypo or isotonic solution with no more than 10-14g carbohydrates per 8 ounces but at least 120mg of sodium per 8 ounces in the heat to optimize gastric emptying.
• For intense or very sweaty/hot workouts lasting less than an hour, you should still use a sport drink with at least 10g carbohydrates per 8 ounces and at least 120mg sodium per 8 ounces.
• Aim for 24-32 ounces of fluid on the bike per hour and at least 10 ounce fluid per 10-15 minutes while running (this should be in a sport drink - not plain water in the heat!).
• Aim to sip your bottle on the bike every 10-12 minutes (you need at least 3-4 gulps to ensure that you are getting in around 3-4 ounces of fluid) and 1-2 sips every 5-8 minutes while running. Frequent drinking on a schedule will not only help to delay fatigue and prevent dehydration but will prevent overdrinking on fluids (particularly ice cold water).
• While keeping your insides hydrated is critical, consider ways to keep your body cool on the outside. Suggestions include exercising early morning or in the evening and avoiding workouts in the heat of the day (10-5pm). Choosing indoor workouts over outdoor. Using water/ice to cool yourself while exercising. Wear a cooling towel/cooling sleeves. Use a visor over a hat. Choose shady areas over direct sunlight. Wear sunscreen to prevent burning.
• Always plan ahead with your bottle refill stops. Be sure to STOP before you really need to stop so you are never rationing your fluids or going without.
• Be sure you are setting yourself up for good hydration behaviors. Cages/hydration systems on the bike should be accessible and easy to use in ALL conditions (ex. bumpy roads, rain, technical courses, etc.). Your run courses in training should allow you to refill bottles that you bring with you OR set up bottles on your course. Everything you do in training should be practice for race day.
• Wear a hydration belt/pack so you can drink what you drink, when you want to drink it. There are many types on the market - find one that works for you and never run outside without it.
• Do not wait for thirst to kick in during endurance workouts/racing to start drinking. Start drinking/fueling early. An athlete who waits to drink until he/she is thirsty is already behind on fluid requirements and many times, this will cause an athlete to drink an excessive amount of water (as it may be more palatable as a race/training continues) and may cause hyponatremia (very serious) or may cause a sloshy stomach/bloating/stomach cramping by trying to drink too much at once (often a hypertonic/concentrated amount from guzzling a lot of drinks at aid stations or stops at gas stations in training).
• Make your fueling/hydration strategy during workouts as simple as possible. You should not be using several different methods of consuming electrolytes, calories/carbohydrates/sugars and fluids. Also, DO NOT overconcentrate your flasks/bottles.
• Pace yourself and be OK with slower paces but a higher RPE. Even mild dehydration can negatively affect performance and can cause drowsiness, irritability, loss of concentration and headaches - none of which are performance enhancing or healthy. When dehydration worsen, serious issues occur which affect the heart, brain, muscles and organs (ex. kidneys). Successful athletes know how to pace an effort so that nutrition/hydration is helping to fuel and hydrate the effort. If you overwork your body, it is not possible to overfuel/hydrate the body to meet your training/racing demands. 

And lastly, you have to be respectful of your body in the heat. If you are feeling any changes with your body that concern you, first slow down and don't be afraid to stop. Remind yourself that when your body starts to shut down or gives you signals/signs that something is wrong (ex. headache, chills, vision changes, etc.), your body is no longer trying t adapt to training stress but it's trying to protect you. Never get upset at your body for a bad workout or race if it is simply trying to protect you from a serious heat or other-related injury. 

 There are far too many athletes failing with workouts and experiencing negative health issues from poor fueling/hydration strategies before/during/after training and improper pacing. Sport nutrition is a complicated area with many misguided tips and suggestions that are not always practical or healthy. If you know someone who can benefit from this blog, please share. 

Simple sport nutrition tweaks for hot weather training - run

RUN

I feel many triathletes need a constant reminder that they are not runners. Certainly, runners do not need to be reminded that they are not triathletes.

Runners absorb a completely training stress than the multisport athlete. Furthermore, the race day effort of a triathlete is based on the race distance, which determines what time of the day a triathlete runs and what type of mechanical fatigue the triathlete brings to the run. Thus, the pacing and fueling strategy for run training and running are very different than the single sport athlete.
(Note - even for runners, I still find it valuable to set up aid stations or bring nutrition and hydration with you during long runs)

For the triathletes, you can not think like a runner when you train for triathlons.

For example, if you are doing a brick run, you can not think of your run off the bike as "only" a 20-minute run. I see it all the time - a triathlete is out on his/her bike for 3, 4, 5+ hours and then comes the run off the bike and no fluids are consumed during the run.  If you ride your bike for 3 hours and run 20 minutes off the bike, you are completing a 3 hour and 20 minute workout - you can not think that you are "only" running 20 minutes. Sure, a solo 20 minute run does not need calories or fluids but your body still requires and deserves fluids, electrolytes and calories to finish off your workout.

Once this new fueling strategy is ingrained into your head, you will notice that you are running better off the bike (not barely surviving or suffering), you are more energized and thinking clearly during a run off the bike, you are protecting your health (allowing you to train more consistently), you can reduce risk for injury and you can reduce your overall training stress, thus allowing you to recover faster. I can't tell you how many athletes that I have worked with who consistently underfuel and underhydrate while running all because it doesn't seem natural or needed to bring nutrition and hydration on a run.  By fueling and hydrating properly, not only do you build confidence for race day, train your gut and improve performance but you protect your health AND you can function better in life (your family can thank me for this advice).

-------------------------------------------------------------

-There are many hydration belts and packs on the market so take your pick. Just please carry something with you that allows you to run with good form (I advise to not carry anything more than 6-8 ounces in your hand as it can throw off your gait and cause muscle tension in the neck/back). A hydration pack/belt allows you to hydrate and fuel consistently when YOU want to fuel and hydrate. Yes, it may feel uncomfortable at first but just like running with a HR monitor, wearing a hat/visor, running with a watch or wearing an ankle strap or race belt around your waist, you can get use to it.

-In hot weather, you need to plan for 1 x 10+ ounce flask with 70-100 calories of a hydration based sport drink with at least 250-400+ mg sodium for every 30 minutes of running - this is for any length brick run or long run. If you run on the treadmill, the same strategy applies but you can use a sport bottle instead of a flask.

-You also need to plan for 1 x 10 ounce flask of cold water for every 30 minutes of running for any brick run or long run. This will be a lifesaver as you can now use this cold water for sipping and for cooling to help control core temperature. 

-Plan your run routes accordingly so that you can make quick stops for easy refilling of sport nutrition powder (ex. baggies or single serving packets) and use water fountains or bottles for water. Many sport nutrition companies (ex. Scratch, Tailwind, Clif Hydration, EFS pro) provide single serving packets so you can carry refill powder with you when you need to refill. 

-To reduce the risk of GI upset and to optimize digestion and absorption, I suggest to sip your drink every 8-10 minutes and as needed. Never ration your hydration when you run because you don't want to stop or your  next stop isn't for an hour - sip when you want and when you are finished, refill. It's ideal to best understand when you prefer to drink.

-If you are using a hydration beverage (ex. sport nutrition product that provides calories and sodium, which is recommended), you will reduce the risk of overdrinking on plain water, as it is typical for athletes who run without a sport drink to either overdrink on water when they stop or get to a water fountain/gas station or only consume water during a long run (or after a long bike) thus depleting sodium stores.

-If you prefer gels or chews over powder, you still need to carry water with you. However, you can replace a sport drink powder with bloks/chews but it's important to still consume your calories consistently (and make sure your gel/chews contain sodium).

-If you prefer gels, use a gel flask (1 gel mixed in water in a small flask) for easy sipping. It's recommended to use a gel flask instead of consuming a gel every 45 minutes as a gel is properly digested and absorbed with 12-16 ounce of water. Using a gel flask dilutes the gel for easier digestion.

-Incorporate walk breaks into your run training regime to get more comfortable consuming fluids and calories when you are running. It can take up to 6 weeks to train your gut if you are not yet comfortable (or tolerating) consuming nutrition when you run. 

Example; If you are running for 30 minutes off the bike, bring 80-100 calories of sport nutrition in a     10-ounce flask and a 10-ounce flask of ice cold water.

If you are running for 2 hours, start your run with 1 flask of sport nutrition and 1 flask of water and refill your flasks every 30 minutes.

(This is recommended for hot weather training).

IMPORTANT - Please DO NOT ration your sport nutrition or water because you don't want to stop or because you think it is cool to underfuel.

You will gain fitness, train more consistently, build confidence in your sport nutrition plan for race day and protect your health by fueling and hydration adequately.

TIP: To prevent taste bud fatigue, vary your flavors of sport drink throughout your long rides and runs so that you are not always consuming lemon-lime flavor (as an example) every time you train.

Also, if you feel that your mouth gets tired of the "sweet" taste of a sport drink, have a sip of a carbonated drink, consume something sour or take a bit of a savory bar (ex. peanut butter, chocolate, bacon-flavored, etc.) to excite the taste buds so that you can return back to your routine fueling regime. 

Simple sport nutrition tweaks for hot weather training - bike

BIKE

It's unfortunate but many athletes underfuel in training and overfuel on race day.
Why do triathletes do this?

Underfueling can be from many reasons - fear of gaining weight, wanting to lose weight, trying to be more "metabolically efficient," not knowing how to fuel, not feeling that (more) calories are needed, thinking sport nutrition is bad/unhealthy, not bringing enough energy/fluids, not planning stops accordingly, poor planning/feeling rushed to get in a workout or not knowing how much energy/fluids are needed. Certainly, underfueling does not enhance performance and consequently, not meeting energy and hydration needs can sabotage health. 

Overfueling on race day is often out of fear of not having enough energy. Sadly, no amount of calories on race day can make the body perform at an intensity that was not established in training.  And if you are an athlete who underfuels in training, not only are you missing an opportunity to boost fitness in training but a body that has been underfueled in training will underperform on race day. Additionally, an overfueled body on race day can increase the risk for GI issues which is often more performance limiting than lack of energy. 

In peak training, your longer workouts require calories, electrolytes and fluids. If you are performance minded, you can not be scared of consuming calories when you train.

Every time you just "get by" to check off a workout to say you did it, these are the workouts where you are not training smart. Consecutive long workouts where you just get by will not make your body prepared for race day. 

Yes, you may be checking off workouts thus making you think that you are getting yourself ready but you are not becoming physiologically prepared for race day.

If you feel limited by your bike fitness, do yourself two favors.

First, learn how to ride your bike.
Get a good bike fit from an experienced fitter, improve your bike handling skills, learn how to sit on your saddle properly, ride comfortably and relaxed and improve your posture. By doing all of this, you will ride more efficiently, thus expending less energy.

Secondly, learn how to fuel for your longer workouts. Your body will thank you by giving you great health in training and a fitter, faster, stronger and more powerful body on race day.
------------------------------------------------------------

-In cooler temps, you will find it easy to meet energy and fluid needs. In the winter months, you will find it super easy to digest and easily absorb almost any type of solid or sport nutrition food. But come hot weather, your gut becomes much more sensitive to what you put inside the belly (substance, volume and concentration) as the muscles and gut are competing for the same blood (and most of the time, the muscles win). Most athletes will find it necessary to consume less calories than normal in hotter temps but in order to ensure a steady effort, pacing must be appropriate. 

-The first tweak in regard to summer fueling/hydrating is more of a change in routine than a change in habit. And boy oh boy, I know that triathletes do not like change. With the hotter temps, you will need to stop more frequently to refill bottles. Rationing your fluids so that you don't have to stop during a 5+ hour ride (because it takes times or will affect your overall speed/pace) is not ideal, yet time and time again, triathletes don't make the effort to stop. Limit your stops to no more than 10 minutes as you do not want your body to switch to recovery body. Make your stops quick - bathroom, refill bottles with sport nutrition powder/ice/water and then get back to doing work on two wheels. Be sure to plan your routes accordingly  - if there are no places to refill bottles (water fountains or gas stations) consider loops or out and backs. 

-The second tweak is making sure that you have enough easy-to-reach cages/hydration systems on your bike. There are many different set-ups as to where to place your cages but no matter where you put your bottles on your bike, you should have one primary bottle that you use to meet your fluid/energy/electrolyte needs (rotate bottles to keep this primary bottle stocked). Every triathlete should be skilled enough to grab, sip and rotate bottles (if this scares you - practice in a safe parking lot, not on the trainer, until this skill is mastered). If you are resorting to a straw-based hydration system because you are not comfortable grabbing bottles - you still need to know how to grab bottles to refill your straw-based hydration system. Grabbing bottles should be a skill that every triathlete is comfortable with in training, well before race day. You need to carry your nutrition with you so be sure to invest in 3-4 cages on your bike.  

-Although I have seen all types of haphazard fueling strategies by all types of athletes, here is the most simple of sport nutrition advice to help you meet your needs during workouts over 90 minutes (or intense workouts over 60 minutes): 
-->Bring 1 bottle sport drink for every 1 hour of riding. This could be anywhere from 150-300 calories depending on your hourly needs - be mindful that the concentration, carbohydrates in a specific volume of water, is extremely important in hot weather - less concentrated = easier digestion but this may require you dialing back your effort so you don't run out of energy too soon. As you may know, I prefer and advocate sport drinks/powders over solid food + electrolyte based-bottles for optimal digestion and absorption and a more simple execution. 
-->Each sport drink bottle should have at least 400-600+mg of sodium. While there are several ways to monitor your electrolyte needs (pre/post weighing, sweat rate, urination, etc.), many athletes fall short on electrolytes (specifically sodium) by either taking in too much or too little but not always staying consistent. You can simply add salt to each bottle (1/8 tsp salt = ~290 mg) to increase your sodium intake, without a large bolus of salt being consumed all at once, per hour. Salt tabs may have a place but should be discussed with a sport dietitian on proper usage. Also be mindful that there are good salt-based electrolyte tabs/sticks on the market but also some that are not used properly by athletes due to being misinformed on how to use them. 
-->Lastly, you need to add 1 bottle of ice cold water to your bike for sipping and cooling. Whereas in cooler temps (or the fall/spring) you may be just fine meeting your hydration needs each hour by finishing a 24-26 ounce bottle of sport drink each hour, in the summer heat, there's a good chance that you need up to 32-36 ounces of fluid per hour (this additional fluid does not have to be calorie-based fluids - water is just fine). Adding in the extra water can make a huge difference in terms of how you feel, absorb nutrition and hydrate during a workout. When you finish your water, this is typically a sign that you should be stopping soon to refill your bottles. 

Example: If you are riding 3 hours, bring 2 bottles sport drink + 1 bottle ice cold water. Sip every 10-15 minutes, 3-5 big sips at a time. If you fall short on this or your terrain doesn't allow you to follow this regime, you can also do 2-3 sips every 7-8 minutes but never overchug to "make up" if you go too long without fueling/hydrating. Slowly catch up. Plan to stop around 2 hours to refill bottles to last another 2 hours. 

-Your best fueling and hydrating plan in the summer is one that can be easy to execute, over and over again in training - hour after hour. Simple is best! Don't make your fueling and hydrating more complicated than it needs to be. Frequent and consistent intake is extremely important for optimizing digestion and absorption. In the case that your stomach is not accepting a drink, stop consuming calories for 10-15 minutes, sip occasionally on water throughout the next 10-15 minutes and back down on your effort/pace to let the gut settle. 

-Tip: To prevent taste bud fatigue, you should have multiple flavors of your sport drink each hour. If you like eating a little solid food as you are training/racing, compliment the sweetness of a sport drink with something savory, like a peanut butter, chocolate, bacon or rich and bold-based food as opposed to something sweet, on top of your already sweet drink. 

Simple sport nutrition tweaks for hot weather training - swim

Hopefully by now in the season, you have dialed in your fueling and hydration regime to help you adapt well to training and to keep your body healthy. 

While there can be several pronounced and noticeable symptoms to let you know that you are not meeting your energy, electrolyte and fluid needs during your longer or more intense workouts, like headache, not feeling the urge to urinate during a long workout or for hours after the workout, nausea, bloating, fatigue, muscle aches/throbbing and dizziness, you may notice that even without a health or performance-related issue, with the intense summer heat, something is still off with your fueling and hydrating strategy.
Important note: the symptoms I mentioned are not "normal" just because you are an athlete, training hard, wanting to get faster or leaner or training for a long distance event.

Over the next few blogs, you will learn a few simple tweaks that you can make to your current fueling and hydration regime.

As a Board Certified Sport RD, if it takes you more than a few weeks to put together a solid fueling and hydration plan or you are constantly struggling to get through workouts due to improper fueling/hydrating, reach out to a dietitian who specializes in sport nutrition, to help.

SWIM

-Simple enough, always have a bottle of water on deck. Although many triathletes train in a competition pool where the water temperature is cool, most pools (ex. YMCA) are not cool...they are warm or even hot. Regardless of the water temperature, you are generating heat and sweating in the water. Sip fluids between sets.

-For newer swimmers who are building endurance and stamina in the water and find that form falls apart as the workout continues over 20 minutes, consider adding 50-100 calories of a hydration based sport drink to your bottle. While you are burning way more calories than you are consuming, keep in mind that the purpose of sport nutrition is to help delay fatigue. If you train with poor form, you will keep swimming with poor form. A sport drink during the workout may also help your appetite post workout as many athletes finished a swim extremely hungry and tend to overeat after the workout is complete (or notice extreme carbohydrate cravings later in the day).

-If you are a believer that you shouldn't have a water bottle on deck during a swim practice because you can't drink during a triathlon, this is not smart training. Why do you train? You train so that you can be as fit, fast, strong and resilient as possible on race day. In training, you are doing anything and everything possible so that come race day, you are in the best shape possible with a healthy body.
Remember, you are also not a competitive swimmer - you are a triathlete. This means that you are likely not swimming more than 2-4 times per week so every swim workout counts. Plus, you are bringing fatigue to your workouts from a previous run or bike session. The better and more consistently you can train, the better you will perform on race day. It's likely that you do a dozen or more things in training that you don't/won't do on race day (and vice versa) so you have permission from me to have a bottle on deck for all swim workouts.

-If you tend to feel nauseous when you eat before a swim, you'll benefit from having a sport drink during the swim (if swimming on an empty stomach) to ensure that you are well hydrated throughout the workout but also using those calories to help postpone fatigue (~50-120 calories in a bottle will work just fine for a 60-90 minute workout).

-Many triathletes complain of cramps in the legs when they swim. From my experience, this is less related to sodium/dehydration but more related to muscle tightness (especially when a swim follows a run or a hard bike workout). If you tend to suffer from cramps in your legs when swimming, use neoprene shorts or a buoy to take the stress off your lower body. Additionally, avoid using fins when you run/bike before a swim (or when you feel a cramp coming on). Lastly, be sure to start your swim workout with mobility work on dry land to loosen up the ankles, calves, hips and hamstrings (ex. dynamic stretching, light foam rolling). Although having a hydration beverage when you swim is recommended, tight calves, hamstrings and ankles while kicking are often the source of cramping when swimming.

The dehydrated athlete - hydration tips

Many factors contribute to the total volume of fluid lost from the body on a daily basis - environmental conditions, size/surface area of an individual, metabolic rate, physical activity load (ex. frequency, duration, intensity), sweat loss, diet composition and volume of excreted fluids. 

The daily fluid loss in cool weather (less than 70 degrees F) can be around 2300 mL (with much of that as fluid lost in urine) whereas in warm/hot weather (above 85 degree F weather) it can total 6600+ mL (with most of that lost as sweat). 

Once again, as mentioned in my previous post, relying on thirst to initiate daily water (or sport drink consumption during workouts) is a false recommendation to ensure adequate fluid consumption. I hear it over and over again that athletes feel that they don't need to drink because they aren't thirsty but then when they do feel thirsty, they do not provide themselves with opportunities for frequent drinking and it becomes uncomfortable to fully replace what was lost earlier in the workout/race. When the body is already dehydrated, performance is not only already declining but there is already considerable strain on the body to digest and absorb adequate electrolytes and fluids and carbohydrates. 

There are many physical benefits of training. But because almost all athletes in the Northern Hemisphere train throughout the summer in hot temperatures, minimizing dehydration is critical to receiving the adaptations to following a training plan. 

By developing a fluid replacement program that prevents excessive dehydration, you provide your body with the following benefits:

-Lower heart rate
-Higher stroke volume
-Higher cardiac output
-Higher skin blood flow
-Lower core temperature
-Decreased RPE
-Improved performance

Every time you start, continue on or finish a workout dehydrated, you put yourself at a competitive disadvantage to other athletes who are maintaining hydration status OR you are limiting your full athletic potential as an athlete (and risking serious health consequences). 

Without going into estimating sweat loss/rates, here are a few very simple tips to ensure that you are not sabotaging workouts with improper hydration. 

HYDRATION TIPS BEFORE, DURING and AFTER workouts

PRE:
-Understand the warning signals of dehydration 

-Plan your hydration strategy before a workout (rather than waiting until the last minute)

-Drink ~5-7 mL per kg body weight 4hours before exercise (appropriate for afternoon workouts or races) OR 17-20 ounces of water 2-3 hours before workouts/races. 

-Drink 7-10 ounce water 10-20 min before workouts/races (in addition to above recommendations if you have 3 hours before your workout/race) 

-Add additional electrolytes (in a well formulated pill/powder) like sodium, chloride and potassium to pre workout/race fluids when exercising in warm environments (or for long durations).
NOTE: Glycerol has been promoted to help with hyperhydration. Glycerol is a WADA banned substance and should not be used by athletes (it also comes with dangerous side effects).
-Avoid drinking large volumes (more than 30 ounces in the 3 hours prior to a workout/race) before a workout/race which can cause GI discomfort, low blood sodium levels or excessive urine production.
-Plan to bring fluids/electrolytes/sport drinks with you for the start of your workout (generally at least 1 hour of running and 2-3 hours of cycling and 1 hour of swimming) so that you do not have to ration your fluid supply. Plan to stop as needed so you can voluntarily drink as needed. 

-According to the Institute of Medicine (2005), daily fluid needs are ~3.7L (or 130 ounces, 16 cups) for men and ~2.7L (95 ounces, 12 cups) for females. Around 20% of daily water intake is from water in food (so long as you consume a wholesome diet) so around 80% of your fluid intake should be directly from  fluid ingested. 

-In warm environments when you anticipate sweating (indoors or outdoors), start your workout with a comfortable full stomach full of fluid. 

DURING/POST
-Be consistent in training with fueling/hydration during workouts.

-Always have fluids/sport drink with you and plan to refill bottles along your route/course. 

-Practice consuming liquids while you are working out - specifically running while drinking and grabbing bottles from cages while cycling. 

-1 mouthful of fluid is around 1 ounce. I suggest to take 2-3 swallows every time you drink from a bottle while cycling and 1-2 sips every time you drink from a cup/flask while running. 

-Bring money in the case you need to stop for fluids while cycling. Always have enough fluid on your bike to last 1 hour of cycling and enough fluid to last 30 minutes of running.

-Record body weight before and after workouts. You want to avoid losing more than 2% body weight and you do not want to weigh more after your workout. Any weight lost during a workout is not fat, it's fluid! You do not want to be proud of your weight loss during workouts as it can affect your health and performance. Some weight loss is fine but be mindful of signs of dehydration. You can estimate sweat loss/fluids needs with basic calculators or get yourself tested in professional lab. 

-Better hydration = better performance = better health. Aim to consume frequent intakes of fluid (sport drinks) starting around 15 minutes into your workout/race and be consistent throughout your entire workout/race. Prioritize liquid calories and vary your flavors so you prevent taste bud fatigue (ex. choose a different flavor drink for running versus cycling and if riding more than 4 hours, opt for 1-2 bottles of a different flavor than your other 2-3 bottles).
Drink no more than 10 ounce fluid every 15-20 minutes (best as 4-5 ounces every 10 minutes).

-Put more fluid in your stomach than on your head. Use cold water to cool yourself but don't go long periods without drinking. 

-In the case of GI upset or a sloshy stomach, slow down for 5-15 minutes and consume additional sodium with a little water to help empty contents from gut. Diarrhea will increase electrolyte loss so be sure to stay up with sport drink consumption during and post workout/race in the case that you experience loose stools while working out/racing. 

-Drink on a schedule, don't wait until you are thirsty. You are better off drinking earlier in a workout/race when your body temperature and heart rate are more controlled. 

-Hydrating with a sport drink that contains carbohydrate, electrolyte and water before and during workouts/races will help replaces losses and provide your body with sustainable energy. 

-Post workout, consume around 16-24 ounces for every lb of body weight lost during the workout. DO NOT consume all fluids at once. Start with an electrolyte rich beverage of around 16 ounces and aim to replace weight loss (in ounces) within 4-6 hours post workout.
For example, if you lost 5 lbs in a workout, aim to consume 80 ounces of fluid in a 4-6 hour time period in the form of an electrolyte beverage, recovery drink, food and water. 

If you find that you struggle with hydration or consuming adequate fuel during workouts or races, consult with a sport RD to help you fuel smarter in your athletic development. 

Information in this blog collected from Sport Nutrition: A practice manual for professionals. By Christine A Rosenbloom, PhD, RD, CSSD and Ellen J Coleman MA, MPH, RD, CSSD. 

The dehydrated athlete

It surprises me how many athletes assume they are just fine just "getting by" in workouts by not fueling or hydrating during the workout.

Could you be underfueling and more importantly, underhydrating during your workout?

Maintaining adequate hydration during workouts and especially in races is one of the most important nutrition strategies for optimizing performance and for keeping the body in good health. 

Every athlete knows that even losing a small percentage of body weight can affect health and can impair performance so why even think twice about going for a swim, bike or run without adequate fluids?

I find myself spending a lot of my time educating athletes on what they are not doing well (or consistently) which could be sabotaging workouts and one area is speaking to triathletes and runners to try to get them to consume adequate fluids during workouts.
With so many athletes coming to me looking to boost performance, improve health or to reach body composition goals, you wouldn't believe how many of these athletes (runners or triathletes) struggle to remember (or make an effort) to put on a fuel belt when they run or bring a bottle to a swim workout or stay on top of fluids during a long bike. They will easily put in the work training but taking a few minutes to fill a bottle and drink from it during a workout can be quite difficult (or it's an afterthought).

With so many hydration belts, packs and handhelds on the market, it really saddens me that athletes don't think more about the physical and health consequences of dehydration. 

Let's talk first about sweating and thirst. 

When we sweat, we experience a decrease in plasma volume and an increase in plasma osmolality. 

As vascular pressure receptors and hypothalamic osmoreceptors respond to the increase in sodium and chloride concentrations in blood plasma, ADH (antidiuretic hormone) is released from the pituitary gland, renin releases from the kidneys and aldosterone and angiotensin II increase water and sodium retention by kidneys and ultimately, we feel thirsty. Yes, all that happens before we "feel" thirsty. 

There has been a lot of talk lately about athletes not needing to drink during workouts or that athletes should simply rely on natural thirst mechanism to let us know when to drink when we workout or race. Because of this advice, athletes will many times train and race underhydrated and express afterward "but I didn't feel thirsty" or "but I didn't feel like I needed it."

Relying on thirst may work for the average fitness enthusiast but when it comes to athletes, it can be quite difficult to offset the large volume of sweat that we lose AND meet carbohydrate and electrolyte needs without risking GI issues by "just waiting" until we are thirsty.

More so, many athletes go into workouts in a dehydrated state which doesn't make it any easier to train consistently in a training cycle.

Before I give some basic hydration tips for athletes to help ensure that you are making an effort to meet hydration needs, consider the following: 

-To assure rapid gastric emptying of fluids/electrolytes/carbohydrates, you need a comfortable volume of fluid in the stomach (pre and during workouts/races)

-It's very easy to get distracted, feel you don't need it or to consider carrying fluids as a nuisance so thirst signals may be ignored or overlooked. 

-If fluids are not available, it won't be convenient to act on your thirst. Whereas on race day, with ample aid stations, you may find yourself acting too often, in too large of amounts. 

-Based on plasma osmolality, there is a specific amount of fluid that needs to be lost from the body before thirst is stimulated so it is true that by the time thirst is perceived, the body may already be dehydrated.

-Carbohydrate stimulates rapid water absorption in the small intestines with sodium, chloride and potassium replacing electrolytes.

-Sodium plays a critical role in maintaining the osmotic drive to drink and provides an osmotic stimulus to retain fluid in extraceullar space (plasma and interstitial fluid compartments).

-Drinking plain water dilutes sodium concentration in blood and removes the osmotic drive to drink.

 Drinking plain water as a means to stay hydrated during long duration or intense activities causes premature satiation of thirst which results in a decrease in fluid intake before adequate fluid has been ingested. OR the opposite happens. Excessive water intake (or consuming low sodium/low carb sport drinks) can quickly dilute plasma sodium concentrations. This can lead to hyponatremia or more serious, water entering the brain as the osmotic balance across the blood-brain barrier becomes disrupted. 

-Drinking plain water during long distance or intense exercise will cause plasma osmolality to decrease which suppresses thirst and increase urine output. When sodium is added to drinks, the osmotic drive to drink is maintained and urine production is decreased. 

-Plain water can quench thirst but is not adequate to serve as a rehydration beverage during or post workout. 

-A properly formulated sport drink (one that contains carbohydrates, sodium, chloride and potassium) not only improves palatability but also helps maintain an osmotic drive for drinking, reduces the amount of sodium that the blood has to supply to the intestine prior to fluid absorption, helps maintain plasma volume during exercise and serves as a primary osmotic impetus for restoring extracellular fluid volume after exercise. Carbohydrates will provide sweetness in a drink to improve palatability, will help fuel muscles and will stimulate fluid absorption from intestines. 

In my next post I will give some tips to help with hydration before, during and post workout. 

Information in this blog collected from Sport Nutrition: A practice manual for professionals. By Christine A Rosenbloom, PhD, RD, CSSD and Ellen J Coleman MA, MPH, RD, CSSD. 

Summer hydration tips for athletes

Can you feel that? 

The warm weather is finally here!!

For the past few months, it's likely that you have been just fine with your fueling/hydration strategy while training/exercising. Perhaps you feel like you have been just fine getting by with little to no fluids or electrolytes when you train. 

Well, when summer arrives, it's extremely important to make sure that you are focused on preventing dehydration and heat-related illnesses by making a huge effort to fuel and hydrate during every workout. 

As an athlete, you should never ever feel like you are just getting by. If you do not make an effort or do not know how to fuel/hydrate properly for your workouts you will limit your ability to progress with your fitness as you work your butt off to get stronger, faster, fitter and more powerful. 

You want to tweak, perfect and nail your sport nutrition and hydration regime all the time to ensure that you are getting the most out of your training and keeping your body in good health. 

Here are a few hydration tips to apply to your training/racing to ensure that you are not putting your body into a dangerous situation. If you feel like you are underfueling/underhydrating, consult a sport RD to help you in your athletic journey. 

-Staying hydrated on a daily basis is extremely important so that you go into all workouts well hydrated and with normal electrolyte levels. Don't assume that you can under-hydrate throughout the day and then "be good" during your workout and meet your performance needs. 

-Before workouts, you should not feel the need to overdrink but don't assume you can go into a workout dehydrated and make-up for it during the workout. In the 2 hours before a workout, aim for around 20 ounces of fluid, with 8-10 ounces in the 30 min before the workout. It's ok if you drink a bit more but you want to all urine output to return to normal in the 30 min before a workout. 

-During a workout, your goal is to consume a well formulated sport drink to prevent dehydration and excessive changes in the balance of electrolytes. Consume your sport drink in frequent intervals, every 10-15 minutes, 2-3 swallows at a time (1 ounce = 1 small mouthful of fluid) for all workouts more than 60 minutes. 

I suggest to aim for around 30-50g of carbs and 200-400 mg sodium for workouts between 1-2 hours.

-Much of an athlete's fatigue that occurs in the later miles of a workout is from dehydration and a drop in blood sugar so a well formulate sport drink is an effective way to keep good form and focus to take your fitness to that next level. Stop "getting by" without adequate sport nutrition during workouts. 

-Post workout, your goal is to replace the fluid/electrolyte deficit that occurred through metabolic heat (muscle contractions) and sweating (especially in hot/humid temperatures). Rather than consuming a large amount of fluid immediately post workout, aim to drink around 16-20 ounce of fluid every 2 hours post workout, starting immediately post workout with an electrolyte replenishment drink and protein recovery drink.

A few extra tips: 

Hydration tips: Swim, bike and run

Avoid dehydration tips

Thanks SHAPE Magazine for interviewing me for hot weather dangers.
Article here

Hydration tips - swim, bike, run

I know you have them but do you use them properly?

Whew. Karel and I had one exhausting swim practice this morning with the Greenville Masters swim team (Greenville Splash). 

The team is primarily master swimmers so the workouts are not specific to triathlons but, it sure is nice to be pushed by some fast swimmers and to suffer as a group. 

400 warm-up

Pre-set: 8 x 25's w/ fins (fast) w/ 15 seconds rest

5 x 100's kick build to fast w/ 20 sec rest

MS: 30 x 50's (rest 15 seconds, 10 seconds, 5 seconds by every 10)

#1 Drill, #2, Drill moderate intensity, #3 fast (repeating)

MS #2: 16 x 25's w/ paddles, fast (odd rest 5 seconds, even rest 10 seconds)

350 cool down

Total: 3300 yards

This was a speedy swim set with little rest between intervals and sets but I still had enough time to sip my bottle with 1 scoop Speed (infinit) to keep me fueled and hydrated for my 1-hour master swim workout. 

I often observe that many swimmers/triathletes do not bring water bottles to swim workouts and this is a must to have fluids during your swim workout. 

Regardless of the workout length or intensity, it is important to stay hydrated in the pool (and before/after) just like it is important to stay hydrated on the bike and run. 

Workout intensity, pool water temperature, outdoor temperature, previous hydration status and workout duration can all affect hydration needs in the pool. 

Although I highly recommend using a well-formulated, carb and electrolyte rich sport drink (~100-120 calories per hour) for a 45-90 min workout, every athlete should make sure he/she has a bottle of water available to quench the thirst at frequent intervals throughout a workout. 

Here are a few suggestions to help you meet your hydration needs during your swim, bike, run workout routine: 

Swim: 

-1 bottle of water per hour (or carb/electrolyte drink)

-Sip before practice and after as well as after warm-up and between sets/intervals. 

-Sip while your coach is talking or while you are chatting with your lane mates. 

Trimarni tip: 

If you find yourself starving after a swim workout or dreaming of food while you are swimming, I recommend to have at least 100-120 calories of a sport drink during your 60-90  min swim workout. Because many swim workouts are early in the morning (thus little time to digest a solid food snack, I recommend a low residue/carb dense snack such as a glass of juice, Banana, 2-3 figs, Buddy Fruit, Power Bar Fruit blends or applesauce. 

Bike:

-1 bottle of water per hour (or carb/electrolyte drink). 

-Drink in frequent intervals (1 gulp is around an ounce or two) every 10-15 minutes OR take 2-3 gulps (about 5 ounces) every 15 minutes depending on your drive to drink/course, etc. 

-Use solid food  (~30-80 calories of a piece of a carb dense sport bar) for tummy satisfying if needed and a sport drink to meet your carb, electrolyte and hydration needs - all in one bottle makes it easy to meet nutritional needs and for proper digestion and absorption.

-Be sure you are comfortable grabbing your bottles from their respective cages and be sure your bottles are not loose in their cages. An empty bottle is more likely to pop out than a filled bottle so be sure you are not using your favorite water bottles when you are training/racing. Always have a back up nutrition source in the case that you do lose a bottle.

-Always have a primary bottle that you will use each hour, in a place that you are most comfortable grabbing. 

-To avoid heartburn or burping, do not stay aero every time you sip from your bottle. Sit up and take a sip and then resume your aero position (practice taking a sip from your water bottle right now by leaning over as if you are in an aero position - it's not so easy at rest to sip and swallow so imagine what the body has to do to properly digest food/liquids when the body is crunched over)

Trimarni tip: 

I find that triathletes make bike fueling extremely complicated and I contribute a lot of that to the body simply getting use to digesting nutrition while exercising (which is something very unnatural for most human bodies). I have worked with many athletes who always report feeling hungry on the bike or just can not stomach only liquid nutrition but overtime, we work together and eventually, the majority of the athletes I work with move toward a primarily liquid fueling strategy and if needed, just use solid food (or the occasional gel) to keep the tummy happy.

As an example of why I feel it is important to use liquid nutrition (or to get your primary fuel from a bottle)....

Imagine sitting in your car and me telling that you that on your road trip, for the next 3-6 hours, that you must sip your water bottle every 10-15 minutes.While at rest, not a problem.
But, you tell me that you also want to snack on gummies, chews, gels, bars, sandwiches, candy, etc. during your trip and I am ok with that but I do remind you that all of that nutrition is tucked away in your seat pocket behind you. 

So as you start your drive, the sun is shinning you are feeling great and your sipping strategy goes great. By 1-hour you have finished 1 bottle of water (or electrolyte tab) but you are starting to get hungry. Ok, not a problem. You just carefully reach behind the seat, still trying to focus on the road while steering your car, and you grab whatever you can grab behind you.
You feel satisfied and then 20 minutes later, the worst storm you have ever driven in happens. Wind, rain, hills, traffic - there is so much to focus on and let's not forget that you were focused on holding x-mph for your entire ride. 

So right now, that water bottle is being neglected but it is the easiest to grab while you are keeping two hands on the wheel as much as you can.
But you get hungry and you can't stay focused without food. You fumble in the seat behind you while steering the wheel and then also remember that you have some food stashed away in your console between the seat (let's call this your bento box). You accidentally dropped a bar as you were reaching in the seat behind you which is kinda stressing you out. 

Now, let's imagine that all your nutrition was in a bottle and you could stay fueled, hydrated and mostly satisfied with your nutrition in a bottle. Consider how easy this is to focus on the road while you are biking as well as to prepare for the upcoming road trip with your bike.
This is just a simple example of why I feel it is effective and efficient to use sport nutrition products on the bike, primarily liquid nutrition.
I have designed many INFINIT custom drinks while allow me to customize nutrition for my athletes based on their individual needs. Just another way to make sport nutrition specific for each individual because there is no one product that works for everyone.  

RUN

The best suggestion I can give for your run training is to set up a fueling environment that allows you to stay fueled and hydrated every mile or 10 minutes. This is very important no matter how long/short your run is for your training routine requires consistency and not just 'getting through' workouts. Every workout is an opportunity to improve fitness but to also train the gut for race day. 

A few of my run fueling suggestions:

-Gel flask  - filled with NAPALM (powder - 1 ounce = 50 calories) or your gel of choice (start with 1 gel per hour) diluted with water. Aim for an additional 12-16 ounces of water per hour. Sip frequently every 10 min or mile.
-Other brands I recommend for running: OSMO, SKRATCH or my fav, Clif HYDRATION

-Fuel belt - aim for at least 16 ounces of fluid per hour. You can carry water with you for sipping/cooling but I also recommend to have at least 16 ounces of fluid mixed with a sport drink for 20+min brick runs or runs over 45-60 minutes.

-Camel back or hand held bottle - aim for 120-150 calories of sport drink  mixed with 20-24 ounces per hour, do not overconcentrate your bottles (same with the bike - plan to refill bottles with powder - no more than 350-380 calories per bottle for all athletes). Sip every 10 minutes or mile. 

-Set up your course for out and back or short 30-40 minute loops and bring enough nutrition with you that you have calories/electrolytes/fluids to last for 30-40 minutes (~50-80 calories). Then each loop or out and back you can refill at your "aid station". 

Trimarni tip: 

One of the most common mistakes I find triathletes/runners making (of all racing/training distances) is not using sport nutrition during run workouts to enhance training and to train the gut. Then comes race day and the athlete is afraid of bonking or risking fatigue and then a non-practice fueling plan is created just for race day. Train yourself in training with nutrition that will help you take your training to the next level. Your goal with your fueling strategy is to stay fueled and hydrated and to meet electrolyte needs. Race day requires you to use your current level of fitness so by emphasizing sport nutrition properly in training, there is a good chance that by race day you will be fit to perform and confident with your fueling strategy.