Bruce Lee already said: "Be Water, My Friend." And the truth is that 60-70% of our body weight is water. There are many functions of the liquid element in the body, and when it is missing, because fatigue begins to appear, reduce performance and in severe cases of dehydration you can have serious health problems, even death.
Through a
Post published in 226ers - Endurance Research Lab We explain in a simple and with a scientific basis the basic aspects of hydration in sport.
During physical activity, the main loss of liquids is through sweating, and thanks to it the organism can refrigerate the heat produced by the exercise. Therefore, it is vitally important
We explain in another post).
The answer to how much it is to drink seems simple, the same amount of liquid that is removed. But how much fluid is eliminated? Well, this is something more complicated. It depends on each person, the degree of training, the environmental conditions, on the intensity of effort, etc. Therefore, what advice can we give to a biker to hydrate correctly stage after stage?
- Try to maintain your body weight throughout the return. If your weight drops dramatically day after day, or you are not taking enough carbohydrates or you are not properly rehydrating.
- Like before and after stage. The difference in weight is practically (you can discount about 500 grams) the liquid deficit lost in the body. Drink a minimum of 150% of that weight difference in the following 2 hours. To that liquid you can add mineral salts, carbohydrates or even a Drink recovery to favor recovery.
- Drink during the stage small sips and whenever you ingest some food (gel or bar), it will also help you digest it. Don't wait to be thirsty.
Now, how much should you drink during the stage? If you are a forecast biker, during previous intensity training and duration similar to the test or during other competitions, you have been able to calculate how much liquid you need (remember, lick before and then and discover whether you drink enough or not, avoid weight losses greater than 2-3%). In this way you can know how much liquid you will need during the stage. And from here, our Council number 4
"Estimate your individual liquid needs for competition.”.
And finally ... we are not camels, where can we carry the water? This aspect is of vital importance and you have to plan it in advance. The options are several and you can choose the one that best suits you according to your goals:
- Go out with 2 large drums (although it may suppose a greater weight or that the geometry of your bicycle does not allow it).
- Use a camelbak or similar (I know, extra weight, but we will not miss liquid and will remain at a good temperature).
- Study the provision of the organization (if any) so as not to have "extra" weight and be able to refuel (if they are not too far!).
- Plan your “staff”, friends or followers, where they can give you liquid (if possible) to exchange your empty drums for drums full of liquid, food and mineral salts. (In the case of 226ers products the options are varied: Sub-9, Energy Drink, Isotonic Drink ...)
So from now on you no longer have an excuse ... biker, baby, that life is brief!
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Dr. Guillermo J. Olcina Camacho
226ers director - Endurance Research Lab.
Gaedaf Research Group Director at the Faculty of Sports Sciences. University of Extremadura.
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