Hydration Pack World | How do i Know If Im Dehydrated

Feedback - Am I Getting Dehydrated?

‘Someone mentioned that dehydration can really cause you to slow down. If this is the case, how can i check if i am getting dehydrated when out running?’

There are a couple of ways i could respond to this. What are the symptoms of dehydration to look out for, or perhaps more interestingly, know if you are likely to dehydrate in a forecoming training run or event.

I have covered both before, esp the symptoms of dehydration. However, knowing if you're likely to dehydrated (because as you're friendly correctly pointed out it does significantly impact performance even at low levels) is perhaps more useful.

I would say there are four things to think about.

1/ Have i hydrated properly? ie have you taken on enough fluids prior to your run. Easy test is that you will be passing nearly clear urine... frequently. Stop drinking an hour or so before hand to prevent having to interupt your run for a 'pit stop'!

2/ Is it a warm day? Environment, especially outside temperature will effect dehydration significantly... because you will sweat more. You need to know how much your body is likely to sweat off at thay temperature.

3/ How far am i running? Obviously the longer you're out running the more you will sweat off.

4/ How much do i tend to sweat. This is the crucial piece of information you need to know to make sure you know if you're likely to dehydrate.

To check how much fluids you loose, there's a very simple test you can do. When you're getting ready, weigh yourself naked ... run for 1hr ... and weigh yourself again on your return. The weight loss is sweat. Very simple. 1kilo = 1 litre. You might be suprised.

I would suggest doing this a few times, to check accuracy. Also do it under different conditions. ie Know how much you loose on an average overcast day, and how much on a 15 degree spring day etc.

With this information you can plan your hydration prior to a race. If you know that running for 2hrs on a day thats likely to be 10 degrees, you will loose around perhaps 4 litres, you know how much you need to compensate. You are not going to be able to replace all of this, but proper hydration before hand and taking fluids with you, might enable you to keep weight loss due to sweat down to a minimum, and therefore maximise performance.