Four Down – Fourteen to Go

With a 13 mile run along the Seminole Wekiva Trail in Lake Mary, FL completed, week four of my marathon training is DONE!



This run kicked my butt. The heat and humidity took their toll and after 11.5 miles I succumbed and had to walk for a few minutes to rest. I was frustrated with myself for giving in so close to the finish. There is a Panera Bread at the end of this trail and not even the promise of a Panera bagel was enough to keep me going.

Once I started running again I made it through the last mile OK. I did start to feel chills toward the end which makes me think dehydration may have been part of the problem. After all this time I still can’t seem to get it right.

My weight loss over the course of the morning confirmed this. I was 179 lbs when I left my house. I had a mug of coffee en route to the trail, drank 22 oz of water on the outbound leg and 20 oz of Gatorade on the return. Then I had a half liter bottle of water and half a bottle of Gatorade immediately after finishing. Then I ate a HUGE blueberry bagel with cream cheese and had more coffee before going home. Despite having several pounds of fluid and food, I was 175, still down 4 pounds, when I got home.

I can’t rely on the heat as an excuse because the Space Coast Marathon is notorious for having warm weather. A couple of hours into the race I am very likely to be facing similar conditions to what I had early this morning.

There were a lot of long distance runners on the trail this morning.  The West Volusia Runners have several training for the New York and Space Coast Marathons.  I also chatted briefly  with a British woman on a 22 mile run who said her race was coming up in a few weeks.  She politely slowed down to talk for a minute and then left me in the dust.  She didn't say which race but I'm guessing Chicago since there aren't any major marathons in the southeast for a couple of months.

I’m fresh out of an ice bath and bingeing now. In fact it was hard to get my head out of the fridge long enough to write this. I’m sure I’ll put those four pounds back on by the end of the day.

Lessons Learned

After my flirtation with dehydration last weekend, I have been researching summer running strategies.

I read from several sources that runners should strive to limit their weight loss due to dehydration during a workout to no more than 2% of their total body weight.  For me that means 3 to 4 pounds. I have long been in the habit of weighing myself before and after each run and have noticed weight fluctuations of nearly twice that amount after weekend long runs. It’s obvious that I need to significantly increase my fluid intake.

Equally important is the replacement of electrolytes, particularly salt, during long runs. I believe that it was a deficit of electrolytes that caused me to bonk during what should have been an easy run for me last week. In a worst case scenario, hydrating solely with water can result in a condition called hyponatremia, a dilution of electrolytes in the body, that has caused deaths during marathons.

I applied these lessons to a 19 mile run I ran on Saturday in temperatures ranging from 71 to 80 degrees. Over the course of the 3 ½ hour run I consumed 82 ounces of fluids. I also inverted the ratio of Gatorade and water that I usually consume. Over the past few months I have been either drinking water alone or a combination of about 75% water and 25% Gatorade. This week it was 75% Gatorade and 25% water.

The result was a successful run completed without any walking. While I was tired at the end of the run, it was not even close to the exhaustion I felt after only 10 miles last week. I lost about 3 pounds, right on target with the 2% goal, and I only suffered some of the more minor symptoms of dehydration. While the volume of fluids was right on target, I think I will be able to cut back a little on the amount of Gatorade. Towards the end of the run it started to feel like I was drinking syrup. I also intend to check out other sources for electrolytes besides a sports drink.  I recently read a good recommendation for NUUN tablets over on the cool running forums.

It will take some experimentation to perfect these hydration strategies, but I think they will safely get me through the summer running season.