Runningmakes you sweat. There, someone had to say it sooner or later. Having discovered this incredible truth, let’s move on to the immediate next point: that lost sweat, those fluids and minerals expelled from our bodies, must be replenished. During the last Olympics, the long-distance road races in running and marching initially scheduled in Tokyo were moved to Sapporo to avoid the heat and humidity of the Japanese capital. The problem is, however, that on the very days dedicated to long distance walking, Sapporo experienced record temperatures and humidity (consistently above 30°C), which resulted in the withdrawal of nearly 30 percent of participants in the men’s Marathon and just over 17 percent in the women’s. Despite timely replenishments of water (and in some cases even ice to put under the cap), dehydration in these athletes, linked to rising body temperatures (some of them registered over 39°C and required medical intervention) sent the athlete machine And they had to retreat. It fits, they are women and men too, no matter how incredible athletes they are and have the best support imaginable.
In recent decades, scientific research has investigated these aspects in detail, and it is possible to calculate for the individual athlete the quantity and quality of what he or she needs to replenish. It is a tremendously difficult calculation and one that takes into account many variables, depending on the athlete’s state of form at the time (or immediately close to) the calculation is made, and here we could stop with this very technical part, because the value varies from day to day and, if we go up a level, even depending on whether we are running in the morning or evening, rain or shine. Well, since we cannot easily make an exact calculation for each of us, we can go on with one thing in mind: we have to replenish. To do this, the simplest solution, and one that works for the vast majority of us, is to use a drink with salts, a gel or a bar (or all three, if possible).
A study a couple of years ago had uncovered a novelty that might make happy the many who cannot drink a drink with salts or eat a gel or bar while running, perhaps because they are particularly predisposed to having some unsympathetic intestinal problem if they feed and especially consume fluids during physical activity. The team that worked on the research created two homogeneous groups of female athletes running the same distance (15 km) at the same time of day and under the same environmental conditions. Before the test they were required to have their usual meal and drink at least one glass of water. To one he provided water and salts to drink normally, to the other he asked only to rinse in the mouth for a few seconds without swallowing and then to spit it out (I know, not a pretty picture but that’s how it is). They expected obvious differences, and instead the results of the two groups were similar, both in running performance, dehydration, heart rate, bowel problems and feeling thirsty. If it had been like this for all distances, it would have been perfect, wouldn’t it? Instead, this applies only up to medium distances and on well-trained athletes. In subsequent years, in fact, similar studies were conducted for athletes of both sexes over shorter distances, with results overlapping with the original one, and over long distances, in which it was instead highlighted (but it is perhaps more correct to say “confirmed“) that drinking and ingesting something solid are almost a sine qua non, and it would be good train yourself to do it To avoid taking unnecessary risks.
So if you are planning to run a
Half Marathon
or a
Marathon
, or even a few
even greater distance
, don’t underestimate this crucial part of your training. And a half hour before you go out for a run, be sure to drink at least a glass of water, especially if you plan to run for at least an hour.
Bibliografia parziale “Athlete Medical Services at the Marathon and Race Walking Events During Tokyo 2020 Olympics” di Sugawara et al., 2022 “Electrolytes” di Shrimanker & Bhattarai, 2021 “No Performance or Affective Advantage of Drinking versus Rinsing with Water during a 15-km Running Session in Female Runners” di Shaver et al., 2018
(Main image credits: luckybusiness on DepositPhotos.com – via Facts.net)