With temperatures climbing into the 80’s today, I’ve been thinking about tonight’s big 5K road race and the potential dangers to runners who overheat.  Heat exhaustion and heat stroke cause hospitalizations and sometimes deaths each year -- so spring races in hot/humid conditions are thus something to be careful with.

I thought of this yesterday on a long walk in warm conditions with my dog.  Now she didn’t tank up beforehand, like I did, because she didn’t know if it was a walk down to get the mail or a full-fledged hike.  As we tramped up and down wooded hills, I watched her drink whenever she could -- a sip from a little stream, a slug from a green-looking puddle.  The hotter she got, the more frequently she seemed to stop for a quick drink.  I thought, “she’s smarter about this that most runners.”

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends, in addition to good diet and hydration in the proceeding days, that you drink about 500 ml (17 ounces) about two hours before exercise.  They go on to suggest that you hydrate just before and then about every 15 minutes or so.  It’s often a balancing act between drinking and standing in the Porta-Potty lines but it’s good, especially on hot days, to err on the side of a little too much fluid.

Water is all you need for most exercise although the calories from sports drinks can help in long duration events like marathons.  Be careful about not trying something new that you haven’t used before in training -- and stick to water if there’s any question.  I’ve been in races where both sports drinks and water are given out -- with volunteers sounding like sideshow barkers hawking their trade.  Once, in the fog of the last miles of a marathon, I dumped a cup of “water” over my head to cool off -- to realize that it was Gatorade.  Didn’t help my finish much.

Usually, the first symptoms of heat problems are heat cramps.  Heat exhaustion is a very serious event which can lead to heat stroke.  There is a great deal written on avoidance, first aid, and recovery.  The key to me is:  hydrate well before and during an event, back off on performance if it’s hot and humid, and listen to your body.  Drop out, find some shade and replacement fluids, and try it again on a better day.

In marathon canoe racing, we take hydration seriously because they are long events in warm conditions.  Paddlers set up elaborate drinking systems with jugs, plastic lines, and innovative attachments to get the drinking tube ready to use. (like Camelback systems)  One canoe triathlon in upstate New York, I had run a 10K, biked about 15 miles, and then hopped in the racing canoe for a four mile finish.  I was paddling, hydrating away, when an overtaking canoe team yelled, “Your tube!  Your tube!”  I finally figured it out -- in my haste to launch, I’d pulled the drinking tube out of the water jug -- it was now hanging over the side of the canoe and I was sucking up Erie Barge Canal water.  I guess a little algae added some calories -- but stick with tap water.

Drink early and often on these hot days.

top photo by Rene     lower photo from Canoe Racing

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