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  • hmmm, not really what I wanted to hear the day before the Ironman where I'm supposed to drink about 12 bottles of fluids :-?
  • bo, you are okay...
  • I didn't watch the video yet, but this has been going around, particularly in the ultra running community for a while. There are two schools of thought that argue back and forth:
    1) drink to thirst, we all over drink
    2) drink to stay hydrated

    The second school has a heck of a lot more research behind it than the first. Yes, elite athletes are usually very dehydrated when they finish a race. But, most of us are not the genetic freaks that = a pro and allow us to perform well when that dehydrated (I think I read a while back that some pro marathoners are about 6% dehydrated when they finish a race). Most people start to notice performance goes down at 2% dehydration (2% weight loss).

    Just my $0.02 for now.
  • Listened to the podcast and I'm just starting the book.

    From what I have read in the first couple of chapters, it's a real strong attack against Gatorade marketing. He states their evidence for sports drink usage really comes from one test of super fit cyclists who were put it a sweat chamber for a long hard ride and given water, gatorade or nothing. They then took the study and misapplied the findings to the general population, telling everyone to drink way too much.

    Other tidbits of info that I currently remember state that the fastest marathoners drink the least and sweat the most, losing over 10% of their body weight in a race. Top IM finishers also lose close to 15% of their body weight without ill affect. Noakes mentions that there some huge studies, including 700 IM participants in a Kona race one year that support his thesis.

    The problem, as he sees it is that there are a ton of people out on long endurance events, like marathons and Ironmans that are under trained and then coached, or lead to believe via Gatorade marketing, that they should be consuming tons of fluids. You're much more likely to die of over drinking than dehydration.

    Drink when thirsty, and not before.

    Anyway, that's the first few chapters! A better summary to follow.
  • Well, there is a lot of research out there on dehydration done by researchers other than Gatorade....And, most of us shouldn't compare ourselves to the pros. Still not buying it. You can always cherry pick research to support your hypothesis.
  • Well said Dr Penny
  •  Still reading, but came across this today. 

     



    The BMJ's Amazing Shock and Awe Assault on Sport Drink Science

    http://www.weightymatters.ca/2012/0...sault.html

  • Wow. That's pretty fascinating. Good read, will be working my way through the links.
  • Saw this book . Thought it looked interesting for a contrary view.
    http://www.amazon.com/Water-Health-Healing-Youre-Thirsty/dp/0446690740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343681991&sr=1-1&keywords=im+not+sick+im+thirsty

    The biased study done by Tanita at Ironman races showing the direct correlation to starting hydration levels and finishers times.
    http://ironman.com/ironstuff/ironfitness/tanita-and-ironman-introduce-the-ironman-innerscan-body-composition-monitors-with-bioelectrical-impe#axzz228sI3lHM

    I am a believer in drinking to thirst and practice that in training and racing with sports drink not water.
  •  Tim thanks for posting all of this, it makes for interesting reading. I do agree with Dr. penny- we can find scientific studies to support any hypothesis we want at pretty much any time. I will say that after listening to the webinar last weds, I did my HIM RR and drank only electrolyte drink, no water. I had 82 oz on the 3:30 hr bike. I took their advice when eating and my stomach got jumbled and drank more. Though counter intuitive, it worked and my stomach settled down. I then had about 25 oz during a 1 hr run, same thing, same results. This was the first workout that did not result in me covered with a layer of salt, loagy, and with a headache, so it would seem for me the advice to drink often regardless of thirst and use electrolytes only, no water, works. All that being said, I don't use Gatorade unless completely desperate. Good topic!

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