Hydration and Electrolytes

Its summer and the hot, humid days have arrived along with complaints and questions about running in the heat. Most conversations revolve around hydration and electrolytes.
?I'm not a big fan of the heat, but this summer I decided to run outside instead of on the treadmill. I went for a run this morning and my hands started to swell.?
Electrolytes are an interesting thing. Much controversy, little proof one way or the other except anecdotal. Many athletes are spending time at the Gatorade facilities and finding out that they sweat more than they think, their sweat contains more electrolyte than they think and the rate of both accelerates as intensity goes up. What this means is you may move along at a certain pace, sweat merrily etc. then decide that you're going to up the speed and your sweat rate goes off the charts along with your electrolyte expulsion. Ironwoman Joanna Zieger recently found out that she needed to replace electrolyte at the rate of 8000mg for a 4 hour event.
Things to be aware of:
-electrolyte is often referred to as sodium but you never just take sodium it is always a buffered solution.
-people, mainly women suffer from hyponatremium at long events which is not over hydration but under electrolyte i.e: taking in lots of water without taking in lots of electrolyte.
-you sweat out what you don't use.
-water follows sodium, hence why drinking water alone may sit in your tummy but when sodium is added it gets absorbed.
-no one knows if it's the electrolyte or the water that is being absorbed that solves "problems".
If you experience post-run headache, are red faced, or take a long time post-run to pee you are probably dehydrated. A lot of people are chronically dehydrated; they just have a tendency to avoid drinking water. Along with keeping up with your hydration needs it?s good to be loaded on carbohydrates for hot weather runs and races. The body stores 2.7 grams of water for every gram of carbohydrate.
If you doubt your need to drink, even on a 5k then measure your sweat rate. Weigh yourself pre-run then record the exact amount of fluid you consume during a 60 minute run. Weigh yourself immediately after your run and add the weight loss to fluid consumed to determine exact weight loss. One pound of weight loss is 16 ounces of fluid that must be consumed.

This last weekend was quiet racing wise with Roger L?vesque running the Pride & Remembrance 5k in 23:04 and Stacey Berdan finishing the HSBC Triathlon (750/30/7.5) in Welland crossing the line in 1:57:42-third out of twelve. At the same time Tara Rawluk raced the Barry?s Bay triathlon (750/32/8) in 2:02:57-third out of six, while Mackenzie Reinhardt completed the Duathlon (2.2/32/8) in 1:49:08-first out of three.
Along with his crew Lou Scanlon ran the Sunburst Marathon at South Bend, Indiana finishing in 3:17:53, placing 2nd in his age group, qualifying for Boston.