Upcoming events –

Napa-Sonoma Half Marathon, July 20, 2014
Noble Canyon 50km Trail, September 20, 2014

Monday, August 11, 2008

Heat Adaptation, or water water everywhere

One reason for coming over to China two weeks before my race is to adapt to the heat and humidity that I will face in Beijing during four hours of intense racewalking. San Diego gets warm but the humidity here makes it much more difficult for me to regulate my body temperature just by sweating. I have to train myself to take in enough fluids during the race to replace the fluids that I lose to sweat, evaporation and respiration. If I don't replenish the fluids, it can be disastrous. Even a fluid loss of 2% of my body weight can have a huge negative effect on my race.

The first step, then, is to determine how much fluid I lose during a typical hour of intense training. Thankfully, the resort has scales in the bathrooms. Right before leaving for yesterday's two hour workout, I weighed myself: 55.1 kg When I got back, I weighed only 54 kg. That's a difference of 1.1 kg or 2.4 lbs. But I also drank 4 1/2 20 ounces bottles of Vitalyte and water during the workout, which is another 5.6 lbs that I lost and replaced. 2.4 + 5.6 and I lost a total of 8.0 pounds during a two hour workout. At a rate of 4 lbs per hour, I need to drink 256 ounces of fluid over the course of a four hour 50km race. That's two gallons or 12.8 of my 20 ounce bottles. A lot of liquid.

1 comment:

rayzwocker said...

Philip,

256 ounces sounds like a dangeros amount of fluid to be taking in. You need to find an awesome aid station boy as good as I was for you in Russia--that way you won't get anywhere near 256 ounces! ;-)
Have a great race and an awesome trip!

ok

Dave McGovern