How Important Is Water For a Runner?

A person doing normal activity (i.e., not running) can survive up to a month without eating food; however, a person can only survive a few days in desert-like conditions without water. Oxygen is the number one most essential element to sustain life, with water being a very close second. Water makes up sixty percent of a person’s body weight and is vital for nourishing cells, carrying food through the body; eliminating body waste; regulating body temperature; cushioning and lubricating joints; maintaining blood volume and pressure. Think about how much these things affect you as a runner. For example, a runner will physically tear up their body if they push themselves too far without proper water intake.

About seventy-five percent of the energy a person puts into running is converted into heat and then lost. This is the reason you feel warmer when you run. Sweating is your body’s cooling system that works to keep your core body temperature at a safe level. This is another reason it is crucial to replenish the water in your body. Suppose you fail to consume enough water/electrolytes. In that case, your blood will thicken, reducing your heart’s efficiency, increasing your heart rate, and raising your body temperature.

Signs you are drinking enough water

Here are some basic warning signs that you are not drinking enough water. Fatigue (more than you would have on a regular workout), dry mouth, dry eyes, muscle cramps, cramping in the stomach, headache, muscle spasms, dizziness, difficulty mentally focusing, sweating less than you usually do, poor race performance.

Water Intake and Overdrinking

Many runners I have worked with are not big fans of drinking water, so when a coach tells them to make sure to drink plenty of water, the runner interprets this as I need to drink a lot of water on race days. Water needs to be replenished on a regular, consistent basis for the average person who does not run, so it is even more important for a runner to replenish the water you have lost during a workout.

A few things to keep in mind: 1) You cannot wait until right before a race to drink a lot of water. It takes 75-120 minutes for the water to be fully absorbed into the body. So the best practice is to drink water consistently throughout the day. 2) You can drink too much water! You have drunk too much water if you can feel the water sloshing around in your stomach. Drinking too much water can make you feel sick to your stomach, cause headaches, and lead to poor performance. Drinking too much water can also lead to hyponatremia – a fancy word to mean you have low blood sodium – because you have been sweating on your run and have flushed too much salt out of your system. 3) If your urine is dark yellow, you are not drinking enough water, if you urinate multiple times and have no yellow color in your urine you are over hydrated. When you are well-hydrated, your urine should be light yellow in color. 4) On average, women are smaller and have less muscle than men, so they sweat less and need to drink less.

Is water enough?

Hydrating your body with water is very important, but it is equally important to make sure when you are putting in the miles, you are replenishing the electrolytes in your body. Electrolytes are essential minerals – sodium, calcium, potassium – vital to key functions in the body. Unfortunately, water does not provide these essential minerals, so supplementing your hydration with things like Powerade, Gatorade, and electrolyte replacements such as Nunn or Liquid IV are important.

According to research at the University of Iowa, sports drinks containing carbohydrates also increase water absorption into your bloodstream, and that counts when you’re sweating heavily.

If you are interested in learning more about electrolytes and some of the best electrolytes replacement options on the market, you can check out this video: