This morning I completed my 4th week of training for my first marathon with my longest run so far – 9 miles. I'm wondering - how do you stay hydrated during training? I assume that during the actual marathon there are hydration stations spaced throughout the course. But when training I guess you either have to take water with you or plan your route so that there places to stop for water. Carrying water while running seems like it would be a nuisance, sloshing around and all. So, is the best option just to run short loops and have water outside waiting for you?

The other question is how much to drink how often? And what's the best thing to drink? If anyone’s got any advice on this, I'd appreciate it.

- Paul

How:

1. place water out in strategic places throughout your course
2. carry bottle(s), assuming they have enough for the length of your run or you can refill along the way
3. camelbak or other hydration pack, such as fuel belt, etc. Many running stores and places like REI have a variety of them.

How much:

Depends on fitness, temperature, distance, and level of effort. The best way to do it is to take note of the temperature and dewpoint before your run, weigh yourself before and weigh yourself after, and keep track of how much you drank during the run. If you keep a table of enough values and know the weight of water (~8 lbs/gallon) you can figure out your hydration needs for a given set of conditions.

What:

If it is very hot and/or you're going on a very long run (which means you should be carefully pacing yourself), you may want to add electrolytes which you can get from various types of sports drinks, or taking s-caps, salt stick, or similar. I always recommend training without taking in calories because that will make the race much easier when you do take in sports drinks with calories, but you should learn what your body can handle and so forth. However, on hot days, you should make sure you get electrolytes with your hydration.

Thanks for your reply, formationflier. Of the 3 options you mentioned which do you use?

- Paul

I usually drink 8fl oz every 10mins, but I train in very hot humid conditions, and I still lose weight over the course of a long run.

Obviously I have to do loops, as if I was running for 3 hours I'd have to carry around 130fl oz's around.

I usually just where a fuel belt and run betwwen water fountains.

You also could plan your route to include a gas station or shop and take money with you.

I used to leave water bottles out the night before my early morning long run, but be careful as sometimes people will walk off, throw away unhidden bottles, and it van leave you in trouble.

As formation says, hydration is all about your fitness, and the temp you run in and the humidity.

If you start feeling thirsty on a run it usually means you need hydration.

I personally find my HR starts to increase sharply when I get dehydarted and I ahve to slow my pace down.

I only ususlly use electrolytes/sport drinks if I'm running for more than an hour outdoors, or very hungover.

Sorry - I've been on travel with limited internet access. I use any of the 3 that I mentioned, depending on the circumstances. First choice is always to put water out. Our local running club has a volunteer put out water on a run course every Sunday. My neighborhood has a 2 mile very hilly loop that I sometimes run between 5 and 11 times and then I just put something out in front of my house. If I'm on a long run with no water out and no water fountains, then I use a camelbak/hydration pack. If I can refill at water fountains at various places, then I'll carry two amphipod water bottles that have hand straps - this is also what I use in ultramarathons if the distance between aid stations is less than about an hour. If distance between aid is more than an hour in an ultra, then I use the hydration pack. I don't carry anything in marathons or shorter races.