Hydration Nation
This is the face of someone who is dehydrated Photo: Paul Foulonneau
It seems collectively as a society we are recognizing the value of hydration. This is awesome. Even as an almost twenty year Olympic athlete, I still learned a lot about hydration, the benefits, and how to monitor from working with my USOC nutritionist, Liz Fusco. In fact, this is the first thing that she covers when she starts working with an athlete. That’s how critical hydration is to high level performance. This is what I have learned about hydration and my experience.
Water is Important:
First off, water does a lot of things in the body. It’s responsible for thermoregulation. So, if you are dehydrated, your body has a hard time regulating its core temperature which can lead to some serious and deadly consequences from heat stroke. Water also provides cushion for the major organs and soft tissues. I am a mountain biker so I’m definitely at risk for crashing and impact, and I want to give my body as much cushion as it can get! Hydration also helps with immune function and keeping those red blood cells and white blood cells functioning properly. Staying healthy and red blood cells are two things at the core of my sport. Proper hydration can also help with appetite control. In conclusion, our bodies are made up with majority of water, and it serves a lot of critical function.
U.S nationals
Monitoring Hydration:
I have found the main way to monitor hydration is by observing the color of my pee. You can nerd out and get really specific by weighing yourself before and after a workout to see how much you lost through sweating. But I like to stay off the scale as much as possible (performance is determined by many more factors than the number on the scale) and monitor through my pee. There’s a spectrum of urine color from dark yellow (dehydrated) to practically clear (over hydrated), and I try to hit the sweet spot in between those two ends. I aim for my pee to be a pale yellow and have a moderate volume. The color of your first pee in the morning is a great time to gauge your hydration for the last twenty-four hours. Frequency is another good barometer of hydration. It’s good to shoot for peeing every two hours. If it’s been over three hours since you last peed, you are dehydrated. Get thee to a faucet! If you are peeing more than once an hour, slow down camel. You are over hydrated. Also, thirst is a good metric. If you are feeling thirsty, you are already dehydrated.
Hydrate!
Here comes the fun part, how to hydrate! I think plain water is boring so I like to spice it up when it comes to drinking. Nuun makes a lot of great products to spruce up that plain glass of water. My two favorites are the Immunity and the Rest. I drop an immunity tab in especially when I’m traveling to give me an extra immune boost. When I’m in season or training hard, immune systems can be easily compromised so I like giving myself a little extra something. I use the rest formula before I go to bed at night because it’s formulated to help one fall asleep easier. Rest is paramount and so is hydration so we are killing two birds with one stone. Plus, the flavors make water taste so much better. I want to note that I’m on a mission to reduce my use of plastic and this is a big one when it comes to hydrating. I always have a reusable water bottle with me that I fill up in airport or at home. I urge you to do the same since it’s a really important step in reducing our reliance on plastic. Plastic is the worst for our environment.
Reusable bottle and Nuun Tabs. A dynamic duo.
During the day to switch it up, I make ‘spa water’ which means I cut up any fruit I have around and put it in a big pitcher of water. Lemons or any citrus are my go-to additions. I also am a big sucker for sparkling water. Give me all the bubbles. In an effort to reduce waste, I have a soda stream seltzer water machine that I also add in a squeeze of lemon or lime. But, honestly, I can’t resist the Spindrift seltzer as a nice treat or the Polar lemonade seltzers are a staple of mine.
Drinking liquids isn’t the only way to hydrate. You can still hydrate by eating fruits and vegetables. One of my favorite things on a hot and muggy summer day is watermelon! I come back from a workout and cut up a watermelon and throw a little sea salt on it. This salty sweet contrast is delicious but also enhances watermelon’s hydrating effect. Dr. Stacy Sims, who helped develop Nuun’s endurance formula, taught me this trick. I recommend salting any other melon. I also can’t get enough of nectarines and peaches during the summer months. Hopefully some of these tips and tricks will take hydrating from a guessing game to a more simple and calculated approach. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It can be easy and enjoyable. Bottoms up!
Hydration shouldn’t be an uphill battle. It can be fun!