When drinking more is good for you!

[Amerynthe]

Obviously I wouldn't be so irresponsible as to suggest more alcohol is good for you, but my very short-term, unscientific experiment following my last post has shown that better hydration = better running. I have struggled for the past two or three runs to keep going for 30 minutes straight so yesterday and today I have made a concerted effort to up my liquid intake. I haven't reached 2 litres a day yet, but I have had at least half a litre more and this evening I had a glass of water about 90 minutes before I went out for my run. I can't say I went from elephant to gazelle but I kept going for 30 minutes without stopping at all and, totally unexpected, Strava says my pace has improved! I also found I got back to a normal temperature quicker.

I've very quickly become a running bore at work. I can see now I'm going to add water bore to the list of reasons people will have for avoiding me! Thank goodness for this forum, full of like-minded people, to save me from seeing the stifled yawns and rolling eyes of my poor colleagues who must wish I'd find another hobby!

Happy running (and water-drinking!)

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

They’ll learn eventually!

Great running... I don’t know the stats, but someone posted on here a while ago about how much water muscles used during a run and I was even more focused on hydration after reading it. The marathon I want to run involves 23 wine tasting stops, and the dehydration from that is going to be tricky to factor in I think!

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Is that the Bordeaux Marathon? If ever there was a reason to keep training, it would be that! Just a thought for my next dull moment at work (no shortage of those at present) I should investigate if there are any shorter runs around the vineyards of the Loire Valley (I prefer white wine, you see!)

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to Amerynthe]

Yeah... Marathon Du Medoc... in Gironde which I think includes Bordeaux. There’s a HM and marathon over here too... 6 glasses of wine in the half, 12 in the full... the Bacchus... I’m considering it as training 😂

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Yes, the Gironde is the river that flows through Bordeaux. How marvellous! Are you definitely going? This year? I lived and worked in France for 6 years, worked in the wine trade back in the UK for 7, so combined with my new-found love-hate relationship with running, that sounds like all my dreams come true! I think that to train properly you need to buy 23 of those individual bottles of wine and take them with you on your runs, and drink one at each mile ...

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to Amerynthe]

I think over the years I nailed the wine bit of training... just the running to work on! I’m looking at 2020 for it... if we are still welcome in France 😂. Had to be a crazy marathon for me to do it!

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

You've got me thinking. 2020 ... in 2000 I turned 40 and rented a gite in the Cognac region with half a dozen good friends (and visited a Bordeaux vineyard to buy a special bottle to lay down for my 50th). In 2020 I'll be 60 (pauses to lie down for a moment and let the fear pass) so running a marathon through vineyard territory might be a good way to celebrate ... Or a half marathon ...

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to Amerynthe]

May well be seeing you there then! The run goes through the vineyards, there’s bands playing, food stops (though I have to skip most of them) and if you were too busy running there’s a 10k walk the day after to make sure you tried all the wines 😂

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

OMG, even if I never manage to get up to marathon level I'm definitely up for the 10K 'mop-up' walk. I'll start emailing my old buddies now to get the date in their diaries!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

I am glad you are seeing the difference.

Your blood supplies oxygen to your muscles which, when you are running, require a good steady supply. If you are not breathing fully enough to fully oxygenate your blood, then there will be a deficiency. Likewise with hydration. If you have not taken in enough fluid then your blood can thicken, which impedes flow and transport of oxygen, as well as affecting blood volume and pressure.

Drinking 90 minutes before a run does not have an immediate effect on your blood and it is your hydration regime the day before the run that is more important in this respect.

This article may be of interest runnersworld.com/uk/nutriti...

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thank you - found the link from one of your earlier posts and read it earlier today just to reinforce the learning on the forum.

[lexi6 Graduate]

😂😂 Isn’t this forum great? Not a yawn in sight. 👍

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to lexi6]

My brother's been running for years (and nagging me) so whenever I tell him some new and exciting nugget of information (like hydration) he gives me a really pitying look, sighs, and says, 'Yes ... I know.' I do it just to annoy him now.

[lexi6 Graduate in reply to Amerynthe]

Like your style, thats what brothers are made for 😂

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to lexi6]

Yes, indeed! He and I couldn't say a positive word to each other if our lives depended on it (we were brought up in the 70s when mocking your siblings was mandatory) but he does high 5 me as he passes me on the last 100 yards of the park run and I'm just starting my 2nd k ... It's as close as either of us gets to a show of affection!