The first is executing your race strategy.  It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of race day.  Adrenaline is flowing and the thrill of competition drives us to outperform our expectations.  It’s imperative to go into a race with a concrete strategy and then stick to it.  You can make adjustments on the fly based on how you feel, but don’t make drastic changes to your overall plan and don’t make them too early in a race.  If you’re feeling great at mile 10 of a marathon, you may be tempted to trash your strategy and pick up the tempo.  Don’t do it!  You should feel great at mile 10 of a marathon!  If you don’t, you’ll end up getting driven to the finish line by a race volunteer on a golf cart.  You know the saying: “It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon”?  Well, that saying is never more apropos than when you are ACTUALLY RUNNING A MARATHON!  Feeling great at mile 10 has nothing to do with feeling great at mile 20.

Photo @ Jonas8110

But this isn’t a tutorial on how to run a marathon.  This is about the second critical area to focus on during a long distance race.  And that is nutrition management.  About 90-120 minutes before the race, it is time for your pre-race caloric intake.  Some of my friends like half a bagel with peanut butter and maybe a piece of fruit.  I’m not crazy about bread in the morning.  I like something sweet.  So I usually go with a glass of orange juice, a Greek yogurt, and a banana.  (Sidenote: I’ve been warned about both the acidity of orange juice and the effect of dairy products going into a race, but they work for me and I roll with it). 

Hydration is obviously key as well.  But you don’t want to overhydrate.  You should be well hydrated for the entire week leading up to a race.  You shouldn’t bombard your system with fluids an hour before the gun goes off.  I like a glass of water or some G2 right after I wake up, maybe 16 oz.  That seems to be plenty for me until I hit the aide stations.

Photo @ betsyweber

Then comes in-race nutrition management.  Gels, electrolyte pills, salt pills, protein bars, defizzed soda, etc.  Runners have thought of just about everything.  I’m kind of a minimalist when it comes to this.  I don’t like to consume any more than I absolutely need to.  I use a lot of gels because they’re inexpensive, effective, and easy to consume on the move.  But I’m not crazy about them.  I don’t like the taste and I don’t like the texture.  Frankly, they make me a little sick to my stomach most of the time.

I have recently discovered a fantastic product, however, and would encourage you to check it out.  Sport Beans.  You want to talk about good taste?  They’re made by Jelly Belly, for crying out loud.  As a runner who typically craves something sweet when my glycogen stores are low, there’s nothing that tastes better than Sport Beans.  They come in various flavors: Berry, Fruit Punch, Lemon Lime, Orange, Assorted, Extreme Cherry, and Extreme Watermelon.

Each bag has 100 calories, 24 g of carbohydrates, some sodium, potassium, and various other vitamins with which I don’t really concern myself.  The two “Extreme” flavors also contain caffeine for those of you that like a little pick-me-up mid-run.  They are conveniently packaged in a resealable bag.  So you can just grab a few out and seal them up without losing stride.  I find them much easier to dig out of the bag than the Gu Chomps.  The Chomps get all stuck together.  Not to mention they are overly chewy and stick to your teeth like Jujubes.

As with any form of energy intake, be sure to experiment with something a couple times before you bring it along on a race.  Never introduce something on race day without trying it first.  Stick with tried and true calorie replenishment methods and you’ll be good to go.

One question that many people often ask themselves as they go about their fat loss workout plan is whether or not it would be a wise decision to make use of a sports drink to provide energy and help their body recover faster.

Most of us realize that in order to experience weight loss we do have to consume fewer calories than we burn on a daily basis and since these beverages do contribute to our total intake, are they worth consuming?

Let’s take a look at what you need to know.

The Good

On the plus side, energy drinks are going to be great for replacing the lost electrolytes in the body that you burn up during your hard workout session.  If you don’t maintain a proper balance of these nutrients in the body, you can experience muscle cramping, general feelings of weakness, and possibly even light-headedness.

By using a sports drink rather than a straight bottle of water, you’ll not only get hydration benefits, but you’ll also ensure you replenish these stores.

The second nice thing about using an energy or sports drink is the fact they do provide the body with some carbohydrates, which can then be put to use to fuel physical activity.

If you’re fatiguing on a hard workout session, this may just do the trick to help keep you going and pushing harder again.

The Bad

On the other side of the equation, one potential problem with using energy drinks is, as briefly mentioned in the introduction, the number of calories in these sports drinks.  While you can find a few that have fewer than 60 calories per bottle, most will rank in at higher than this so will quickly replace all the calories that you just burned off as you completed the workout session.

The bad news for those seeking fat loss is that this then cancels out that workout entirely so while you may see fitness benefits, you won’t be moving any closer to your goal weight.

Remember, calories do add up quickly and if that sports drinks causes your calorie deficit to be eliminated, it’s hindering you more than it’s helping you.

Second, you also must consider the nutrient make-up for the sports drink in question.  Most of these sports drinks are incredibly high in simple sugars and sometimes even fructose, which is only going to lead to a rapid blood sugar spike followed by a crash. While carbohydrates are good, this many simple carbs may not be.

The last thing you want while doing a workout is to come crashing down with low blood sugar levels further providing a reason why you should lean away from using these.

Most sports drinks provide no protein at all so you won’t get any amino acids to go towards muscle repair either.

The Verdict

Whether you choose to use a sports drink or not will be up to you but you should strongly consider how long you are working out for and how strict you need to be with your calorie intake.  Most individuals who are just doing a 30-45 minute workout session will not be sweating so much fluid out that they are rapidly depleting their electrolytes or stored energy so will be fine without.

If you are doing much harder workouts though or are participating in endurance sports, then these beverages will likely help carry you through to the end of your workout session.

Water is essential for life. Water is the most important nutrient and the most abundant substance in the human body. Three quarters of the human body is made up of water; it is a major component in every cell. As simple as the three molecules (two hydrogen and one oxygen) that make up water are, they are necessary for so many basic physiological functions. Directly and indirectly, water is responsible for how the body regulates itself, produces energy, carries and delivers nutrients, filters toxins and many other vital processes of life. While a very straightforward concept, many people still do not give their body enough water or truly understand the benefits to the additives that go into water and other beverages.

The Facts

Water is needed to separate (by a process called hydrolysis) a phosphate group from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or guanosine triphosphate (GTP) to get energy as illustrated by the following equations.

ATP +H2O = Energy + ADP + Inorganic Phosphate
GTP +H2O = Energy + GDP + Inorganic Phosphate

All energy from food is used to generate ATP or GTP before its energy can be used by the human body, which makes water crucial to all energy usage by the human body. This is one of the reasons why drinking water can help you have more energy.

The Function

Water is the containing medium for electrolytes and all other ions throughout the human body.
**Being only 2% dehydrated can seriously degrade physical and mental functions.
**Being 15% dehydrated is likely to be lethal.
Water is also very important for removing toxins from the human body. The body has four major ways of removing toxins which are: perspiration, urination, bowels, and processing of toxins by the liver.
Water is also important to fitness and fat loss for several reasons including the following:

How Much To Drink

It is normally recommended to drink about 2 to 3 quarts of water per day. However, your size, activity level and the climate conditions you live in play an important role. As a general rule: if your urine is bright yellow, then you need to drink more water. Also, anyone who exercises nonstop for more than 1 hour should consider replacing electrolytes along with the water. This is to avoid hyponatremia (depleted sodium) or other forms of severe electrolyte depletion which can be dangerous.

Recommended daily amount (litres/day)

• Children: 1.3-1.7L
• Men: 3.7L
• Women: 2.7L
• Pregnant Women: 3.0L
• Lactating Women: 3.8L

Calculate Your Own Daily Water Requirement
The International Sports Medicine Institute recommends using this formula to calculate your specific needs.
You can also try this online Calculator for Daily Water Requirement.

Body Weight (in pounds)
Water Needed for Activity Level (50% for Sedentary People; 75% for Active Individuals
Add 16 fl oz. if you live in a dry climate
Add 16 fl oz. for strenuous exercise.

Example: 150 lbs. x 75% + 16 oz. + 16 oz. = 144.5 oz. per day.
if you divide by the number of hours you are awake, 144.5 oz/ 16 hrs. = 9 fl. oz per hour.

Negative Consequences of Over Ingestion

There are no maximum doses. Healthy and fully operating kidneys theoretically can filter up to 0.7 litres of water in one hour, that is almost 17 litres of water a day. However excessive ingestion of water and other liquids is extra work for the body. Signs of intoxication of water are hyponatriemya (decreased amount of natrium in blood) and rubdomiolysis (damage of muscularity – collapse of skeleton) what can cause acute incompetence of kidneys. Also it must be considered that average amount of water ingested by food is only 20% of recommended daily amount. The human brain is about 85% water and our bones are between 10 to 15% water.

The Truth About Water

The real truth is that water is one of the best cures for our most common ailments. The flip side of this is that there is very little money in selling water and for the most part it is free. Doctors almost never write a prescription for water and yet look what all it can treat: allergies, asthma, depression, high blood pressure, diabetes, headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome, colitis, alcohol dependency, lower back pain, neck pain, and on and on.
Don’t be fooled by considering the coffee, tea or soda pop that you drink as part of your water intake; these products are caffeinated producing the opposite effect on our bodies. Caffeine acts as a diuretic to our system and actually results in water reduction to our bodies. The same applies to drinks with alcohol. If you are drinking these items make sure you don’t count them as part of your eight glasses of water per day.

Drinking Water to Prevent Aging

Now is it just coincidental that disease and/or health problems dramatically increase as we get older? It has not been well documented, but there is a common generalized reduction in the amount of water in their intake in people as they age, which reduces their body water percentage. Some of the symptons that older people get lead them to reduce their water intake (such as high blood pressure). Loss of water in all tissues continues and is probably involved in many of the physical alterations associated with aging.

Strategies for Drinking More Water

Low Calorie Fresh Homemade Gatorade

• 1 quart of cold water
• 1 lime (or 1 lemon or 1 orange)
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 1 tsp of salt
• few ice cubes

Squeeze the lime/lemon/orange juice out into the 1 quart of water. Throw in the sugar, honey, salt, and then mix until every dissolves. Throw some ice cubes in there to get it super chilled (perfect aid during a rigorous workout).

High Calorie Fresh Homemade Gatorade

Just increase sugar and honey to your preferred taste. I usually don’t exceed more than 2 tbsp of sugar or honey.

Other Flavors

You can always substitute the lime, lemon, orange with a fruit juice of your choice or a packet of KoolAid. I wouldn’t recommend bottled juices or KoolAid though because it’s not really “fresh”.

Post Workout Recovery

After a tough workout, pair your homemade low-calorie gatorade with some protein shakes and your body will thank you for providing adequate hydration and nutrients for recovery.