As part of my race week preparation, I pay particular attention to hydration.  Arriving at the start line of the race properly hydrated, is important if I want to perform well.

The key to good hydration is balance.  The goal is not to drink copious amounts of water to ensure your body is hydrated.  All this would do, is result in you going to the bathroom way too often and may cause you to lose too many electrolytes.

The human body is about 65% water, so clearly water intake is important. The human body is also incredibly good at maintaining the correct level of hydration.  Your body will pee out excess water and will make you thirsty, if the body is short of water.

The key to good hydration therefore is to help your body maintain this balance.  A good guide is to drink about 16 ounces of water every 3-4 hours.  Also, incorporating electrolytes into the drink helps.  I use Nuun electrolyte tablets to do this.

Later in the week, I will start drinking a carbohydrate too.  I use the same carbohydrate drink that I will use on race day.  For me, that is my custom Infinit blend.  This keeps my hydration and electrolyte balance on track, but also helps with the critical carbohydrate build needed for endurance events.

Attention to these details is all part of race week preparation.  I have put in so much work for this race, I don’t want to miss out on maximizing my performance, by messing up something like hydration.