Hydration question

travis.harry@gmail.com

On Jun 19, 10:27 am, still just me <wheeledBobNOS...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:19:12 GMT, Peter Cole <peter_c...@verizon.net>
> wrote:
>
> >I have no idea about AT & all that -- I've never been measured. I do
> >know that I was able to ride a 42 mi rolling course (pace line) in under
> >2 hr on a sultry summer evening without fluids. I also know that I was
> >able to finish a 300k (200 mi) hilly brevet at a modest pace (~15) hr
> >without eating. Whether that "contributes anything", I don't know.
>
> I'm "able" to ride quite a distance too without water. However, I'm
> awfully thirsty later. The general rule of thumb is that if you are
> thirsty, your body is already telling you that you are dehydrated. So,
> it's not particularly good for you to do it that way. You are losing
> moisture when you ride, you should put some back in periodically as
> you ride.
>
> One thing you can do is to suck down lots of water in the hours before
> you ride. That way you will be fully hydrated when you start. I use
> this technique when I run since carrying any water is out of the
> question (for me).

1. To judge by the difference in sweat on the skin when rolling at
18-20mph compared to the profusion after coming to a stop, all in
85-90 degree weather, there's much more evaporation and evaporative
cooling when cycling than when putting out that much heat in more
stationary activities. I haven't read a reference to that here, or in
much exercise journalism.

2. Different bodies handle hydration and dehydration differently, so
different people suffer under different training regimes. By the
latter, I'm thinking of such as intense 4 hour sessions still run
today, old-school, with minimal drinking water, training for pain as
it were. Sure, there's a risk to many of heat stroke and to a few of
dying, but coaches ran summer football practices like that for dozens
of years on thousands of practice fields. Most everybody may have been
performing suboptimally during practices; but deaths were minimal and
recovery from heat strokes near universal. Puking was common the first
days, then tapered off with adaptation and attrition of the less fit.
You could be sure that ALL of those athletes could benefit from some
water intake. But, are you sure they ALL could tolerate and benefit
from food, after being adapted to having none during practice
sessions?

3. On fluid balance, some can ride the OP's distance and have empty
bladders throughout. Some of them are dehydrated; others, we can read,
are at risk of hyponaturia because they've misinterpreted the lack of
urinary urgency and dry mouth for thirst.
So, without a blood chemistry on the OP's condition, it is as it has
been--anybody's guess. My experience, riding in DC heat? 24 oz of
water per 10 miles, a quart after the ride, and only then is there
slight urine production. But without a powermeter and blood chemistry
readings, I have no idea that what I'm doing is good even if I've lost
water weight. For sure, though, I'm more than 4% fat, so feeding the
furnace to keep it optimally stoked is hardly a concern during
workouts if the goal is mostly to become more fit before the next hard
ride a couple of days later, after rest.

4. Currently, there seems to be more attention to optimal nutrition
during recovery and repair, after the ride.

Harry Travis