Water, what is this magical stuff?

This year's London marathon has just passed and in the build up friends were asking about how much water, sports drinks etc they should carry. Well, on a formal race I normally answer none, since there are always plenty of water stations. You want to stay hydrated but not over hydrated. What if you drink way too much? Well, if you drink an extreme amount of water in a short time it can be very dangerous. In fact, it can be fatal. Drinking way too much water can cause the level of sodium and salt in your blood to drop. This can make you very ill, and in some cases can prove fatal. This condition is caused hyponatemia or water intoxication. Takes a lot of water to get that bad, but don't try it.

So, what about on training runs? Well, the answer is it depends. How long and far is the run, what are the weather conditions, how flat is the course? All of these things change the amount of water you need to carry. If, for example, I am running for less than 45 minutes I will drink a pint of water before running, then go for the run and then drink another when I get back. Now, if I am running further I will add a bottle or two that I fill sip as I'm running. I will not take a sip until I hit the 3 mile mark unless the temperature is over 100F. Now, how do you know if you haven't drank enough? Well, your body will tell you. You may get a headache, you may stop sweating. You may feel feint. If you do, stop, hydrate and learn from the episode.

I am not an expert. There are many professionals out there that will spend hours telling your the right and wrong ways to hydrate, but end of the day, it is whatever works for you. One thing though, don't just drink sports drinks. On a long run they will get you into trouble. Drink more water than sports drinks, although on a longer run you will want to mix it one or two to help balance your body. Trust me, you will know if you have drank too many:)

Anyway, keep running and stay hydrated.

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, after the marathon (which I completed in 5 hours and 2 minutes thanks to a knee injury) I continued to have a difficult running year picking up multiple other injuries. I ended the year running the Dallas weekend series, running 10K on the Saturday and the half-marathon on the Sunday, both with a torn back muscle. This caused me to have to take a few months off from running. Well, now I'm back and plan to run more, have more fun and do more and try new things. I'm signed up for a few virtual races and runs and also for a 5 mile run. Then in December I will take part in a relay marathon.

I've just signed up for the Running Dementia Down 2018 virtual race. This benefits Alzheimer's UK, a charity I hold dear to my heart. Having lost my Dad to Alzheimer's and with my Mum currently suffering from it when I get a chance to raise awareness and raise a little money I jump at the chance. So I will be running at least 100K between now and the end of August to raise money for them. You can make a donation at https://runningdowndementia2018.everydayhero.com/uk/andytate. During this time I also run a virtual 10K for the Royal wedding and the Dallas 5 mile on July 4th!!!!

Hopefully I will get back to blogging more frequently. Anyway, I will leave this post with a photo of my Mum, the last time she came over to Texas, when we started to realize that she was suffering from Alzheimer's.