Heat, Hydration and Water - Too much of a good thing.

Most athletes know about the dangers of dehydration, especially when working hard in a hot climate but drinking just pure water can also cause serious problems. There is a potentially life threatening condition called hyponatremia which can pose a serious threat to runners competing and training out here for the longer events.

Hyponatremia occurs when salt levels in the blood become excessively low. The early signs of hyponatremia can include muscle fatigue and nausea. Moderate symptoms may include headache, short-term memory loss, disorientation, poor coordination and slurred speech. As sodium levels continue to drop, symptoms may progress into severe agitation, aggressive behaviour, seizures, brain herniation and even brain injury or death.

Hyponatremia in endurance athletes appears to be due to a combination of excessive salt loss in sweat, drinking fluids with too small amounts of sodium or simply drinking too much plain water. Athletes with a smaller body mass, who drink too much water, dilute their sodium levels more quickly than larger competitors due to the fact that they have less space available in their bodies to store free water. Several studies have shown that women are more likely than men to develop hyponatremia simply because their bodies are smaller.

For athletes competing in the Al Andalus Ultra Trail (www.alandalus-ut.com) or those visiting/training, especially during the hotter months of June, July and August, who may be considering racing or doing some long, over 2 hour, training runs, contrary to previous recommendations, don’t guzzle plain water the week before the event/visit as this can dilute your sodium stores. Neither should you just take salt tablets as they can cause stomach problems, a better idea is to take Tablytes (Eletewater in tablet form) for the month before coming out here in order to build your bodies sodium levels.

The best way to avoid the problem is to consume sports drinks that contain sodium. Because the drinks contain less sodium than found in sweat, drinking them can’t cause sodium overload. In addition to aiding fluid absorption during exercise, the sodium in sports drinks encourages fluid intake as it makes the drink taste better it also helps to maintain your thirst and keeps you drinking while it delays urine production. This combination promotes rapid rehydration and helps your recovery. Drinking plain water eliminates your thirst so that you stop drinking and urine production is stimulated, a sequence which delays rehydration and hinders recovery.

As a guide for those of you who train or compete in hot/humid conditions, sports products such as NUUN, ZYM Allsports SR3, Gatorade or SIS contain carbohydrate and sodium and are absorbed as quickly as water. The glucose and sodium help increase fluid uptake in the small intestine and the carbohydrate improves performance during exercise lasting longer than an hour.

Even better is Eletewater. (www.eletewater.co.uk) This is a concentrated electrolyte fluid made up of Sodium, Magnesium, Potassium and Chloride. A tiny 25ml bottle contains enough Eletewater to make 10 litres/20 x 500ml bottles. All you do is add half a cap full to 500ml of plain water. This has the added benefit of not adding sweet flavouring to the water, something which many athletes dislike especially during long, multi stage races, when many runners and cyclists prefer to take carbohydrates separately and in savoury form. Other advantages are the treated water can be used in a bladder without causing unpleasant ‘gunge’ to develop, the water can be used for cooking in and you can pour it over your head/clothing without turning sticky orange or lemon coloured!

Another reason is that many athletes with diabetes face limited option choices with sports drinks. As Eletewater, contains no refined carbohydrates or sugars it can be added to either water or any sugar-free beverage. It also contains Magnesium which is essential for both insulin production as well as insulin uptake.

The best way to avoid problems of heat cramps, exhaustion or hyponatremia is to drink 200-300 mls of sports drink 15 to 20 minutes before running and then 2 mls of fluid per kilo of body weight every 15minutes during the run.

For example someone weighing 65kg should drink 130mls per 15min/260 per half hour, 500 per hour, therefore a litre every 2 hours.

Another tip is to add Glycerol/Glycerin, a clear syrup-like liquid to fluid. Glycerol increases the bodies ability to store fluid when taken in the right dose. Successfully used by many athletes, it’s cheap and useful to add to drinks during training in the heat, (5ml or one teaspoon per 750ml bottle).

Hope this article helps those of you thinking of training or racing in Andalucia/Southern Spain or any other hot climates. If you are considering entering or have entered www.alandalus-ut.com the MdS, Gobi Challenge or similar races we also organise regular Desert Runner Training Camps. For further information please contact Team Axarsport s.l. at info@axarsport.com or view www.trailrunspain.com or www.axarsport.com
R. Paul Bateson

The information regarding hyponatremia from an article by John Findley MD. courtesy of the USA’s Trail Runner magazine.

Re Eletewater. I am able to supply this exceptionally good product (which isn’t widely available in Spain until a main agent is found). Whether you are an athlete or not this is an ideal product for anyone living in our generally hot and sunny climate.