How long must a race be before you'll drink during it?

HM for me. I've never raced longer yet. It would have to be damn hot before I'd drink during a 10k. Hydrating extremely well for 2-3 days as before as well as on the day should suffice for distances up to the HM I reckon - at this level then hydrating along the way becomes necessary.

For slower runners it's probably different. A beginner or older runner doing 55mins for 10k may well need to take some fluids on board during the race.

It depends on conditions. If its hot and humid I take some water during 10k, during a 5k usally just dump over head and down back to cool off.

For a hot summer 15k like the Boilermaker I'll grab a few cups. Half marathon: at least a little even in cool weather.

And of course I'd down about 355 ml every 400m in certain 1.6 km events.

20 miles

Anything over 10K

I will drink in half marathons and above.

Sometimes in a very hot and humid 10K.

I'm fairly old and slow and live in the Deep South.

Usually only in marathons, although if it's hot, I'll take in water in a half, maybe a really hot 10k. Pretty sure I've never taken fluids in anything shorter than 10k.

As a general rule, I don't like to drink during races, so I only do it when I KNOW that I should.

I would drink in a 10K if it was hot enough.

I ran a 3K last week that had a water table setup at the half way mark. What's the point of that?

I remember my sophmore year in college the All New England meet was at UConn and it was so aweful out that they had water set up just inside of lane one for the 5000 and 10000. I ran the 5k that day and ran well but a lot of people cooked in the heat. People in teh 10k however were just dropping out left and right. I think i would have had to take water in that 10k. 60% of those who started finished

I generally don't have a water stop on my daily training runs of 10-13 miles, so I don't anticipate stopping for water for anything up to a half-marathon. Of course I am pounding water all day long so usually I'm well hydrated which I'm sure helps. I am pretty thirsty by the end of a training run so maybe it would be beneficial in a 20k or half-marathon type race to have a small glass at mile 6 or so.

Depends on the weather.

I have actually seen a water table and a spray hose setup at a world class 10K (track) event and just about every particpant drank water. In any intense activity over 20 minutes you can benefit from re hydration especially when it is very hot. I have seen the greatest athletes in the world drink during 10K road races when it is hot enough.

If its nice and cool I have run 25Ks that I didnt drink during and felt fine. I recently ran a 5k in just over 15 minutes on the track and they had a water table and i took a cup from that because it was 93 and really humid. I mostly just splashed it in my face and onto the top of my head be i drank a bit.

Side note: don't stop yourself from drinking at shorter distances just because its not what "really runners do"

200 meters.

Anyone who stops to drink during the 100m is a p*ssy.

TrackCoach wrote:

I have actually seen a water table and a spray hose setup at a world class 10K (track) event and just about every particpant drank water. In any intense activity over 20 minutes you can benefit from re hydration especially when it is very hot. I have seen the greatest athletes in the world drink during 10K road races when it is hot enough.

They had a water station at Athens for the 10k, didn't they?

There were also water stations at World Cross this year.

[quote And of course I'd down about 355 ml every 400m in certain 1.6 km events.[/quote]

I'm not sure Beer counts as water?

Good question. For me, it always depended on what was happening in training. For example, in college we never drank water during long runs or during any races, and only on the nastiest of hot days would we even take water between intervals or during a hard fartlek or something. It just wasn't always available to us.

So, when I was training for a 15k years later (Gate River Run in Jacksonville, which I had run several times before), I never had any place to stop for water. I knew the race was going to be humid, but not too warm. So I just planned on racing it like I trained. I had done some longer tempos (~8 miles) with no water and felt just fine as long as I was hydrated before, and replished after. It turned out to be ~70-75 degrees during the race and fairly humid, but I still went without drinking. I just saw it as a hassle which would slow me down and maybe make my stomach cramp. My friends and parents thought I was totally crazy, but I set my pr.

Any race over ten miles for me is when i start taking in fluids. Likewise in my training i wont drink any fluids if i am running ten miles or less.

I ran a 10k in ~95 degree weather... definitely took some water during it, and I PR'd too.