taking water during races - what's the longest race you'll run without hitting the water stations?

Longest i've ever raced is a 10 miler and didn't take any. I'd say a half is my upper limit.

Man, there will be some bullshit flying on this thread......

I wouldn't run more than 10k w/out taking a bit of water. I could prob. make it a 10 miler but from what I've read it is detrimental to performance to go that long without taking in extra fluids. In a 10 miler, especially a cooler one, I might just take one cup of water. I don't think that slows me down at all to go through the water stop and is a net postive.

I never took in any water or nutrition during my PR in the half. The weather was perfect -- 52 or so and dry the entire time -- and I actually started a little slower than I should have. I thought about it several times, but I realized I'd just be drinking out of fear or obligation...

What is the physiology of dehydration slowing you down? I know at some point your blood volume reduces and becomes more viscous, but I think that takes quite a while to happen. Are there effects that would happen sooner that would slow you down?

Good question. I don't know how much fluid you have to lose for it to really have an effect. 5%, 10% of body weight? More? Anyone know this? We all know that eventually dehydration will affect your performance. But in an hour in cool conditions, I felt completely fine without taking the water, and know I didn't lose as much weight as some of those early xc season interval workouts where you make puddles under you while standing still. Reaching that point will take longer on cool days than on hot days.

I would imagine over the course of a marathon in any conditions, you'd lose enough fluid to necessitate having to drink.

5k/10k, no water, regardless of conditions. 10 miler and up, take water. A guy in my area didn't drink during a half (ran under 1:09) and had a seizure after because of dehydration. Probably started dehydrated, but should have defininetly drank something during the race, especially early on.

I haven't drank during 15-Ks and below, but do for 15 milers.

I know that I could race a 15 miler without drinking, but part of the reason I run those is to prepare for a marathon race in which I will definitely drink water, electrolyte drinks and ingest some clif shots.

He was very likely already dehydrated; whatever he would've taken in during the race would not have likely been enough to prevent the seizure. afterwards he probably should have had more to drink.

100 m

Depends on the weather, but I think racing up to a half-marathon without water is realistic. I did a hilly 10 miler earlier this year with no fluids, but it was plenty cool out. If it's hot enough I would drink in a 10K, but I don't think I'd ever need it for races shorter than that.

I didn't drink anything in a number of my marathons, and I probably wouldn't seriously consider drinking anything in a half-marathon or below unless the weather conditions were especially oppressive. I am, of course, familiar with various studies that purport to show dramatically negative effects on performance from routine dehydration during a race. I don't recall any such studies that I found even remotely persuasive as applied to well-conditioned athletes.

Beyond about 2% body weight loss, and your performance suffers (and recovery takes longer).

This reminds me of another point that I should have made. The fact that dehydration may hurt performance does not imply that drinking anything during a race will help (although, under some circumstances, it almost certainly will). More particularly, it does not imply that you should drink enough water during the race to replace the water that you are losing during the race, nor does it imply that you should injest

This reminds me of another point that I should have made. The fact that dehydration may hurt performance does not imply that drinking during a race will help (although, under some circumstances, it almost certainly will). More particularly, it does not imply that your performance will be better if you drink enough water during the race to replace the water that you are losing during the race, nor does it imply that your performance will be better if you consume anything else (like fat, protein, various salts and minerals, and carbohydrate) during the race to replace what is being lost during the race.

I almost never drink during races and that includes marathons.

Avocados Number wrote:

injest

Yes, I know. I accidentally sent the message when I tried to correct this.

Actually, there is a lot of data to show that carbohydrate injestion during long sustained efforts (i.e., marathons, triathlons) does in fact, improve performance, as it spares muscle glycogen.

10k: No.

HM: Yes -- but mostly out of fear that if I don't take water and cramp up, I'll kick myself forever.

I'm racing a 10 miler on Labor Day and haven't decided yet. I probably will drink if it's hot, and not if not.