Hydration: When to Start?

You are thinking too much. Just drink water throughout your day, every day. Try to have your urine clear all the time. In hotter weather drink more water.

Stop drinking beer.

Pimp Tight,

That's an opinion. This guy doesn't want anyones opinion. He doesn't think anyone who posts here has any worthy advise. He wants us to go look up links for him to read. He probably wants us to see if the author of the links has a degree also. And he probably wants us to print them and hand deliver them to his house, gift wrapped with a bow on top. I guess all the posters on here are just to stupid to offer him/her any meaningful input on the subject.

then you guessed right dude. people on this board are opinionated and unwilling to hear out others opinions. it's their way or noone way, and if they disagree they have to do so really rudely by insulting the poster. most really good runners stear clear of this board and try not to be around anyone who they know posts, for good reasons. locknload, try going on pubmed and searching for hydration and racing. theres tons of info. of a quick search:

Fluid intake in male and female runners during a 40-km field run in the heat.

Millard-Stafford M, Sparling PB, Rosskopf LB, Snow TK, DiCarlo LJ, Hinson BT.

"To compare physiological responses, hydration status and exercise performance in similarly trained men and women in a hot, humid environment, 12 highly trained runners were studied during a simulated 40-km race. A 7% carbohydrate-electrolyte (CE) beverage was consumed prior to exercise (400 ml) and every 5 km (approximately 250 ml) during the run. The run times of the males and females did not differ significantly (173.5 +/- 8.5 and 183.8 +/- 4.2 min, respectively); nor did the rate of fluid intake relative to body mass (10.3 +/- 0.7 and 10.7 +/- 0.8 ml kg-1 h-1, respectively) or percent body mass loss (4.0 +/- 0.1% and 3.9 +/- 0.1%, respectively). During the run, %VO2 max, heart rate, concentrations of blood lactate, serum total protein and plasma osmolality were also similar for both groups" -doesnt specify how much before is, but im guessing the day of the trial.

i found a few more but like most searches, you have to deduce your own conclusions from reading a whole bunch of bits and pieces from similair and different studies.

since i did a search i'll also give you my opinion. drink lots of water the day and night before race day. dont drink too much, just carry a water bottle around to sip on. when i do this i can crap easier and am well hydrated. keep in mind hydration needs vary with the environment competed in.

ieie wrote:

drink lots of water the day and night before race day. dont drink too much, just carry a water bottle around to sip on. when i do this i can crap easier.

I find that I get constipated if I drink a lot of water and then try to go before I run later on in the day/night. Any reason why this may be happening?

ieie,

I will also give my opinion. Not a opinion on the opinion of the thread starters opinion but rather your opinion. That is if you don't mind me giving you my opinion on your opinion about opinions. In other words, I'll see your opinion and raise you an opinion. I believe the opinions expressed on this board are very valuable opinions. Some people want opinions based on scientific evidence and/or by so called experts. Well the experts aren't always correct and scientific data is up to interpitation for example for years many in the health field claimed to have scientific data about foods. High fat foods were bad for your health. Then Dr Atkins came out with his scientific data claiming fats were in fact good for you and it was the carbohydrates that were causing health risks. In short you could ask 100 scientists, doctors, etc about any subject and about 50% will say one thing and about 50% will argue against the findings of the aforementioned 50%. I don't just want a so called experts opinion or scientific data about running related issues whether it's training, dietary, race strategies, etc. I value more the opinions of all the runners who have experienced these issues. I want to hear the opinions of the fast, the slow, the smart, the dumb, everybody that's willing to give it and then apply it to my own personal experiments and come up with my own conclusions based on all the various inputs.

That's just my opinion.