How Much Water to Drink During Running - Women's Fitness

How Much Water to Drink During and After Running - part of the women's fitness video series by GeoBeats. How Much Water to Drink During Running When you’re thinking about how much water to drink before, during and after a run, consider that your body needs water and remember that coffee, tea and, of course, soft drinks, even juices, they do not substitute for water. You need water. You should be drinking water all the time, especially if you’re athletic. But during a run, you also don’t want to over hydrate because that can make you feel uncomfortable, get cramps. And there is something called hyponatremia, which is when you’re doing an endurance event and you’re drinking way too much. A good rule of thumb is about two to three ounces of water every 30 minutes, or so. There are hydration belts, which is a belt that you can wear around your waist and it has little holders for water bottles and sports drink bottles, if you want those. Or, they also have handles that you can put a water bottle in and then you can run with those. Having a water bottle or a hydration belt is a really great idea if you’re going for a long run in an area that doesn’t have water fountains. So, like I said, about two to three ounces every 30 minutes, or so. Also, as you train your body is going to tell you what it needs, and you’re going to learn what works best for your body. It’s also important to keep yourself cool, which might mean throwing water over your head or putting it on you pulse points. Your pulse points are the back of your neck, on the inside of your elbows, and also behind your knees. When you throw some water water on those areas, it tends to cool you off pretty quickly. So, you want to ingest some water, but you also want to make sure that you keep the rest of your body cool, as well.