Sweat Test

After my miserable experience last Saturday at Cedar Hill, I decided to find out how much fluid I am losing every hour while running. It’s called a sweat test and I did it on two very different occasions. It’s really easy. You weigh yourself without clothes before starting a run. Then you go out and run at race pace for 60 minutes without drinking (or peeing) and then weigh yourself again when finished. It is actually pretty shocking to see how much fluid you lose while running. Here are my results…

Day One – June 9th 7pm in the evening; 70 degrees; 78% humidity
Lost 2.5 pounds
2.5 x 16 ounces = 40 ounces lost in one hour

Day Two – June 12th Noon; 90 degrees; 51% humidity
Lost 3.75 pounds
3.75 x 16 ounces = 60 ounces lost in one hour

So you can see that I typically lose a lot of fluid when I run – probably more than the average person. Even when it was cool 70 degrees outside, I lost 40 ounces of fluid. 40 ounces equals 2 full water bottles.

But I know that I can not drink that much water during the race. Your body can only absorb up to 30 ounces of fluid per hour. I’ll really have to monitor my fluid intake during the race – especially during the heat of the day when we are in the canyons. Hydration can make or break my race. But armed with this info, I will be able to handle it a little bit better.