While you’re lacing up your trainers, slapping on your favorite upbeat playlist, and working through some dynamic stretches to get ready for a great long run, don’t forget to grab a water bottle on your way out too! 

Proper hydration is a must for just about everyone, but it’s especially important when you’re putting your body through a sweaty, grueling cardio workout like running and jogging. Here’s how you can keep yourself properly hydrated through all of your training runs with a little help from LARQ. 

Why your water intake is so crucial as a runner

Good hydration should be a priority for everyone, no matter what their physical activity levels. Drinking water keeps your body temperature stable, delivers important nutrients to all of your cells, cushions your tissues, and flushes out toxins and waste. In short: it’s necessary for keeping your entire body functioning! 

But if you like doing long and sweaty workouts like running, the importance of your fluid consumption becomes even more crucial. As you’re running, you lose water through sweat as your body works to maintain a steady temperature. Unfortunately, if you don’t replenish those valuable water stores and stay hydrated, you’re putting yourself more at risk for a variety of performance-inhibiting and even dangerous symptoms like: 

• Muscle cramps: Water plays an important role in balancing your levels of electrolytes, which are minerals like sodium, magnesium, and calcium that allow your muscles to move. When your water levels drop, it can lead to an electrolyte imbalance which can, in turn, lead to painful and irregular muscle cramps. Even scarier: electrolytes influence the movement of other important muscles besides the ones you’re using to move, including your heart and your digestive system. So for your body to maintain all of its regular functioning during a run, you’ll definitely want to pay attention to your hydration status and sodium levels. 
• Overheating: Water keeps your body temperature stable, and one of the ways that it does this is through sweating to keep you cool during a run. If you don’t have enough water, though, it means that you can’t sweat enough, and this can lead to dangerous overheating. 
• Fatigue and sluggishness: Finally, dehydration can have a very real impact on your physical performance during your run. As you lose water, you might feel sluggish and slow during your run. You might even see a decrease in your muscular endurance. 

How to properly hydrate for a run

Hydration needs vary from person to person. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), adult men should drink about 3.7L of water per day, while women should aim for 2.7 L (to put it into perspective, that means refilling your 25 oz LARQ Bottle Filtered about 4 or 5 times a day). However, this recommendation is a general rule that doesn’t take physical activity into account. If you’re a runner or otherwise athletically active, you’re going to need significantly more than that. 

Chugging your water down all at once during your run isn’t the best strategy, though. Your kidneys eventually reach a limit, which means that drinking a ton of water at once isn’t hydrating you the way you think it is. It can make you pee more, interrupting your stride. What’s more, drinking a ton of water after becoming dehydrated can even make electrolyte imbalances worse. 

Instead, you want to make sure you’re drinking enough water throughout the entire day while emphasizing your intake before, during, and after your run is through. So how much water should you drink before a run? As a general rule of thumb, The International Society of Sports Medicine recommends that athletes stay properly hydrated by drinking: 

• 500 mL of water the night before 
• 500 mL of water first thing in the morning 
• About 400-600 mL about 20-30 minutes before exercise 

Then, during exercise, you should also be drinking enough water to balance out any fluid losses. But how do you know how much water you lose? The amount of water lost during your run can vary hugely based on things like your weight, gender, and climate. You’re also probably losing way more water through your sweat than you think. 

So one of the easiest ways to figure out your individual water needs is to weigh yourself immediately before and after a run! Find the difference between both body weights, making sure to account for any water that you drank during your run. Then, use that number to determine how much water you lost during your run and make that your personal hydration goal during your run. 

Hydration strategy tips for runners

• Always have a water bottle handy. It’s one of your most valuable tools as a runner! Fill up your LARQ Bottle Filtered or Swig Top bottle to make sure you have clean water you can take along with you — not just during your run, but for the rest of the day as well. Remember, you need to be properly hydrated all day long if you want to give your body everything it needs during your run. 
• Be mindful of the symptoms of dehydration. Dehydration can be extremely dangerous, so it’s important to recognize when you might be at risk. Some common symptoms of dehydration that you might see while on your run include muscle cramping, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, headaches, and vomiting. If you experience any of these symptoms, stop your run immediately and rehydrate. Sports drinks with electrolytes are a good idea in these extreme cases since they can replenish both your fluids and your electrolyte levels. 
• Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to take a swig. Contrary to how it might sound, thirst isn’t actually a great indicator of how hydrated you are. In fact, if you’re thirsty, you’ve probably already lost quite a bit of water. Stick to a regular water schedule instead, drinking at least every 15 minutes, so you can stay ahead of your hydration strategy. 
• Use your urine as an easy marker of your hydration status. One of the easiest ways to tell whether or not you’re properly hydrated, both throughout the day and during your exercise, is to check your urine color. If you’re well-hydrated, your urine should be light or translucent yellow. If it’s any darker, that’s a good sign that you should amp up your water intake strategy.  
• Eat hydrating foods as well. Your fluid intake isn’t the only way to hydrate — plenty of foods also have a good amount of water! Filling up on hydrating foods is an especially good strategy for runners since it can keep you hydrated throughout the day without filling up your bladder during a run. Eat a variety of water-rich fruits and vegetables like citrus, cucumbers, and melons for the best results. 

Bottom line

Knowing how to maintain good hydration while running is one of the most important skills you should have as a runner. Make sure to drink plenty of water throughout your entire day so that you can stay hydrated, optimize your body’s fluid levels, and make every run a safe one.