Testing has shown to show some great information which could help clear up these very common problems that athletes have, especially all you long distance people out there.

Testing has been done by many researchers in many places around the world for example in Ironman Western Australia, and Australia institute of sport have carried out some very interesting tests, as has the U.S and Professor Tim Noakes from South Africa

Testing was done and some very interesting facts were shown at the end of it which I will summarise below but the bottom line is our bodies must be HYDRATED.

Studies showed that at various percent weight loss different things happen to our bodies which most people have no idea about. I will list these as follows…

Please note: obviously heat and higher exercise efforts make you lose different amounts of fluid through sweating (our cooling system)but the % loss is the factor we talk about here.

Also different sports require different skills e.g. triathletes or runners or cyclists don’t need same skills as say a basketball player or soccer player so the % loss affects different sports groups at different levels

1-3 % weight loss due to dehydration
- reduced performance
- reduced motor skills
- run economy goes down
- increased core body temperature

5% weight loss due to dehydration
- reduces performance by a possible 20-30%
- reduces strength
- reduces power
- decreases aerobic ability
- decreases muscle endurance
- susceptible to heat exhaustion
- heart rate goes high
- stress occurs
- muscle tissue breaks down

note WITH 5% WEIGHT LOSS AN ATHLETE WILLNEED 5 HOURS TO REHYDRATE

6% weight loss due to dehydration
- muscle spasms
- cramping

10% or more
- excessive high core body temp
- susceptible to heat stroke
- heat injury
- circulatory collapse of aerobic performance

Yes interesting facts, so many times people are told to take salt or magnesium or drink water to fix up the problem but its not as simple as that.

The answer to the problem specifically in triathlon is fix the problem from even before the gun has gone off !!…What’s easier - you maintain your car before or fix it on the motorway??

Yes the answer is drink, but not over-drink and not just water, many tests have been done and water alone does not cut it. You must have a good electrolyte mix to help retain the fluids otherwise it will go straight through you washing away the electrolytes giving you cramps and hyponytremia.

For information all high5 drink products have a large amount of electrolytes but no drink on the market can replace your salts enough in very hot conditions at high energy outputs. To combat this the answer is to take supplementation of salt in your race. There’s two reasons for this….firstly because a very high salt drink would taste shocking…secondly your taste buds change as you race i.e. the longer you go.

Also for information, soon recent studies in the TransAlp mountain bike stage race (mean ambient temperature 35°C) of high5 4:1 will be published showing the effects of protein added to your drink

Despite no effect on muscle damage, elevated PRO consumption enhanced fluid retention, reduced thermal strain and improved exercise performance in the heat…..

Another possible cause of dehydration can occur if the “gut” is clogged up with over eating or eating too much at a time, this can be reduced also by using both “supercarbs” which has increased fructose to allow more through the gut as does caffeine amongst many other advantages.