When I got back into motorcycles a few years ago, I had 2 goals: Go racing, and become a coach. After the performances I've had this year on the 660, I'm going to go race twins cup with MA next year and consider that goal accomplished. Now it's time to start working towards being a coach. The biggest obstacle I need to overcome is my sensitivity to heat. I've made it a point to train in the middle of the day in the summer, which is 90+ degrees and 65+ humidity where I live. I can tolerate the heat just fine for a few hours at most, but then I start to get sick. I highly suspect the reason is poor hydration, and that's not gonna be any easier in leathers all day. At barber 2 weeks ago, I was drinking 1.5+gallons of water a day, stripping down between races, and still only peeing twice a day. I spoke to someone at CSS a few weeks ago that recommended I take part in a sweat study to determine the contents of my sweat and create a tailored electrolyte drink for exactly my needs. I found wearable devices such as https://nixbiosensors.com/ that can tell measure how much I'm sweating in real time, which could help me learn exactly how much I need to be drinking based on how I feel. There are also services such as https://www.levelen.com/ that will test the composition of my sweat to see what minerals I need to replenish. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm not above spending a few bucks if I can see some tangible benefits, but I'm slightly skeptical that it will help me achieve my goals.
Get some pro h2o tablets or powder. Helps you retain your water better! And weight you and your leathers before riding and weight again after riding. Then do the math
I don't think I've ever more than one and a half liter of water in any 24-hour period in my life. Forget gallons. How do you need to walk around with a pee bottle? Damn.
I recall a study performed by the Army Corps Of Engineers back in the 80s or 90s where they tested world class marathon runners. They determined that a body can absorb/replace only so much fluid, regardless of how much you drink. When I was training hard as a recreational-level runner many years ago, I just knew there was no way I could push beyond a certain limit. I knew I could win a regional championship in Clubman Novice, but not A Superstock expert (so to speak). I didn't need an expensive study to come up with that conclusion. Monitor your pee. It should be clear. Dark yellow is dangerous level of dehydration.
Roadracing World has had articles about this, they had a Dr. as a sponsor who did this type of testing. If you're a subscriber dig through some back issues. EDIT: hey, here you go! https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/how-do-you-deal-with-riding-in-extreme-heat-hydrate-right/ I don't know anything about the tests you mentioned, but I would think more information is better than less information, especially if this has been an issue for you. I'd be interested to hear what you find out. You can definitely get into trouble drinking too much water without replenishing your electrolytes. Without any testing, I use some Elete in my water, and also chug some Pedialyte Sport. Helps me feel better all day. I did 111 laps at a Volant Vivere track day at Laguna on Sunday, but it was nice and cool all day, and I'm in California so even when it's hot it's not like VIR in August or COTA in September! EDIT: I will add that my girlfriend used to be a serious runner and would go out and run in the heat, ended up overdoing it and is now very sensitive to heat. So be careful and don't just be a tough guy, you could eff yourself up. It would probably be best to consult with a sports minded doctor before you accidentally fry your brain!
I have to wear FR gear at work and tychem suits depending what I'm doing. This time of year it's nothing for me to do 2.5gal of fluids a day.
When I moved to south Texas 4 years ago, San Antonio broke a record early summer of 2022 of 100 days in a row of over 100 degrees. I was a masonry contractor working by myself in that heat. I always weigh myself in the morning and when I get home, to monitor how much liquids I lost. One day I weighed 12 lbs less when I got home, and I only worked 6 hours. I drank 1 gallon of water and 1 gallon of Gatorade, that's 16 lbs of liquids! I got very dizzy late that day, and my vision was super blurry.....it scared me. I also had cramps in places I've never cramped up before. Time to find an easier job (I retire a few months later)! I called my niece back home who is in the medical field, she said I drank way too much Gatorade, try Pedialyte instead. The next day I drank a gallon of water and half a gallon of Pedialyte. I felt much better the next day. I can handle the heat, it's just the extreme physical aspect of my job that got me.
yeah at 2.5+ gallons you risk over hydrating/toxemia if not getting the correct balance of electrolytes. Hydration, is indeed a very personal recipe... for example too much sodium can raise your BP, too much glucose can put an awful taste in your mouth.where your brain refuses to take a sip, etc. I would try to meet with a nutritionist or physician that has experience with high level athletes & nutrition. The other thing is core temp... you may need to bring your body temp down in an ice bath or one of those coolant pack vests that circulates ice water from a cooler during the day as a recovery between sessions/activity. Im acclimated to the heat of the SE but it took ALOT of experimentation & trial/error learning. I wasn't under a nutritionist care so that was part of the problem. On really humid days I cannot eat anything so my calories come from liquids or GU packs. Some dirtbike guys consume pickle juice to keep late race cramps & muscle fatigue from handicapping them.
here are some basics on a 1 liter serving of pedialyte: potassium 780 mg sodium 1380 mg total carbs (sugars) 28g 100 calories per liter here is a basic liter of gatorade facts: -potassium 110mg -sodium 380mg total carbs 51g 190 carlories per liter basic pickle juice 2oz serving facts: -sodium 380mg -potassium 24.2 mg 0 carbs calories -0 So you can see why ANY mass marketed sports drink is sugar laden trash designed to make you keep drinking it. You can make your own but the containerization is a problem.
I drink coconut water almost every day. No sugar added version. That with a lot of water works for me. I work outside moving tires and working on stuff around here, every day. When I move tires, I'll move 4-600, twice. Empty a couple of trailers, reload the trailers. Organize the warehouse. That kind of thing.
Drinking too much water can be just as bad as not drinking enough. Too much water can start removing minerals out of your body. Season your food with raw, unprocessed salt and add some beef liver + beef heart to your diet. They have a higher bio availability of nutrients than supplements in pill form. Adding a pinch of raw salt to your water is a way to add electrolytes to your intake without all the junk carbs that come in a lot of the packets and mixes. Raw milk is also good to have if you have a local source. Pasteurization kills lactoferrin, which helps bind iron, which has an effect on energy levels. Raw milk in general is good from a hydration standpoint. Goat milk works if you can't drink cow milk. Pickle juice is also a good source of electrolytes. Wouldn't recommend mixing them.
TLDR: You could be throwing off your electrolyte balance by drinking too much water during extended heavy exertion and sweating. It can present with the same symptoms as dehydration. Add in some electrolyte drinks WITH your water intake during your heavy sweating activity, and hydrate with water only during your off time. ---- Feature length presentation: I was going to respond with something very similar to Peter Hively. You can absolutely "thin out" your electrolytes and throw off the balance your body needs by drinking too much water when you're sweating heavily. That'll cause very similar symptoms to dehydration... cramping, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, etc. I grew up in FL, year round sports, outside, football, basketball, etc, so think hot and humid and heavy sweating. Something that was beat into our heads is water is for hydrating prior to physical exertion and sweating, i.e. overnight and off days. Gatorade/pedialyte/electrolyte replacement is for during physical activity and while you're actively/heavily sweating. So, while you are engaged in heavy activity that causes extensive sweating we would always start with alternating drinks of water, then electrolytes to make sure you're actively replacing them and not thinning them out by sweating like crazy and flushing whats left by overdoing the water. From there each person's individual needs would be figured out. Some people needed more Gatorade vs water, or vice versa. I started doing thinned out Gatorade and/or pedialyte...find what works for you. EDIT: I should have read more, I see plenty of people hit this already.
I've found it is possible to drink too much water if you don't also consume electrolytes. It is also possible to drink too much Gatorade, get sick, and throw up. Since I moved to North Carolina and continued cycling and mountain biking through the summer a few hours a day, 5 days a week (and being in my late 60s), I found I needed to maintain my electrolytes while also consuming water. What I learned, stay away from Gatorade unless cut 50% or more with water. Better still by far are quality electrolyte mixes (like the stuff used by Tour de France riders) from companies like Tailwind Nutrition, Skratch, and Nunn. They come as powders you mix with water.
If you aren't using these, then that's your problem. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019GU4ILQ Endurance racing has always been my particular specialty. I can ride pretty fast, but where I always took pride in myself is that I can go that fast for longer than the bike has fuel. I attribute a ton of my success at Isle of Man and Daytona to that fact.. I don't get off the bike exhausted. These tablets are why. I actually got the chance to test them, completely back-to-back, when @gpstar748 and I did an endurance race in South Africa. It was December (so summer there), probably 95F, and an 8-hour race on little CBR150's around a go-kart track... "slow" bikes, but incredibly physical riding. Just us two riders.. most teams were 3-4. They looked at us like we were crazy. We were drinking two 16oz bottles of water during our 50 minutes of "off" time, with a tablet of Nuun in each bottle. One session I fucked up and drank just regular water, and when it was my turn to ride I only made it something like 15 or 20 minutes before I was ready to pass out. Came in, Brandon swapped me, I chugged a Nuun bottle, and was back to normal the next stint.
Since its summer, there are some fruits that are an excellent source for hydration. Watermelon being one source and you can throw some salt on it as well. Of course, a balanced approach with water or an electrolyte drink is recommended.
When Jennings used to be open in the summer... this was one of my preferred methods of replenishing fluids. Keeping a cooler with fresh watermelon was kind of the highlight. Jennings closes in the summer now because EMS had to revive so many riders & spectators from heat related issues...
At one point I was a competitive endurance athlete. 100 mile and 6 hour solo mountain bike races were my jam. 50 mile races were "sprints." I didn't win much, but I was OK for a working schmuck. That's not to brag, that's just to set a baseline of experience and perspective. You can do the sweat tests, but I would suggest a more practical test: observe how much you sweat (fluid) you lose and how much you cake your work out gear with salt after a work out. - Are you a fountain of sweat even when exercising moderately? - Are you a light dripper when exercising? - Or are you somewhere in between? My suggestion would be: do a trial of three bouts of your preferred exercise in the heat. Observe your sweat rate and fluid loss (weigh yourself before and after to approximate fluid loss) and then experiment with oral rehydration drinks during exercise to close the gap on how much fluid you lost. Reference article here: Sweaty Basics Figure that out and you that's your swag for how much you sweat; i.e., how much fluid you lose per increment of exercise. That's the metric to care about. How much fluid you're losing; not necessarily what's in your sweat. Fluid loss is the issue; specific electrolyte leaching is not. Mainly because most oral rehydration drinks have a similar electrolyte profile and your salt caking experiment will tell you if you need to have higher / lower sodium in your drinks. The other thing that's overlooked in the hydration discussion is core temperature. Even a small change in core temp (due to fluid loss) is going to hijack your system because your body will want to shut down the activity to cool you down and protect vital organs (like your brain and heart) from overheating. This is why you see guys in the tour de france sticking ice packs down their jerseys throughout the day - they are trying to mitigate core temperature creep to sustain performance (i.e., power output). For ease of use, I like skratchlabs hydration mix. Avoid anything that claims to offer hydration but lacks sugar. That's not possible. Sugar is a necessary cotransporter of water into our cells. You cannot have proper oral rehydration w/out sugar + electrolytes. Water alone won't do it either because again to get the fluid into the cell quickly you need the sugar to funnel the fluid into the cell and to create the gradient. Disclaimer: the above is a gross over simplification. I am not a doctor. I did not sleep at a holiday inn last night.
