Friday

7.3 miles this morning, same route as usual.  Shorts, no shirt, camelbak... it feels like summer's here already. 66° with 75% humidity when I started my run at 4:30.

 

I usually mix my gatorade mix 50/50 with water, then add a little salt, and drink that during the runs. I was thinking this morning back to when I was running years ago and was constantly getting headaches and nausea after hard workouts. 

 

The history of that:  in 1982 I suffered heat stroke. After a week's rest, I finished up Airborne school then went to IOBC and kept getting heat injuries. It was a real problem- but I was assured that I just needed to drink more water and stay hydrated. This went on until I was in Ranger school at Fort Benning, in June, and was off by myself throwing up, on the verge of having another heat injury... and the medic came by and asked me what was I doing with the salt in my MREs.  I said that I never used it.  So I started using it and the entire 'heat injury' problem went away.   I was taking in so much water that I was having hyponatremia symptoms. The problem is that at every stage, I was told 'drink more water'. The Ranger School medic was experienced enough to see what the real issue was. My electrolyte balance was really out of whack.

 

So for me, in the summer here when it starts warming up, I try to keep salty snacks around and I add a little extra to the fluids I drink when I am running. I never get headaches after a run, and drinking the salted gatorade and water mix helps me recover so that I can turn around and run another 7 or 8 (or 10 or 15) miles the next morning.  By July it will be in the 80s here at 4am with 90+ humidity.