* MaRaThOn MoNdAy * : Hydration, continued!

Last week's posting was getting a tad lengthy and rather than put you all to sleep, I thought I would just break it up into two postings. Hey why not, hydration is a runner's best friend right?

Here are some more things to keep in mind:

*Make sure to get enough produce in your diet while training for the marathon so that you are receiving enough vitamins, minerals, sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium

* If you are a heavy sweater, consider taking salt tablets. Although I sweat like a man - sooo much so that strangers at the gym have come up to me to comment about this as if that was a polite thing to do, lol - I have never tried salt tablets. The experts recommend drinking at least 8 oz. of water with each salt tablet. You can buy fancy schmancy "athlete" salt packages, or I've heard that the salt packets from fast food restaurants work just as well!

* Something to try: weigh yourself sans clothing before your run. Weight loss means that you need to replenish your water loss, while weight gain means you took in too much water

* Running in high temps or high altitude = you need to take in more fluid than you are used to!

* We can increase our ability to endure high temps by 50% by working out in these conditions as long as you are properly hydrated

* Studies have found that stopping more often to get water can actually increase your race time, and if it does you down, it will only be a matter of seconds since the hydration will increase your performance and will help to ward against fatigue

Happy running! :)

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PS - I am considering having an "expert" (Zestycook!) help to to design a new template as well as to get my own domain. However, there already IS a www.marathonval.com - I am trying to brainstorm what my new domain name could be. Any ideas, my creative friends?