On Hydration

I used to carry around a bottle of water everywhere.

First it was this bottle:

It looks like it was made in 1982.

It probably was.

Until I realized that the BPA in that bad boy was likely killing me and/or doing odd things to my lady bits. So, after that scare, I went out and bought a Nathan Stainless Steel water bottle that is perfect except it sweats a lot and water gets trapped in the top where the straw goes and spills water all over me about 65% of the time. It's awesome. not.

Mine is navy and has green pine trees on it.

Anyway, I used to drink about 2-3 bottles worth of water a day. When I was doing hot yoga, I was probably drinking more than that. But when I quit hot yoga, I started to ease up on the water drinking. This kinda naturally happened, but I also stopped drinking so much water for a few other reasons:

1. I'm lazy.

2. I don't really like drinking room temperature water, but when I drink cold water it makes me cold. (When I crunch on my ice at home, I have a blanket over me and usually a sweatshirt on AND the A/C going. I know).

3. My possibly-future Guru once made fun of people for bringing water to a 2 hour yoga class (a hatha class, not a hot yoga class). 

Dharma and me, BFFs. 

He explained that if you're eating a healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables that you don't need to be drinking gallons of water. And then he went on to talk about his Teacher who once went 45 days or something without drinking any water. Obviously, I took all this with a grain (or 4) of salt. But he does make a good point. (And for a disclaimer, he was saying this to a room full of yogis, NOT runners. I should have realized that I sweat a shit ton more than my fellow yogis).

5. My diet changed in a way that I started incorporating more liquids, so I was kinda naturally getting more hydration. Which I thought would be enough.

All of this is fine and dandy and probably wouldn't be an issue for a normal person. But for someone who lives in the humidity hell of Middle Tennessee and who starts sweating when they just start thinking about the heat... uhhh.. I probably should drink a little more water than NONE. 

I do usually hydrate well on the weekends. Funny how that works.

So, instead of just drinking water when I'm thirsty (which isn't that often), I'm going to start making a conscious effort to get back onto the water-drinking wagon. Starting this week! I think it does make a difference in my running and how I feel and what better a week than before a half marathon race weekend?

We'll see how it goes. Currently, I've got a bottle of water next to me and a cup full of ice that I'm munching on annnnnd I've got my little space heater on. Awesome.