Swimming World Presents – Sports Nutrition – Hydration: Beyond Thirst! By Dawn Weatherwax

Swimming World May 2021- Sports Nutrition - Hydration - Beyond Thirst! By Dawn Weatherwax

Annie Grevers keeping hydrated when it counts

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Sports Nutrition – Hydration: Beyond Thirst!

By Dawn Weatherwax, RD, CSSD, LD, ATC, CSCS

Hydration truly has a daily importance for all levels of swimmers, but tends to get more notoriety when the weather gets warmer.

WHY IS HYDRATION IMPORTANT?
If you are 1% dehydrated, performance can decline up to 12%! Dehydration…
• Reduces speed and recovery
• Decreases concentration and focus
• Increases susceptibility to injuries
• Accelerates fatigue
• Promotes muscle breakdown
• Promotes storage of fat
• Decreases absorption of nutrients and removal of toxins
• Enhances the possibility of muscle cramps during activity

HOW COMMON?
Two-thirds of athletes show up to practice or an event 1% dehydrated! If thirsty, they’re already 2-4% dehydrated!

HOW MUCH?
The rule of thumb is half of your weight in fluid ounces a day, NOT including activity.
Hydration during activity will vary on many factors: age, gender, body composition, intensity, duration, climate.
The quick directive is 4-16 ounces of fluid per hour of activity, but some need more, pending on the rate they sweat.
The goal is to weigh before and after activity—and weigh the same. Adjust your intake for the next activity based on outcome. The body can only absorb so much fluid at one time, which means some of you sweat more than you can take in. Remember: one pound of sweat is equivalent to 16 ounces of fluid.

OVERDRINKING?
NEVER weigh MORE than 1-2 pounds from starting weight because you can drink too much fluid. For every pound of sweat lost, you want to drink 24 ounces of fluid afterward. You don’t have to drink it all at once; in fact, you can spread it over the rest of the day.

SODIUM VS. POTASSIUM
Many people would have you believe that potassium is the main electrolyte for optimal hydration, but they are wrong. Sodium is the electrolyte that is essential. Sodium helps bring the fluid into the muscle cell versus getting urinated out by the kidneys. Athletes can lose from 200 mg up to 2,000 mg of sodium per pound of sweat versus about 30 to 150 mg of potassium per pound.

However, please do not exceed more than 400 mg of sodium an hour per activity on your own. Too much intake can be harmful as well.
From a daily dietary standpoint, athletes should aim for a minimum of 2,300 to 2,700 mg of sodium a day from food. Log on an app such as Cronometer to figure your current intake.

WHAT COUNTS?
• Water
• Infused water
• Unsweetened iced and hot teas
• Milks
• Nut milks
• Oat milk
• Premade shakes and smoothies
• Juice (but in limited amounts)
• Sports drinks (preferred only around activity)
• Fluids you add to recipes (e.g., cereals, smoothies)

HOW TO KNOW?
Quick method: urine color. You want it to be a very light yellow color—like lemonade. If it is dark like apple juice, it means you are very dehydrated. Please note there are some flaws to this method, but it’s a good place to start.
If you want to get more scientific about your hydration and electrolyte numbers, please reach out to a sports dietitian or an exercise physiologist to customize your hydration plan.

SUMMARY
As you embark on your athletic goals, what you eat and drink DOES matter. Set up weekly goals and design a food and hydration schedule to maximize compliance.

Dawn Weatherwax (RD, CSSD, LD, ATC, CSCS) is a registered/licensed dietitian with a specialty in sports nutrition and founder of Sports Nutrition 2Go. She is also a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics.

To access Dawn’s menu focusing on nutrition, hydration and electrolytes with a Japanese flare to honor the Olympics,
Click here to download the full May 2021 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!

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[PHOTO CREDIT: ISHOF ARCHIVE]

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Swimming World May 2021 Issue

FEATURES

014 WOMEN’S NCAAs: A NEW NO. 1
For the first time in the history of the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships—since 1982—the University of Virginia finished first. It was also the first time it cracked the top 5 with its previous highest finish sixth in 2019.

VIRGINIA’S ROAD TO HISTORY
by Dan D’Addona
NC STATE ADDS TO ACC DOMINANCE
by Dan D’Addona
THE TALK OF THE MEET: MAGGIE MacNEIL
by John Lohn

018 MEN’S NCAAs: THE PERFECT RETIREMENT GIFT
Days before their coach, Eddie Reese, officially announced his retirement from coaching after 43 years, the Texas men’s team won their 15th men’s NCAA national team championship.

THIS ONE’S FOR EDDIE!
by Andy Ross
SCINTILLATING PERFORMANCES: SHAINE CASAS & RYAN HOFFER
by John Lohn
PATIENCE REWARDED: MAX McHUGH & NICK ALBIERO
by Andy Ross

022 NCAA D-II CHAMPS: SOME THINGS NEVER SEEM TO CHANGE
by Andy Ross
A year into the pandemic that has completely changed our world, Queens University of Charlotte brought about some stability to the 2021 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships by sweeping their sixth straight women’s and men’s team titles.

023 NO LIMITS!
by David Rieder
Claire Curzan has been swimming fast since she was a young age grouper and has continued to do so in high school. Last March, she came within 13-hundredths of the American record in the short course 100 fly, and in April, she found herself within 22-hundredths of the long course U.S. best. She’s versatile, she’s coachable, she has international experience, and she’s moved from a fringe Olympic contender to an Olympic favorite. Curzan is only 16, and her promising future couldn’t be brighter.

026 TAKEOFF TO TOKYO: WHEN IRISH EYES WEREN’T SMILING
by John Lohn
Ireland’s Michelle Smith—a four-time Olympic medalist in 1996 who received a four-year ban from the sport in 1998 for tampering with a doping sample—has been defined as being a poster girl for cheating, and by her willingness to cut corners and take advantage of performance-enhancing drug use to make the leap from an athlete of very-good skill to one of elite status.

029 50 SWIMMERS, 6 MEDALS
by Dan D’Addona
The Tokyo Olympics will mark the fourth occasion that open water swimming will be contested on the Olympic level, and even a 10-kilometer marathon race can bring exciting moments and dramatic finishes.

030 JOSH MATHENY: RISING STAR
by Matthew De George
From a middle-schooler newly committed to swimming full-time in 2016, the future looks encouraging for 18-year-old Josh Matheny, who approaches the U.S. Olympic Trials for Tokyo in June as a dark horse to make the team in men’s breaststroke.

032 ISHOF: THE ART OF SWIMMING
by Bruce Wigo
This is the story of Hero and Leander, Lord Byron and the birth of open water swimming.

035 NUTRITION: HYDRATION—BEYOND THIRST!
by Dawn Weatherwax
Hydration truly has a daily importance for all kinds of swimmers from age groupers to Olympians to Masters swimmers, but it tends to get more notoriety when the weather gets warmer.

COACHING

012 THE POWER OF POSITIVE COACHING
by Michael J. Stott
Relationships built upon honesty, trust and communication go a long way toward cementing a bond between coach and athlete. Coupling that with knowledge of the individual first and athlete second produces a positive working relationship that can last for a lifetime.

038 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: MAXIMIZING SWIMMING VELOCITY (Part 1)—STROKE RATE vs. STROKE LENGTH
by Rod Havriluk
Swimming velocity is the criterion measure for swimming performance and is the product of stroke length and stroke rate. This article explains how stroke length and stroke rate vary and how stroke time provides insight into maximizing swimming velocity.

042 Q&A WITH COACH STEVE HAUFLER
by Michael J. Stott

044 HOW THEY TRAIN CHARLOTTE SHAMIA
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

037 DRYSIDE TRAINING: THE IM DRYLAND CIRCUIT
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

047 UP & COMERS: TEAGAN O’DELL
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS

008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

011 DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT THE MOREHOUSE TIGER SHARKS?

046 THE OFFICIAL WORD

048 GUTTERTALK

Swimming World is now partnered with the International Swimming Hall of Fame. To find out more, visit us at ishof.org

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