Help needed. Dehydrating while I ride.

DanEvs

I appear to have a little bit of a problem with keeping myself hydrated when I ride.

Whenever I take on fluid from my camelbak or bottle I seem to need to urinate in the next five minutes or so. Friends I ride with can get through 3L of fluid on a ride and never need to urinate where I'm constantly going. It happens whether I'm on an all day epic or a two hour training blast.

Post ride I can have dropped as much as 2kg :shock: and I'm guessing that this is lost fluid.

My usual tipple is just plain old Robinsons orange squash and water in a very dilute mix.

If anyone can shed some light on the problem then I'd be very grateful. Need to sort it before I start trying to charge around a Merida or similar.

My usual day to day drinking habits are fine and I have no known health problems. Normally cycle for 10 or so hrs a week.

supersonic

The key is to sip the fluid slowly and evenly through the ride. Don't glug it down!

Also might want to read some of the other posts on drinks ie isotonic drinks with minerals and electrolytes which helps absorption.

I am sure BigBenj will be along soon with a better answer, he seems to really know his stuff in this department.

The Northern Monkey

supersonic wrote:

The key is to sip the fluid slowly and evenly through the ride. Don't glug it down!

Also might want to read some of the other posts on drinks ie isotonic drinks with minerals and electrolytes which helps absorption.

I am sure BigBenj will be along soon with a better answer, he seems to really know his stuff in this department.

You rang? :P

If you take a look at the link in my sig, i've done a write up about what drinks are recommended for sporting activities. Do you feel thirsty when you drink or do you only drink when your mates do?


However, as you are passing fluids quite quickly, there may be an underlying problem.
Is it only when your exercising that you pass fluid that quickly? what colour is your pee? do you feel dehydrated normally during a normal day, no matter how much fluid you take in?

B

supersonic

I was always taught to sip away, as drinking a pint a time can make you dump it quick out of your gut. Is that right?

The Northern Monkey

Yea, the quicker you drink, the less water is taken up in the body and the more is removed by the kidneys. All to do with blood pressure and hydrostatic pressure.

As it says in the fluid thread, a bolus of 500ml of isotonic fluid taken 2 hours before exercise will prime the body for better fluid uptake. That way, your less likely to "dump" water when you rehydrate during exertion.

DanEvs

Thanks for the replies guys.

Pee is always clear and it seems to be only when I excercise that I need to go so often.

I tend to sip at my drink because I've had it drummed into me that I should. I very rarely (never) feel an actual thirst when out riding though.

As an example last night I went out and did about 30 miles on my mountain bike (mainly road riding), I stopped in a shop for 700ml or so of Caprisun :roll: and must have been out for three hours. I only got the Caprisun because I felt I should, not because I was thirsty. About 15 mins later I had to pee then again another 15mins later. Quite an chilled ride with an average HR of 134.

Today I went for a bit of a training ride on my road bike (37miles-2hrs10mins). I had a pint of squash before I set out and sipped at my water bottle on the way around. Had my waterproof on and was quite sweaty (nice) but still had to stop at 45mins even though I was motoring a bit (by my standards anyway-av HR over 2hrs 151bpm) and again at approx 90mins. :?

My understanding has always been that during hard excercise we should use approx 1l of fluid and not really need to pee. Correct?

Not sure if that means anything really but hey.

The Northern Monkey

It sounds to me that your could possibly be over-hydrating before and during exercise. Your pee should always have a yellow tinge to it.

I would suggest switching to an isotonic drink, something that is a similar concentration to body fluid.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

Along with a pre ride iso bolus, I would also recommend you sip the iso drink as your riding and then around 200ml iso drink after exercise untill your pee turns a faint yellow.

However, if the symptoms persist, it could lean towards over activity of your kidneys which could be put down to quite a few things, ie not enough sodium etc. But you'd need to see your GP.

DanEvs

I suppose you could be right, I do tend to drink quite a lot over the course of a day, quite often pints of orange squash. I guess when I'm at home I pretty much down a pint in one. :roll:

Would the home made isotonic drink be as effective as Lucozade sport? Is SIS psp22 more or less effective than these? Sorry if I'm coming across as a bit of a numpty but I'm only just trying to learn the nutrition side of things and what I should be doing.

Thanks again.

Whytepeak

Drink little and often, your pee shouldn't always be yellow. Basicly, yellow pee means that lots of water has been absobed, this will reduce the amount of erea that travels down the urethra, and is subsequently expelled. Clear pee is not ideal either, this means that the body is not absobind much water, meaning that you are already hydrated. This causes a large volume of liquid to be expelled. Try not drinking for a few hours before the ride. During the ride, sip away. See what comes out. If it is clear still the go to the doctors, as your kidneys could be damaged in some way. If this has been happening for a while, then it is unlikely that your kidneys are damaged, but one may be. Don't worry, as it has been happening for a while, you could only survive hours, days :?: if both kineys were broken.

The Northern Monkey

DanEvs wrote:

I suppose you could be right, I do tend to drink quite a lot over the course of a day, quite often pints of orange squash. I guess when I'm at home I pretty much down a pint in one. :roll:

Would the home made isotonic drink be as effective as Lucozade sport? Is SIS psp22 more or less effective than these? Sorry if I'm coming across as a bit of a numpty but I'm only just trying to learn the nutrition side of things and what I should be doing.

Thanks again.

As long as you stick to the volumes correctly its fine. I used to make m own when playing rugby. They're not always the best tasting thing in the world, but they do work.
The SIS psp22 is more of a hypertonic drink because it supplies large amounts of carb, therefore the water concentration isn't similar to body fluid concentration = low water uptake.
In the SIS range, i'd recommend the GO electrolyte sports fuel, as it has a lower volume of carbs, good amount of electrolytes and other macromolecules that will help you with rehydrating.