S.W.E.A.T – An Exciting Pilot

On Sunday last, 25th March, we did a small test pilot of the protocol. It was intended to be a trial run. A full dress rehearsal so to speak.

Everything went off well…the runners, the protocol, the logistics and the Research Assistants were all there.

What was very interesting was that there was a 300% variation in the Sweat Rate. This means that while one runner sweated 700 ml in one hour at the other extreme another runner lost 2 ltrs in one hour. I mean this guy was dripping like a tap that has lost its washer

Now think of this, if the runner who was losing 700 ml was hydrating himself at the rate of the 2 ltrs an hour he would have ended with Hyponatremia.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001431/

And if instead the runner who was sweating 2ltrs per hour drank only 700 ml he would soon have gone into dehydration. So either way both are at risk.

It only goes to show that a runner cannot take a thumb rule based approach to sweat loss. Especially one that is derived from studies done in another land.

Doing the Sweat Rate study helps to define one more boundary of risk for you as a runner