Wintertime Hydration

What makes this post somewhat ironic is that I wrote about this particular topic last summer. With the temperatures in Charlotte reaching into the 90s for an extended number of days, everyone was advised to drink water, drink water, and drink more water.

Of which, I am total agreement. But I went on to suggest that we should all continue drinking water even during the winter months. In the summer, people drink water to rehydrated, but I think more so they drink water to cool their bodies. This cooling effect is not as recognizable during the winter months and therefore people don't tend to drink as much as they should.

I have to admit; I didn't follow my own advice and rehydrated as frequently as I should have.

It all started Wednesday of last week when I woke up. I looked at the ceiling and the entire world was spinning. Clearly not what I normally expect when I get out of bed in the morning. So I closed my eyes thinking it would stop; it didn't.

But after a few minutes things did settle down so I attempted to get out bed. I don't have any video of my walk but all I remember is that the walls seem to be leaning sides and I was reacting to what I saw accordingly.

After about 10 more minutes, everything felt better and I was moving better. At least the walls were now 90 degree angles to the floor and not 45 degrees.

After going through my standing stretching routine, I got out my mat and foam roller. Lying back on the mat, I looked up at my ceiling fan and once again, the world started spinning. I turned over and looked at the floor. It helped – a little.

So once I was back on my feet and moving; I felt a little better – not great but better.

At this point, I was not really sure what was going on. I started reflecting on the past few days. Then, it hit me. I hadn't been rehydrating enough. I went and weighed myself and "wow", I was way under my expected weight for where I wanted to be at this point in my training cycle.

I poured in the water. Wednesday evening my run was tough. I drank more water – lots more. Thursday, I felt better but at times I still felt dizzy. Friday, there was still some dizziness. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach.

The dizzy feeling didn't really go away until sometime Sunday afternoon.

Certainly, I learned my lesson. I am now keeping a water bottle within arm's reach at all times.

 

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner