I Am a Sweaty Beast

So in the good old O-H-I-O it has been a scorcher of a week. The heat and humidity have increased out of nowhere, seriously like Mother Nature decided to press fast forward on the seasons and have catapulted us Buckeyes into August style weather. I am NOT ready for this. I forgot how terrible the heat makes me feel. I was quickly reminded of what a sweaty beast I am on multiple runs this week. Thank goodness my marathon in nine days (NINE DAYS!) is taking place in England – where the weather is currently 40 degrees and overcast. humblebrag party of one

Figuring out how to properly hydrate, especially during toasty days has been a long learning experience for me. I have always been a diligent water drinker. I remember my first season of cross country in high school, my coach would tell us to stop at every water fountain we saw in the hallways of our school building and take a gulp. This resulted in me drinking quite a bit of the clear, liquid goodness and I never had any issues with dehydration while a teenager.

In college with the increase in mileage and two a day practices my coach demanded of us, I naturally upped my water consumption. The extra water really just resulted in many extra trips to the restroom each day. I started dealing with dehydration and my trainer and coach recommended I drink a glass of powerade at my dinner meal in addition to my 2-3 glasses of water. Also they suggested I add salt to my food every so often too. These techniques really helped with my dehydrated state during my co-ed years.

Fast forward to my first marathon and I was a complete moron. I never ran with any sort of water or sports beverage. On my long runs I would run 10 miles, stop by my house, chug some Gatorade and then head back out for another 10 miles. When marathon day rolled around I wasn’t used to drinking at every mile, because I didn’t train that way. My first marathon wasn’t as awesome as I thought it would be . My ability to sweat like a linebacker did not helping the situation either.

For the last few years through trial and many errors I have gotten smarter about my hydration tactics, and I have tried my fair share of products. I started to really get into drinking Gatorade, mostly because that was the beverage offered at most major marathons. I started using a handheld water bottle filled with Gatorade on all my runs but I never quite mastered the ratio of Gatorade to water to Gu and during long runs and in races I would often suffer some sort of cramping.

Rockin’ the handheld water bottle in a marathon!

Last year one of my running buddies introduced me to nuun. She gave me a tube of the orange flavor that she was raving about. The only instructions she gave me was to plop a tablet in a cup of water. Shame on me for a) not reading the instructions ever so apparent on the exterior of the tube and 2) not asking for more detailed instructions. I added an entire tablet to 8 ounces of water. I took a sip and painfully swallowed the effervescent formula. I wasn’t a fan and didn’t try it again for a while. As she continued to pimp the product to me on our runs I decided to tell her about my failed first attempt with this new to me beverage option. She laughed at me and gave me more detailed instructions. 1 tab + 16 ounces of water makes for the perfect combination. I went home, tried it again and it was MUCH better, but the orange flavor just wasn’t doing it for me.

I decided to order a few tubes of different flavors – Grape, Lemon-Lime and Strawberry Lemonade. I figured that if I ended up disliking any of them I could just schlep them off onto one of my friends that dug the product.

The first time the Strawberry Lemonade flavor hit my lips my inner Frank the Tank was stirred and I became a believer.

Ever since that initial sip I haven’t had any Gatorade. I have used nuun on all of my runs from 5 to 20+ milers, including a 24 miler this past weekend at 7:52 pace on a warm day. This was the best and fastest 20+ mile training run I have ever experienced, and I did not experience a single stomach cramp. Coincidence? I think not.

I’m certain the stomach issues I was experiencing during my pre-nuun days of running were due to all the extra sugar in the beverages I was fueling with. It just so happens that nuun contains essential electrolytes and zero sugar. Schwing! 

Hydrating on the run with friends is fun!

To celebrate this new-found love affair with this tasty beverage I want to share a sweet discount with all of you! Visit the nuun online store and when you are ready to check-out, you can receive 15% off your order by using the discount code: bloggerslovenuun

And stay tuned, I plan on hosting my first ever giveaway that involves this sweet little product in the VERY near future!

Happy hydrating, friends.

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