Daily fluids:
• On a daily basis, make sure you drink enough fluid. Morning urine should not be dark and smelly!
• You should have to pee every two to four hours throughout the day. The urine should be light yellow.
• To learn how much fluid to drink during exercise, weigh yourself naked before and after a hard workout. One pound (16 ounces) lost represents one pound of sweat to replace.
• Lose no more than 2% of your body weight (3 pounds for a 150-pound athlete).

Fluids before hard exercise:
• The day before, drink extra water, juice, or other fluids.
• The morning of the event, drink about 16 gulps of fluids up to two hours pre-event. This allows time pre-exercise to pee out the excess.
• Five or ten minutes before start-time, “tank up” on another 8 to 16 gulps of water or sports drink, as tolerated.

Fluids during hard exercise:
• Prevent dehydration early in the event by drinking adequate fluids before you get thirsty!
• By knowing your sweat rate, you can drink to match your sweat losses.
• Experiment during training to figure out which flavors of sport drinks settle best in your stomach.

Recovery fluids:
• Drink to quench your thirst, and then drink a little more.
• If several hours pass without a need to urinate, you are dehydrated. Keep drinking!
• Drinking 12 to 20 ounces of chocolate milk within the hour after exercise enhances recovery.

Sodium replacement:
• If exercising for more than three hours in the heat, consume salty foods or fluids before, during, and after exercise.
• To replace sodium, add salt to your food, eat pretzels, soup, cheese, and other salty foods both before and after exercise.