Water Water everywhere - but do you really need a drink?

Ironically, today I was going to write the 2nd installment of my "Rants" about the idiotic runners who insist on heading out with enough water strapped to their bodies to last 3 days - even though they are running so bloody slowly and only going probably 5km...you know the ones I mean: the ones who take the Running Room courses and buy into [pun intended] their ludicrous philosophy of massively over hydrating, which in turn leads to sales of 8 bottle fuel belts:
'cause you REALLY need 5 liters of water to run like 25 min...for god's sake, I ran nearly 300km across the driest desert in the world - the Atacama in Chile - with less water. And yes, these are the same simpletons who jog in place at red lights - arghhhh - stupid is as stupid does. 
And then, in the Globe & Mail, there was great article on the possibility that indeed we may be over hydrating as athletes: Rethink how you rehydrate when exercising - The Globe and Mail.

The study reveals that  the loss in weight we experience after a long run is not necessarily directly connected to pure water loss, as initially suspected. Rather, the South African study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine by researchers at the University of Pretoria, adds fuel to a simmering debate about whether weight loss during exercise corresponds to water loss. They argue that some of the weight loss is from the energy stores you burn, and that your body has “hidden” stores of water that are released during exercise – which may mean we need to rethink how we approach hydration. The article goes on to note:
Scientists agree that when you burn carbohydrate, fat or protein, the byproducts are carbon dioxide, which you breathe out, and water, which actually adds to the fluid available for hydration. Perhaps more significantly, your body stores carbohydrate in a form that locks away about three grams of water for every gram of carbohydrate. This water doesn’t contribute to essential cellular processes until you start unlocking the carbohydrate stores, so your body sees it as “new” water when it’s released during exercise.

In fact, a 2007 paper by British scientists at the University of Loughborough estimated that a marathoner could conceivably lose 1 to 3 per cent of his or her body mass without any loss of water.

While the findings are currently much debated, what is not in dispute is how ridiculous those water burdened camel runners (as pictured above getting ready to head out for a blistering 3 km run in the latest fashions) look like as they plod along.
peace out

Johnny Boy