Concept2 Forum

How do you keep hydrated during a longer hard piece without wasting time? Are there better solutions than a stopping to sip from a cycling water bottle on the floor?

I think I could go at least 30-40 min without needing to drink, but I am wondering if drinking ice cold sports drink would also help mitigate cardiac drift?
I mean I've seen my heart rate rise and exceed my normal thresholds even if i am keeping a stable pace below what i believe to be my anaerobic threshold power (FTP) or aerobic threshold output, respectively.

What about an even longer row, say an FM... What's the recommended sip frequency if you waste a few seconds each time?

Are there any cooling tricks I might be missing? My home gym has only a small window I can open, baseline temperature of about 22C, electrical ventilation but no A/C, and a large floor-mounted fan behind the erg under the window... should I get more fans or move the current one to the front so I would have a tailwind instead of headwind?

I don't drink anything for less than 30k but I do drink a lot throughout the day normally.

I found, for me anyway, it's a false mental blanket that you don't need and it just wastes time. If I do drink, I row one handed and sip drinks whilst rowing, but I don't suffer too much from cardiac drift.

I only have a small window open and big fan behind me, as it is best to cool your back more than your front due to an evolutionary quirk that we haven't grown out of from many many thousands of years ago when we didn't walk upright and our backs provided the most cooling.

Huopaaja wrote: ↑

April 24th, 2020, 7:44 am

How do you keep hydrated during a longer hard piece without wasting time? Are there better solutions than a stopping to sip from a cycling water bottle on the floor?
What about an even longer row, say an FM... What's the recommended sip frequency if you waste a few seconds each time?
Are there any cooling tricks I might be missing? My home gym has only a small window I can open, baseline temperature of about 22C, electrical ventilation but no A/C, and a large floor-mounted fan behind the erg under the window... should I get more fans or move the current one to the front so I would have a tailwind instead of headwind?

the general view is that for anything up to a HM water breaks are not needed but defo for the FM. never done one but many will program in drink stops or slow and one hand row. A camel bak on a chair next to the erg has been suggested
The distance guys are circling with better advice

I think we're all different when considering this discussion. Some sweat more than others. Some are more prone to cardiac drift as we dehydrate. The OP needs to figure out what works best for his/her own situation.

I sweat quite a bit while on the erg. Even a steady state piece leaves me needing significant hydration after one hour. Even so, I don't like losing time pausing for a long drink. I will typically do up to a HM without stopping for hydration. Sure, I get some drift, but it doesn't seem to effect performance. Beyond a HM, I need to plan accordingly. I force myself to stop and take a drink every 30 minutes. If I get too dehydrated, I start to cramp and cannot recover. Prevention is needed. YMMV.

You can row with one hand, slower but still its not stopping fully, and get a drink with the other hand.

In general, erging is best done in cool conditions. Sub 10C is nice. When warmer a fan helps.

Fair comment Mitchel, and there is a 'sweat' calculator that you can search for. Basically you need to weigh yourself before and after and it will figure out how much you lose and need, especially useful for longer rows.

If you're a salty sweater (if it tastes salty) then put a big pinch of salt in your drink for the longer distances.

FWIW I sweat a lot too and my top sweatbands are always drenched along with my top but I have never suffered from cramps.

Thanks for the input. I’ve gotten used to drinking a bottle an hour in cycling, where sweating is often about as profuse as in rowing, but the rides tend to be considerably longer, and so you need to start hydrating and refeeding proactively before you need it. I think I’m going to try and ween myself off the habit, at least when rowing for shorter distances. And maybe try to get someone help me with bottles if I ever want to max out on longer distances (I guess that’s allowed?)

Huopaaja wrote: ↑

April 24th, 2020, 2:28 pm

Thanks for the input. I’ve gotten used to drinking a bottle an hour in cycling, where sweating is often about as profuse as in rowing, but the rides tend to be considerably longer, and so you need to start hydrating and refeeding proactively before you need it. I think I’m going to try and ween myself off the habit, at least when rowing for shorter distances. And maybe try to get someone help me with bottles if I ever want to max out on longer distances (I guess that’s allowed?)

Trial and error will be a good plan as you may be fine for longer than you think. Of course you can get someone to help with drinks, it's just never been an option for me.

Non-a/c commercial gym, minimal ceiling fans, 38-42* heat index most days. The gym doesn't allow me to weight myself nekkid, so with the soaked clothes, I can't get a good 'after' weight to calculate how much liquid I've lost.

I'm dying after 18-20 minutes and have to drink 1/2 liter of water. I've found that if the temp is 32* (rarely, it'll get cooler soon, I hope!), I can go 4k meters more during a training session than when it's 42 (15k versus 11k), and I don't feel collapsing at the higher distance either.

I've found cooling towels help as well. I'll have a couple of boiled eggs for my post-workout snack, and I'll put a bunch of salt on them. I have low enough BP that my doc harasses me about it, so I"m not worried about the salt.

lindsayh wrote: ↑

April 24th, 2020, 7:55 am

the general view is that for anything up to a HM water breaks are not needed but defo for the FM.

Yes, do-able for a HM IF one is very, very well hydrated, glycogen stores are good, there is excellent cooling and one has become somewhat habituated to the protracted effort. I would argue that in terms of optimum performance on the erg there is a trade-off after 1hr or so where performance will be gradually declining but you'd need to offset this against how skilled you are at taking the hydration break i.e. how much time that will lose you.

There are things you can do to improve performance such as glycerol loading (don't know if that's legal with erging, used to be with cycling in the early days - never tried it tho) and passive or active heat acclimation in a sauna. Also pre-cooling with an ice-vest or drink an ice slushie in the minutes before u start.

For running, elite marathoners will often not drink at all so we are looking at 2hrs-2hrs15mins ish. Slightly different kettle of fish - load bearing sport so it's actually been shown some level of dehydration correlates with the best performances at that elite level. In cycing a 25mile TT will typically last 50-60mins and unless it was a boiling hot day most people would never drink. Indeed old school advice was not to drink even for a 50...but I think that is wrong.

I read something very interesting regarding hydration and it debunked that adage that 2% dehydration will lead to a 22% drop in performance.

The 1966 US Army study also got the subject to do a walk on a treadmill to exhaustion and then sit for six hours in a 46°c room before doing any exercise. Recent and far more robust tests show a drop of circa 4% to be detrimental but it's all about the feeling of thirst rather than dehydration that is more important.

When we burn calories we release water that is otherwise bound up in the carbohydrates and fats so that will rehydrate you to some extent, but if we have a perception of thirst then that plays mind games with you as thirst is a very closely regulated system so as to retain homeostasis.

So there is an element of it being a mental crutch that you may need to wean yourself off especially if you're normally drinking a lot of fluids, but if you feel thirsty it might be advisable, if only as a mental comfort blanket, to have a drink and it only needs to be a small sip. Tests have shown that the general feeling of liquid in your mouth is enough to provide a benefit, for example you only need to swill a sports drink rather than swallow it to get benefits.

Prefer a big floor fan in front of me its better to have the airflow into your face and over your legs and arms. Have the rower in the garage so the fresh air is taken from the front with the door up and moves across and out the back door.

The difference in the level of sweat and performance is measurable. Do a maximum heartrate rate row. Just the other day I forgot to turn the fan on and it cost me 40 meters in a 30minute row.

I sweat profusely even on slower rows. It just pours out of me. If I'm rowing intervals, I can sip something during the rests. If not, then I ensure proper hydration beforehand and afterwards often take a drink with rehydration power added. In the UK it's Dioralyte or, preferably, the cheaper generic product. I do find that after a particularly sweaty session this staves off the dehydration and resulting lack of urination.

I tried a camelback-based solution yesterday, planning three drink breaks during a medium-intensity HM.
So I put the bladder hanging on a coat rack next to the rower roughly halfway where I thought I’d be able to drink while rowing.
The first drink break went fine: I had to take just two or three single-handed strokes when putting the hose in my mouth and putting it back on the coat rack. Probably cost me only a sec or two.
However, during the second planned break, the mouthpiece fell off and the hose started spraying water all over the place. So I was either going to have to stop for damage control or put the hose back in my mouth and drink it all.... luckily there was only one large bottle of water in it, so I was able to finish it
Anyway, I didn’t lose faith this could work if I’m more careful. Maybe I’ll also try keeping the bladder lower so it’s easier to control any leakage.

I don’t usually drink during sessions but in the past when I did marathons I got 4 cycling drinks bottles on the floor behind the Erg and took the tops off so they were effectively wide openings, I would then stop rowing every 10 km and take a good glut while stationery, keeping some in my mouth for when I started rowing again.
Before the stop, I pulled 5 hard strokes and afterwards did the same to keep Ave speed consistent