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As endurance athletes, most of us have felt the effects of dehydration at some point in our athletic careers. In fact, over the course of a one-hour workout, you can easily lose over a liter of water -- more if you are exercising in hot or humid conditions. And as we dehydrate, we also lose key nutrients such as electrolytes (magnesium, potassium and sodium), which can leave us feeling nauseous, confused, lethargic, dizzy, tunnel-visioned and riddled with cramps -- a good recipe for a trip to the medical tent.
In fact, we should aim to drink six to eight ounces of fluid every 15 to 20 minutes during strenuous exercise. And if a race or workout is scheduled to last more than one hour, plain water is best replaced with a sports drink containing electrolytes (which can enhance palatability, increase fluid retention and stimulate thirst) and a four to eight percent carbohydrate solution (to replenish glycogen burned as fuel). But remember, drink before you feel thirsty -- athletes who rely only on thirst to determine their fluid needs tend to meet only about half of their fluid requirements.
So how do we ward off dehydration and the bonk by meeting these stringent fluid requirements? In a race, hit the aid stations, making sure that you drink early and often -- before dehydration and hyponatremia (diluted electrolyte concentration) have a chance to gain a foothold. But in training, particularly with running, meeting your fluid requirements can be more challenging. One way is to select a run route that allows you access to water; another is to stash fluids along your route beforehand. Of course, both of these methods have their inherent shortcomings, which brings us to option three: take it with you. Perhaps easier said than done. Especially if you're one of those individuals for whom wearing a traditional single bottle belt is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment with the bouncing, the riding up, the constricting waistband.
Which is where Fuel Belt stepped in. Begun by Vinu Malik in 1998 as a web-driven company out of his home, Fuel Belt has since been intent on producing a more comfortable, less bulky way to carry fluids. Malik himself has been a triathlete since 1990 and saw the toll that dehydration took on much of the field at the 1998 Ironman Lanzarote.
Thinking that there must be a better way, Malik left his cushy corporate job and developed the Fuel Belt. Beautiful in its simplicity, the Fuel Belt uses an elasticized waistband that is designed to carry four five-ounce flasks. The design effectively eliminated the bouncing problem by redistributing the weight. It also allows users to carry a variety of different fluids. As the design caught on, Malik saw a potential for expansion and, in 1999, invited his brother Neil to join the company; since then, the two have grown Fuel Belt into an internationally distributed product, marketed under the brand Perfecta in Europe, that has sponsorship contracts with such athletes as Chuckie V, Andreas Niedrig, Mark Coogan and Peter Kotland. In addition, the company is involved with the Leukemia Team in Training -- offering discounts to team athletes and contributing partial proceeds to the charity.
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fuel Belt, and its European partner Perfecta, now have sales of over 100,000 belts per year and have expanded the Fuel Belt line to include a six-ounce gel flasks/bottles and, for later in 2000, redesigned, larger-diameter caps made of soft silicone rubber- easy on the teeth. You can find out more by checking out Fuel Belt on the web at www.fuelbelt.com, calling 888/666-2358 or by visiting your local triathlon or running store. |
