Bottoms Up: Part I

I thought I'd do a series of blog entries on hydration. As the temps pick up-especially here in the desert- it's essential for me to stay hydrated in order to survive my runs (literally).

In fact, I just checked the forecast. It's supposed to be 101 degrees on Friday. Boo. Glad that's a rest day for me!

So let's talk about hydrating before your run.

Ok, so this is a given.

More often than not, however, I feel like a need a little something more. 

I have three small children. I waved bye-bye to a solid 8-9 hours of sleep per night a long time ago. My 2-year old refuses to stay in his bed and usually rolls into our bedroom at some point between the hours of 11pm-3am. I'm too tired to care anymore, so into our bed he goes. And off to the computer room futon my husband goes after he gets punched/smacked in the face by Colin a couple of times.

It's such a clown show. 

Anyway...

Back to needing more than H2O. 

I posted a picture of my new love recently in another blog entry: Click Espresso Protein Drink. Really yummy. I discovered Click from SkinnyRunner.  She likes to use Click to refuel after her runs. I've found that it also works great before a run. Gives me a big boost seeing as how there's a double shot of espresso in each serving. Woo hoo!! I like to drink one of these before a mid-morning run. For example, when my husband is out of town, I can't get up at 0-dark-thirty for my run. It has to wait until after the kiddos get dropped off at school/preschool. So I'll have one of these bad boys enroute to Operation Drop-Off, then I'm good to go for my run. Full 'o Energy!

I have the Vanilla Latte Natural on order and it should be here soon. Yay! I had tried the regular Vanilla Latte but then noticed that it contained sucralose. Hmmm...I'm not big on the artificial sweeteners, so I thought I'd go for the Natural flavor.

For something a little heartier, I like this stuff that one of my online buddies sent me.

It's called Biogenesis UltraLean and you can order it on Amazon. This is probably more of a "meal replacement" shake or something that you'd like to refuel with post-run (although I did have one the other day before run/yoga). It's more calorie-dense, and I think it has about 6g of fat per serving. I just whipped up a shake after my five-miler. I added a small packet of:

And voila! A nice post-run coffee protein shake. Yum!

Some other lighter options for pre-run hydration that I've found that I really love include:

Arbonne NRG GO3! Fizzing Beverage Tablets. Delish. While they are part of Arbonne's Figure 8 weight loss line, I don't so much care about the weight loss factor. I just love the fizzy flavor and energy boost from the guarana in it. The tabs also contain chromium and green tea. I pop half of a "Pomegranate Splash" and half of a "Citrus Surge" in about 8 oz. of water, let it dissolved and then chug before a run. 

Please Note: You have to purchase these through an Arbonne distributor. I can hook you up with one if you're interested.  

I'm also a big fan of the Emergen-C vitamin drink mix. You can pick these up at any local supermarket. From what I understand, it's really easy to get sick during a marathon taper. When I was tapering for the Derby Festival Marathon in April, I bought Emergen-C and would drink one before a morning run and then one before I went to bed. Each packet provides 1000 mg of vitamin C, 24 nutrients, 7-B vitamins, antioxidants and electrolytes. Personally, I prefer the "Super Orange" (YUM!) over the "Raspberry" (kind of ick).  

So that's how I roll with my pre-run hydration needs! I'd love to know what others do because I'm always trying to mix it up. Next post, I'll talk about what I do during runs... which honestly, I think I need to improve. 

What do you like to drink before your runs?