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Identification and Comparison of Hydration Practices in Marathon Runners During Intended Training, an Intended Marathon, and Self-Reported Hydration Practices During a Marathon Event

Title: Comparing hydration practices of long-distance runners during intended training, an intended event, and an actual event during COVID-19.
Context: Prior studies on long-distance runners have yet to compare hydration practices intended in training to an actual event. Optimal hydration strategies and knowledge of EAH was assessed.
Objective: The purpose of this research was to assess and compare the self-reported hydration practices of long-distance runners during an intended training run, an intended event, and during an event.
Design: Cross-sectional online survey design
Setting: 2020 Hyannis, Massachusetts Marathon; Connecticut trail races; online.
Participants: There were 46 participants in the Hyannis, 26 participants in the Connecticut trail races, and 203 participants in the long-distance running studies.
Main outcome Measure(s): Survey questions addressed hydration practices, including hydration strategies, and volumes consumed before and during a run. Additional data included demographics, training experience, sources of hydration information, and knowledge of EAH.
Results: When comparing volumes consumed, higher correlations were found when comparing intended events in all three studies. In other words, runners intended to drink the same in an intended training run and an intended event. More variation was found when comparing intended volumes to actual volumes. All studies showed strong agreement in the selected hydration strategies between the scenarios and most were statistically significant. The “drinking to thirst hydration strategy”, was selected on average 17% of the time for Hyannis marathoners, 30% of the time for Connecticut trail runners, and 23% of the time for long-distance runners. This hydration strategy is recommended to decrease the risk of EAH in lieu of a personalized hydration plan. EAH awareness among runners was reported between 50-59% of the time in all studies. However, there was inconsistency in recognizing contributing and preventive EAH factors.
Conclusion: There were differences in hydration practices when comparing an intended training run, an intended event, and an event. This indicates a need for ongoing education on hydration practices and EAH. If runners mimic appropriate hydration practices during training when running in an event, the risk of EAH may be decreased. The limitation of this research is the self-reported nature of historical data.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ndsu.edu/oai:library.ndsu.edu:10365/32290
Date January 2020
CreatorsYoung, Suzanne Louise
PublisherNorth Dakota State University
Source SetsNorth Dakota State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation, Video
Formatapplication/pdf, video/mp4
RightsNDSU policy 190.6.2, https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

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