[pct-l] dangers of "cameling up"

[Melanie Clarke]

When I was in High School, I ran the mile and 880 events in Track and
Field.  Our Coach was under the impression that drinking water would make
us have abdominal spasms and get really sick.  She would not allow any of
us to drink water.

I had either the stupidity or audacity to challenge her sources and
information as being incorrect.  She responded by putting the entire team
on alert to "watch Melanie and don't let her drink any water".  Track meets
take about 4 hours with the mile at the end.  I would bake in the hot 90
degree sun...  My mile performance deteriorated severely as the heat of the
season progressed.  I don't know how I made it out alive!!!!  There was a
lot of misinformation and bad advice back in the day!

I call the "If some is good, then more MUST be better" the athletic
mentality as I always saw this line of thinking among athletes and coaches.
 From dehydration, they went to Hypernatremia in record time!!!  All I
could think was "Dios mio" "Oy vey" or "ach du lieber Gott"  Hypernatremia
is the name for drinking water to excess.

Toga

On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Peggy Rice <msrice27 at gmail.com> wrote:

> How quickly we forget!
>
> "People die in marathons from being over hydrated.  No one ever dies
> in those events from dehydration.  Overhydration is far more dangerous
> than dehydration."
>
> People used to die in marathons and long triathalons of dehydration,
> until greater emphasis was put on hydrating during the race.  I had a
> woman suffer from dehydration and collapse right in front of me in the
> Cascade Runoff, back in the 80s (she survived, but...).
>
> I agree that we've overdone the emphasis on hydration now, and that
> balance is the key.
>
> PegLeg
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