It's winter here in Utah, and It's dry, My lips are always a little chapped and my skin is always a little dry. I consider myself a runner, I'm a bi-weekly runner, and so I sweat (That's every other week). I would consider myself dehydrated. Especially since I don't make much of any effort to drink water throughout the day, it's just here and there, whenever I get thirsty.
Get Started, Drink More Water
I think it was mid-November of 2019. Nearly two and a half months ago now, when I thought to do a month of drinking water. I thought this might be a good opportunity to cleanse my system and also get a good base for hydration moving forward. I was reading up about some new products one of my favorite hydration brands called Nuun had made. In their origins, they had learned about people being dehydrated. This probably had an influence on me. Most people are dehydrated, and I know I am one of those. There are some days, multiple days where I don't drink any water at all. And yet I'm still running on occasion. Which probably makes me even more dehydrated?
I've been wanting to do more mileage in my running in preparation for races I want to run. My brother Chad has been running a lot too, which is giving me some drive to keep up with him. We have a race coming up in May so I'm building myself a good base in preparation. I plan on running around 20-30 miles every week, really I'm just planning on running every day. With this base, I knew I would need more water. I thought it'd be interesting to drink a LOT of water. I also thought it would be interesting to drink enough water to try and cleanse my system.
I remember listening to a radio show many years ago on NPR, it was about a guy who did a fast for an extended period of time. This is the type of fast, where he didn't eat during the day, but could drink lots of teas and juices during certain times. He said that his system was super cleansed out by the end, He at first didn't feel any physical differences other than hunger, but eventually, he felt his system pushing out a lot of impurities through digestion. I guess I hoped this might happen to me a little in some kind of way by drinking more water.
My Month of Water
I have been drinking a lot more water for this challenge, but I have also been running a lot more which means I'm sweating more. I have noticed because I'm sweating more, some impurities have been pushed out of my pores and skins. I don't know if I've seen any difference in the way my body processes food though. I feel like sometimes the water just flushes through my system, I have had to go to the bathroom a lot more. I have noticed my pee is less yellow and more clear.
The water bottle that I have is a 1000 milliliter bottle. Or somewhere between 30 and 35 ounces of water depending on how much I fill it. My goal is to drink three of these bottles a day around 100 ounces of water a day. According to my weight, at almost 150 pounds, divided by 2 which is 75, I should be drinking 75 ounces of water a day. We should drink half our body weight in ounces every day. So by drinking a hundred ounces, I am technically over drinking my daily recommended intake for water.
One of the first things I noticed with the increase in water was while on my runs, I am sweating a lot more, I feel like I am plenty hydrated during the run, and I don't feel so dehydrated after the run. I do feel more hydrated in general, even with it being winter, and sweating more from running. But internally and especially when I run I feel hydrated and lubricated. I feel like I am drinking enough water to stay ahead of my hydration for runs. I am not sore at all, I think having the extra water in my system is keeping the lactic acids moving through my system.
Tracking and Drinking Water
Now my goal was to drink three bottles a day. I didn't always get to the third bottle, some days I lost track of which bottle I was on. It was probably 2 times a week I only had 2 bottles. I found out it helped to get an early start on drinking water, that way I could more easily divide up the day with each bottle instead of trying to cram in 2 bottles later in the day.
One thing I didn't realize would help me was an app I recently downloaded called Fabulous. It's an app that helps people to build habits. The first thing the app asked me to do was to drink water when I woke in the morning. I would wake up to an alarm, grab my water bottle and drink a few ounces. According to the app this would get my stomach moving and wake me up faster. In my case, I would have to go pee right away, waking me up even more. Fabulous has helped me to wake up earlier this month starting at seven o'clock to go for runs and have more time during the day.
Final Thoughts
I think my body's really getting a handle of the amount of water I'm drinking. There are some days where I have to constantly think about drinking water just to get the three bottles down. I don't want to have to think about drinking water as much moving on in the future. My plan will probably be to drink at least one bottle a day, maybe two. I'll drink water from other sources too, like during meals or in a shake. I won't concentrate on drinking water out of my water bottle like I did this month, I don't want to have to think about drinking as much, just whatever comes in my path.
I think that my system would continue to adapt to the amount of water and be able to intake it more. So that's why I want to keep drinking lots of water.
Let me know of any water Journeys you have been on.
Eric Higgins
Drink more water
