When should I switch?

Okay, I know, I know- for most people, sports drinks are a bad plan. Just empty calories, and unless you’re a serious athlete, water is better for you.

The thing is, I’m trying to break into more “serious” activities- for example, I’m running my first 5K race in two weeks, and I’m half-talked-into doing a half marathon this fall. I’d really rather not get myself in trouble with dehydration, so my question is this: at what point should I switch from water? What should I look for in fluid replacement?

26 years old, female, no major health problems, still weigh too much but getting better, if that helps.

They say that you don’t need anything other than water for activities which last less than an hour, but it’s all about intensity and ambient temperature. (And, really, how you feel.) (Also, some people tend to underhydrate when they only have plain water. Something that tastes good encourages them to sip more frequently, which is more than enough reason to use a non-water beverage.)
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If you prefer to maintain hydration and electrolyte levels without adding unnecessary calories, you might be interested in Ultima Replenisher (don’t buy it from that site, though; search around for deals). I’ll warn you, though, it’s a love-it or hate-it thing. It’s also surprisingly low in sodium for a sports drink, so you may or may not want to add salt.
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My journey: Fat Athlete

Personally, I think once your relatively intense cardio sessions get longer than an hour, you should be taking in some calories. On a 2 hour bike ride, for example, I would probably drink a bottle of Cytomax (my personal favorite when I was racing) or Gatorade. You are burning so many calories on a 2 hour bike ride it won’t really hinder any you. Once you start getting into longer workouts, then Clif bars, gel shots, etc. are useful and very much needed. There is nothing – and I mean nothing – worse than a serious bonk a long way from home. It is the worst feeling I’ve ever felt.

For a longer endurance event, say 3-4 hours, I would probably consume 200-300 calories per hour, mostly in simple carbs. Anything that your stomach can handle while you are putting out effort. I personally like Clif bars and bananas, or even a Salted Nut Roll if I’m doing a 100+ mile ride.

Like witeowl and bogleg said, when you are going for more than an hour then you should consider liquid nutrition. The reason being that you start to empty out your glycogen stores in your muscles and liver. Depending on intensity it can take 30 mins to about 1:30 hours to seriously effect your stores. There is also a matter of triglycerides that will aid you holding on to your glycogen stores but that is very individual, and needs lots of adaption. So some can go harder longer, with out totally wiping them self’s out. But I’m going off on a tangent here.
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When you are going long enough to seriously affect your glycogen then the more nutrition you can soak up from liquids or solids, with out your stomach cramping up or hurling it up, the better. This is too very individual. As a rule of thumb, the higher the intensity, the harder it is to take in nutrition. But more often than not, on longer races the intensity tends to lower so nutrition becomes easier.
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And if you plan on nutrition, then start right from the start, with little sips. Perhaps two sips every 10-15 min or something along those lines. But it depends.
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On longish rides 100km plus, I have found that carb drinks with protein are better than plain carb drinks. Research has shown that the optimum ratio of carbs vs protein is some where along the lines of 4:1. So check that when you are choosing a sports drink. Personally I use Recovermax: http://www.maximuscle.com/recovermax
but I’m sure there are a lot of different good drinks out there. (I don’t use it as a recovery drink, but only on the bike. I use regular gainers as recovery drinks.) But I have found this one to work. ( I havent tried the other drinks mentioned by witeowl and bogleg ).
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Yeah I almost forgot. Bananas are cheap solid food that come in their own biodegradable packaging. Very handy. ;)

Bananas…. brilliant all round. :D

Most races have water stations about every mile or so. I would think that even for a summer 5k, those should be sufficient. They usually have snacks such as energy bars and such at the finish.

When you get to where you are running over an hour, though, then I’d say to start looking into some easy to digest energy to go with water or maybe a drink, although I’ve known marathoners who were able to run a marathon with just water stations.

Don’t worry too much about the 5k. You’ll be fine. As others have said, an hour seems to be the line for a lot of people. Most races will have water stations and some also have electrolyte-replacement drinks at the water stations as well for those who want it. Running a half-marathon, you may want to carry something small and calorie-dense with you, depending on how long you’ll be out on the course, but you’ll have to get to know your own body. When I ran a half-marathon I took these little energy jelly beans they sold at the running store which probably weren’t the best, and I don’t know if they made a difference or not.

One of my best friends is an exercise scientists. He’s told me pretty much what all these posts have, so that’s good to see. I would only mention to make sure what ever sports drink, gel, or bar you are going to use agrees with your stomach. Figure this out before the race, in an exercising situation you’re comfortable with, where facilities are available if necessary. I’ve had a bad experience with PowerBars, so I don’t eat them anymore. P.S. I get paid to play with rocks too.

The one runner I know drinks 3-4 liters of water a day and uses salt pills and honey packets for quick carbs and electrolytes during a run.

Thanks everyone- I’m running my very first ever 5K in about two hours, and I appreciate all the advice!

I hope it went well!

Well, the signs weren’t clearly posted and I was a bit behind the pack, so I got somewhat lost. And I got chased by a goose. But I finished! And that’s what’s important, right?

Nice job, and what a fun story to go along with it! My first 5k in a long, long, loooooongggg time is a week from today. I hope your goose isn’t planning on heading out to Tahoe. ;)