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Sharyn:
Don’t feel bad we all do stupid things every once in a while. The important thing is to learn a lesson from our mistakes. Just the other day I was looking for a running partner to help motivate me on a day when I just didn’t feel like working out. As I began to ask several people at the gym if they wanted to go for a run I stumbled across an eager University of Delaware field hockey player named Nicole Rhodes. I knew Nicole had to be tough, after all she’s a division 1 athlete. What I didn’t I know was that she had just won The Rusty Rudder 10k race last week.

As we began to run I realized that I was in over my head. It was everything I could do to try to keep pace with the talented nineteen year old. Although I refused to fall behind I realized that as we finished our 3 mile course Nicole was just getting warmed up. It was obvious because she was able to hold a full conversation during the run while I was gasping for every breath. It was a good thing that we agreed to run a short distance.

The difference between my mistake and yours is the only thing I was risking was my pride. Your situation was much more dangerous. In my opinion you were suffering from dehydration. Let’s retrace your steps to see where you went wrong.

Spending the day on the beach probably caused you to sweat loosing lots of valuable body fluids. You then went out and had a few drinks. Drinking alcohol caused you to become more dehydrated. The next day you went running. As you pushed yourself to the limit your body shut down because you didn’t have anymore fluid to loose. It’s obviously important to keep your body properly hydrated when doing any type of physical activity but when you add lying in the hot sun, drinking and working out you have a recipe for disaster.

If you are on the beach during a hot summer day make sure you drink plenty of water. Even if you are not thirsty your body is still loosing fluid. Try drinking water every 30 minutes in order to avoid becoming dehydrated. Usually by the time you feel sick it’s too late the damage is already done.

If you decide to go out and have a couple drinks be sure to include a meal and good old fashioned h2o. I usually follow a simple rule. For every 2 alcoholic drinks I consume I drink a glass of water. This technique may cause more trips to the bathroom but it helps to reverse the dehydration process.

Last but not least choose the best time of day to do your cardiovascular workout. It doesn’t make much sense to run when the sun is at its peak strength. Try running early in the morning or early evening when the temperature is more tolerable. There may also come a time when it’s just too hot outside to workout. In this case you may have to retreat indoors to a controlled environment.

Remember your body is made up of about two thirds water. If you don’t replace the fluid you loose your body will not function properly. This time you were lucky. The next time it could be much more serious.