Hydration in Endurance Sports

A lot is said about energy supply in endurance sports – gels, carbohydrates, bars. But just as crucial is the question: how much should you actually drink? And what exactly?

Proper fluid intake plays a central role in your performance, recovery, and overall well-being during training and competition. Common complaints such as headaches, muscle cramps, or an unsettled stomach are not always related to nutrition. They often stem from an unbalanced water and electrolyte balance.

We notice again and again how much uncertainty there is around the topic of hydration. What should you drink during training or on race day? How much sodium do you really lose through sweat? And what exactly are electrolytes?

This guide is meant to help you understand the basics and to support athletes in optimising their hydration strategy in a targeted way.

Juli Brüning – nutrition scientist, performance nutritionist, and herself an ambitious trail runner – is an absolute specialist when it comes to hydration in endurance sports. In three blog posts she explains why sodium is so important, how to optimise your fluid intake in training and competition, and what really lies behind a good hydration strategy.

To dive even deeper into the topic, watch the Sporthunger Talk together with Juli and Jonas. In this exciting conversation with the endurance athlete and nutrition scientist, we go in-depth on the topic of hydration in sport. In the talk, Juli manages to explain interesting facts in a captivating and easy-to-understand way.

How can a thoughtful hydration strategy improve our performance? Why do we lose different amounts of salt through sweat – and what does that mean for training and competition? Find out how to optimise your fluid and salt intake in a targeted way to avoid drops in performance and unlock your full potential. We are truly grateful to Juli for this exciting conversation and hope you can take just as much from it as we did.

How to achieve the right sodium intake is highly individual. It depends on whether liquid carbohydrates are used for energy via sports drinks, or whether carbohydrate intake remains largely independent of fluid intake. Depending on the sodium content of your preferred sports drinks, sodium intake can be adjusted individually with additional electrolyte tablets or salt capsules.

Alternatively, you can opt for an electrolyte drink with the right sodium content from the start and cover your carbohydrate intake mainly through gels, chews, bars, or solid food with little or no electrolytes.

Many athletes, many strategies: even though the scientific basics are the same for everyone, every race-day fueling plan is unique. Whether it is fluid, sodium, or carbohydrates – everyone has to find their own approach that works best for them. The basic knowledge provides the starting point for developing your own strategy. After that it comes down to: testing many things in training, adapting to the specific demands of competition, and training your digestive system sufficiently.

We hope this hydration guide has given you helpful pointers for developing your personal strategy. If you feel like doing a sweat test yourself, head over to Juli's website (fuelandrun) – you can book an appointment directly there. And if you have specific questions about our products, feel free to reach out to us anytime.

This hydration guide was created by Sporthunger in cooperation with Juli Brüning. You can find more information on sports nutrition & hydration on our blog.