Living in the southeast makes training and exercising outdoors during the summer months really tough. One of the biggest risks while training outdoors is scumming to dehydration. What is dehydration? In the most simple terms it is losing more fluid through bodily functions (like sweating) than you actually take in. Symptoms can occur with as little as 2% loss in total body weight. Symptoms include, dry mouth, lack of sweat, drop in blood pressure and dark urine and in extreme instances it can cause damage to our kidneys. But that doesn't mean it isn't safe to go outside anymore, here are some tips for avoiding dehydration and to stay safe when exercising outdoors.

• Constantly drink fluid throughout the day, don't wait until you are thirsty, its too late.
• During intense exercise consider adding an electrolyte replacement solution, especially if longer than1 hour
• If you are exercising early in the morning, pay special attention to your fluid intake the day before
• Consider weighing yourself before and after intense exercise, what ever weight loss shows up on the scale needs to be replaced with fluids.

These are just a few tips that I use to make sure that dehydration doesn't effect my exercise performance. I am by no means a doctor but if you follow these basic principles you should be just fine the next time you are out there.

Get Moving. Keep Moving.

Ian