A story in the news today caught my eye. It had the words ‘marathon’ and ‘drinking’ in it which was sure to gain a click from me. It wasn’t the exciting breakthrough in the alcoholic sports beverage research I had been hoping for but another almost unnecessary study of runners. You can read the BBC’s explanation of the study which is published in full in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Basically, the study showed that those who took the longest to complete the marathon lost the least weight. It suggests these competitors drank more fluids, which increased their weight and slowed them down. Now I would argue that the slower you run, the easier it is to take on fluid and therefore stay hydrated. I wonder if the researchers have ever tried drinking from a plastic cup while trying not to slip over on sports drink or get any up your nose while running – now that will slow you down.
It goes on to say that runners who lost more than 3% of their weight during the run finished fastest and that the amount of weight lost among the runners ranged from a weight loss of 8% to a gain of 5%. I think the runners putting on 5% in weight not only stopped at every drinks table but a local branch of Greg’s too.

The study seems to conclude that most marathon runners are drinking too much fluid and that if you want to run faster you’ll need to get a bit dehydrated. But to see a better study of drinking and running a marathon, check out the Marathon du Medoc. It’s a French race that takes in 50 vineyards. Mon dieu!