Hydration shmydration?

If you match the color numbered 8, you are a dried up corpse

Water. It's all around us while we're swimming. So we don't need to drink too much during practice or a meet, right? Wrong. Hydration is just as important in swimming as any other sport. And some of my high school swimmers (ahem, Lafonda) need to be reminded of this fact.

At last Friday's meet and again at today's practice, we saw a lot of lethargy, a lot of tired swimmers, a lot of cramps. Some of that is unavoidable. I understand high school kids don't get nearly enough sleep, or maintain optimal nutrition. And these symptoms are also signs of the body working to advance from not being in shape at all to being somewhat in shape. Cramps and fatigue are going to happen. 

Getting through fatigue and cramps is partially about toughness. Forcing blood to keep moving through your muscles despite a lack of oxygen isn't easy, but it's something you have to do as an athlete. You have to play through pain, play through exhaustion. If you stop and sit out with a cramp or because you're tired, you might as well not have shown up. Players keep swimming. Champions keep swimming.

But champions also hydrate - a lot. Hydrating is all about "early and often". And proper hydration can help athletes - even swimmers! - prevent and combat fatigue and cramping. Now, I'm no nutritionist, so here's an article by someone who knows what they're talking about that gives some good advice and explanation about hydrating for swimming.

A key takeaway from the article is this: the need to be mindful of how much water you're drinking on a daily, even hourly, basis. I asked a handful of my student-athletes at Friday's meet if they recalled how much water they drank that day at school. The majority didn't have a good answer. Which most likely means they weren't hydrating enough. Be accountable for your own (de)hydration and resultant performance. If your night's not going well, be able to answer the question Why?

And once you know the answer, be able to eliminate it. Most likely, it starts with drinking more water. Just do it.