Section B · The Road & The Trail
Rowing
Full-body maximal effort in a room with no airflow. The legs cramp in the third 500.
Sweat is enormous for the duration, the erg room has no wind, and regatta days stack heats hours apart in the sun. Nobody drinks between heats because they might feel heavy.
A stick in 12 oz between heats is not heavy. Four hours of sun on nothing is what makes the last heat heavy. One before, one between pieces. Three or four on regatta days. One stick in 16 oz covers a window; the schedule below covers the day.
A hard two-hour session takes up to 1,200 mg of sodium. Water alone ends that 1,200 mg short, and the last pieces run on the deepest part of the hole. Two sticks put it all back.
The numbers behind rowing
Sweat is enormous for the duration, the erg room has no wind, and regatta days stack heats hours apart in the sun. Nobody drinks between heats because they might feel heavy.
Why this happens
Sweat is more than water. Every ounce takes sodium with it, and sodium helps your blood hold its volume. Lose enough, and there is less blood to carry oxygen to your muscles. Your heart rate climbs at the same pace. You run hotter. The signal that tells a muscle to relax gets noisy. The cramp, the dizzy feeling when you stand up, and the pace you cannot hold all come from that one cause.
Plain water puts the fluid back, but not the sodium. That is why water alone can feel like it is not working. The fix is to put back what left: water and the minerals that went with it, in about the same mix you lost.
The erg room has no wind, so sweat runs off instead of evaporating and your core stays hot for the whole session. Rowing also loads the legs, back and arms at once, so you sweat like a hot road run while sitting still on a slide. Nothing in the room tells you until the third 500.
A stick in 12 oz between heats is not heavy. Four hours of sun on nothing is what makes the last heat heavy.
The room takes 32 to 48 oz an hour, and the third 500 is where it shows
No airflow means no evaporative cooling, so the sweat runs instead of working. A two-hour session is 64 to 96 oz out, and the 2% line for a 175-lb rower sits just past the first hour for a heavy sweater. That is the piece where the splits fall apart.
Two hours is 64–96 oz out. Heavy sweaters cross the 2% line (56 oz for a 175-lb rower) just past the first hour; everyone else in the last pieces.
The book’s 32 to 48 oz an hour, over a two-hour session. A heavy sweater is 2% down (56 oz for 175 lb) by piece 3. A lighter sweater gets there in the cool-down.
One before the warm-up and one between pieces put back 1,200 mg, level with a hard session. Regatta days take a third and a fourth.
What you get back with a bottle between pieces
Muscular endurance is the first thing sweat loss takes, and a piece is nothing but muscular endurance. Stay under 2% and the last 500 splits like the first.
Savoie et al., Sports Medicine, 2015The legs lock when sodium and water left together and only water came back. The stick between pieces is the fix the book gives.
The Hydration PlaybookThe dizzy stand-up is volume, not fitness. Keep the volume up and the cool-down is a walk, not a wobble.
The Hydration PlaybookRegatta days stack heats hours apart in the sun. A stick in 12 oz between heats is the difference between racing the final and surviving it.
The Hydration PlaybookNobody drinks between heats because they might feel heavy. A stick in 12 oz is not heavy; four hours of sun on nothing is what makes the last heat heavy.
The Hydration PlaybookWhy 2% is the line
Maximum strength barely moves at 2%. Muscular endurance drops about 8%, which is why the wheels come off at the end of a session and not the start.
A steady hour on the erg is 32–48 oz. For most rowers that crosses 2% inside one session. Pooled effects of hypohydration on muscular performance. Savoie et al., Sports Medicine, 2015.
Dry, then hydrated, piece by piece
The red panel is what is happening now. The green one is what the next section buys you, and roughly how long each part takes to show up.
- No airflow; sweat pours from minute five
- Feels strong, bottle untouched
- Sodium already 300 mg down
- Heart rate climbs for the same split
- Legs cramp in the third 500
- Dizzy standing up off the erg
- Splits fall apart on the last piece
- Fade in the afternoon sun at a regatta
- Wrecked for the evening
What to drink, and when
Start with during. It is the window most people in rowing get wrong. For a normal training day rather than a race, the timing guide covers every window.
BEFORE
- 16 oz with a stick
- Salty breakfast on regatta days
No airflow means everything you lose stays lost. Start full.
DURING
- A mixed bottle, 6–8 oz between pieces
- A stick in 12 oz between heats
Replaces what the room takes so the last piece holds.
AFTER
- 24 oz per pound lost
- A real meal
Stops the evening wreck and sets up day two.
The book's rowing number: every pound lost is 24 oz to put back within the hour, then a real meal. Weigh in before the warm-up and out after the last piece.
What to take, and what we do not sell
Two of these three are things we do not sell. A hydration stick does not fix fuelling, and pretending otherwise is how people end up disappointed.
Electrolytes
Fuel
Worth taking too
The questions we get about rowing
How much do you sweat in rowing?
32–48 oz of sweat an hour on the erg. 700–1,200 mg of sodium out in a hard session. Weigh in before and out after a session: every pound down is about 24 oz you did not put back.
When should I drink during rowing?
Between pieces and between heats: A mixed bottle, 6–8 oz between pieces; A stick in 12 oz between heats. Replaces what the room takes so the last piece holds.
What should I drink before rowing?
The hour before the first piece: 16 oz with a stick; Salty breakfast on regatta days. No airflow means everything you lose stays lost. Start full.
How do I recover after rowing?
Within the hour: 24 oz per pound lost; A real meal. Stops the evening wreck and sets up day two.
Do I need electrolytes or is water enough?
Water puts back the fluid you sweat out. It does not put back the sodium, potassium and magnesium that left with it, and without sodium your body cannot hold on to the water. Per hour of hard work: Sodium 500–700 mg, Potassium 150–300 mg, Magnesium 30–60 mg, Water 16–24 oz.
How many sticks do I need?
One before, one between pieces. Three or four on regatta days. Put the bottle on the erg rail, not in the bag. Out of reach is out of mind for two hours. The starter kit has 40 sticks in five flavors.
Should I drink during a 2k?
No. A 2k is over before the deficit matters, and the bottle is for between pieces. Walk in full, the stick in the hour before, and drink 6 to 8 oz of the mixed bottle between pieces. The piece itself runs on what you brought.
What do I drink between heats at a regatta?
A stick in 12 oz, sipped, between every heat. Heats sit hours apart in the sun, and the book's rule is that nobody drinks because they might feel heavy; a stick in 12 oz is not what makes the final feel heavy. A stick before bed sets up day two.
Why do my legs cramp in the third 500?
Sodium and water left together over the session and only water came back, if anything did. The fix is the stick before the warm-up and the mixed bottle between pieces. If the cramp comes at night instead, the book puts magnesium before bed.
Everything in the box
The book this article came from is in there too. One page for every sport, so the next thing you take up is already covered.
Five flavors, one stick each
Taste is the one thing you have to try for yourself. The starter kit gives you all five, so you find the one you will actually reach for.
- All five minerals sweat costs you, no sugar. See the label.
- Informed Sport certified, batch by batch.
- Mixes into whatever bottle is already on the erg.
