Avoid drinking too much water during a marathon...

Some good advice here from Michael Herlihy, a former winner of the Cork City Marathon on the perils of drinking too much water during a marathon. It can lead to a condition called Hyponatremia which can be fatal.

Good advice for people running Cork Marathon or even Half-Marathon in the heat tomorrow - people at water stations should be encouraged to watch out for novice runners over drinking and possibly causing hyponatremia - Yes - it is possible to drink too much water and in rare cases this leads to death - Some good pointers in this article were;

- Follow the fluid recommendations….drink only when thirsty.
- Include pretzels or a salted bagel in your pre-race meal.
- Favor a sports drink that has some sodium in it over water, which has none.
- In the days before the race, add salt to your foods (provided that you don’t have high blood pressure or your doctor has restricted your salt intake).
- Eat salted pretzels during the last half of the race.
- Do the salt! Carry 2 (two) small salt packets with you (steal from your favorite fast food restaurant), and before the race and again during the last half of the race (marathon or half marathon) consume a single packet under your tongue.
- After the race, drink a sports drink that has sodium in it and eat some pretzels or a salted bagel.
- Stop taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatories 24 hours before your race and do not start again until a minimum of 6 hours after finishing the race.

Would hope that Cork Marathon organisers would include some salt packs or snacks in their race bags in future since their event is in the middle of summer... along with above recommendations.
Full article here http://www.runrocknroll.com/medical/do-the-salt/