Drinking enough, and when

Why hydration is part of recovery, not separate from it, and how to drink sensibly around training — including on hot days.

Staying hydrated isn't a separate job from training and recovery — it's part of both. Muscles, joints and your brain all work better when your body isn't short of fluid, and being even a little dehydrated can make a session feel harder than it needs to.

The good news is that this doesn't need to be complicated or tracked to the last drop. A few habits, kept up most days, do almost all of the work.

The basic idea

Drink steadily through the day rather than trying to catch up all at once. A big drink right before training doesn't undo a day of barely drinking anything, and it can leave you feeling sloshy and uncomfortable once you're moving. Little and often, alongside meals and between them, works better than either extreme.

A simple check: if your urine is pale, you're generally doing fine. If it's dark, that's a sign to drink more steadily through the day, not to down a huge amount in one go.

Evenings

Evening drinking still counts towards the day, but it's worth going a bit easier on a big glass right before bed — smaller sips are kinder to a good night's sleep than one large drink that has you up in the night.

Training and recovery

Being hydrated is part of how your body recovers, not something separate from it. Repairing muscle and topping up energy stores both work better when you're not short of fluid, so the drinking you do around a session is doing recovery work as well as covering the session itself.

Hot days

Warm and hot conditions change the picture. On a genuinely hot day your body loses fluid — and the salts that go with it — faster than usual, so it's worth drinking more than you would on a normal day, and doing it steadily through the day rather than leaving it all until the end of a session. Your coach will usually flag when a session counts as hot enough to matter, and will factor in extra breaks and shorter pieces where needed. This is a decision your coach makes with safety in mind — it's never something to push through on your own.

What this isn't

This isn't about hitting an exact target or being able to say precisely how much you've drunk in a day. Thirst, urine colour and how you feel are perfectly good guides for someone your age — the aim is a steady habit, not a number to chase.

Who to talk to

If you're regularly getting headaches, cramping, or feeling unusually light-headed around training, that's worth mentioning to your coach and, if it keeps happening, your GP. Your coach can also help you plan for particularly hot sessions or travel to warmer venues, and your parent or guardian is a good person to help you build a habit that works with your actual daily routine.

Last updated 2026-09-13