Where’s the peanut butter?!

Here’s the next installment of hydration and running - this time covering the types of paraphernalia available while running. Outside of getting hydration along your run (from drinking fountains or support on a race course) you basically have to carry your drink. Henceforth, I’ll refer to this as “water” but secretly of course I really mean “your carbohydrate and electrolyte replenishing sports drink,” mm-kay? There are three basic options for this: carry it in your hand (bottle), have it around your waist (belt), or bring it on your back (camelback). I’ve used all three and each have their pro’s and con’s that I’ll discuss.

• Bottle: You could just buy a bottled drink but there are a couple hand held bottles on the market that I think are preferable. One is made by NathanNathan and the other is made by NathanAmphipod. Both (usually) come with a strap which can make carrying them significantly easier (regular bottles tend to feel very cumbersome, IMO), and there tends to be an integrated small pouch, which can be handy for carrying money, extra gels or, ahem, other things. The strap/pouch convenience is one reason I think these are preferable over drinks you’d buy in a convenience store, but the other reasons are that they tend to have a better drinking spout and you get to mix your own drink. You can mix in and shake up a gel, nuun, concentrated Gatorade or whatever you want. Basically, you get more flexibility over what you drink. The major drawback I feel that bottles have is that 16 fluid ounces of water is 16 ounces. My understanding is that if you start running with this, it will eventually feel like an extension of your regular routine but I’ve never gotten past that hump and so the bottle always feels uncomfortably heavy for me to carry until it’s about down to about 8oz. Until then, I’m changing hands and basically distracted by carrying it.
• Belt: There are a bunch of variations of these on the market - some hold a water bottle, some hold multiple little gel flasks, and there is also a single gel flask option. The only one I have experience with is gel flask and this is what I use for my long runs, half marathons, and what I expect I’ll use for future marathons. It’s small enough to only slightly impact my running and it can accommodate about 1-4 gels (with varying amounts of water mixed in). The downside is that you obviously can’t rely on this alone for hydration for a run of any considerable distance, but if you can combine it with water along the way, you can get everything you need in one convenient, concentrated device. The other belt options are probably pretty similar to the backpack, which I’ll describe next, however I don’t really like the idea of a giant belt of water sloshing around my waist. Ymmv.
• Backpack: Finally, you could choose a backpack. These tend to be way more expensive than the above options (bottles and the flask run $10-20, a camelback will be at least $30) but they can be (IMO) very comfortable, the reservoir volume can be a huge plus, and they usually have (relatively speaking) tons of storage space for snacks, first aid, or whatever else you need. When I was doing longer runs in the middle of Nowhere, Alaska or when I’ve been on trail runs, I’ve relied on a Camelback and been very happy with the results. The only thing I’ve needed to watch out for with a backpack is ensuring that the shirt I wear it over has a snug enough collar so that the shoulder straps don’t rub my neck once I have the backpack at a comfortable adjustment such that movement is minimized. I’ve worn my Camelback with some shirts that did not have a high enouch collar and it earned me another stamp in my Passport of Running Related Chafed Body Parts. Finally, compared with the water bottle, you have both your hands free, which is nice if you’re doing trail running and need to brace in a fall, grab a tree, or swing from a vine. They do get hotter than a bottle, but when adjusted properly it will flop around a little (mitigating the negative impact) and is sufficiently more convenient than carrying a bottle that I like this option.

So those are my opinions on the available options. In a nutshell, for supported races I’ll almost definitely always go with the gel flask. If there were ever a moderately long race where I need some, but not a ton of hydration and I couldn’t get it on the course I might take a half-filled hand bottle, but generally I’d choose a camelback.

Lastly - I mentioned to a friend that I planned to write about running hydration paraphernalia and I should mention that I don’t know enough to weigh in on the pros and cons about bringing bongwater.