Training & Nutrition - "sweat rate" question

Now that my rides are a little longer, I'm find that hydration and nutrition are stating to get more important to me. After doing a little more research, I decided to try to get a handle on my sweat rate or water loss rate.

I wasn't feeling real motivated tonight, but went out and rode for an hour. At a moderate pace, somethign that would get me through 4+ hours of riding but leave me feeling fairly tired.

It was a relatively cool evening, about 86F with a bit lower humidity than is the norm in FL. Plus the sun wasn't beating down on me.

I barely noticed much sweat. A nice weekend ride will leave my arms coated, sweat running into my eyes despite my heatsweat/cool max cap & my jersey sticking to my body. Of course it's usually 10F hotter & the sun is beating down...

Anyway, to my shock I lost 2.5 lbs during my somewhat easy ride tonight. 2.5 lbs/hour seems like quite a bit, expecially knowing that it ~seems like~ I've got to be doing 2x that rate on the weekend.

What do you find is your range of water loss? Am I simply unusually sweaty?

I'm very sweaty, For me 'not sweating' is a Warning I'm already dehydrated, and better stop.

xxx

Remember humidity can greatly affect your "sweatiness". When I lived in bone dry air Arizona, I didn't get sweaty at all, I just got salty. The sweat evaporated fast and never accumulated enough to soak clothes.

What do you find is your range of water loss? Am I simply unusually sweaty?I can tolerate as much as 6 pounds of loss, but there is no such thing as particular "rate of loss."

And, try to understand this, even if you exercise at the same effort and in the same temperature and humidity, you may sweat differently depending on your own current mineral balances.

The only way to learn your about sweating, is to experience it, and record and remember how much you weigh and how much you are drinking. (as well as performance) I really get tired of seeing stupid remarks about what someone calls "normal." There is no such thing as normal. We all are different, and we seldom have identical workouts with identical fluid use.

If there is one thing I have learned after 30 years of extreme exercise, it's that my body has "working weight range." I can exercise and tolerate a weight loss of anywhere from 5-6 pounds. If I lose another pound over 6, my performance begins to suck. Lose another pound after that, and I'm headed for "bonk city."

The point I'm getting at, weigh yourself a lot, and get a feel for how much your weight can fluctuate without causing you to bloat or bonk. Simple enough? Right?

Now that my rides are a little longer, I'm find that hydration and nutrition are stating to get more important to me. After doing a little more research, I decided to try to get a handle on my sweat rate or water loss rate.

I wasn't feeling real motivated tonight, but went out and rode for an hour. At a moderate pace, somethign that would get me through 4+ hours of riding but leave me feeling fairly tired.

It was a relatively cool evening, about 86F with a bit lower humidity than is the norm in FL. Plus the sun wasn't beating down on me.

I barely noticed much sweat. A nice weekend ride will leave my arms coated, sweat running into my eyes despite my heatsweat/cool max cap & my jersey sticking to my body. Of course it's usually 10F hotter & the sun is beating down...

Anyway, to my shock I lost 2.5 lbs during my somewhat easy ride tonight. 2.5 lbs/hour seems like quite a bit, expecially knowing that it ~seems like~ I've got to be doing 2x that rate on the weekend.

What do you find is your range of water loss? Am I simply unusually sweaty?

2.5 lbs is just a little bit over a liter of water. That's not a particularly high rate of sweating - it's fairly easy to hit 2 or 3 liters/hour.

However, if I lost more than 2.5 pounds on a ride, I'd be rethinking my hydration strategy.

Finally, did you weigh yourself right before the ride? If not, the after weight doesn't mean much.

xxx

Thanks all for the comments.

Seems like I've got to do this "weight" thing more than once :) And start developing a feel for what my body can accept.

I hear alot about sweating on these forums, but have never felt my sweat, myself. I stay pretty much constantly dry on my rides. I know that I'm sweating, but it's evaporating so quickly that I can actually feel it. I've never had a problem with sweat in my eyes or anything. In fact, it's only when I stop riding that I begin to see the sweat all over my body. Furthermore, I always weigh before and after each ride. On a three to four-hour ride, I'll lose about a pound. However, I do drink more than anyone I know on the bike. I did a solo metric century yesterday, and went through 8 of the large bottles of water. Come to think of it, I did come back about 2 lbs. lighter yesterday, but it was 94 degrees. I don't know. I know I sweat a lot, but I never notice it.