It's Highly Scientific

It's 6 am on a Thursday...sun's just poking it's head over the horizon and the lone kid in the house is already busily playing legos (the other 2 are on "vacation" at Grandma's).  Yesterday I found myself in the same scenario, minus kid #3, AND without a car...so I ran the long way to work...and am pretty sure that experience will go down as one as the best mornings ever.  Ah, well...no repeat of that today.  Unless the boy rides piggy-back the whole way.  Ouch.  For both of us!

Anyway, back to the present...I've already downed 8oz water and a cuppa coffee - why, you may ask?  I'm on a mission of hydration.  Every day my goal is to be as fully hydrated as possible to see if I can get rid of the post-exercise headaches that plague me after a harder run.  I experimented with this concept when the headaches first started (about 3 years ago) - but didn't seem to have much luck...BUT I only concentrated on getting enough liquids in AFTER the workout...not BEFORE. 

A good race-day hydration strategy?

Once I started training using a heart rate monitor (keeping my bpm low), I was able to keep the headaches somewhat in check, but after races or a run where I just let go, I'd wind up with an awful headache a few hours later.  We tried to narrow down a cause....was it my form?  Was it my low Vitamin D level?  Probably not - so I'm back to hydration...and I'm measuring this by the most amazing scientific method - the color of my urine...colorless to nearly colorless...TMI? 


So I figure if I keep on it, by next weekend for the Rutgers Unite Half, I'll know if I've discovered the cause if I am headache-free after the race.  Here's to hoping!