The U.S. Army definitely needs to know how to keep soldiers hydrated doing hard work in demanding environments, and their Work/Rest and Water Consumption document (PDF) contains several interesting revelations, all directly relevant to athletes that train or compete in hot weather:
- You shouldn't drink more than 1.5 quarts of water per hour.
- At lower temperatures, 0.75 quarts of water/hour is the rough guideline. At 82°F though, your intake should jump to 1 quart/hour.
- For me this part is the most interesting: as the temperature goes up above 82°F, the army does not recommend increasing water consumption. Instead, what varies is the amount of rest recommended.
- A Nalgene bottle is a quart, which is awfully handy for tracking your water consumption based on this model.
For me, this has obvious implications for weekend-long Ultimate Frisbee tournaments, and thus other team sports. More subs! Did I really type so many words to come to a two-word conclusion that everybody likely knew already?
