No tennis player would start a match without practicing lobs; no golfer would think a game complete without learning how to pitch from a sand trap. And no runner should enter a road race without figuring out how and when to drink.

Drinking while running definitely is not easy. Unless you grasp the cup carefully, you can spill half the contents on the ground. If you gulp too quickly, you can spend the next mile coughing and gasping. If you dawdle at aid stations, you can waste precious seconds. If you gulp down a replacement drink you aren't used to, it might make you nauseous. Lately, scientists have suggested that drinking too much during a marathon sometimes can be as dangerous on a hot day as drinking too little.

Nevertheless, drinking on the run is necessary for survival. When the weather is warm or humid, runners sweat. You sweat even during cool weather, particularly if you are overdressed. If you sweat too much, you dehydrate. If you become dehydrated, body temperature rises and performance drops. Too high a body temperature can result in heat prostration, or-in extreme circumstances-death.

Most people sweat efficiently and adapt quite well to changes in temperature. It is only when you undertake extreme activities that you need to worry about taking in enough liquid to balance losses from sweat. The average sedentary person loses 2 quarts of water a day under normal temperature conditions, but a road runner can sweat away that much in half an hour.

Here are some tips for proper hydration.

Drink before running. Drink adequately and drink often. You should drink 16 ounces of water an hour before training: Excess body water will be passed as urine before practice begins.

Drink while you run. Runners need to drink frequently during practice, especially during warm weather. You'll run faster and recover faster. Most runners quickly become adept at locating available water in their neighborhoods.

Walk to drink. You'll lose a few seconds by shifting from a run to a walk, but you'll avoid losing much more time by remaining well hydrated. On a hot day at the World Masters Championships in New Zealand, I walked through each aid station and still ran 2:29, winning my age group (M45) and a world title. Slow-pace runners lose even less time walking through aid stations than fast-pace runners.

Drink after running. Most runners don't need to be told this. Their natural instinct sends them immediately to the water fountain or refrigerator. But even after your initial thirst is quenched, you still may be dehydrated. One way of evaluating your intake is to check the color of your urine. If it's yellow, you probably need to keep drinking. Excessive weight loss also is a sign of poor hydration.

Run when it's cool. During the winter, I usually train at midday. During the summer, I switch to running at dawn, before it gets too hot. Running in the evening is slightly less satisfactory because it can still be hot and humid. And running in the dark has its own perils. You may need to do some hot-weather running to acclimatize yourself for races, but you don't want extreme temperatures to affect the quality of your training.

Learn how and when to drink while training. You can then apply that knowledge when you run your race, not only for safety but to achieve a Personal Best.

Adapted from Hal Higdon's Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. For more information and to ask Hal training questions, please visit: Hal Higdon's Web site.

© 2012 by Hal Higdon. All rights reserved.