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Holland Michigan, on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan - right where you want to be on a summer weekend, right? Not last weekend. In the 90's with heat index over 100 all three days. Hasn't rained in over a month and every thing is burned and the fields were 3 inches of dust.
Thanks to the previous advice of our Southern friends, I was well prepared on the water issue. Cooler had 24 bottles of water on Friday and was empty on Sunday.
While everyone talks about water, water, water - there is not a lot of discussion about the negative effects of water - and that is overhydration. If you just replace the lost water without replacing the lost electrolytes (primarily sodium and potassium) you can face some serious medical consequences.
Adequate sodium is critical - take salt tablets or snack on potato chips or fig newtons. If you want to keep that heart ticking right, replenish the potassium with banannas or oranges (man, does chilled orange juice taste great between games!).
If you can stand the taste, drink a lot of sports drinks. Better yet, V8 juice has 6 to 10 times the sodium and potassium levels per once as does Gatorade. In addition to water, my cooler now has OJ and V8 in for tournaments.
Foot note: we go back to Holland this weekend for an ASA JO Nat Qualifier - and the expected highs for Friday will barely make it into the 70's! May not hit 80 all weekend - what a relief after last week.
WMB
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