What to Drink During Long Cardio Sessions: 30, 60, and 90+ Minute Protocols

A few decades ago, there wasn’t a great deal of thought given to what you should drink during extended sessions of cardiovascular training. That’s because the only viable answer was water, as it was the only drink to be found that was readily available, easily digestible during training, and proven to be advantageous to restoring energy during extended exercise.

Times have certainly changed, and so has the collective understanding of exercise scientists when it comes to hydration. Hydration supplements have been proven to work, and there are many different beverages available to you that it can be downright daunting to identify which beverage is best for you, and under what circumstances.

The reality is that the answer to the question of what to drink during long cardio sessions can vary based on the style and length of the cardio you’re engaging in, especially as your training extends to an hour and beyond. That’s why it’s important to pinpoint the best drink for long workouts based on the factors that are present from one moment to the next.

Why Your Drink Choice Matters More on Long Cardio Days

The reason your drink of choice matters so much more during long cardio workouts than it does during shorter sessions is because the needs of your body change substantially as your workout progresses from 30 minutes to 60 minutes, and then again as your workout creeps closer to the 90-minute mark, or past it.

As you train aerobically, your body’s productivity is held together primarily by the confluence of fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates, which collectively prevent your body from the effects of dehydration, cramping, and bonking — the feeling of “hitting the wall.”

Extended exercise induces greater quantities of sweat, along with the loss of increasing amounts of sodium, and the expending of larger volumes of glycogen. Therefore, the longer you train, the more your body requires the replenishment of these three key nutrients. Without them, your body simply can’t sustain its level of activity.

Key Variables That Change Your Hydration Needs

It isn’t sufficient to gauge the amount and type of hydration you require based solely on the time you’re devoting to training during a cardio session. In practice, there are several other factors in play that factor into what it will take to restore your body to a state of adequate hydration.

Duration, Intensity, and Environment (hot/humid vs cool indoor treadmill)

Certainly, the amount of time you’re spending on cardio will play a major role in the sort of hydration you need. Beyond that, the intensity of your training certainly plays a role in how rapidly your body loses fluids, electrolytes, and glycogen, as your exertion level directly affects the rate at which each resource is lost with each passing moment.

Then there’s the matter of the environment you’re training in. Hot and humid environments simply induce your body to sweat whether you’re actively training or not, and when you engage in aerobic training in those environments, your body perspires all the more rapidly. 

The result is that you’ll lose fluids far more rapidly while running or biking in hot, outdoor surroundings than you will training in cool, climate-controlled, indoor atmospheres.

Sweat Rate and “Saltiness” 

Not everyone sweats at the same rate; your genetic predisposition can dictate how aggressively you perspire naturally, and how much salt is contained within your sweat. At a minimum, being both a heavy and “salty” sweater will increase the rate at which you lose fluid and electrolytes, along with how quickly you’ll need to replenish them through supplementation.

The easiest way to test whether or not you’re a heavy sweater is to weigh yourself before and after your training sessions to track the amount of water you’ve lost. In order to get an accurate figure, you’ll also need to account for the quantity of water you consume during training when making your calculations.

The range of water lost through sweat per hour of training can range from 0.3 liters to 2.0 liters. If you are losing more than 1.0 liter of water per training session, you are definitely on the more profuse side of the distribution range. In this vein, you might be losing anywhere from 200–1,200+ mg per liter of water lost depending on where you fall on the salt-loss chart.

While you train, you should notice the loss of salt through your sweat if you feel stinging in your eyes and an accumulation of white, crusty coloring in your clothing. If you witness these signs, you will probably need to account for them through more aggressive electrolyte intake during your workouts.

Body Size and Fitness Level 

Under many circumstances, being a large, fit athlete works in your favor, but when it comes to hydration, this is often not the case. Athletes who are larger tend to sweat more, and also require larger quantities of fluids and electrolytes to remain hydrated in the first place. 

Similarly, your fitness level also plays a role in how swiftly you sweat; sweating is a healthy response to exercise, and fit bodies are very efficient with their responses to training.

Baseline: What to Drink Before You Start

The general guideline for ensuring pre-training hydration supplied by the American College of Sports Medicine is to drink two to three cups of water a few hours prior to training, which equates to about 17 ounces. (1) From there, it’s also a good idea to drink another 4-8 ounces of water approximately 15 to 20 minutes before your workout begins.

Usually, most people have sufficient electrolyte or sodium in their bodies by the time a workout begins. Still, if you want to err on the side of caution, eating something with a standard serving of table salt (590 mg) is more than adequate to provide you with enough sodium to begin your workout with confidence.

What to Drink During 30-Minute Cardio Sessions

If your cardio sessions are only 30 minutes long, there are fewer considerations that you’ll need to take with respect to maintaining your hydration level, specifically for the sake of warding off dangerous consequences. 

Still, there are a few factors that might change how rapidly you lose nutrients even during a 30-minute cardio session, and that therefore affect what you’ll need to consume before and during your training.

When Water Alone Is Enough

If your cardio session is of the easy or moderate variety — which can be quite common for people who primarily use cardio as an extended warm-up or casual post-resistance-training calorie-burner — you’ll probably only need to consume water. This is because the demands placed on your anatomy are minimal aside from the elevation of your heart rate and burning of calories.

Exceptions: Heat, High Intensity, and Multiple Sessions Per Day 

As mentioned, there are few 30-minute workout scenarios in which you may need a little something beyond ordinary water to keep your body on track. One of these scenarios simply has to do with the intensity of your training, which can cause you to expend more fluids and electrolytes than you would during less demanding workouts.

Then there’s the matter of training in the heat, which will naturally cause you to perspire more quickly than if you were in a cooler environment. If you’re running outdoors during the summer rather than riding on a bike indoors, you are far more likely to require electrolyte support during a 30-minute workout. 

Finally, if you’re the type of person who likes to separate your cardio training into multiple 30-minute sessions — potentially as bookends to a resistance workout — it might behoove you to make use of an electrolyte beverage.

What to Drink During 60-Minute Cardio Sessions

Things become far more complex during 60-minute cardio sessions, because no matter what you do, you’re right on the edge of the duration of training beyond which the International Society of Sports Nutrition considers it mandatory that you receive some sort of nutrient support beyond water. (2) As such, there are many things that can nudge your session past the point where nutrients other than water become a necessity.

Fluid Targets for ~1 Hour 

In most running scenarios, the general guidance for fluid consumption is 6-10 ounces of fluid every 15-20 minutes. While this range is relatively wide, it may either be too much or too little fluid depending on your individual sweat rate, and how much water you tend to lose during exercise. 

To get an accurate figure of how much sweat you lose during long runs, you should weigh yourself before and after one of your typical cardio sessions, and adjust your fluid intake accordingly.

When to Add Electrolytes 

For most people operating under ordinary workout conditions, there’s still no pressing need to supplement with electrolytes before or during training. The exceptions to this are when you’re exercising in hot conditions, or when you’re training in back-to-back sessions, which means that your body will need electrolytes in order to function optimally during the second workout.

Also, people who are moderate or heavy sweaters will need to be mindful of how much fluid and sodium they are losing during training since sweat rate can vary wildly, from 0.3 liters per hour up to 2.0 liters per hour. Under certain circumstances, people in this group may need to add salt to water to ensure hydration.

Sample 60-Minute Protocols (e.g., treadmill tempo, zone 2 run, spin class).

The prototypical 60-cardio session would involve a structured class, like a spin class or a moderate intensity aerobic class, or a solo workout like a zone 2 session for endurance, or a treadmill tempo training program. In all of these circumstances, it would be wise to account for the loss of electrolytes. 

In these cases, you’ll want to follow the ordinary pre-workout hydration guidance of 17 ounces of water two hours before your workout, and 500 mg of salt one hour before you train. This should be followed by 8 ounces of water 15 minutes before you exercise, and then 32  ounces of an electrolyte hydration beverage consumed in small sips throughout your workout.

What to Drink During 90+ Minute Cardio Sessions

If your cardio session is extending to 90 minutes or beyond, it’s a foregone conclusion that you’re going to need some form of nutrient support in addition to water to sustain your workout without suffering from a dreaded crash and burn. In these instances, your distribution of nutrients will need to become far more intentional, time-focused, and strategic.

Combining Fluids, Electrolytes, and Carbs 

When a long cardio session is going to be extending beyond 60 minutes, that’s when it becomes crucial to plan for additional carbohydrate intake during your workout. As a general guideline, approximate intake of 30 grams of carbohydrates is ideal once your workout progresses past 60 minutes and closer to the 90-minute mark. 

If your workout will be going for 90 minutes or more, this means that a larger quantity of carbohydrates is required. In practice, carbohydrate consumption of 30-60 grams per hour is an ideal range. This will mean that you’ll need to plan for some intra-workout carb consumption, which can come from drinks, gels, or chews that are easily digestible to minimize discomfort.

How Often to Sip 

While you’re in the midst of training and looking to rehydrate, the most comfortable plan for rehydration is through small, frequent sips of water rather than chugging fluids rapidly. The rapid drinking of water can cause discomfort in the form of bloating and nausea, which is not what you want to be dealing with when you’re deep in the middle of a training session.

In order to strategically counter the effects of dehydration, you’ll want to take small sips of water throughout your workout — ideally every few minutes — rather than large swigs of water after long training intervals.

Example 90–120 Minute Plans by Sport 

The longer your training extends, the more your body’s need for carbohydrates increases. Your body is capable of oxidizing up to 60 grams of carbs per hour, and this uppermost limit is the recommendation for physical activities lasting two hours. (3)

Along the way, you are advised to consume carbs from beverages or gels at a rate of at least 30 grams toward the end of the first hour of training, and then up to 30 grams every half an hour afterwards. (4)

This guidance is sufficient for most long runs, extended bike rides, or other extended cardiovascular efforts. However, if you are training for a marathon or a full triathlon, and your training effort matches the output of those demanding events, you are advised to increase your carbohydrate intake to 90 grams per hour for exertions lasting longer than two hours. (3)

It’s also worth noting that on days when you’re looking to give an all-out effort, as opposed to on training days, you should increase your rate of fueling, possibly shortening your refueling window to every 20 minutes as opposed to every 30 minutes.

All of this is in addition to your intake of electrolyte hydration beverages, which is mandatory for efforts lasting this long, and which should continue through sips of fluid taken every few minutes.

Should You Train Fasted or Just Low-Carb on Long Cardio?

You may be wondering what the place of fasted cardio is in all of this, since there is considerable evidence that training while low on carbs and other macronutrients can promote greater fat oxidation, and increase insulin sensitivity. (5) (6)

For the most part, these same benefits are achievable during low-carb training sessions, so there is no requirement that you train on a completely empty stomach. (7) In that sense, you can probably get through a low-carb cardio session as long as it lasts less than an hour. 

Even so, you’ll want to carefully monitor your body’s response to low-carb training. If you find yourself feeling nauseous or dizzy, or you feel the quality of your workout taking a sudden plunge, you should halt your training and quickly find a source of carbs to consume.

Under nearly all circumstances, once your cardio session extends beyond an hour, you definitely need both carbohydrates and electrolytes to maintain the efficacy of your training session. 

Common Hydration Mistakes to Avoid

It is both easy and common to make mistakes related to hydration, and this is because waiting for your body’s natural signals of dehydration to materialize places your body in a state where it is in greater need of hydration-restoring nutrients than you probably realize. 

First, you don’t want to wait until you’re very thirsty before you act to remediate your thirst, because by then, your body is already suffering from the effects of dehydration.

Another common hydration problem is caused by efforts to overcorrect for dehydration by consuming copious quantities of plain water. This can dilute the remaining levels of sodium in your body so much that hyponatremia results. 

In short, these efforts to hydrate excessively can prompt many of the same symptoms associated with severe dehydration, including headaches, fatigue, weakness, cramps, and disorientation.

If you’re losing an excessive amount of sweat, there will be telltale signs, like the stinging of salt in your eyes, or the accumulation of salt crust in your clothes. These are not signs that should be ignored. If you notice them, you will need to restore your electrolyte content, along with your water level.

Finally, no matter how grandiose a new beverage containing carbs and electrolytes promises to be, you should avoid the mistake of trying a new beverage for the very first time on the day of an important race or sporting event, since you will not be familiar with its specific means of interacting with your system.

Sample 30 / 60 / 90+ Minute Hydration Cheat Sheet

If you still have questions, here’s a quick cheat-sheet to supply you with a guide to hydration, and to help you decide what to bring along on a cardio session.

During a training session lasting more than 60 minutes, an ideal combination of nutrients could be found in a 48 ounce water bottle mixed with Transparent Labs’ Hydration and Cyclic Dextrin supplement, which will provide you with electrolytes and easily digestible carbs providing you with ample energy and hydration for long runs.

How Transparent Labs Fits Into Your Long-Cardio Routine

If you’re going to be engaging in regular cardio routines that will extend for 60 minutes or longer, it is beneficial to have sources of electrolytes and intra-workout carbohydrates at the ready that are clean, dependable, and unobtrusive.

To help you make it through your workouts as easily as possible, Transparents Labs offers its Hydrate electrolyte powder and easily digestible Cyclic Dextrin carbohydrate powder as convenient solutions to help you prolong your workouts in a healthy manner. 

Both products are third-party tested with verified ingredients to ensure that you’re getting precisely the clean ingredients your body needs without any disruptive additives. 

When to Talk to a Professional

While the hydration solutions mentioned here will be helpful to the overwhelming majority of people hoping to enhance their comfort during long cardio sessions, they do not account for the needs of people with medical conditions that either directly sway hydration and sodium levels, or which can be disrupted by sudden changes in these areas.

These conditions include kidney troubles, certain heart conditions, and individuals that rely on very low-sodium diets in order to preserve their health. If you are affected by any of these conditions, or by others that are sensitive to changes in hydration levels, you are advised to consult a sports dietitian or physician before engaging in long cardio. 

Sources

1. American College of Sports Medicine; Sawka MN, Burke LM, Eichner ER, Maughan RJ, Montain SJ, Stachenfeld NS. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007 Feb;39(2):377-90. doi: 10.1249/mss.0b013e31802ca597. PMID: 17277604.

2. Kerksick CM, Arent S, Schoenfeld BJ, Stout JR, Campbell B, Wilborn CD, Taylor L, Kalman D, Smith-Ryan AE, Kreider RB, Willoughby D, Arciero PJ, VanDusseldorp TA, Ormsbee MJ, Wildman R, Greenwood M, Ziegenfuss TN, Aragon AA, Antonio J. International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017 Aug 29;14:33. doi: 10.1186/s12970-017-0189-4. PMID: 28919842; PMCID: PMC5596471.

3. Jeukendrup A. A step towards personalized sports nutrition: carbohydrate intake during exercise. Sports Med. 2014 May;44 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S25-33. doi: 10.1007/s40279-014-0148-z. PMID: 24791914; PMCID: PMC4008807.

4. Christ T, Ringleb M, Haunhorst S, Fennen L, Jordan PM, Wagner H and Puta C (2024) The acute effects of pre- and mid-exercise carbohydrate ingestion on the immunoregulatory stress hormone release in experienced endurance athletes—a systematic review. Front. Sports Act. Living 6:1264814. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1264814

5. Bak AM, Møller AB, Vendelbo MH, Nielsen TS, Viggers R, Rungby J, Pedersen SB, Jørgensen JO, Jessen N, Møller N. Differential regulation of lipid and protein metabolism in obese vs. lean subjects before and after a 72-h fast. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2016 Jul 1;311(1):E224-35. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00464.2015. Epub 2016 May 31. PMID: 27245338.

6. Liu X, He M, Gan X, Yang Y, Hou Q, Hu R. The Effects of Six Weeks of Fasted Aerobic Exercise on Body Shape and Blood Biochemical Index in Overweight and Obese Young Adult Males. J Exerc Sci Fit. 2023 Jan;21(1):95-103. doi: 10.1016/j.jesf.2022.11.003. Epub 2022 Nov 11. PMID: 36447628; PMCID: PMC9674552.

7. Schoenfeld BJ, Aragon AA, Wilborn CD, Krieger JW, Sonmez GT. Body composition changes associated with fasted versus non-fasted aerobic exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014 Nov 18;11(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s12970-014-0054-7. PMID: 25429252; PMCID: PMC4242477.