Hypohydration is a contributing factor involved in the development of exertional heat stroke. The effects of hypohydration range from mild fatigue to death. Ultra-endurance athletes who race in heat and humidity are at great risk of becoming dehydrated. The Hawaii Ironman Championship Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile run. Each year up to twenty five percent of entrants require treatment in the medical tent, most of them needing fluid replacement, some of which require hospitalization.
It was the purpose of this study to determine whether or not there may be psychological characteristics that differentiate those athletes who require intravenous fluid replacement at the end of an ultra-endurance event from those who maintain fluid homeostasis. Specifically, this study explored the coping strategies used by ultra-distance athletes when experiencing a feeling of staleness. Thirty entrants who participated in the Hawaii Ironman Championship Triathlon volunteered to participate in this study. Each athlete completed the Ways of Coping with Sport questionnaire prior to the race. Five (17%) of the thirty subjects were diagnosed as being dehydrated enough after completing the race to warrant being given intravenous fluids (Group 1). Of the remaining competitors (Group 2), none required medical treatment, although five withdrew from the race and twenty finished.
T-test analysis revealed that all triathletes scored highest on Problem-focused Coping (Scale 1, X=21.54) and Effort and Resolve (Scale 4, X=9.4), and there were no significant differences between groups on these scales; however, Group 1 scored significantly higher (p<.05) on Wishful Thinking (Scale 7) when compared to Group 2 (Xs=7.6 and 4.71, t=2.26). In addition, the athletes were asked to rate the level of their most recent performance. The athletes requiring fluid replacement reported significantly lower scores (p<.05) when compared to the homeostatic athletes (Xs=74 and 86.4, t=2.09). There were no differences between homeostatic finishers and non-finishers.
The predominant use of Scales 1 and 4 suggests that ultra-distance triathletes tend to utilize direct, pro-active strategies to help them deal with a slack in performance. The difference between groups on Scale 7 may suggest that triathletes who are at risk of developing dehydration might be those who rely more on primary thought processes than secondary thought processes during times when performance feels stale. Furthermore, the lower rating on the most recent performance may imply that those triathletes in need of fluid replacement may not have fully recovered from their last performances.