Scientifically the Best Way to Carry Liquid While Running!

Ajouté : 2026-06-05

[00:00:00]What's the best way to carry water for trail runs, ultra runs, and long training runs? Let's break down scientifically the most efficient way to carry liquids and why the most efficient way is probably not for you. Starting with the largest container, let's look at our options. We've got a back bladder. This can be 1 to 2 and 1/2 L.

[00:00:17]The next largest option would be front chest mount. You can mount various size bottles there. From there, you'd go to a hand water bottle or a running belt that carries water in the back. These normally max out around 16 ounces per bottle. Additionally, the hand water bottles can get smaller. And the belt bottles definitely get a lot smaller.

[00:00:33]And when you get to smaller belt bottles, you can also put those bottles in your running pockets. Then you get down to a small 5 oz bottle or a collapsible running cup. If you're a road runner and this seems silly to you, it's because you get cups along the course. For trail runs, pretty much all of them that I know of are cupless races, which means you have to bring your own cup and you can't leave any trash behind. So, you need a bottle or a cup to bring along the way. A little while ago, I received some advice from a local trail runner who's a really good mountain runner who sat to try out the hand water bottle. A lot of people hate on it, but it's much more practical than you think. And so, over the winter, I trained with this to see if it was enough liquids for my marathon. And in my training, I was hitting the splits where I knew I could take this. I took the hand bottle on the marathon. Turns out it was hotter than I expected. I should have had more liquids and I kind of shot myself in the foot. That made me think, ah, I should have worn a vest that day. It would have been better for me. Now, let's fast forward to a podcast that Matt Carpenter was on recently. And Matt Carpenter is like the legend of a trail runner. You know, he held the Leadville 100 mile race record for a super long time. He still holds the Pike Peaks Marathon record. He's held so many trail running records since the '90s, which is kind of crazy with how much technologies improved. So, when he spoke up, I was like, I'm going to listen to this guy.

[00:01:48]>> Well, for the shorter sections, you know, I figured out on my treadmill that, you know, it's rotational wet.

[00:01:54]weight. You look at an ice skater and they're spinning and then when they want to go fast, they pull in their arms.

[00:02:00]That reduces rotational weight. Correct.

[00:02:02]And on my treadmill, if I carried the bottle in my hand, I would be running and I would have X pulse. And if I tucked it under here, my pulse would go down by about two beats. So, for me, it just made more sense.

[00:02:16]>> So, you know me, I had to try it. So, I went to the gym with the bottle and I put it right like he said he ran and I ran with this on the treadmill. I would alternate for about 3 to 5 minutes with under the armpit to holding it in the hand, keeping it without drinking it the same size and the exact same pace on the treadmill. I figured this wasn't going to be any difference, like too small of a variance to see any difference in heart rate. Well, to my surprise, my heart rate was about 2 to three beats lower when it was under my armpit. When watching this back, I also noticed that my arm swing changes a lot depending on where the bottle is. Under my armpit, everything's tighter, but in my hand, big wide swings. And I'm not sure which type of arm swing makes me more efficient. And I know this is not a conclusive test, but fun to try out. But the concept stands that if you move weight further from your body, it's going to take more energy to move. And if you move it closer to your center of mass, it's going to be easier for you to move. So, it appears that the scientific answer is have the weight at the center of your mass, which would be inside of you, which actually if you need it is the best way to carry liquids. Drink it.

[00:03:22]But the second best place is going to be near or closest to the center of mass, which is going to generally be about 1 in below your belly button on your back.

[00:03:32]Actually, the next closest place is going to be kind of on a belt on the hips. We know this is the best answer, but it might not be the best place for you to carry liquids. But there is a place that we can start to figure out how much we should carry. Take the distance between your longest aid stations and calculate the duration you expect to run that distance in. A race I was at recently had an 8 mile section between aid stations. But this 8 mile section on this out and back course was 2,400 ft of climbing on the way up. But on the way back down, it was 2,400 ft down. So, the same person would take 2 hours and 15 minutes on the way up between eight stations, then take an hour and 20 minutes on the way down between the aid stations. It's not about how far the distance is, but how long it's going to take you to cover that distance. In that example, the person would need to carry enough liquids to last them 2 hours and 20 minutes. And then on the way down on that section, they could just fill their bottles up halfway and would be good to go without carrying extra weight. But once you know how much the max amount of liquids you need to carry, then we can figure out what the best solution is for you. I just completed my run today and I did a hourong sweat test. So, let's break down how much hydration I need. I think I'm going to do a full video on this later, but basically I weighed myself. I ran weighed myself again. I ran for 1 hour.

[00:04:48]I lost 2.1 lbs. On about 6 hour and less efforts, you want to replenish around 80% of that fluid. On longer than 6 hour efforts, you want to replenish about 95% of the fluid you lose. on the 10mi race I'm doing, depending on what my physical therapist lets me do as I'm recovering from some knee procedures. I uh I don't I don't think I'm going to be able to like race the race, but I'm going to still run it as an easy run. Basically, I'll probably finish around an hour and a half on this course. So, that's going to put me at about 3 lb I'm going to lose of liquids. So, taking around 70% of that 3 lb, I'm going to need right about 40 ounces of fluid for the 10mi race. Now, that's where I look at eight stations and which kind of option is best for me. So, starting, eight of these will put me at 40 oz. Seven of these would be 40 oz. Five of these would put me at 40 oz. So, I look over to the aid stations, and this race technically isn't a trail race since it's on the roads through Garden of the Gods, but they have eight aid stations in 10 miles. That's crazy. I'm used to often going 10 miles without an aid. So, for this race, I can get away with any of these. But if we take the example from earlier, like on a longer race with a 2-hour stretch between aid stations, from my sweat test, I now know I'm going to need 64 oz for a 2hour stretch.

[00:06:00]Knowing this is critical to know what type of water carrying system I should bring. Most people will find out that they're sweating more than they realize.

[00:06:08]Now, many ultr runners are unfamiliar with this term, but my thru-hikers and extreme backpackers will know the term cameling up. On a through hike, you might have 20 miles, 25 miles between water. So, you're gonna filter a bunch of water. You're gonna drink a ton of water at the creek and then leave with full bottles. This means you've rehydrated your whole body and get a hike those first 8 or 10 miles without taking even a drink. That way, your water can last you till your next creek or river. Now, I've taken this term into ultra running. Camel up doesn't take much time, but it can solve a major problem. I know some of you have done this where you got really thirsty on a stretch between aid [music] stations.

[00:06:49]So, when you finally got to the aid station, you fill up your bottle and take off running. You know you're low on liquid, so you drink your bottle the entire thing, maybe in the first 10 minutes. Then you realize, crap, I've got a 5m stretch here with no liquids.

[00:07:02]The problem could be fixed by bringing more liquids from the start. Or the problem could be fixed from filling up that bottle, drinking 8 ounces, and then filling it up again. Now you're leaving the aid station with a full bottle and not needing to drink any of it immediately. So taking the idea from backpacking, you can camel up to reduce the amount of liquids you carry with you. Now that's as long as you don't water log yourself. Whether [snorts] you've done a bit of research or done a bit of training and testing for yourself, you realize everything's a trade-off. I like running with a water bottle because it's so convenient, but I lose a lot of efficiency because it's so far from my body. So I want to be smart and I put a lightweight running vest on.

[00:07:40]This allows me to put a couple of flask in my chest pockets. Now I can run like this. But I just created a problem that wasn't before, which is I just added another layer. They're designed to release heat, but there's more fabric here that's going to hold more heat in on my chest than if I just had one layer of clothing, but I'm more efficient cuz it's tighter to my body, but I'm trapping more heat. So, let's try something else. Because we know the chest is a good spot, but it's not as efficient as the low back. So now I'm getting really smart and I put on this low back water bottle carrier. But then two problems arise. When I have it all the way full, it bounces a little bit.

[00:08:18]And if I tighten it down so it doesn't bounce, it kind of makes my stomach uncomfortable. But even when I get it in the sweet spot and it feels really good, I'm I'm running, feeling good. No issues at all. Time to drink. I got to come back here, flip off the holder, grab it.

[00:08:32]Then I got to get it back in. Takes about 10 to 15 seconds while standing here. while running. It took twice as long. It took me, I think, almost a minute to pull it out, drink the amount I wanted, and to get it back in. That's a minute of inefficient running. Solving one problem can cause another. There's not a right, there's not a wrong, and two different people will like different things. So, let's break down exactly what I do, and we'll do a pros and cons list of every single water carrier type.

[00:09:01]Starting off with the largest 1 liter to 2 and 1/2 liter bladders that go in the back of your backpack. Technically, this is a little bit more efficient way to carry water than on your chest. I'm one of those rare people that actually like this. I've worn this on 50 mi races. So, pros and cons. Starting with the pros, it's the best way to distribute a large amount of water. I've got a liter and a half back here. That's 50 oz, 51 oz. And you can carry up to 2 and 12 L. Can't do that very easily on the chest. Really good for long stretches without aid.

[00:09:30]Third is you got less clutter on the chest. So you can have your snacks, you can have other things in here, easier sunscreen, whatever it is, quick draw things, cell phone without having to work around your bottles. It's quite stable when fit correctly. And I think so whenever I'm above one liter of water, I prefer how this carries. It's so much smoother. Kind of goes into the V of my back. Now the cons. My hat's cracking. Harder to monitor how much you drink. This is one of the biggest complaints. But if you use this frequently, you can figure it out. like you you feel it. Maybe that sounds weird, but water's heavy and I know when I'm getting low and I know when I have a bunch in there. It's not too hard to monitor how much I have left personally.

[00:10:08]Maybe one of the biggest cons is it's way less convenient to refill. A con people talk about is the water slushes and it bounces around when underfilled and there's air bubble. There's a way to fix that. You flip it upside down, then you drink a little bit of it. Air bubbles are rising to the top. You drink the air bubbles out. Now there's no air in it and it doesn't slosh no matter how much is in there. Another downside is it's harder to clean and dry. Yeah, that's true. That's the most annoying thing. And then you have hose management. I have a little magnet on this hose that clips in a great spot and on my 50-mi race, I lost the magnet and so the hose was bouncing around all day.

[00:10:41]That's annoying. With the pros and cons list, where does Kramer use this? Where do I use it? Well, I haven't used this on an ultramarathon in a while, but I do still use this on long mountain training runs. I bring this with a water filter so I can fill up in creeks. And if I'm going up into the mountains for more than four hours, that allows me to get a refill along the way. Large water capacity, I can take this, last me three hours, get one fill up, come back down the mountain or whatever, and that's when I like this the most. This is my solution for 700 ml to one liter of water. The first big benefit is ease of access. You can pull these out super easy and drink them.

[00:11:17]Additionally, you can just feel like you're milking yourself.

[00:11:22]I don't know why I said that, but yeah, it's really easy to track your intake.

[00:11:25]You know how much you're having. Third, extremely fast aid station refills. You can pull the bottle out, just fill it up, dump it in quick. You do get more cooling than a back bladder cuz you have water covering your whole back where here um nothing's on your back. You tend to dissipate more heat without the back bladder. Reminds me of a con of the back bladder. Uh I've worn it in the winter before and the hose has frozen over. It was 20° outside, so pretty cold up here in the mountains, uh Fahrenheit. But yeah, so you want to be careful to not freeze it over. One of the biggest benefits here is you can carry different fluids. You can have electrolytes on one side, water in the other. Easy to clean, great for racing. Really good solution.

[00:12:00]Generally, chest wins over back for speed and convenience, but you lose a little bit of comfortability when you get to larger volume. Okay, now I'm generally going to jump from that 750 and the next step down is down to around 500 ml total. This is going to be 16 17 o. This puts me in the range of being able to carry a hand or the back or my new favorite solution, hand bottle. I use this when I go out for a one one and a half hour run and it just cuz it's so convenient. I fill it up super quick.

[00:12:29]I'm out the door within seconds. I'm not wearing a chest v. It's just so convenient, so quick, easy. So, I like this on training runs. I don't know if I'll use the hand anymore on races cuz I think I found a better solution, at least for me. And this is not the solution. [laughter] Even though this is supposed to be the best balance, one thing I don't like about this one specifically is it's got like the seat belt material, whereas uh stretchy material tends to fit better on me. So, if I had one of those with stretchy material, I might like it better. But what I really don't like about this is the amount of time it takes to access the bottle. But there's another way I can carry this equal amount of liquids, that's even better for me. Introducing two 250ml bottles.

[00:13:09]Now, I really like these ones because there's a flow adjuster. And when it's twisted all the way side, it's locked.

[00:13:13]So I can lock it and nothing can come out even if you pinch it. So with my tights, my tighter running shorts here, I've got these back pockets and this slides in just like that. And on this side like that, that's 18 o. Definitely one of the downsides is if I need to fill both of them up. Now I have to unscrew two bottles to fill up at an aid. It's much quicker to access than this. I think this would ride the best if it had a different belt. I'm sure there's um maybe a more expensive one or a higher quality one than this out there. That'd be great. I just didn't like this one. It's the only one I've tried. So, I may try that in the future because I did try the elastic belt with this bottle in it and it was super comfortable. But then the bottle zipped up and it takes even longer to get out.

[00:13:55]So, that's my new favorite for carrying 16 ounces is one in each pocket. But I'm doing a 10mi race coming up here of the gods in 2 weeks or so. Maybe you should come say hi. We have a booth there.

[00:14:06]We're giving away free products, free antiy blister stuff. Come say hi. But for that, what if I go even smaller? I could carry 8 oz, but I also could move into collapsible cup. One of the benefits to the cup is that it's got a wider mouth. So, at a aid, you can kind of fill as you're running past. But a benefit here is you could fill it up once, chug it, fill it up a second time, and take some with you. Whereas, if you fill this up once, chug it, it's going to be hard to run with any liquids here.

[00:14:32]Not really made for that. Small capacity, but if you want to take some here, small capacity. If you don't want to take some, this is a better solution.

[00:14:38]To know what's the best water carrying system is going to be dependent on your race, of course. So figure out how much liquids you need between aids and then figure out what's the best way to carry that amount of liquids for you. When we're getting into these faster races where it's less than an hour between aid stations, then you're looking at some smaller containers. And I've been able to go to many races and film the start of some of these faster races. There's the marathon I referenced earlier that I was at. And so I slowed down this footage and counted what everyone has because I also know who won the race and what they're using could be a good indicator what could be best as you get faster. and it was about 5050% hand bottles to bottles in a belt or in their shorts. I personally think the best solution is going to be in your belt or in your short, but it needs to have enough water capacity and it needs to be easily accessible. Now, easily accessible could be just a practicing thing. For example, with this waist belt here, maybe if I practice more, I'd be quicker. And maybe with more practice, I might learn that I actually don't need to lock it in. So, maybe I don't even need that little strap there, and I could cut it off. And with some practice, I might be able to get my minute down to 10 seconds with really efficient running. So, it could be a lack of skill, not bad equipment. With that said, I still think I would like a elastic band. So, that's how I'm currently thinking about it. And every single run, I'm testing out different things. I'm a work in progress trying to figure it out myself, figure out what's best for me. And every race might require a different solution. Everybody sweats differently. Everybody carries weight differently. And we'll enjoy different things. And I can guarantee you one thing, my preferences will change over time. So if you watch this video in 2027 or something, maybe I think something different now.