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6" Maranta Lemon - Prayer Plant
Below are some guidelines and recommendations to get you started on taking care of your plant. Each home, office, or room is unique so you may need to tweak some of these suggestions to fit to your conditions.
The two biggest factors that determine your plant's needs are lighting and watering. Use these as guidelines for picking a plant that will be great for your space, but you may need to tweak things based on your environment.
- High Light – on a windowsill
If your cat is sleeping in this sunny spot, it's probably best for bright light plants. Plants that require bright light need to be as close to a direct light source as possible - preferably in a southern or western facing window where they can catch a glimpse of the sky.
- Medium Light – near a window
A sunny window with sheer curtains or an office desk near a window would also do the trick. Plants that require medium light should be placed near a southern, western, or eastern facing window, but not in direct sunlight. Within 3-5 feet of the light source would be ideal. Otherwise, you could place an indirect light plant in the middle of a bright, sun-filled room farther from the windows.
- Low Light – far from a window
Is northern light all you've got? Trying to add some greenery to your dorm room or office? Low light plants might be best for you. You can also place a low light plant in the center of a room away from windows.
Not enough light in your room? Light colored walls and mirrors that reflect light from windows will help brighten up the place. Otherwise, you can add grow lights near your plants for supplemental light.
- Water Weekly – these plants need a bit more attention and should be watered on a 7-10 day schedule. If the leaves look a little droopy, that's your plant telling you want to up that watering to every 5-7 days!
- Water Every Other Week – these plants can live on a lot less water than most plants. They should be watered every other week (every 14-20 days) at most and shouldn't be drenched in water. If you tend to be an over-waterer and have one of these plants, you might want to use a planter with drainage holes to make sure this plant can dry out properly
Can't remember your plant's needs? Just search for your plant's detail page to get all you need to know
First things first: give your plant several days to acclimate to its new environment and then you can repot your plant if needed. To do that, you'll need two things: a planter about an inch or two larger than the current pot it's in. And soil. Check your plant's detail page to get the scoop on soil
- Watch our video about repotting – how to tell when your plant needs to be repotting and how to do it. The telltale sign for when to repot a plant is when you see roots growing out of the drainage holes in the bottom of the plants.
- Read this page to see our thoughts on the drainage hole debate (spoiler alert: if you're a beginner, we recommend only using planters with drainage holes until you get the hang of watering)
- Pets! We all know pets sometimes get a little friendly with plants, so please make sure you're researching plants before buying them to make sure they are safe in your home. We mark plants as pet friendly on our site, but plants are not pet food! We recommend you do your best to keep your pets from eating any plants - whether they are marked pet friendly or not.
Stick your plant in its ideal lighting, sit back, and enjoy!
- We usually give our small plants between ¼ and ½ cup of either weekly or every other week, depending on your plants watering frequency on the plant's detail page. We highly recommend using a measuring cup from your kitchen to water your plants until you are comfortable enough to eyeball this amount with a watering can.
- For plants that don't like their soil to be completely dry between waterings, you might need to either increase the water amount slightly or just take a spin around the house and water those plants more frequently (maybe every 5 days instead of every 7, for example).
- IMPORTANT: make sure you read our thoughts and feelings on drainage holes. We recommend always letting plants with NO drainage dry out completely between waterings because you don't have visibility to the bottom of the plant. Root rot is not your friend.
- Super simple pro tip: set a weekly, recurring reminder in your phone to remind you to take a spin around the house and water those babies up! (Just remember to skip the plants that need to be watered every other week)
Once you have the hang of plant care basics, there are a few more fun things you can do with your plants:
We have a collection of "Graduation plants" that are great for those who want to go to the next level with their plants. Use the planting chops you learned with your beginner plants to keep these slightly more finicky plants happy.
Click here to read our propagation how-to for our favorite vining plants (like pothos and philodendron). Propagation is basically a way for you to get more plants from your plants, and the easiest place to start is with vining plants.
Pickups in Pittsburgh
- Our regular pickup hours are: Tuesday 8am-2pm, Wednesday 8am-2pm, Thursday 8am-11:45am, Friday 8am-2pm, Saturday 8am-noon, Closed Sundays & Monday.
- You will receive an additional email once your plants are ready to be picked up. Please come to our entrance on Foster Street, come in or call 412-377-5656 with your name and Order #, and we'll bring your plants out! DO NOT pull into or block anyone's driveway on 41st Street. Please find street parking if needed and come to our entrance on Foster Street.
- Orders must be picked up within one week. If you have any questions or concerns about your plant, please let us know when picking up. We want to make sure you are going home with a plant you are happy with! We also are available via email (firstname.lastname@example.com) if there are any questions about plant care once you take your plant home.
(To see the Pickup option at check out, make sure you select Check Out from your cart and do not choose any type of accelerated checkout option like Paypal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay etc. Customers can't use express checkout options for pickup orders, sorry!)
Shipping Options
We ship orders throughout the contiguous United States, except CA. Orders, once processed and packed up, will ship to you from Pittsburgh, PA via USPS 2-3 Day Priority Mail or UPS Ground. Orders are usually shipped out Tuesday through Friday of each week. Orders placed Friday afternoon EST through Monday will ship out on Tuesday or later. Orders cannot be cancelled or adjusted after you receive your shipping confirmation email.
- $10.00 for shipped orders of 4 products or less
- $18.00 for shipped orders of 5 to 8 products
- $27.00 for shipped orders of 9 products or more
Please keep your location's temperature in mind when placing an order, especially if your package will need to sit outside once it is delivered. If your package will need to sit outside for an extended period of time in extreme temperatures, please consider using a different shipping address or waiting until the weather is better suited for shipping.
During winter months, we will delay shipping out plants when the temperature is too low in Pittsburgh or at the shipment destination to avoid harming the plants during transit. Please keep this in mind if placing a time-sensitive order. Feel free to email us before placing an order if you have any questions.
You should add a heat pack to your order when shipping during cold weather. We are not responsible for plant damage due to cold temperatures.
If your plant was damaged during transit, please send us an email (with photos) at email@example.com so we can get it sorted out
Worried about your plants shipping across the country? We sent a few to Laura at Garden Answer in Oregon - watch below to see how they arrive!
Before requesting a refund, please remember plants come in all shapes and sizes and may look different than the ones pictured. We never want you to be unhappy with your purchase so please follow the directions below to discuss refunds:
Online retail orders: We allow refunds up to 15 days from the date of purchase if plants arrive damaged from the shipping process. Please email email@example.com within 15 days from the date of purchase to let us know the situation. Include photos of the outside of the shipping box, inside the box, and the items shipped.
Retail orders picked up at our Pittsburgh location: please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com to discuss any questions, concerns, or issues with your order.
Lighting: medium light preferred – near a window
Watering Frequency: water weekly. Loves humidity
Watering Amount: allow soil to mostly dry out between waterings
Soil: indoor potting mix from your local garden center will do the trick
Comes in a 6" diameter nursery pot
Pet friendly


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Water is 60% of your bodies weight. Hydration can greatly effect your performance, as can the number of electrolytes you take.
Water is used as a cooling system first during hydration. When we are consuming fuel the body heats up from digestion and our exertion. Water helps cool our bodies, by ridding our body of heat and keeping it within a few degrees of 98.6 F.
You will expel some heat through breathing and the skin. The main way the body cools however is buy excreting sweat. 75% of our cooling comes from sweat.
Sweat must evaporate to cool your body. In cold weather your body mostly cools itself from the skin. When it is hot your rely more on evaporation, making humid days tough to cool off. Once the temperate tops 95 degrees, your body actually absorbs heat and does not cool through the skin. Knowing how to hydrate properly becomes critical.
In the humidity since the sweat does not evaporate, you can get into trouble. Your body can absorb about one liter of water per hour, yet you can sweat up to 3 liters.
I was one who over hydrated. I didn't realize this too was a major issue. I now try to drink about 20 ounces per hour, where I used to drink close to 32 ounces. This is just too much for my body during hydration.
There are two wonderful articles on hydration. The first link is from the USATA. The second hydration article is below from Hammer Nutrition, which gives you ideas on your electrolyte supplementation as well. These are must read articles for the serious athlete looking to enhance performance with proper hydration.
At Hammer Nutrition, we're known for offering the most complete and technically advanced line of nutritionals an endurance athlete can buy. But we don't sell, and probably never will sell, the most important item in your regimen, water. Water is the most important substance on earth, 60% of your body weight, and the number one concern on any athlete's intake list. For both performance and health, the importance of your water intake exceeds that of your vitamin, calorie, and electrolyte intake.Even though we're not in the water business, we want to make sure you have the right amount on board when you set off on your distance effort, when you finish, and between efforts during recovery. Thus, we've included this section on hydration in The Guide. As you read, you'll learn how sweat loss affects athletic performance, that too much water is as bad if not worse than too little, and that you can't replace all the water you sweat out. Yes, we will get to that key issue: Just how much should I drink? Of all the many functions water has in human physiology, we'll focus on just a couple that pertain especially to the endurance athlete: cooling the body and transporting nutrients. Let's look at the cooling system first.
How your cooling system works
When we exercise, we burn molecular fuel, mostly glycogen, but also some protein, fat, and blood glucose from ingested nutrients. The breakdown of these energy providers releases heat that builds up and raises our core temperature. The body must rid itself of this heat and maintain a core temperature within a few degrees of the well-known 98.6º F (37º C). An active person needs a reliable cooling mechanism. Actually, you have several. You lose some heat through your skin. Blood carries heat to the capillaries near the skin's surface, removing heat from the body core. You breathe harder to get more oxygen, expelling heat when you exhale. But by far the most important part of the cooling system, accounting on average for about 75% of all cooling, is your ability to produce and excrete sweat.
Sweat, however, glistening on your forearm or soaking your singlet won't cool you; it must evaporate. Sweat works on a basic physical premise: water evaporation is an endothermic process, requiring energy (heat) to change from liquid to gas. Thus, water molecules in the gas phase have more energy than water molecules in the liquid phase. As water molecules evaporate from your skin, they remove heat energy; the remaining water molecules have less energy, and you feel cooler. Isn't that cool?
Weather conditions greatly affect sweat production and cooling effectiveness. In cool weather, you get substantial cooling from the heat that escapes directly from your skin. As the temperature increases, you gradually rely more on evaporation. On hot days, with little difference between skin surface and ambient temperatures, your skin surface provides only negligible convective cooling, and you need to sweat more to maintain a safe internal core temperature. At 95º F (35° C) or above, you lose no heat at all from your skin; in fact, you actually start to absorb heat. Evaporative cooling must do all the work.
Humidity is the other major factor that affects sweat. On humid days, sweat evaporates more slowly because the atmosphere is already saturated with water vapor, retarding the evaporation rate. The sweat accumulates on your skin and soaks your clothes, but you don't get any cooling from it because it's not going into the vapor phase. Soaking, dripping sweat may give you a psychological boost, but it has no physical efficacy to cool; sweat must evaporate to remove heat. On days when it's both hot and humid, well, you don't need to read about what's going to happen when you exercise in those conditions. You do need to know that under the worst of conditions you can produce up to three liters of sweat in an hour of strenuous exercise, but your body can only absorb about one liter from fluid consumption. Yes, this will cause problems before long, and we will discuss that issue below.
What happens when the coolant runs low?
Just like a car, your body must dissipate the excess heat generated from burning fuel. Unlike a car, your body's coolant isn't in a sealed internal system; you use it once and then it's gone and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, we don't come with built-in gauges or indicators that tell us just how much coolant we have left in our system. We can't run a dipstick down our gullet and get a reading that says, "Add a quart." We do have some physiological signs, but they function at the "Warning-Danger!" level, too late to maintain optimal performance. For instance, by the time you feel thirsty, you could have a 2% body-weight water loss, already into the impairment zone.
The chart below shows what happens to human performance at each percent of weight loss. By weight loss, we mean the percentage of your body weight at the start of exercise that you have lost at the end via sweat. If you go out for a run at 160 pounds (approx 72.5 kg) and weigh in 20 miles later at 154 (approx 70 kg), you've lost almost 4% of your body weight. That's too much to maintain your pace to the end, let alone expect to kick.Symptoms by percent body weight water loss:
* PERCENT WATER LOST --------- SYMPTOMS * 0% --- none, optimal performance, normal heat regulation * 1% --- thirst stimulated, heat regulation during exercise altered, performance declines * 2% --- further decrease in heat regulation, hinders performance, increased thirst * 3% --- more of the same (worsening performance) * 4% --- exercise performance cut by 20 - 30% * 5% --- headache, irritability, "spaced-out" feeling, fatigue * 6% --- weakness, severe loss of thermoregulation * 7% --- collapse likely unless exercise stops * 10% -- comatose * 11% -- death likely
[Nutrition for Cyclists, Grandjean & Ruud, Clinics in Sports Med. Vol 13(1);235-246. Jan 1994]
How much is that?
As you can see from the chart, sweat loss can easily devolve from an athletic performance issue to an acute medical issue. Clearly, we need to have some quantifiable idea of our intake and output. Let's start with converting the data on the chart to recognizable amounts. Perhaps you remember the saying, "a pint's a pound, the world 'round." Now that's a convenient conversion for endurance athletes. Here's another: one pint = one water bottle. Some bottles hold 20 ounces (approx 600 ml), but consider a regular water bottle as a pint. Two pints make a quart, which is almost a liter. So when you read "liter," think two water bottles. Losing one pound of weight (slightly less than half a kilogram) means a one-pint loss. One liter (or one quart) is about two pounds (nearly one kilogram).Can you drink enough?
Needless to say, maintaining optimal fluid intake prior to and during exercise is crucial for both performance and health. However, as is true with calories and electrolytes, you can't replenish them at the same rate you deplete them; your body simply won't absorb as fast as it loses. Evaporative cooling depletes fluids and electrolytes faster than the body can replenish them. Your body will accept and utilize a certain amount from exogenous (outside) sources, and, similar to calories and electrolytes, maintaining fluid intake within a specific range will postpone fatigue and promote peak performance.
Research suggests that while electrolyte needs for individual athletes may vary up to 1000% (tenfold), fluid loss remains fairly constant. Also, we can measure fluid loss more easily than electrolyte loss; we don't need sophisticated lab equipment, just a scale. Thus, we can come pretty close in calculating fluid loss and replacement.The numbers
On average, you lose about one liter (about 34 ounces) of fluid per hour of exercise. Extreme heat and humidity can raise that amount to three liters in one hour. A trained athlete will store enough muscle glycogen to provide energy for approximately 90 minutes of aerobic exercise. As your muscles burn glycogen, water is released as a metabolic by-product and excreted as sweat. Researchers found that during a marathon (26.2 miles), runners released an average of two liters of sweat from muscle glycogen stores. This is in addition to sweat from other body liquids.
You can control or lessen these sweat rates by acclimatization and training for the event. Acclimatized athletes can reduce electrolyte and fluid loss up to 50%, but note that those losses cannot be fully replaced during the event. Remember the words of Dr. Bill Misner (mentioned in the Replacement Vs. Replenishment article), "The endurance exercise outcome is to postpone fatigue, not replace all the fuel, fluids, and electrolytes lost during the event. It can't be done, though many of us have tried." In other words, our hydration goal is not to replace water pint-for-pint, but to support natural stores by consuming as much as we can adequately process during exercise.
At the most, you can absorb about one liter (approx 34 fluid ounces) of water per hour, but only under the most extreme heat and humidity. Most of the time you can only absorb about half that amount, even though it won't fully replace your losses. Repeated intake of one liter (about 34 fluid ounces) per hour will ultimately do you more harm than good.Can you drink too much?
Ironically, while you can't drink enough to replace all fluid lost, you can drink too much. Researchers have noted the dangers of excess hydration during events lasting over four hours. Dr. Tim Noakes collected data for 10 years from some 10,000 runners participating in the Comrades Marathon. This 52.4-mile (84.33 km) race, held each June (winter) in South Africa, ranks as one of the world's premier ultra-marathons. Noakes showed that endurance athletes who consumed from 16-24 fluid ounces per hour (approx 475-710 milliliters) typically repleted as much fluid as is efficiently possible. He also noted the prevalence of hyponatremia (low blood sodium) during ultra-marathons and triathlons in runners who hydrated excessively. This condition can arise from several different physiological scenarios. For endurance athletes, it usually results from sweat-depleted sodium stores diluted by excess hypotonic (low electrolyte content) fluid intake. When blood sodium concentration becomes too dilute, you can develop severe cardiac symptoms leading to collapse.Problems with too much or too little
Moreover, Noakes noted a pattern of hydration problems among race participants. In ultra events, the leaders usually dehydrate, but the mid to back-of-the-pack athletes tend to overhydrate. Both may end up suffering from the same hyponatremic symptoms, the former from too little fluid intake combined with too much sodium loss due to profuse sweating, the latter from too much fluid intake and relatively less sodium loss. Because most front-runners are extremely competitive, they don't stop long enough during the race to overhydrate. In addition, it's highly likely that elite athletes may be fitter and better acclimatized to deal with hot weather conditions. A tendency to linger at aid stations, attempting to relieve the symptoms of fatigue or heat by drinking too much water, is a fault found among the majority of the remainder of athletes, those in the middle or back of the pack. Also, these athletes may be novices who have heard the "drink, drink, drink" mantra, but who haven't had enough experience to personally calibrate their personal needs. After the 1985 Comrades race, 17 runners were hospitalized, nine with dilutional hyponatremia. In the 1987 Comrades Marathon, 24 runners suffered from dilutional hyponatremia. These athletes had seriously overloaded on fluid intake, with the inevitable result of a totally disrupted physiology.Tragic consequences
Hyponatremia usually results from drinking too much, especially when one drinks fluids such as plain water or a sports drink lacking the proper electrolyte profile. Training and fitness levels, weather conditions, and, undoubtedly, biological predisposition, also contribute to developing this form of hyponatremia known as "water intoxication."
Sadly, we must note that this condition has lead, directly or in part, to the deaths of otherwise healthy runners in major American marathons. It is hard for us to comprehend the grief of the families they left behind. These athletes went out to run a marathon, to achieve a personal victory. Improper hydration took away their day of glory and also their lives. They collapsed and went into an irreversible condition involving uncontrollable brain edema, coma, and death. We report this to help prevent any future such tragedies. Overhydration represents a very serious problem. Unlike dehydration, which will generally only result in painful cramping, possibly a DNF, or at the worst, IV treatment, overhydration can incite a chain of ultimately fatal physiological consequences.So how much, how often?
The extreme cases cited above happen very rarely. Lesser degrees of impairment occur frequently from excessive fluid intake. We don't have a chart for over hydration similar to the one for dehydration, giving symptoms for each level of over hydration. Also, you probably don't carry a scale or have regular access to weigh-ins along your training route. So how do you know when it's time to drink? You don't wait until you're down a quart. A good hydration regimen starts before you even get moving.
Noakes believes intake of hypotonic fluids of one liter/hr (33.8 oz/hr) will likely cause water intoxication and dilutional hyponatremia. He suggests that athletes may do better on 500 ml/hr (approx 17 oz/hr) fluid intake for ultra events performed in hot weather conditions. In the "10 Biggest Mistakes" article, Dr. Ian Rogers suggests that between 500-750 ml/hr (about 17-25 oz/hr) will fulfill most athletes' hydration requirements under most conditions. Other research suggests a similar consumption of 4.5-7.0 oz (approx 133-207 ml) of water every 15 to 20 minutes of exercise.
Based on the available research, along with the thousands of athletes we have monitored, we have found that 20-25 oz/hr (approx 590-740 ml/hr) is an appropriate fluid intake for most athletes under most conditions. For lighter weight athletes, or those exercising in cooler temperatures, 16-18 oz/hr (approx 473-532 ml) may be perfect. Heavier athletes or athletes competing in hotter conditions may consider intakes upwards of 28 oz/hr (approx 830 ml/hr). We also suggest that to avoid dilutional hyponatremia, fluid intake should not routinely exceed 28 oz/hr (830 ml/hr). The exceptions are heavier athletes, athletes exercising at extreme levels (prolonged periods at a high percentage of VO2Max), and athletes competing in severe environmental conditions.
20-25 oz (approx 590-740 ml) is the equivalent of the typical regular-to-large size water bottle, and that's an excellent gauge to work within.Remember your electrolytes and calories!
We noted at the beginning of this article that besides cooling, water also plays an important role in nutrient transport. Water consumption bears directly on electrolyte and caloric uptake. You must consider the electrolyte content of your fluid intake, especially if you exceed about 24 oz/hr (710 ml/hr). If temperature and humidity rise above 70º F (21º C) and/or 70% humidity, we recommend that you take electrolytes before and during every hour of exercise. For a full discussion of electrolyte needs, see the article "Electrolyte Replenishment."
In addition, avoid fructose or other simple sugar-based drinks and gels, especially in the heat—unless you want to deal with a gastric emptying problem, which may result in nausea and other stomach maladies. Compared to complex carbohydrates, drinks or gels that contain simple sugars (typically glucose, fructose, and sucrose) require more fluid and electrolytes for effective absorption. Because they require more fluid, you get fewer calories per unit of water. You must restrict simple sugar drinks to a 6-8% solution range, which provides inadequate amounts of calories for energy production. You can make a nice drink in a water bottle that will absorb well and provide adequate fluid, but your caloric intake will fall far short of your body's needs, and your energy level will suffer.
If you make a double or triple-strength batch of a simple sugar drink hoping to obtain adequate amounts of calories, you'll require additional fluids and electrolytes to efficiently process the sugar. You will need to guess how much extra water and electrolytes your body needs to handle the sugar. If you guess low, your GI tract will be forced to pull minerals and fluids from other areas of the body. This scenario can result in nauseating results as your body literally dehydrates its working muscles while bloating your belly. Why take chances like that when your performance is on the line?
Your wisest choice is to use fuel comprised of complex carbohydrates, which is the carbohydrate source of all the Hammer Nutrition fuels. Even at a 15-20% concentration, these fuel sources absorb and digest rapidly, do not require excess fluid for transport through the GI system, and provide all the calories your liver can process. For more details on fueling, see the article "Proper Fueling During Endurance Exercise."Multi-hour bottles of fuel—A convenient way to monitor fluid and calorie intake
If you're going to be exercising for several hours, a convenient and time-efficient way to fuel—while also helping you monitor calorie and fluid intake with greater precision—is to make concentrated, multi-hour bottles of Sustained Energy or Perpetuem. This is discussed in the article "The Hammer Nutrition Fuels—What they are & how to use them" found later on in this handbook. However, since the topic here is hydration, presenting this information now is relevant.
Each scoop of Sustained Energy and Perpetuem that you put in a bottle reduces the water volume by about 1.5 ounces (approx 44 ml). For example, if you add two scoops of Perpetuem to a small 21-ounce (approx 620 ml) size water bottle, you won't end up with that same amount of actual fluid; it will be approximately 18 oz (roughly 502 ml), perhaps even slightly less. For some athletes, 18 oz/hr is sufficient fluid intake, but for many athletes that's not enough; oftentimes upwards of 25-28 oz (approx 740-830 ml) of fluid are required hourly. As a result, you'll have to drink your entire fuel bottle plus plain water from another source. After awhile it can be difficult to keep precise track of your fluid intake because you're fulfilling your needs from two separate sources.
To make things easier when doing a three-hour or longer workout, we suggest making concentrated, multi-hour bottles of fuel.For example, if you're going to be exercising for four hours and you know that you need two scoops of Perpetuem to satisfy an hour's worth of fueling, make an 8-scoop bottle in a 21-ounce (approx 620 ml) size water bottle. Now you have four hours of fuel in one bottle and that provides a number of benefits:
* Because you have four hours of fuel in one bottle, you need only drink one-fourth of that bottle hourly, which means you don't have to drink a full bottle of flavored liquid hour after hour. * You don't need to stop every hour to make more fuel because you've got four hours in one bottle. * You can drink and enjoy plain water from another source (another bottle, hydration system) to cleanse the palate and satisfy hydration needs.
Yes, there is some actual fluid left in that 8-scoop/4-hour bottle of Perpetuem, but the amount is small, yielding less than 4 ounces (approx 118 ml) hourly over the course of four hours. Does that small amount of fluid "count" towards fulfilling your overall hydration needs? Yes, but it's a small enough amount to not have to think about if you're keeping your overall fluid intake within our suggested guidelines (approximately 20-25 oz/ approx 590-740 ml hourly), and because those hourly guidelines do have some flexibility built in (+/– 3 oz or approx 89 ml).
With that in mind, that concentrated bottle of Perpetuem can thus be thought of as a "calories only" bottle and you'll fulfill your hydration needs with plain water from another source. The beauty of this, among the other benefits mentioned earlier, is that because you're fulfilling your calorie and fluid needs from sources independent of each other, you're able to gauge your intake with greater precision.
So when your workouts are greater than three hours in length, give the multi-hour bottle of Sustained Energy or Perpetuem a try and you'll find that it'll be a lot easier to keep track of both your calorie and fluid intake… it's been a winning strategy for thousands of endurance athletes.Increase water storage capacity for competition in extreme heat
Another wise strategy is pre-event super-hydration using a glycerol supplement. You'll want to use this method before a long, strenuous event held in very hot or humid conditions. You can increase your water storage capacity by taking a loading dose of a glycerol solution, such as Liquid Endurance, for three days prior to an endurance effort. During this loading phase, you will gain some weight in stored water. It's like having an extra water bottle or two on board. You'll use this extra water first, and extend the time you can exercise in the heat before dehydration.Other ways to cool yourself in extreme heat
Although not directly related to actual water consumption, an external water application can help cool you. A cold, wet towel, sponge, hose, or sprayer on the head and torso can effectively lower body temperature, especially during a one-minute break. If you're running, take a one-minute walk, douse yourself with water, and take a good drink. If you're cycling, find a spot for a good coast or easy spin for a minute. The break from heavy exertion allows dissipation of internal heat. Combined with hydration and external water, this can effectively relieve heat stress, allowing you to finish hot weather endurance events. Highly competitive athletes might scoff at walking, but when it comes to core temperature, nature gives you two choices: cool down or DNF.Fluid intake suggestions apart from the workout or race
Now that you have a good guide for your fluid intake during exercise, we can turn to two other considerations: how much you should drink overall during the day, and how you should hydrate just prior to racing or exercise.
For your regular daily hydration needs (that is, in addition to your exercise-induced needs), no research has conclusively arrived at an RDA for fluids, but about 0.5-0.6 fluid ounces per pound of body weight (roughly 33-39 ml/kg) makes a more accurate standard than the "eight glasses a day" commonly recommended for everyone. Multiplying your body weight in pounds by .5 to .6 will give you the figure, in fluid ounces, that you should aim for daily. Metrically, you'll multiply your body weight in kilograms by about 33-39 and that'll give you a good estimate, in milliliters, of what you should be drinking daily.
For satisfying hydration requirements prior to a race, there are several recommendations:
* 80-100 ounces (roughly 2.4 – 3 liters) of water during the four hours prior to the start of the race; ceasing consumption about 20 minutes prior to allow the stomach to empty. * 500 ml (about 17 ounces) of fluid about two hours before exercise. * One liter of fluid (about 34 ounces) in the two hours prior to the start of the race (about 17 ounces per hour), ceasing consumption about 20 minutes prior to the start.
Each of these recommendations has at least some research backing. You need to determine what works best for your system and the particular logistics of the race or training session ahead.Personalized data is the key to hydration efficiency
We offer no "one size fits all" remedies. We do offer prudent and scientifically substantiated advice. We have given you some guidelines to start your assessment and calculation of your personal hydration needs. Each athlete is personally responsible to include hydration, fueling, and electrolyte replacement regimens into his or her training program. You must find out in practice—before competition—what works for you. Most of you will find your final figures will come very close to our suggested starting points. For others, you might find that in certain instances your needs in a particular event will require substantial modification.
If you've spent money on a heart-rate monitor, a multi-function watch, or a body-fat measuring device, and if you use those tools properly, you already have some serious training tools. We suggest that a good scale (preferably one that can measure less than one pound increments, such as a balance scale) may well prove to be your most valuable fitness investment. Weigh yourself before and after each outing, carefully noting the time, exertion level, miles, weather, and fluid, fuel, and electrolyte consumption. Another low-tech hint: make sure you know the capacity of your water bottles and hydration packs. Once you begin to log your fluid consumption and weight fluctuations, you'll have the data to accurately calculate your personal needs in this absolutely vital area.Final checklist and some quick tips
1.) If you finish an event weighing the same or more than when you started, you have overhydrated. If you've dropped 3% or more, dehydration has occurred. Up to 2% weight loss is safe and reasonable.
2.) For very long events, such as a century bike ride, the average rider will also lose a pound or more in energy stores (glycogen, fat, and muscle tissue) in addition to the water, so figure that into your weight difference.
3.) Don't assume that you can drink unlimited amounts of water or fluid during exercise and expect that all of it will be absorbed and the excess will be lost in sweat or through the kidneys. You will instead bloat, dilute your blood, urinate excessively, and develop water intoxication.
4.) Train to get fit in the heat. Heat acclimatization and fitness reduce fluid and electrolyte losses by up to 50%.
5.) Wear the lightest, most evaporation-friendly clothing you can afford. Cotton isn't on the list. Many fibers today provide superior wicking and evaporation that allow your sweat to do the work nature intended.
6.) In general, keep fluid intake between 20-25 oz (approx 590-740 ml)/hr. For lighter weight athletes, or those exercising in cooler temperatures, 16-18 oz (approx 473-532 ml)/hr may be perfect. Heavier athletes or athletes competing in hotter conditions may consider intakes upwards of 28 oz (approx 830 ml)/hr. If you feel you need more fluids, experiment with it in training, keeping in mind that you will require additional electrolytes. Regular fluid intake over 30 oz (approx 890 ml)/hr increases the possibility of dilutional hyponatremia.
7.) Use cold fluids as much as possible as your body absorbs them more rapidly than warm fluids. Know where to find cold water along your training routes. Use frozen and insulated water bottles and hydration packs.
8.) Urine color can indicate hydration level. Dark yellow urine means low hydration. Pale to light yellow is good. Don't confuse the bright yellow urine you get after vitamin B-2 (riboflavin) supplementation for the dark yellow urine that indicates overly concentrated urine.
9.) During exercise, avoid foods and fuels that contain low chain carbohydrates. These simple sugar fuels require more fluids and electrolytes for digestive purposes. Also avoid carbonated drinks, as the gas inhibits absorption.
10.) Consider using Hammer Nutrition's Liquid Endurance, a glycerol-based product, in a loading dose format prior to racing in the heat. The use of glycerol will maximize your fluid storage, which can be of great benefit during hot weather racing. Follow the specific instructions that come with the product.
11.) Use caffeine with caution. Used properly and sparingly, caffeine has ergogenic benefits. It does, however, act as a diuretic, which may deplete fluid stores more rapidly.
12.) During the hottest weather conditions, sponging yourself off with cold water, while taking a short periodic break from race pace, will provide heat relief.
13.) Know the symptoms of overhydration and dehydration. Stop immediately if you feel lightheaded or queasy or get the dry chills. No race or training is worth compromising your health.
Dehydration and overhydration are common problems that plague far too many athletes, some with severe consequences. Armed with the guidelines contained in this article, along with practice and testing in training, your performance and health need not suffer. Instead, you'll be ahead of the vast majority of athletes who continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.
Steve Born is a technical advisor for Hammer Nutrition with well over a decade of involvement in the health food industry. He has worked with hundreds of athletes—ranging from the recreational athlete to world-class professional athlete—helping them to optimize their supplement/fueling program. Steve is a three-time RAAM finisher, the 1994 Furnace Creek 508 Champion, 1999 runner-up, the only cyclist in history to complete a Double Furnace Creek 508, and is the holder of two Ultra Marathon Cycling records. In February 2004 Steve was inducted into the Ultra Marathon Cycling Hall of Fame.
© 2008, Endurance Marketing Group. This information is copyright protected. Please feel free to distribute this information as long as this copyright notice and EMG's phone number and/or URL are included. Content must remain unchanged and original authorship acknowledged.
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Creating Future PA Leaders
The Stanford School of Medicine Master of Science in Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program seeks to develop highly skilled clinical PAs and inspire PA students to become PA leaders through work in scholarly concentrations, including community health, clinical research, health services and policy research, and medical education. During the 9-quarter program, students will be educated by exceptional Stanford clinical faculty, will immerse themselves in scholarly concentrations to build leadership skills, and will experience clinical practice in a world-class healthcare infrastructure.
Redefining PA Education
The Stanford University School of Medicine is at the forefront of transforming medical education. Medical students at Stanford benefit from an educational model known as the "flipped classroom", which moves traditional lecture content to online video, thereby freeing classroom time for interactive learning among peers and faculty. The Master of Science Degree in PA Studies Program will harness this model and other innovative concepts in the future to redefine PA education.


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R. Kelly Spends the Night in Jail After He's Unable to Make $1 Million Bond
R. Kelly spent the night in jail on Saturday after failing to meet his $1 million bond.
The singer was arrested in Chicago, and charged with sexually assaulting four women, three of which were teens. He's facing a 10-count indictment. Kelly, 52, will stand before a judge on Monday.
His lawyer, Steve Greenberg, has said that Kelly is "an innocent man," according to a report from E! Online. The attorney added that he believes the victim's claims are untrue.
"I think all the women are lying," he said.
Greenberg added, "He's a rock star, he doesn't have to have nonconsensual sex. We're going to look at the evidence and see where it takes us."
Three of Kelly's alleged victims were between the ages of 13 and 17 when he allegedly attacked them. All of the incidents appear to have taken place as far back as 1998. A judge called the allegations against Kelly "disturbing."
He reportedly showed no emotion as a prosecutor rattled off the charges against him. Kelly was ordered to stay away from his victims, and not contact them in any way. He's not to have contact with anyone 18 years old or younger, had to turn in his passport and cannot possess any firearms.
Each of the charges against Kelly carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. He will be released ahead of his trial if he's able to post $100,000 bail, which is 10 percent of his bond.


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We are few days away from the end of the 2015 and looking back at my year in pictures I just realized how amazing it has been for me! I strongly believe that if something makes you smile than it is good for you, and today, when saving my mobile photos I noticed how many people and smiles have filled my life folder! 2015 has been unforgettable.
From Reykjavik to Myvatn, Skagarstrond, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Athens, Italy, Mexico city and Playa del Carmen, every single moment and every single person crossing my path has contributed at making this year one of the most intense and beautiful years in ages.
So here we go.
Let's have a look at my year in this slideshow of the best photos taken from my mobile. I haven't edited any of them. They come as pure as they are, most of them not perfect because of my old phone, but all of them pure in spirit and smiles.
These are the people I have shared and cherished my last 365 days with. They are all special. And all the moment we have shared together are special as well. I have most probably forgot many, but I thank all of you to be part of my world and of my life. You guys truly rock!


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This post was updated at 4:15 a.m. ET Friday:
U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio after a flight from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, according to a Pentagon spokesman. He will receive medical treatment and will be reunited with his family.
This post was updated at 5:30 p.m. ET
Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has left a hospital in Germany on a military flight to San Antonio, where he will continue his rehabilitation at Brooke Army Medical Center after being held for five years by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Associated Press quotes a Pentagon official as saying that Bergdahl was en route to Texas.
NPR's Tom Bowman says Bergdahl, who was freed by Taliban captors in a controversial prisoner swap late last month, will return to U.S. soil sometime early Friday morning.
"At this point, officials say Bergdahl has not spoken with his parents, but they are expected to have a reunion at San Antonio at the Army hospital," Tom says.
"There's no word on how long this phase of his recovery will take," he says.
According to NBC, Bergdahl "will not make any public appearances during Phase 3 of his reintegration process, and there will be no media coverage of his return or during his stay at Brooke Army Medical Center."
The AP reports:
"Officials have kept a lid on details of Bergdahl's condition and his travel plans out of concern that he not be rushed back into the public spotlight after a lengthy period in captivity and amid a public uproar over the circumstances of his capture and release.
"Officials also said Thursday that the Army has not yet formally begun a new review into the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture and whether he walked away without leave or was deserting the Army when he was found and taken by insurgents.
"The answers to those questions will be key to whether Bergdahl will receive more than $300,000 in back pay that is owed to him since he disappeared in June 2009 from his post in eastern Afghanistan. If he was determined to be a prisoner of war, he also could receive roughly another $300,000 or more, if recommended and approved by Army leaders, according to a U.S. official."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Shakespeare's life is as full of fiction as his plays are. In fact, historians have taken decades to separate the legends and bawdy stories from fact. Some of the juiciest tales are now debunked, while others are new theories to fill in the holes in his biography. Here are five "to-be-or-not" stories of the bard.
The story goes that while still home in Stratford, the newly married Shakespeare was caught stealing deer belonging to Stratford bigwig Sir Thomas Lucy. Questioned and whipped by Lucy himself, Shakespeare felt so much shame he fled to London and became an actor. This scandalous tale was an accepted fact for centuries. Who wouldn't want to believe Western literature's greatest name started as a disgraced thief?
But while the Lucys did keep deer, scholars now find no evidence of this escapade, though four different biographers have repeated it. Most likely, it began as a rumor in the 17th century to explain why Shakespeare would leave predictable, comfortable, stuck-in-a-rut Stratford for the excitement of London.
Richard Burbage was Shakespeare's most celebrated actor, playing most of their company's leading roles. Along with his father, Burbage provided his company with two theaters—the Theater and the more famous Globe—but that apparently didn't stop Shakespeare from stealing his woman.
According to historical rumor, after a performance of Richard III—with Burbage in the title role—a young fan invited the actor to visit her secretly and to announce at her door, "Richard the third has come." Shakespeare overheard the plan and raced to the lady's room. When Burbage arrived and announced himself as told, Shakespeare sent word down that "William the Conqueror came before Richard the third."
Shakespeare may well have scooped up women from Burbage, but nothing supports this story being more than legend.
Long after Shakespeare's death, Restoration-era playwright William Davenant was one of four men commissioned in the 1660s with interpreting and adapting his works. To Davenant, born 1606, this was preordained: Publicly, Shakespeare was his godfather, but Davenant claimed just as publicly that they were actually father and son.
Shakespeare was close to the Davenants. William said he learned how close in a roundabout way at school. The Davenants lived in Oxford, where Shakespeare sojourned when on his way to visit his family in Stratford. Young William was summoned once from school to meet him. Questioned on the way by a teacher, William said he hurried to see his godfather. The teacher quipped that William should know better than to use God's name in vain. William claimed to have been named after Shakespeare and maintained he wrote with his supposed father's "very spirit."
The most vocal supporter of this genealogy was—guess who—William Davenant. There was no real proof that he was Shakespeare's son. How claiming that he was helped his career can only be guessed, but were you ever forced to read William Davenant in school?
Shakespeare's plays are full of conspiracies, even the comedies. The idea that he didn't just write conspiracies but lived one as well is an enticing theory of his early life. Was young Shakespeare a reluctant Catholic spy? Shakespeare historian Stephen Greenblatt imagines so.
Queen Elizabeth I made a show of persecuting Catholics early in her reign. Will's father John, as a Stratford official, was responsible for the destruction of the altar of Stratford's Catholic chapel. But John was also a secret Catholic. During renovations to the Shakespeare family home in the 18th century, a book was found in the rafters: a "spiritual declaration" of the Catholic faith signed by John, with space for other names, and prepared by Jesuit priest Edmund Campion, executed for treason in 1581.
Greenblatt suggests this and other passing affiliations with Campion pushed the young Shakespeare into carrying messages between Catholic priests hidden near Stratford. These jaunts brought William close to 26-year-old Anne Hathaway.
Both parents deceased, Anne was very available. Did she provide Shakespeare with a release from the intrigue forced on him?
They married quickly in 1582. William was 18. Anne was pregnant, so there's also that. She was left in Stratford while Shakespeare played around in London, suggesting the whole affair was born out of youthful rebellion. But until the sonnet "I was a teenage anarchist" shows up—which would definitively prove Shakespeare's role in an actual latent rebellion—this lies squarely in conjecture.
Did Shakespeare, a glove-maker's son from Stratford, really shake up the Elizabethan theater scene? Many historians question whether Shakespeare was a pseudonym or even a complete invention overall. A dozen names have been put forth as the real Shakespeare—most strangely, the martyred Edmund Campion. Let's go with the best: Shakespeare was really Queen Elizabeth I herself. I know, right?
In his book Players: the Mysterious Identity of William Shakespeare, writer and entertainment lawyer Bertram Fields admits the Queen is an outside bet. Her breeding gives her the education needed to plot those histories and tragedies, and certain sonnets could contain clues she meant to leave. Then again, would she have written scenes she publicly found abhorrent and, as Fields points out, suppressed or deplored them?
Other (flimsy) evidence lies in Shakespeare's portrait included in the first publication of his plays, called the First Folio. Under computer imaging, Shakespeare without his beard is supposedly a dead ringer for the Virgin Queen—if that portrait really is Shakespeare; it was done seven years after his death. Still doesn't bode well for Anne Hathaway. But it would make a hell of a story for William Davenant.


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Monsters and witches and werewolves, oh my! The spooky season is upon us—and nothing sets the scene for All Hallows' Eve quite like some ghostly music.
Let us provide the soundtrack for your Halloween haunts. On this Saturday's episode of Second Inversion: music of ghosts, goblins, and things that go BUMP in the night. Listen along as we visit a musical Frankenstein, spend a night at the Bates Motel, dance with an army of skeletons, and step inside a composer's nightmare.
To listen, tune in to KING FM on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 9pm PT.


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Looking at these photographs you have to wonder whether this is real or the result of an optical illusion.
The Krzywy Domek, as it is originally called, is part of the Rezident shopping center in Sopot, Poland. It is three stories high, has a total of about 4,000 square meters and is now the "residence" of a pub called the Wonky Pub. Although it's architecture is similar to that of the surrounding buildings, this Crooked House seems weary or melting. Ever since it was built, in 2004, the Crooked House became Poland's most photographed building.
This unusual house is the result of Polish architect's Szotynscy Zaleski imaginative mind, who was inspired by Jan Marcin Szancer's fairytale illustrations and also by Per Dahlberg's art, whose drawings you can find inside the Krzywy Domek. (video).