hydration is the thing I kept underestimating

Honestly took me embarrassingly long to clock how much of my bad training days were just... dehydration. Not bonking, not under-fuelling, just not drinking enough before I even laced up. I used to think hydration was something you sorted during the run. Sip from the vest, job done. But I'd roll out of bed, knock back a coffee and head straight out onto the fells and then wonder why my legs felt like concrete by mile four. Took a proper bad session on Helvellyn last autumn — felt dizzy coming off the ridge, proper grim — and that was the wake-up call. Now I drink a big glass of water the second I get up, before the matcha, before anything. And I try to actually arrive at a long effort already hydrated rather than playing catch-up the whole way round. The difference on longer stuff especially is real, like noticeably real. Mind you I still forget sometimes if I'm rushing out the door. It's not a fixed habit yet, more of a work in progress. On the vest side — I used to ration myself weirdly? Like I'd think "I'll save it for the climb" and then be sipping on fumes by the descent. No logic to it at all. Just drink the water, Fiona.