H2NO
The first time Chandra Lacombe made herself finish a bottle of water, she got sick. That was after her sophomore year in high school at a pole-vaulting camp.
“I filled up a Gatorade bottle with water and made myself drink it and I remember thinking it tasted terrible, like chlorine, and later that day my stomach hurt,” says Lacombe, who now pole vaults for the University of Florida.
Though water is the staple of most athletes’ training programs, Lacombe always drank a large Coke at meets in high school (she switched to Gatorade in college).
Graduating in May, Lacombe now believes it’s time to get over her distaste—and hatred—of water. So she drank another bottle of water last summer. And it took her an entire day to finish it.