Wow. Adding Endurolytes to Perpetuem? One of the reasons I like Perpetuem is that I don't have to add endurolytes. You must really need a lot of electrolytes! If you're concerned about it, just pull the capsule apart and dump the contents into whatever you want them to dissolve in. Oh, santa...while I have your attention, please bring me a TitanFlex Large, set up in road bike parts with a next-to-the stiffest boom. Thanks!

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

I brake them apart and add them to my sustained energy and hammer gel. 200 - 300mg/hr works well for me in the hot FL. sun.

Rich

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Richard Nixon, Fit2Tri Multisport Inc.
Fit2Tri,
rich@fit2tri.com
Discount code, slowtwithch

I had to use endurolytes with perpetuem, too.

BE WARNED - endurolytes capsules are very salty tasting. Hammer makes a powdered endurolyte that is designed to be mixed in - from what I hear it does not taste nearly as salty.

I ditched perpetuem, and now I am thinking of adding NUUN to cytomax to get the right amount of electrolytes for me. Maybe next year...

Titan, remember, santa knows all. You showed on the naughty list. :-)

Yes, I have an extreme sweat rate. I have been training with perpetuem and endurolytes all summer and stomach about 2 scoops of perp and 4 endurolytes an hour. Only thing to fight off the cramps for me in the 90 degree heat.

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Michael

Yes, Santa. I knew I would probably be found on that list.

I didn't take any Endurolytes, nor Perpetuem with me today. Rode 65 miles with a group that likes to hammer (and I am as guilty as anyone about that), and I really paid for it with cramps towards the end of the ride, and it wasn't even hot. I'm actually lucky I had some cramps, because I rode up ahead to stop at a store for some Gatorade. The group passed me while I was inside, and I worked hard to catch them. I got within a couple of hundred yards and started fighting cramping in my quads and calves, so I eased up to gather myself for the final bridge. Right then, I saw them all go down in a heap. It wasn't pretty...and I could have been right in that mess if I had properly fueled/electrolyted. Lots of blood, some very sore ribs, arms, knees, and hands (I will never understand why some people don't wear gloves in a group ride. Gloves are the only thing that can save humongous amounts of skin from being smeared all over the road...three of the six had no gloves on...and they are the three fastest/best riders of the group. It ain't cool as far as I'm concerned. Anyway...), and bent bike parts, but I think major damage was avoided, if you consider lacking much skin on your palms as minor.

Glad you found that adding Endurolytes to your Perpetuem works well for you. Losing about 200 lbs. and shaving your beard might help some, too. ;-)

Ride safely.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

The reason I use them is so I can drink plain old water and still get my electrolyte fix. I just put them in a baggy in my back shirt pocket and pull one out. It would work great in a Betto bag also.

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_________________________________
I'll be what I am
A solitary man

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People I've loved, I have no regrets
Some I remember, some I forget
Some of them living, some of them dead
All I want is to be home ".....Foo Fighters, Home

I've found the powdered form to be as salty as the capsule, so the only way to make it work if you're mixing it is to add it to something strong. For this reason, though, I just pop the capsules. Yes, you might drop a few, but it's better than not drinking an important fluid because it is unpalatably salty.

By the way, I used Endurolytes during The Canadian Iron yesterday, and on a day that my nutrition was, uh, "ragged", I made it through the 11:54 without a moment of cramping. I probably used six on the bike, and eight on the run, all as pairs. A great product!

I add them to water bottles all the time and don't mind the taste. I usually don't add more than 2 though. They dissolve failry well. It seems like there is a little bit of something more for the first couple of sips, but then it works ok for me.

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Don't hold back

Do you know they do make it as a powder as well so you don't have to break down the capsules?



Barb L

the powder mixes up better. However, I ran out powder and have been opening up the capsules and it still works fine. Not as good as the powder, but it works.

I like to carry a water bottle for 1/2 marathon distance runs and up. If I figure I need electrolyte caps, I twist each one in a bit of plastic wrap, and then tape to the bottle. When i stop at a water table, I pull one off, bite it to crack the capsule, and throw it in the bottle, plastic and all. Having the bottle full of ice and water saved my butt at Spirit of Racine 1/2IM this year ( heat index 110 ).

I know this is an old thread but it seemed to be the right place to post.

I'm curious if anyone bites or breaks your Endurolytes or other capsules when you pop them. Watching the Olympics, I've seen a couple things that make me think some of the athletes break them before downing them. Who knows what they were taking but it raised the question. On the triathlon coverage it looked like Matt Reed or one of the male racers was biting something small on the bike. I know the woman's marathon winner seemed to be breaking something and then snorting it...or smelling salts...or whatever kept her going. I also seem to remember the Chinese racers biting something they then ate as well. Just curious if anyone knew of some benefit or drawback or even what they might have been using. I prefer to just pop them but may try to bite them when I crave the extra salt.

I saw the same thing in the women's mary. I have never tried biting or chewing the enduralytes. I have used the powder before and like that better, as I do not swallow pills very well when racing.

LD

I've seen those Salt Stick devices advertised. They might be the answer to the problem of how to get caps into the body without losing any.


BK

I read somewhere that if you want or need the salt rapidly you can bite it before you swallow it. I have done this a few times. A little salty but no big deal. It breaks the capsule allowing it to start dissolving sooner.

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All great truths begin as Blasphemies.

Did I miss another thread on that topic? I was wondering what the heck she could be snorting that could have been legal. Whatever it is, I want some of it if it will make me run that fast ;)

I really think that salt intake is the hardest thing to get right.

How many times during races do you hear complaints of getting the runs during the run? Well guess what, salt tabs are laxatives.

I think many people over-do it because it's the legend that you need it to prevent cramps.

Please buy the book "Lore Of Running" by Tim Noaks read it.

As I recall, you have more than adequet sodium reserves in your body for any event - and there is no proof at all that cramping is related to electrolyte depletion.

You can tolerate considerable dehydration just fine.

Isotonic liquid intake can help you take in water/glucose faster.

Too much salt will inhibit liquid uptake, and actually draw water from the rest of your body into your GI system, thus giving you the squirts and a bad day.

IMHO, leave them alone, rely on isotonic sports drink only.

Point taken on doing my best to avoid using them. The general sentiment of trying to get more natural sources is something I also agree with. I've come across folks that swear by them and obviously take any one individual's race strategy or advice with "a grain of salt." I've actually only ever tried them on a couple long training runs building to a marathon but never brought them along to a race. I've had races where I felt like I needed salt. It made me think I probably could have used them. It was the use of little capsules on a few instances in the Olympics that really made me curious. The fact that they seemed to be biting them made me suspect that they were taking something else entirely. The Romanian runner just seemed weird but it made me more aware of what other folks were taking.

To me, Endurolytes just seem like a good backup plan in case something goes wrong. They seem small enough to squirrel away in a little bag on the bike or your pocket and take in a pinch. It seems to me that you get something like 120 calories and around 50 mg of sodium from Endurolytes which is in the range of a gel or Gatorade Endurance.

As I think about it, I would classify my nutrition into two stages BI and AI (Before InfiniT and After InfiniT). I haven't had the salt cravings since switching to InfiniT with a little boost in sodium to account for my heavier sweat rate. I'm just concerned that by putting all my eggs in one bottle so to speak that I'll loose my concentrate on like mile five end up SOL. A bag of capsules and Gatorade from aid stations seemed like it might be able to get me through.

As others have mentioned, the use of nutrition products varies a lot among individuals. In my individual case, I use electrolyte capsules (Thermolytes) on long workouts/long races. This spring I tried dropping the Gatorade Endurance and used just water and Thermolytes - wow, what a difference. Now, I just use water and the tabs and forego the sports drinks completely. If it's hot or cold, this strategy seems to work for me. To each their own, of course!

I would love to know just what the Romanian woman was doing. I kept waiting for her to rub it on her teeth or do something like this.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UyR8CZuy6zE

I dont bite anything during the short races... just cytomax in the bottle mate.

I might have been biting my tongue from saying take a pull you **ckers! just kidding!

OK, so I just switched to CarboPro - no electrolytes. If cramping isn't a symptom of needing more, how do you decide how much you need? I had bloodwork run after IM Lou and my sodium was a little low, so I don't have it right yet, but I don't know what I'm feeling for....

[Wow. Adding Endurolytes to Perpetuem? One of the reasons I like Perpetuem is that I don't have to add endurolytes.]
I do not know but I found 231 mg per serving is not that much and I drink Perpetuem.
My Infinit mix has 406 mg per serving and the slider is @ 45% or so.

Fred.