No. Afterwards sometimes. Keep on top of your electrolytes with your drink of choice: Gatorade, Infinit, Tailwind, Gu Brew, etc.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I don't use but I do know some fast folks who live in the southern states in the US who swear by it. They carry it in a belt or stash it somewhere if running loops.
I personally prefer defizzed cola.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Hello. Poland (aka Pickleland) here. I’ve never heard of anyone taking pickle juice to a race. Risky (too much sodium) and - when served warm - probably gross, too. It would be worse than having warm beer, or that beer-flavored gel that made me question if my IQ isn’t single digit on a certain day.

I keep my pickle juice in the fridge and reward myself with a chilled glass of relief - followed by plenty of tap water - after a hot workout.

As far as weird race day drinks go, I’ve considered coconut water but never had the gall to follow through.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

There's a cucumber-lime Gatorade I'd heard of? But that may just have been a joke (I fucking hope so, anyway LOL)

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Pepino Limon Gatorade is actually really good. Seems pretty common in all the taqueria's and hole in the wall gas stations I've visited in TX.

Pickle juice isn't an electrolyte source, it's used to elicit the gusto-facial reflex and short circuit the transmission of cramping signals in the nervous system. It's well proven to be effective in this application.

For the OP - I use a gel flask. Works great.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

I've never tried pickle juice, but I always carry a few mustard packets and they've worked miracles on a few occasions to banish cramps.

Yes, but only cycling events when they offer the stuff on course. I love the stuff. I’ve never used it in a triathlon and wouldn’t know how to carry it. The only legitimate pickle juice is green because it came from pickling cucumbers. Clear pickle juice is an abomination against all things holy and right.

My daughter & I are coming in VERY LATE to the home pickling game which started during the first years of COVID, there is NO FUCKING WAY that I'd drink that shit

Sugar + vinegar + garlic + "other stuff" = I can't see how that would help anyone in an athletic endeavor

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Yup, same mechanism of action. I often recommend hot mustard packets from Chinese take-out to the athletes I work with because they're so compact, and you get kind of a double dose as both the heat and the acid work to trigger the reflex.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Inneresting.
Tempted to try it but the Chinese restaurants around here - Hong Kong, go figure - don't give you mustard packets. I'd have to go get the normal ones from shake shack.

Don’t knock it till you try it!!! It’s the best

If they give out black vinegar packets, you might try that. It's been on my list of things to try for a while now.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

They must differ country by country a lot. Out here we're rolling in more of a sauercucumber fashion (analogy to sauerkraut). No vinegar or sugar, yes garlic (whole cloves - no grinding), salt, and dill. The whole thing is sour-salty and very refreshing.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Google " Gusto facial reflex" or "oropharyngeal reflex" and "cramping".

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Nothing beats a pickle back after a nice shot of whiskey lol.

But yes, pickle juice works to prevent cramping. Back in my hockey playing days, we used to keep a bottle on the bench. Came in handy during the third period or the 2-3 overtime games.

Bingo.

Mustard works better. Before I knew the first thing about nutrition, I used to carry water and a bottle of mustard with me to my high school swim practices. 🤦‍♂️

The cheaper the mustard, the better. $0.98 cent mustard from Walmart is my favorite. Reason the cheaper stuff works better: it tastes worse and is more vinegar-y. It's the acid in the mouth that may cause immediate/temporary cramp relief.

This is a cramp rescue method only, by the way. There are much better ways to prevent cramping (fueling appropriately with carbs and sodium throughout the training session).

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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📱 Check out our app → Saturday: Pro Fuel & Hydration, a performance nutrition coach in your pocket.
Join us on YouTube → Saturday Morning | Ride & Run Faster and our growing Saturday User Hub

Though my understanding is "the research" is murky on that, and the physiology of excercise-induced cramping are still somewhat of a mystery. We've been through the whole Dr. Noakes debate a bunch of times here. Which is a fun debate.

Tonic water with quinine is excellent for preventing cramps as well.

For clarity: fueling appropriately carbs & sodium prevents cramping not by some magical mechanism but by fatigue reduction, primarily. Fatigue and working beyond ones work capacity is the primary reason for cramping. Carbs and sodium just make things work longer. (because more energy availability and better blood volume (hydration) maintenance due to sodium)

(okay - maybe there's some yet-unknown mechanism involving sodium but it is truly a black box still)

Hope you're enjoying my usage of multiple parentheticals.

Re: Noakes...Maybe I'll write an article on the colorful and deadly history of all the hydration/anti-hydration, sodium/anti-sodium discussions. It's more of a book... actually. It's a drama for sure. Maybe a 2-hour diatribe for youtube. We'll see.

Suffice it to say: sodium does prevent cramps but probably mostly due to fatigue attenuation due to better hydration maintenance, not fancy muscle phys.

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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📱 Check out our app → Saturday: Pro Fuel & Hydration, a performance nutrition coach in your pocket.
Join us on YouTube → Saturday Morning | Ride & Run Faster and our growing Saturday User Hub

Would LOVE this!

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Kiwami Racing Team

DrAlexHarrison wrote:

Fatigue and working beyond ones work capacity is the primary reason for cramping.

Been a while since I researched it (from a lay background), but my understanding is even that correlation is not totally clear - or evenly distributed across people. Some people just never cramp, even if they fatigue themselves way beyond what they should. Others cramp at the drop of a hat - great sensitivity.

Quote:

sodium does prevent cramps

Not for me, n=1 I experimented for a few years, even doing ridiculous things like taking double-digit capules per hour starting at the start line and carbs to the limit of my gut. Zero apparent benefit. My cramping was heat-induced. Fitness level no apparent correlation . Of course people have to go slower in heat. But people who are not in the cohort of heat-induced crampers I don't think fully understand that "it's different" for us, by orders of magnitude. I've pretty much given up on almost any supplemental sodium, beyond a carb drink with a good amount.

The one thing that works pretty well is proper heat acclimitization.

[bolding by me, for emphasis]
You're right. Interindividual variability in cramping is enormous.

Quote:

sodium does prevent cramps

Did you consume double digit sodium on the line only, or also per hour during the activity? The latter would be more effective.

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
📱 Check out our app → Saturday: Pro Fuel & Hydration, a performance nutrition coach in your pocket.
Join us on YouTube → Saturday Morning | Ride & Run Faster and our growing Saturday User Hub

Both. I had a little bento on my toptube chock full of SaltStick capsules, and I forget the calculations since this was over a decade ago, but it was like double digit SaltStick capsules per hour. I was surprised I could do that with no apparent negative side effects - but it also had no apparent benefit when racing in ~100F+ heat. Can't prove it - maybe it delayed cramping by hours vs. if I hadn't. But it sure didn't "solve" the issue.

I love racing in the cold. If it's under 40F, I will never, ever cramp, no matter how hard or how long I go.