Does anyone out there have any knowledge to pass on about sodium supplementation via sodium citrate rather than good old sodium chloride?
I was listening to a recent episode of the TR podcast wherein they we're talking about how people need to sodium but can't process all the extra chloride very well, resulting in gastric distress during long events. I don't want to jump on a nutrition fad, but their description sounded a lot like how I have felt in the latter part of races. Also, there have been many times when I've taken a lot of salt pills and felt like they weren't 'working', which I usually try to fix with my salt. If the chloride was really the culprit there, then obviously that would just make the problem worse.
Then I guess I have two questions:
1. Is sodium citrate something people have switched to with good results?
2. How do you get it? On the bike I use skratch, which uses citrate for it's sodium, which is good. But I don't think I could drink nearly enough to get enough sodium. A 'correctly mixed' bottle of skratch (4%carb solution) will have 540mg of Na (three servings in a 24 oz bike bottle, 120 cals) and I drink two on a half distance bike leg, so I get about a gram, but common guidelines are in the range of one gram per hour. So I usually pop saltstick pills, 215mg Na per pill, from NaCl. The only other product I can find that uses citrate is saltstick fast chews, which only have a paltry 50mg Na. I'd have to take 20-30 of those on a half IM bike, along with my skratch and water, which doesn't sound appealing. Any other way to get it, besides ordering a bag and making my own pills?
Thanks
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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.
I was listening to a recent episode of the TR podcast wherein they we're talking about how people need to sodium but can't process all the extra chloride very well, resulting in gastric distress during long events. I don't want to jump on a nutrition fad, but their description sounded a lot like how I have felt in the latter part of races. Also, there have been many times when I've taken a lot of salt pills and felt like they weren't 'working', which I usually try to fix with my salt. If the chloride was really the culprit there, then obviously that would just make the problem worse.
Then I guess I have two questions:
1. Is sodium citrate something people have switched to with good results?
2. How do you get it? On the bike I use skratch, which uses citrate for it's sodium, which is good. But I don't think I could drink nearly enough to get enough sodium. A 'correctly mixed' bottle of skratch (4%carb solution) will have 540mg of Na (three servings in a 24 oz bike bottle, 120 cals) and I drink two on a half distance bike leg, so I get about a gram, but common guidelines are in the range of one gram per hour. So I usually pop saltstick pills, 215mg Na per pill, from NaCl. The only other product I can find that uses citrate is saltstick fast chews, which only have a paltry 50mg Na. I'd have to take 20-30 of those on a half IM bike, along with my skratch and water, which doesn't sound appealing. Any other way to get it, besides ordering a bag and making my own pills?
Thanks
------------------------------------------------------------
Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.