How do you carry salt pills for racing? From what I’ve read, the Saltstick dispenser doesn’t work all that well. In training it’s easy to slow or stop, but I’d rather not do that on race day. A thought was to embed them in Cliff Blocks by making a hole with a knife, then put them back into the packaging.
The dispensers work great for me on the bike. I use a small rubber coin purse to hold them on the run and it fits easily in the hip pocket on a tri suit.
I’m using the plastic case from Mentos gum at IMLOU this weekend. Other use the plastic case from mini M&M’s.
I just use a small prescription pill bottle.
Last year at Kona I used one of the Monday-Sunday pill separator thing. It has 7 different compartments and you can fit 3 salt tabs in each, worked great for me. I don’t like having all the salt pills in one compartment, as I have lost quite a few salt tabs while running and trying to get them out. This way I just open up one compartment and out comes 3 tabs.
Last year at Kona I used one of the Monday-Sunday pill separator thing.
I’m picturing something kinda big/awkward to carry here. Usually they are a rectangle about 6 inches long. You carried that? On the bike? Running? How?
Yeah, I only used it on the run. Fits into the back pocket of my Konami. I used salt stick dispensers on the bike.
Yeah, I only used it on the run. Fits into the back pocket of my Konami. I used salt stick dispensers on the bike.
Ko-what-i?
I had the same dilemma. I came up with a solution that worked really well for me but I don’t have a photo of the set-up so I’ll just explain it. I cut a medical rubber glove at the finger and cut off the tip as well - so i had a little tube - that i fed over my drinking straw (using a speedfill aerobar set-up with the straw tucked outof the wind). I doubled it over for strength and put the pills that i needed in the pocket it created with the straw. Amazing how easy it is to just pop it out in a millisecond without slowing.
i hope that helps for you
M&M minis dispenser. If you go to the candy aisle, there are plenty of options for small, resealable containers.
http://marsvending.com/images/products/mmsministube.gif
http://www.candywarehouse.com/assets/item/regular/mentos-SF-tropical-130331-im.jpg
http://www.kiwamitri.com/shop/_1-11.html
Best tri suit I have used for Long Course. The pockets in the back are pretty long, so it fits in quite well. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Mentos gum container, airtight and cheap!
http://www.kiwamitri.com/shop/_1-11.html
Best tri suit I have used for Long Course. .
i agree than konami is awesome, but bathroom stops on a long course is a killer. what do you do?
How do you carry salt pills for racing? From what I’ve read, the Saltstick dispenser doesn’t work all that well. In training it’s easy to slow or stop, but I’d rather not do that on race day. A thought was to embed them in Cliff Blocks by making a hole with a knife, then put them back into the packaging.
I use the plastic case that earplugs come in on the run. The salt stick dispenser (large size) works great if you have bars they fit in. I bought my bars because they fit. I loved Easton bars, but didn’t work with salt stick dispenser so I found others that did.
Bathroom stops? I piss all over myself…And then rinse off with water. And if for some reason I had to stop, roll up the shorts a little bit and piss that way. Now as far as doing more than just pissing, well you are kind of shit out of luck there. You have to take of the suit, just like you would with cycling bibs.
Saltstick dispenser works great for me on the bike.
Running, like others, I used to use an empty Nuun tube in tri gear with pockets. I’ve now got a suit with no pockets and use a Spibelt as a number belt and put the tabs in that
I have to take a lot of salt pills to keep my body up and running so I just use a plain old zip-lock bag. I seal it before the swim and tuck it in my back pocket. It take a little manoeuvring on the bike to open it and use your mouth to suck in the number of pills you want, but for the most part it’s hassle free. And when it comes to the run I just tuck them in at the waist of my tri shorts and they don’t budge an inch.
For scale purposes…only 1 pill will fit in each slot.
Easy to pop 1 day open…4-4.5" long carry one on bike and one for run.
I went to camera store at mall and got 5-6 35mm film canisters several years back and they work like a charm. East access, waterproof, disposable.
I use a TicTacs container (looks like the Mentos one) but in my last race, it was in my hand as I hit one of those metal joiners between concrete slabs on the highway, and went flying out of my hand. I didn’t feel like going back to pick up salt tabs that were scattered all over the filthy highway. Now I’m paranoid of that happening again so I guess I’ll get a bento box and start carrying a spare one for redundancy 
I was going to get a Salt Stick but based on the comments here, I’ll stick to the candy container. Thx.