Instead of preloading, what about using sodium bicarbonate as your sodium source for training an racing hour after hour? Looks like it’s about 25% sodium, so adding 2,000 mg bicarb per liter of water would give you 500mg sodium. Is that enough bicarb to even help buffer if taken hour after hour? Or is it too much after 5 to 10 hours and taking it while exercising would cause problems, even though it’s a tiny amount per hour? The recommended preload for my weight all at once for an hour workout is about the same amount I would take for just the sodium for 10 hours. Any experience out there?
Gaslighting?
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Haha 
If you’re serious, it breaks down to sodium chloride + CO2 when it reacts with stomach acid. Doesn’t seem like fun while racing.
Also sodium citrate is easier on the stomach than sodium chloride if I remember from Dr. Harrison.
And finally at some amount sodium bicarbonate, you could cause alkalosis.
You only benefit from buffering at higher intensities, so I don’t think it would be useful in the scenarios you described.
Just so you’re aware, it doesn’t break down into sodium chloride. Just sodium and CO2.
“While both table salt and sodium bicarbonate contain sodium, one of their differences is the substances bound together with the sodium. They also perform different jobs in the body. A component of table salt helps form stomach acid, while sodium bicarbonate neutralizes that same acid. Table salt contains sodium and chloride, so its chemical name is sodium chloride. Sodium bicarbonate is also known as baking soda. Its sodium is attached to bicarbonate made from molecules of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen.”
There is no chloride in baking soda for it to break down into.
And just to entertain yourself further -
" While it might seem counterintuitive, a moderate increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels during endurance training can potentially enhance performance by improving oxygen delivery to muscles, thereby boosting endurance and potentially leading to better recovery from fatigue; however, this should be done carefully and under guidance due to potential risks associated with high CO2 levels.
How CO2 can benefit endurance training:
- Bohr Effect:
When CO2 levels rise slightly in the blood, it triggers a physiological response called the Bohr effect, which makes it easier for oxygen to detach from red blood cells and be delivered to working muscles.
- Increased blood flow:
Elevated CO2 can stimulate vasodilation, increasing blood flow to muscles, which can improve oxygen delivery.
- Metabolic efficiency:
Some research suggests CO2 may play a role in optimizing metabolic processes within muscles, potentially improving energy utilization during exercise."
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The new reality doesn’t start until Jan 20 so hold your horses for now.
NaHCO₃ (aq) + HCl (aq) → NaCl (aq) + H₂O (l) + CO₂ (g)
Nothing “breaks down” preferentially - constituent reagents will determine the outcome of the reaction- and stomach acid (juice?) will be the source of your HCL.
Just curious what problem you are trying to solve with this? We’ve seen a couple examples of high profile athletes using the maurten bicarb during events. Sounds like you’re thinking just [powdered] bicarb straight into bottles? I’d guess you’d need the loading dose to get the effect of bicarb rather than a slow drip and that you’re risking gastro distress for no particular gain, but only one way to find out!
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The OP proposed the topic as a means of sourcing / supplementing Sodium
I’m not interested in preloading to get the beneficial effect of buffering for a short hard effort. I’m interested in this - I’m taking in sodium anyway, bound to something (I usually use sodium citrate), so why not bind it to something that’s more useful like CO2. And taken in non-gastric-catastrophic doses over a gradual period of time, wouldn’t the CO2’s gentle buffering effect plus a gentle Bohr effect actually be of more ergogenic benefit than citrate, which might actually be acidic when split from sodium citrate. (not sure on that last one). I’m talking about taking the same amount people use for “preloading” before a workout over many, many hours for two reasons - 1. You have to take in sodium anyway, why not sodium bicarb over sodium citrate since the hourly amount is so small it won’t cause gastric distress, and 2. the CO2 released might actually be helpful instead of neutral.
I just tested out this morning doing a 1/4 teaspoon in my coffee half an hour before my ride and then another 1/4 teaspoon in my sugar fuel during the ride (same as if I had been doing my usual sodium citrate) and along with not shitting my pants had about a 5% improvement in watts on my usual ride and noticeable reduction in perception of pain when doing a 10 minute interval at the end that I ride at the threshold of “lactic burn”.
What I’m seeing from responses here is nobody’s actually tried it as a long distance sodium citrate replacement and reasons why not are based on hyper-dosing insane amounts for 1 hour workouts. And also bad science that it contains chloride, which it doesn’t.
Can somebody point out why taking it in similar small amount over time as sodium citrate is bad? With sourced and researched facts?
You and me both on that one. Earth 2 is going to be a wild ride of alternative facts that is going to test our patience greatly.
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I never said it contains chlorine - read the reaction Yutaka posted. It reacts with HCl (stomach acid). It is even used as an antacid sometimes for this reason.
I would err on the side of caution for a couple reasons:
- your preload amount, if I’m reading that correctly, is near or over the FDA safe amount:
which mentions “As an over-the-counter antacid, baking soda is considered safe by the Food and Drug Administration at a maximum daily dosage of 200 mEq sodium bicarbonate in young individuals and 100 mEq sodium bicarbonate in those aged >60 years. One teaspoon (5 g) of baking soda contains ~59 mEq of sodium bicarbonate”
Yes I realize the rest of the article is about crazy high amounts of sodium bicarbonate above what we’re discussing here. I’m only referencing it for what I quoted.
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I’d be more careful with my kidneys at full IM distance, and messing with electrolytes is risky.
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The previous mention of gas formation in your stomach could lead to digestion issues - which is bad for performance at long course.
Now all that said, I think it’s unlikely to ingest even 20g of baking soda over an IM, but why risk it? Not to mention the taste…
if you are interested in knowing more about bicarbonate here is a reasonable source of info:
. It explains the breakdown and purposes etc.
The side effects of taking bicarbonate need to be factored in. When you drink a bicarbonate solution as noted above it breaks down into carbon dioxide (causes gas/ burping) some bicarbonate ions, and sodium ions, (NOT NaCL which does not exist in solution your 1st year stoichiometry does not work in the case of solutions) and some of it stays as HCO3 (bicarbonate) which is a buffering compound… Read the blog post from Asker it will give you more and useful info.
This was the subject of my master’s thesis way back in the 1980s. The practical issues were not pleasant.
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Sorry I missed the part where you said “(causes gas/ burping)” - which was my main point about the neutralization. Versus sodium citrate where that is not an issue.
And lesson learned - I apparently fail at editing from a phone.
Right. It binds to the CL already in your stomach acid, which is probably why it’s also an anti-acid. Exactly in line with what I said - it doesn’t contain CL. I think what people are failing to grasp here is this is the same as me asking “How about I take 500mg of caffeine spread out over the entire day of an Ironman instead of all at once an hour before the race?”
What I’m getting back from the gallery is a whole bunch of “studies show taking 500 mg of caffeine all at once will make you sick.” Yeah, that’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking if anybody has tried bicarb in small doses spread out over a full day. You also don’t take a ton of Tylenol all at once but it’s safe every X hours.
So again, nobody here has actually tested or know of a test taking a relatively tiny amount of sodium bicarb per hour over many many hours, which scientifically shouldn’t have any negative effects and possibly has positive effects, as a way to get their electrolytes in?
I think, again, you need to look at the stoichiometry and relative magnitudes and contributions. 1/2 teaspoon net is +/- 2 grams of bicarb that will net 2g of CO2 that reside in your gut first (non of which may ultimately diffuse to the bloodstream) - you’re generating 3X that in real blood CO2 concentration with every gram of sugar you metabolize / 4 calories expended and through the act of exercises, in fact putting the Bohr effect into full practice.
Good point. We might be where only testing will be able to determine. Let’s say it only offers a 10% benefit and only under higher load when the natural CO2 is being depleted. 10% is actually still a huge benefit at exactly the time you’d need it most. CO2 already being in the blood doesn’t mean more isn’t useful.
I’m pretty sure the caffeinated Maurten drink mix has sodium bicarb in it.