Question for those of you who are competitive and have to take in around 2500 mg of sodium per hour
What are you using? how are you doing it?
Are you able to do it without concocting and mixing a whole mass of stuff together?
I have an extremely high sweat rate as well as sodium concentration in my sweat and trying to get close to replenishing on the electrolyte side is proving quite challenging.
I’ve struggled to fully express my fitness in longer races over the years (even when 100% under biking) and although i’ve known for a while I was a heavy heavy sweating athlete, I’ve finally realized that I need to put more focus into this…but I can’t figure out a simple and effective way to get in 2500 mg of sodium per hour in 35 ish oz of fluid per hour…also without spending $4 per bottle when training.
Question for those of you who are competitive and have to take in around 2500 mg of sodium per hour
What are you using? how are you doing it?
Are you able to do it without concocting and mixing a whole mass of stuff together?
I have an extremely high sweat rate as well as sodium concentration in my sweat and trying to get close to replenishing on the electrolyte side is proving quite challenging.
I’ve struggled to fully express my fitness in longer races over the years (even when 100% under biking) and although i’ve known for a while I was a heavy heavy sweating athlete, I’ve finally realized that I need to put more focus into this…but I can’t figure out a simple and effective way to get in 2500 mg of sodium per hour in 35 ish oz of fluid per hour…also without spending $4 per bottle when training.
Have you tried front loading sodium before your ride? Scratch make a hyper hydration mix that has worked well for me, just drink it 30 minutes prior. They also recommend miso soup as an alternative, as it’s much cheaper but loaded with salt
Have you tried front loading sodium before your ride? Scratch make a hyper hydration mix that has worked well for me, just drink it 30 minutes prior. They also recommend miso soup as an alternative, as it’s much cheaper but loaded with salt
that’s interesting! thanks for sharing. i’ll look into it some more.
I need a lot of sodium myself; I use two products to get it in without excessive cost or calories:
-Osmo preload formula; the womens version is about 1300 mg per scoop, which is to be mixed with 8 oz water. Depending on conditions, I go up to 2 scoops per bottle.
-The right stuff, easy for carrying on a ride and mixing with plain water from a gas station or park water fountain. Each package has just shy of 2000 mg sodium and is to be mixed with 16 oz water. A package is about the size of a gu packet and travels easily.
Have you tried front loading sodium before your ride? Scratch make a hyper hydration mix that has worked well for me, just drink it 30 minutes prior. They also recommend miso soup as an alternative, as it’s much cheaper but loaded with salt
that’s interesting! thanks for sharing. i’ll look into it some more.
here is their post about it, in case you’d like to read up
i have…and honestly for 120 calories at 500 mg of sodium, gatorade endurance is at 660 and 180 calories…and a fair bit cheaper.
That’s great if Na+ was the only electrolyte that mattered.
Regular EFS is $34 a cannister straight from First Endurance, so it maybe costs $5 more than GE from Amazon. And the new formulation is orders of magnitude better tasting than GE.
As you can tell I am a big fan. Had several FOP 70.3
and full IM’s using it. I mix 2 scoops per 24oz water for the bike and have no GI issues.
Add the Gatorade Gatorlytes powder to your Gatorade Endurance. It adds 780mg to a 500mg bottle of Gatorade Endurance. Totals out at 1280mg for 20oz. A bit like salty seawater to me, but seems to go down ok.
Amazon.com : Gatorade Endurance Gatorlytes, 0.12 Ounces (Pack of 20) : Energy Drinks : Grocery & Gourmet Food
Question for those of you who are competitive and have to take in around 2500 mg of sodium per hour
What are you using? how are you doing it?
Are you able to do it without concocting and mixing a whole mass of stuff together?
I have an extremely high sweat rate as well as sodium concentration in my sweat and trying to get close to replenishing on the electrolyte side is proving quite challenging.
I’ve struggled to fully express my fitness in longer races over the years (even when 100% under biking) and although i’ve known for a while I was a heavy heavy sweating athlete, I’ve finally realized that I need to put more focus into this…but I can’t figure out a simple and effective way to get in 2500 mg of sodium per hour in 35 ish oz of fluid per hour…also without spending $4 per bottle when training.
Any thoughts???
Sodium Citrate from Amazon
X2 ~ 1000mg/tsp easy peasy add to any solution you’re drinking
i have…and honestly for 120 calories at 500 mg of sodium, gatorade endurance is at 660 and 180 calories…and a fair bit cheaper.
That’s great if Na+ was the only electrolyte that mattered.
Regular EFS is $34 a cannister straight from First Endurance, so it maybe costs $5 more than GE from Amazon. And the new formulation is orders of magnitude better tasting than GE.
As you can tell I am a big fan. Had several FOP 70.3
and full IM’s using it. I mix 2 scoops per 24oz water for the bike and have no GI issues.
I’ll 2nd the use of EFS Pro in hot temps and the comment that electrolytes consist of more than sodium. I’ve used about all of the suggested options on this thread. GE, for me being hypoglycemic, just won’t work. The sugars make it so that I crash and the osmolality of GE is such that I get fluid swishing in my stomach and then get dehydrated. EFS Drink Mix is fine when it’s not too hot, but it also just tastes too sweet. I put the EFS pro at 240 Calories per 24oz bottle on super hot and long days and have no issues. The new sour watermelon flavored EFS Pro has been really nice. Another option is Powerbar IsoActive though like the EFS drink mix, it can get a bit sweet after 5 hours on the bike.
Scratch Hyperhydration is like drinking sea water and can be iffy on the stomach.
i have…and honestly for 120 calories at 500 mg of sodium, gatorade endurance is at 660 and 180 calories…and a fair bit cheaper.
As others have said, it’s not just about NA. But just staying on NA, 6 scoops of EFS pro = 240 calories, 1000mg NA.
The osmality of GE is really poor IME and this is where EFS Pro really shines. Miles mentioned he mixes 240 calories of EFS pro (6 scoops) which is what I normally do for training and 70.3’s. For a full IM, I will mix 12 scoops (480 calories) into 2 bottles each for a concentrated mix and will grab water from aid stations to ensure I stay hydrated to properly absorb the calories.
That’s great if Na+ was the only electrolyte that mattered.
Well…
are not lost appreciably in sweat and are not necessary to consume for performance during training. Sodium regulation and hydration is the only thing that’s challenged during training.
I have similar sodium losses per hour, depending on the conditions.
Here are a few good solutions:
Precision Hydration - I mix up the sachets into a single bottle. The taste gets super rich, especially since I mix it with Hammer Perpetuem (gross, I know), but it works. On the run I take the blister packed tablets.
Like Alex said above, sodium citrate from Amazon. I bought some from his recommendation.
LMNT is high-sodium (1000mg per pack) but the taste is overwhelmingly strong, so I think it’s only good pre-and post-race (don’t try to concentrate it!)
Finally, if you want to sum up all your products and calculate their hourly calorie / carb / sodium values, I’ve built a calculator do do that here: Triathlon nutrition calculator | IronmanHacks