Anyone take pickle juice during long races?
If so: do you drink it just on the bike, just during T2, or do you need it for both (please specify IM or HIM distance when responding).
Thanks for the advice!
Since pickle juice is usually just salt, vinegar and brine (or water and brine), the only useful item would be the salt. Why not just pop a salt cap and drink some water and be done with it. Doubt in the heat of the moment you would want to drink something that could possibly cause you to gag…
Since pickle juice is usually just salt, vinegar and brine (or water and brine), the only useful item would be the salt. Why not just pop a salt cap and drink some water and be done with it. Doubt in the heat of the moment you would want to drink something that could possibly cause you to gag…
My husband says it is the vinegar which does the trick, not the salt. Pickle juice is much more palatable than vinegar, straight up.
Possibly, this is something you would have to figure out in training first. My assumption is that it would be better to do prior to or during the bike since the sloshing around on the run my upset you a bit.
Why do you want to drink pickle juice during a race? Is it to prevent/stop muscle cramp? If this is the reason, don’t waste your time. There has been yet another study showing that blood electrolye concentrations & dehydration are not reponsible for cramp occurring.
Schwellnus, M.P., N. Drew, and M. Collins, Increased running speed and previous cramps rather than dehydration or serum sodium changes predict exercise-associated muscle cramping: a prospective cohort study in 210 Ironman triathletes. Br J Sports Med, 2010.
With a shit load of evidence now showing this I find it hilarious that people still insist on taking ridiculous amounts of sodium, & other electrolytes, during training & racing.
Why do you want to drink pickle juice during a race? Is it to prevent/stop muscle cramp? If this is the reason, don’t waste your time. There has been yet another study showing that blood electrolye concentrations & dehydration are not reponsible for cramp occurring.
Schwellnus, M.P., N. Drew, and M. Collins, Increased running speed and previous cramps rather than dehydration or serum sodium changes predict exercise-associated muscle cramping: a prospective cohort study in 210 Ironman triathletes. Br J Sports Med, 2010.
Yes, to prevent/stop muscle cramps. Has there been a scientific study that specifically included pickle juice? If not, perhaps the mechanism is not well understood. I’ve seen my husband in agony with cramps on the tennis court, a minute after downing pickle juice fine. Before the pickle juice his agony would continue for a lengthy time period. Similar effect on another tennis player friend. If placebo, it is a powerful one. Will it work for me? Don’t know. Interested in hearing from people who use it in tris.
With a shit load of evidence now showing this I find it hilarious that people still insist on taking ridiculous amounts of sodium, & other electrolytes, during training & racing
People are willing to experiment in the hopes of avoiding debilitating cramps. If there were a study that suggested a course of action to prevent cramps, I’m sure many would follow the recommended course of action. Until that time, people will try different things in the hopes the studies are somehow flawed or do not apply to them.
Cheers.
Ben Greenfield did a talk on this on one of the latest Tri talk podcasts. I tried it in my last Sprint tri and sure enough 20 seconds after taking it in the cramps were gone, normally this takes me a few minutes to get rid of. So it isn’t salt or electrolytes or dehydration as there is no way that could make it to the digestive system is such a short time.
You could always suck on a chicken bullion cube, which is far more portable than pickle juice.
Why do you want to drink pickle juice during a race? Is it to prevent/stop muscle cramp? If this is the reason, don’t waste your time. There has been yet another study showing that blood electrolye concentrations & dehydration are not reponsible for cramp occurring.
Schwellnus, M.P., N. Drew, and M. Collins, Increased running speed and previous cramps rather than dehydration or serum sodium changes predict exercise-associated muscle cramping: a prospective cohort study in 210 Ironman triathletes. Br J Sports Med, 2010.
With a shit load of evidence now showing this I find it hilarious that people still insist on taking ridiculous amounts of sodium, & other electrolytes, during training & racing.
Passionately put. But a straw man argument nonetheless.
Here is Joe Friel discussing a study where pickle juice reduces cramp length. Nothing to do with sodium loss etc.
http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2010/05/muscle-cramp-theory.html
While that is useful info on how pickle juice may help with cramp I’m still not convinced that it will help. It needs to be determined if their is something in pickle juice that does indeed inhibit firing of alpha neurons. If is does then that is very good news. I’m still skeptical about the placebo effect even though it was controlled well in the study. Like Miller et al mentioned, it’s difficult to hide the taste of pickle juice even if the subjects noses were blocked. I think the placebo effect is still happening but at least pickle juice seems to be worth investigating further.
I drink pickle juice whenever I can find it during long brevets. The main benefit is cutting through the constant stream of sweet/sugary foods I’ve been forcing down. It’s a treat not to be discounted.
Gross. Gross gross gross. Gross.
I like the stuff. I purposely slurp pickle juice just to gross out my wife. It works!
I like the stuff. I purposely slurp pickle juice just to gross out my wife. It works!
Anything pickled pretty much disgusts me and my wife. I’m glad we share that opinion!!
This was in the news last year
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/phys-ed-can-pickle-juice-stop-muscle-cramps/
AFAIK every study has shown that sodium content of fluid intake during exercise has nothing to do with cramping
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I did the Hotter than Hell Century last summer, and they were handing out pickle juice at all the aid stations.
yup - it worked for me
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Nice suggestion…It had worked for me also…
Why do you want to drink pickle juice during a race? Is it to prevent/stop muscle cramp? If this is the reason, don’t waste your time. There has been yet another study showing that blood electrolye concentrations & dehydration are not reponsible for cramp occurring.
Schwellnus, M.P., N. Drew, and M. Collins, Increased running speed and previous cramps rather than dehydration or serum sodium changes predict exercise-associated muscle cramping: a prospective cohort study in 210 Ironman triathletes. Br J Sports Med, 2010.
Yes, to prevent/stop muscle cramps. Has there been a scientific study that specifically included pickle juice? If not, perhaps the mechanism is not well understood. I’ve seen my husband in agony with cramps on the tennis court, a minute after downing pickle juice fine. Before the pickle juice his agony would continue for a lengthy time period. Similar effect on another tennis player friend. If placebo, it is a powerful one. Will it work for me? Don’t know. Interested in hearing from people who use it in tris.
With a shit load of evidence now showing this I find it hilarious that people still insist on taking ridiculous amounts of sodium, & other electrolytes, during training & racing
People are willing to experiment in the hopes of avoiding debilitating cramps. If there were a study that suggested a course of action to prevent cramps, I’m sure many would follow the recommended course of action. Until that time, people will try different things in the hopes the studies are somehow flawed or do not apply to them.
Cheers.
Actually alot of studies have been done lately.
And it does have to do with the interrupting the firing path from the brain to the muscle. The VINEGAR disrupts the signal. It isn’t about sodium or electrolytes.
A few places Ive read also say theres a response from mustard as well.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19997012
I say a “ketchup-style” packet in the pocket can’t hurt.
I would rather have cramps
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