I have a high sweat rate, my sweat is salty, and I weigh 200+lbs. I’m looking for an efficient way to take high levels of sodium during 70.3 and IM races. I’ve used SaltStick, which has high sodium levels, with fairly good results, but I’m looking for something even higher to boost my sodium level over 1500 mg/hr without having to take SaltStick caps endlessly. Let me know if you recommend other supplements, including alternatives like beef jerky or bullion cubes? (Chicken broth doesn’t seem to agree with me. Thanks.
-K
Lava Salts (from Kona!) are among the highest, and have sodium in a couple of forms. Things like Endurolytes are basically worthless. Now, wether or not you need more than what you are drinking (i.e. get some InfinIT blended for you and just add more sodium) is another story
Succeed Caps have more sodium than Salt Stick and they are about half the price of Salt Stick. Salt Stick has been working for me, but I am definitely going to try the Succeed Caps as soon as the current supply runs out.
How do you know that your sweat has a high sodium content? Have you had it analysed to determine the sodium content? The experts in this field can’t agree what constitutes a “salty sweater”. There is some suggestion that being a salty sweater is a myth. The body is very good at retaining sodium if intake is low & excreting it if intake is surplus to requirements.
If you appear to be a salty sweater I would suggest that it is likely that already consume too much sodium which bumps up the sodium content of your sweat. Have a read of this paper:
Hew-Butler, T.D., et al., Sodium supplementation is not required to maintain serum sodium concentrations during an Ironman triathlon. Br J Sports Med, 2006. 40(3): p. 255-9.
I suspect you don’t need any more sodium & could probably do with consuming less.
And no sodium is not related to the incidence of muscle cramp during exercise. We have known this for 25 years but sports drink & supplement companies keep bullshitting to us that we need to consuming sodium in amounts that are not required.
Br J Sports Med. 2006 Mar;40(3):255-9.
Sodium supplementation is not required to maintain serum sodium concentrations during an Ironman triathlon.
Hew-Butler TD, Sharwood K, Collins M, Speedy D, Noakes T.
University of Cape Town, Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa. thew@sports.uct.ac.za
Abstract
CONTEXT: Critical assessment of recommendations that athletes consume additional sodium during athletic events.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if sodium supplementation is necessary to maintain serum sodium concentrations during prolonged endurance activity and prevent the development of hyponatraemia. DESIGN: Prospective randomised trial of athletes receiving sodium (620 mg table salt), placebo (596 mg starch), or no supplementation during a triathlon. The sodium and placebo tablets were taken ad libitum, with the suggested range of 1-4 per hour.
SETTING: The 2001 Cape Town Ironman triathlon (3.8 km swim, 180 km cycle, 42.2 km run).
SUBJECTS: A total of 413 triathletes completing the Ironman race.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sodium supplementation was not necessary to maintain serum sodium concentrations in athletes completing an Ironman triathlon nor required to prevent hyponatraemia from occurring in athletes who did not ingest supplemental sodium during the race.
RESULTS: Subjects in the sodium supplementation group ingested an additional 3.6 (2.0) g (156 (88) mmol) sodium during the race (all values are mean (SD)). There were no significant differences between the sodium, placebo, and no supplementation groups with regard to age, finishing time, serum sodium concentration before and after the race, weight before the race, weight change during the race, and rectal temperature, systolic and diastolic blood pressure after the race. The sodium supplementation group consumed 14.7 (8.3) tablets, and the placebo group took 15.8 (10.1) tablets (p = 0.55; NS).
CONCLUSIONS: Ad libitum sodium supplementation was not necessary to preserve serum sodium concentrations in athletes competing for about 12 hours in an Ironman triathlon. The Institute of Medicine’s recommended daily adequate intake of sodium (1.5 g/65 mmol) seems sufficient for a healthy person without further need to supplement during athletic activity.
Very interesting! Only serves to confirm what I thought and do, that is no Na supplementation. Thank you for the reference.
I have a high sweat loss rate. It is around 5lbs per hour. I struggled with cramps on the run for the half and full distance until Nov 2008. I had a friend racing pro and she planned on taking 1000-1500mg an hour. I decided to try it our for myself at Ironman Arizona. I ended up taking 17grams (17000mg) for the entire race. I was taking 2 S-Caps every 20 minutes and drinking another 500mg (Infinit). I felt like I still had cramping issues. It didnt help having to reduce the amount consumed the last 2 hours because i lost 20 or so.
I thought that was a lot of salt. Last year I cut that amount in half for Arizona. I had a great race. I had minor issues on the run because I switched my run nutrition and forgot to figure in the lower salt.
You have to figure out what works for you.
Salt Stick is the best.
After further investigation, pro triathlete and 70.3 champ Joannna Zeiger recommends a product called The Right Stuff, which helps endurance athletes and astronauts alike with hydration. She also recommends and uses Salt Stick. Someone in this thread questioned whether I have a high salt sweat rate. I’m not going to argue with that person or the research. If you’re curious, check this out http://www.therightstuff-usa.com/Home_Page.html
**After further investigation, **pro triathlete and 70.3 champ Joannna Zeiger recommends a product called The Right Stuff, which helps endurance athletes and astronauts alike with hydration. She also recommends and uses Salt Stick. Someone in this thread questioned whether I have a high salt sweat rate. I’m not going to argue with that person or the research. If you’re curious, check this out
In your thorough investigation, were you able to deduce what’s actually in ‘The Right Stuff’ as I poked around their website for 5 mins and can’t even find label of what’s in the stuff. I do however know that NASA uses it - WOW!!!
I’m going to assume you’re a troll somehow connected with ‘The Right Stuff’. Just a hunch.
I have a high sweat rate, my sweat is salty, and I weigh 200+lbs. I’m looking for an efficient way to take high levels of sodium during 70.3 and IM races. I’ve used SaltStick, which has high sodium levels, with fairly good results, but I’m looking for something even higher to boost my sodium level over 1500 mg/hr without having to take SaltStick caps endlessly. Let me know if you recommend other supplements, including alternatives like beef jerky or bullion cubes? (Chicken broth doesn’t seem to agree with me. Thanks.
-K
How about none…
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Sodium supplementation is not required to maintain serum sodium concentrations during an Ironman triathlon.
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Oral salt supplementation during ultradistance exercise.
Other Hyperlinks:
Weight changes, medical complications, and performance during an Ironman triathlon.
**Conclusions: **The first study showed that serum sodium concentrations were maintained equally well in groups supplementing with an average of 3.6 g of sodium as non supplementing controls. The authors concluded that there was no need to supplement with sodium to maintain serum sodium concentration during an Ironman triathlon. In the second study, subjects ingested more sodium than the first study (700 mg/hr). The sodium ingestion group had slightly higher sodium concentrations and a slightly lower body weight loss (-4.3% versus -5.1%) than the non sodium group. However, the effect was small and not likely to impact performance. In fact, Noakes and his group report here that Ironman triathletes with faster run times tend to show the greatest fluid losses. This is not to say that greater fluid losses improve performance. Rather, it indicates that the effect of dehydration on performance in race situations may have been previously exaggerated.
Interesting theory. Funny that you chose, without any basis, to attack the person who posted the message. That’s not sound reasoning. Why is that that the safety of on-line anonimity emboldens people like you? No. I’m not a “troll,” and I have no connection to the product. I didn’t raise this question last week, planing to answer my own question and promote my product this week. I’m simply looking for information. Like you, I’m not impressed the product’s marketing or the NASA plug. But given the endorsement by a 70.3 winner who has had nutrition issues like me and who won Eagleman in 95 degree heat and humidity, while most people were walking, I’m curious.
If you believe you don’t need any sodium suppements, you may be right and you should not take them. What I don’t understand is, if that’s the case, why do you care to respond?
I’m not necessarily disagreeing with your position on sodium intake (not sure where you read into that in my post?). What I’m commenting on is that you *investigated *a product which doesn’t even have the nutritional information listed on their website (at least not that I can find, which is kinda odd) and are basing your decision on the fact that it’s endorsed by a pro athlete.
That’s some phenomenal investigative work.
The problem is you signed up and immediately posted a question about salt, then after the thread got a few views and replies you posted a recommendation about a specific product that seems to fit your exact needs.
It just looks bad when people do that, comes off as a paid endorser rather than a curious noob.
Not saying you are, just saying that’s how it often looks in these situations.
What unimpressed me about the Right Stuff, other than the lack of ingredients on the site,
is the price. It’s $8.99 for 3 vials. Each vial is supposed to be added to at least 16 oz. of
water, so it sounds like it’s sized just right for a 20 oz. bike bottle.
$3 per bottle? That’s steep. (Yes, it is cheaper in bulk - but do I want to spend $275 for
a case of product? Not so sure about that!)
And nothing against Joanna - I think she’s AWESOME! But, she is not in the prime of
her tri career, and the ITU wins aren’t rolling in, so it would stand to reason that she may perhaps
be compensated for being a pitch person for this product. As with any pro athlete testimonial
in any sport, take it with a grain of salt. (Couldn’t resist!)