Are these tests done only a lab? Any way I can test this on my own, or does anyone know of a “rule of thumb” method to determine sodium loss while training?
Tim
Rock-just look at the thread one page before yours…Heat Acclimatization:Read This To Minimize Performance Decrease
I think you’ll find what you need.
here it is:
[Weigh your self before and after working out; same scale, same clothes, same place, etc.
Record how much you lose in ounces (1 lb. is 16 ounces)
Record your exact fluid intake during the work out period. FYI my 20 ounce water bottle holds 22.5 ounces and my 25 ounce bottle holds 29! Measure what you put in.
Add these two together and divide the sum by the number of hours worked out.
This will give you your sweat rate. ]
There is just a little bit missing from the above equation. Am picking the above will be close enough but there are obviously some other weight changing variables.
I just got a good article for my site on this, but am wondering about how to apply the above test. Why? Because the variables from when you do the test to when you race vary a lot.
I can recall all my intake from an iron-distance race during the bike in January, but applying that to a race over the same distance in a different country in July is going to take some thinking. I think it will be useful to have it in my mind though. If the day is a lot hotter or for some reason I am able to increase my power output on the bike then I think it will change a bit. Or I might hopefully be a quite a few kgs lighter. Replicating race day in training is going to be tricky.
Am sure the pros(iron-distance anyway) who race a few times a year know how much fluid/food they intake under certain weather conditions and at certain bodyweights.
I would like to do really well in July. The bigger question I am asking is whether I should carry pretty much all my fluids from the bike outset. Relying on slightly different fluid mixes on course could be an unknown variable to disrupt how you go(i think).
I have just looked again at the images of Macca setting off at Kona 08. Macca looks to have enough fluids to get to 90kms, with the addition of a water pickup. maybe he had his own special needs and fluid mix at 90kms?
Only looked at one image so far of Crowie during the bike. He has 3 bidens and an aero drink bottle which could get you all the way on the bike if you picked up some water as well. So it looks to me he is using his own fluid mix. That would make sense to me for several reasons.
Someone on ST will know the answers to the above, i am sure.
G.