Can't drink a bottle an hour

Leslie Knight

So I have finally come to terms with the fact that a bottle an hour makes me pee about every 45 minutes. When I back off to 3/4 or so, that's 4 swallows every 15 minutes, I pee less and I'm not thirsty. So... Do I just make it more concentrated so that I still get my electrolytes? And what if I choose to use on course nutrition? For a half, I can easily hold it all on my bike (heck, I guess if I only went through 4 bottles on a 6 hour bike, I could do it for a full as well). I have a half on 8Nov and was planning to try as use course nutrition, which is Gatorade. If been training with it two weekends now and it's fine- really strong tasting, but fine. So- do I carry extra and make it stronger? Eat more? I use honey stinger waffles. Peek g every hour in a race is not feasible. Or, since I don't need that much fluid, maybe I'm getting all the lytes I need? I felt fine on the bike today, though I should have taken a fuel belt on my 87 degree one hour run today. Suffered a bit for that decision.

drjohnson08

Leslie, if you're drinking 3/4 of a bottle every hour on your long rides and your weight is the same before and after it may be enough for you. Keep in mind that as the temperature increases you'll probably sweat more and may need to take in more fluids. Another issue is that coming out of the swim your energy stores and hydration will be a little depleted so you may want to try drinking 1 or 1.25 bottles in that first hour.

If you feel the flavor of Gatorade is strong now, when you concentrate it, it will be even stronger. You may be potentially asking for GI issues if you go that route. If you feel you aren't getting enough electrolytes from 3/4 of a bottle maybe try a salt supplement like Salt Stick or Base. I would be careful about eating too much in a half. You won't be able to digest as much as a full due to the fact that you are riding at a higher intensity. I would say if your nutrition plan is working for you in training keep going with it.