Anyone start taking salt pills 1 day before a race?

duffeymt_24

 I am a heavy sweater and am trying to figure out how to finish a long ride without salt stains all over me.  I am up to ~1,000mg per hour from Perform/Powerbar Gels/S!Caps.  I clearly need to take more than that - while hydrating the day before, does anyone up the salt intake through their salt pills?

Nate Parady

Thought about it, BUT NO, not for me. I am a pretty "normal" sweater.

EN guidance in the wiki says to sip on Sports drink the day prior and salt your food. This is what I did the day before IMLP. I took in about 600mg/hour during the race.
The thing that comes to mind is coach rich mentioning taking in too much salt during a race and having some major bloating/water retention issues like fat ankles, swollen hands, etc. He then spent the race day night peeing out all the extra water his body was retaining b/c of all the extra sodium. I believe in General there is a lot of guidance on NOT doing anything crazy the day before, like drinking too much water, sports drink, beer (just kidding). Just make sure your body's natural stores are there and then execute on race day. Not sure if popping a sodium pill or two qualifies as "crazy". The best thing of course would be to practice this at least for 1 or more of your RR to see what happens.

For me I would worry about waking up the day of the race already swollen up from too much sodium in my body.

What makes this an interesting question is that you say you are a heavy sweater. I wonder what the other more experienced folks will say.

jburbatt

Unless you are cramping or having some other issue that's affecting you during the race, I'd stick with what you know works for your race. You don't want to change something that close. Also, just because you are salty at the end of a long ride doesn't necessarily mean you need more sodium, especially since you are already taking toward the high end of the scale. Some people just sweat more (I'm one of them) but as long as you are staying properly hydrated and balance with your electrolytes including sodium you should be ok. Like Nate said, you don't want to swell which can become a big problem if you take in too much sodium.

Coach Patrick

Having lots of salt on your body when done is a sign you have a lot of salt to "give" not that you are massively depleted. It's a good thing. The guy after 6 hours with no salt has bigger problems than you. Sounds like your body already does a good job of getting / holding onto salt, so I wouldn't go crazy. There are plenty of ways to mess up what's already not a problem...I say do the salt your food / sports drink thing and continue with salt as you normally do. Then on race day have some extra S caps should:

* you STOP sweating
* you CAN'T empty fluids from your gut
* it's going to be 10-15 degrees hotter than you have ever trained in.

IOW, use it to fix a problem you've got...not one you've yet to have.

Paul Hough

I agree with Coach P. Cramping is a problem, salt stains are not. I'm a heavy sweater and have a history of deep debilitating cramps in the hamstrings, groin, and inner thigh down to the knee on long course races. I've drammatically increased my salt intake over the past 2 years and just as drammatically reduced the number and intensity of cramps. And yes, I take salt pills the night before the race (at least 2), plus eat potato chips and salt the hell out of everything. The morning before the race I'll down another 2 and a friggin barge of them during the bike! And then at T2, I pick up a small flask of water w e-lyte and take that, then start chunking gobs of salt pills and chew calcium tabs while I'm running. Haven't been in the med tent since I started doing that.

duffeymt_24

I cramp often as well. So I am not sure if my salt stains are a sign of having enough salt as mentioned above, but not getting enough in after releasing it, which ultimately then leads to cramps??

Michael Johnson

I take 1000mg/hr in my RR#2 and did fine. Im planning on that for IMLOU. I do take 1-2 Salt tabs 2-3 days before an IM....esp. IMLOU.