Sodium & Electrolyte Supplements

Woody Freese

What are others using?

Succeed?

Salt Stick? 

Salt Stick + (has caffiene)

Hammer Endurolytes?

Throwing it out there for discussion/thoughts - pros & cons of each?

 

penlynwilson

Hi Woody,

When I work with clients, we pick the electroltye supplement based on how much sodium they need. If you need a lot, you'll be eating Endurlytes like candy because they only have about 40mg sodium per cap. The first step in deterimining how much you need is to do a sweat trial. There are instructions in the Wiki.

The main decision points I use are:
- How much salt do you need? This is different on the bike and run.
- Pills or liquid (Nuun or The Right Stuff). This is a personal choice.
- What your setup is to carry them.
- What else you are using.

Hope that helps.

Woody Freese

Thanks Penny - I did a sweat test w/ a local nutritionist. Indoor bike for 1 hour. Loss of 3.2 lbs. while consuming 24 oz. of fluid. As I understand it, this translates to 75.2 oz sweat loss per hour. The chart further explains that I should look to replace 44 oz. of fluid and 1300 mg. of sodium per hour. I have a discussion re; this in the next couple of days -

Scott Alexander

Woody, that's indoor - your outdoor rate will probably be even MORE!

rmiller

Penny - is it acceptable to err on the side of taking in more sodium? For example, if I lose 32 oz/hr while running, and the wiki says a guideline is 500 to 1000mg for each 32 oz - would it be ok to be taking in, say 1200mg, just to be on the safe side? Of course this would be assuming that it has been established it doesn't cause one GI issues or anything like that. Just thinking that if the renal system is pretty good at filtering out excess sodium, if you don't have a precise number to go with, going high might be preferred to going lower.

Steven Ford

I think you would need to take on more fluids if you go over on the sodium, I could be wrong though.

 

Paging Dr Penny

Joseph Lombardi

 S-Caps...much better than Endralytes...more sodium per capsule plus potassium...(341mg Sodium  / 867mg as NaCl)

 http://www.succeedscaps.com/products/s_caps/

Coach P recently has been using Gatorlytes...not sure how those stack up. (780mg of NaCl) + Potassium also

http://www.gatorade.com/default.asp...02-compare

 

Coach Patrick

And remember if you use something like IM Perform, it already has a ton of sodium in it. 20oz has 475 mgs....so if you are drinking 2 bottles an hour, that 950mgs right there...

penlynwilson

Posted By Ryan Miller on 09 Jul 2012 09:15 PM

Penny - is it acceptable to err on the side of taking in more sodium? For example, if I lose 32 oz/hr while running, and the wiki says a guideline is 500 to 1000mg for each 32 oz - would it be ok to be taking in, say 1200mg, just to be on the safe side? Of course this would be assuming that it has been established it doesn't cause one GI issues or anything like that. Just thinking that if the renal system is pretty good at filtering out excess sodium, if you don't have a precise number to go with, going high might be preferred to going lower.

 

Ryan: I will go higher if I have a good reason to - the athlete is a very heavy salt sweater (is covered in salt when they are done working out), has a history of horrible cramping (have one guy who used to go into full body cramps), or sweats out a tremendous amount of sweat (my full body cramper sweats out 120+ oz per hour) or a combination of the three. If you are going to up it, I also get the fluid intake as much as I can - up to 48 oz. If you don't need the sodium you may get swelling in the hands/feet, etc. You can get too much of a good thing.

cgres123

@ Woody, I'm looking for the same info too.

I started using IM Perform vs. the Accelerade and didn't know the Perform had so much sodium. I'm mixing 3 scoops per 24 oz bottle. That is about 570mg seems to be enough even in the intense heat we have been having.
That kind of puts the bike issue in its place, now on the run would be an issue as to what to carry in a race.
I looked at the Wiki did my test that suggests I take in 56 oz of water per hour... my math must be off cause I barley take in 50oz in 3 hours on the bike in training.

ccotstanza12

I used perform (switched from Accelerade) for the first time last weekend and drank 44 oz of water per hour. It was pretty hot and humid by the time I finished my ride and ended up with maybe some heat exhaustion/mild dehydration. I think it was mostly due to the heat because I've become paranoid about getting dehydrated. I realized later the significant increase in sodium content of perform. Even though I'm a heavy sweater maybe this played a role? Any thoughts?

Peter Greagg

http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/108/Default.aspx?topic=Monitoring+Hydration+Status
this is worth a read — I use this pee test to make sure I am drinking enough on the bike.

ccotstanza12

@peter- I have read that before. I was more questioning if the change to perform, because of the increased sodium, could have played a role in others' experience.

cgres123

@ Claire, I dont have an answer for you but the crowd I ride with ( rodies ) hammer it on our weekend ride with IF 90 +. I suggest if you were using Accelerade you'd have been in a world of hurt. But to be clear here I really don't understand your question.

ccotstanza12

@David- Above Steven mentioned to increase water intake if you were using Perform (something with higher sodium) because the added sodium may affect your overall hydration status. This past weekend, I used Perform for the first time, took in the same amount of water I typically do and had some possible dehydration after my ride (hard to tell if it was heat exhaustion or a combo of both). I didn't fully appreciate how much more sodium was in Perform and, after reading the post, was wondering if other folks have had a problem when starting to use Perform/salt tabs/whatever and they find they need to test new water intake on long rides/runs to balance it out.I hope that makes more sense!

cgres123

@ Claire yea that clears it up for me thx... As for me, I didn't have any problems with the Perform and I do not take just water plain. That flushes out the sodium you are trying to keep in so that it does its job. My water is mixed with the Perform and that is what I have been using. As hot and humid as it has been I have been ok, still peeing on the long rides so dehydration has not been an issues. The sun beating down on my head however tends to leave me with a headache.

The run needs a closer look. I have been running a long loop and have been using my car as a water stop every 1.2 miles. I stop grab a few swallows of Perform and move it down the road for another lap. This keeps me plenty hydrated without a fuel belt. Now running a race where they don't have my nutrition is going to be an issue so I need to experiment with tabs of some sort.

penlynwilson

Posted By Claire Costanza on 11 Jul 2012 05:49 PM

@David- Above Steven mentioned to increase water intake if you were using Perform (something with higher sodium) because the added sodium may affect your overall hydration status. This past weekend, I used Perform for the first time, took in the same amount of water I typically do and had some possible dehydration after my ride (hard to tell if it was heat exhaustion or a combo of both). I didn't fully appreciate how much more sodium was in Perform and, after reading the post, was wondering if other folks have had a problem when starting to use Perform/salt tabs/whatever and they find they need to test new water intake on long rides/runs to balance it out.I hope that makes more sense!

@Claire: I don't think you can say given the day and that it was your first time with Perform. I have a lot of athletes who have a sports drink in one bottle and water in the other (including myself). If I take down just sports drink, I don't get enough total water.