I am a distance runner that stays in half marathon shape year round. I run half marathon races and have started doing full marathons. I'm a salty sweater that starts cramping up in the teen miles.
While Powerade and gels can help with electrolytes, I feel like all that sugar just doesn't help during a hot long run or a race. In hot races, Powerade and gels make me sick and all i want is water.
So, I'm considering experimenting with salt pills, specifically Saltstick pills, which appear to have the electrolytes from Powerade/gatorade, so I can take those with water each hour and be fine on a hot run.
My questions for the masses:
Do you use salt pills? if so, what's your methodology? Do you still use gels/bloks too? Do you still grab cups of Powerade at races?
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[–] sojournerc 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I use these for cycling and running.
For long runs, I typically do a loop several times and leave a bottle of electrolyte water on my bike to hydrate with every loop.
If not too long I just drink a big glass of water with one afterward, but no reason you couldn't toss those in a bottle if you're already carrying water.