Sodium for athletes...

[veggie_balls]

I cycle about 200-250 per week and I keep it at high intensity (18-21mph avg rides). I also do a small amount of running, but nothing to really be proud of. My family and I have been no-added-oil, plant based for about 2 years and feeling great! I still have a residual hypertension from the typical western diet, but I feel that it recently got A LOT better since I don't add salt to my dish. I'm getting about 900mg-1,100mg per day.

We follow Novick's advice and don't cook with salt and only add a small amount on the actual plate when eating. I stopped that, but I'm concerned that with all of the cycling I do, I'm not going to get enough sodium. My initial idea was to stay low sodium like I recently did, but eat a little extra salt pre/ post workout... does this sound like it would be advantageous or detrimental? I don't want to cramp up from lack of electrolytes. I do realize that the "electrolyte" thing has been hyped up WAY TOO MUCH recently in pop culture, et al., but I just want to be sure that I'm not going to hurt myself. Any info is greatly appreciated.

[vgpedlr]

You're right, electrolytes have been way over hyped. And thanks to a billion dollar sports drink industry, that won't change soon. Neither will the truth, which is that you will probably never need to worry about it. Cramping very rarely occurs because of electrolyte imbalance because if it did, your whole body would be cramping instead of one muscle. If it was electrolyte related, it would more likely be magnesium, not sodium. As a species, we evolved in a hot, arid climate, roaming around all day with no sports drinks and no added salt for our food. Apparently we survived just fine, why would we be any different today?

If you really want to geek out on this, read Dr. Timothy Noakes's book, Waterlogged. He has been researching this for over thirty years and his recommendations are simple: Drink according to thirst, drink water. McDougall like simplicity. The body easily stores many grams of sodium, and carefully controls how much is lost through sweat, down to zero if need be. But you don't have to believe me or Noakes, try it out for yourself. If you start to cramp regularly and added electrolytes help then fine, there's your answer. Even Noakes agrees that a placebo effect could be at work. If you decide to try this, I suggest Hammer Endurolutes, which are small doses so you can really dial it in. Cramping though because it is localized, is usually because a certain muscle is being worked harder than usual and is overwhelmed. That's why they usually happen in races and not training, because often the excitement makes you push harder than usual. It could also be because of some muscle imbalance that throws off your biomechanics.

In sum, drink water when thirsty, and don't over think it.

ETA:
I often add electrolytes to my water bottles, but more for added taste. I also like bottled mineral water for the same reason. That mieraly taste is good to me.

[Ltldogg]

You might want to post this question in Jeff Novick's forums to get his response.

[veggie_balls]

As a species, we evolved in a hot, arid climate, roaming around all day with no sports drinks and no added salt for our food. Apparently we survived just fine, why would we be any different today?

Thank you for the very informative response! That quoted part of your response made me laugh! It's true, we didn't have sports drink around in the past! I'm probably being way too anal about it, but I know that the heart basically get it's electricity from the alternation of negative and positive sodium and potassium. I'm sure it'd take weeks of malnutrition to to get to the point of worrying about cardiac malfunction from low sodium, but it's how my mind works. I just know that I sweat like a MADMAN!

Yeah, cramps are 90% in my quads *during* the ride and when I'm chilling after my rides, I'll feels light twitches in my legs. Calves, quads, hams, etc. I'll check out Timothy Noakes' book.

[vgpedlr]

Yeah, cramps are 90% in my quads *during* the ride and when I'm chilling after my rides, I'll feels light twitches in my legs. Calves, quads, hams, etc. I'll check out Timothy Noakes' book.

I'm a heavy sweater too, but that's a good thing. That's a fundamental adaptation to endurance exercise, an improved ability to cool ourselves. I don't know if you use any commercial sports nutrition products, but I think Hammer does a good job explaining their rationale. When it comes to hydration and electrolytes, they believe similarly to Jeff, that a low sodium diet is most important. The diverge by still recommending athletes take their products, but they formulate them in small does, encouraging people to take only what they need. They won't hurt, so I add some to my drinks, but I think it's more for taste. They probably don't help much either.

Your quads are cramping on rides due to intensity. So re-evaluate your training habits, or embrace it, as you like. Electrolytes will almost certainly do little, but it's an easy and harmless experiment to try. Even if it's just placebo, who cares? As for the twitching, I know that feeling, that's the feeling of being "well-trained." As above, go easier, recover more, or embrace it. A couple of recovery tricks that have helped me are self massage, including foam rolling, putting my legs up a wall for 10-15 min after a ride, and topical magnesium.

Be forewarned, Noakes's book is exhaustive and exhausting. You read far more about rectal temperatures than you want. You might want to google around and find an interview or review to read first to get the gist of it. The research studies he describes are very detailed, but interesting. He wanted to be sure he was well supported since he was going up against a big industry, including the 800 lb gorilla Gatorade. Also, as author of the massive tome The Lore of Running, he has attracted quite a bit of attention for reversing his position on diet to advocate paleo, enough that he is currently revising the book. Unfortunate, but I think his research on hydration stands.