Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
I assume you've read the material on salt replacement on the Hammer website? With what do you disagree?
I'm a sweater, though I never measured the salt content! My longest ride so far was 18.5 hours in heat up to 104°. Endurolytes were fine on that as well as many other long, hot mountain rides. I often hand them out to riders who are having trouble emptying their stomachs in hot weather. I've seen riders in trouble with salt tablets (upset stomach, vomiting), but never seen anyone in trouble with Endurolytes - anyone who actually took them that is, as opposed to just carrying them
. My feeling is that if they work for the 508 and RAAM, they'll work for most folks. I don't know a single ultra rider who takes salt tablets, and I ride with a few, including a couple of champions, though I'm no great shakes myself.
Whatever electrolyte one takes, I do think it's important to separate electrolyte intake from fluid intake, as they are separate issues. Just if one is really going after it, that is. For "normal" riding, almost anything works fine.
In Hughes experiment of one, on the ultracycling.com website, I've always found that a couple of Endurolytes will help the stomach empty, which salt, as Ms. Barr states, will not. But mostly what Hughes did wrong was the 700 cal. drink. Should have been only 300, and also about 48 oz. too much liquid. Duh. The electolyte and fluid replacement article is old. Latest experience and studies contradict the CW that dehydration is really bad and you should eat before hungry and drink before thirsty. Latest practice is to eat to hunger and drink to thirst. And you actually get faster with dehydration, up to about 3%, because you get lighter. The most important thing an ultracyclist can do is to keep the stomach emptying, as rapidly as possible.
Which are the reasons that even though it's impossible to replace fluids or sodium as fast as they are lost, you can keep going just fine anyway. Nothing else makes sense.
Hammer's contention is that salt (or sodium, more specifically) isn't that important, and that it's a blend of electrolytes that is needed. That shows up across their product line - not only are endurolytes fairly low in sodium, their hydration drinks are also low in sodium. And the endurolytes have enough of the other electrolytes that you are limited in how many you can take because it's bad to get too much of the others. They are also fairly expensive for the amount of electrolytes you get. Like many of the other supplement companies, Hammer is looking for something that gets you to use their stuff over somebody else's. So take what they say with a grain of salt.
The problem with sodium is that unlike other electrolytes, your body has a small supply and you can easily use it up, especially if it's hot and you are a salty sweater. If you get too low, you become hyponatremic, which can be life-threatening. Interestingly, you can be both hyponatremic and dehydrated at the same time.
Salt tablets are generally well tolerated *if* you take them with enough water to dilute them to a proper concentration. If you don't, you will definitely get nausea or vomiting - it's the same thing that happens if you drink seawater, you feel really sick pretty fast. Or, to put it another way, extra salt isn't hard to deal with as long as you have sufficient water with you. Oh, and as long as you aren't salt-sensitive - if you have sodium-related high blood pressure, you have to be pretty careful about this and should probably seek expert advice.
Endurolytes are more easily tolerated than tablets with more salt likely because they have less in them. Even if you're at the max dose of 6/hour, that's only 240 mg of sodium. That's far less than salty sweaters will sweat out per hour on a hot day.
I've run into a bunch of people over the years who have had a very confusing long-ride experiences. Felt good for 4-6 hours, then all of the sudden they lost energy and felt bad. They were well hydrated and had enough carbs.
I personally had an epicly unpleasent double century a few years ago, where I was sick for 80 miles and the whole night afterwards. After hitting a similar symptom on another ride the year after, I stopped to get some food at a bar, and got french fries with lots of salt. Problem solved.
I have tried endurolytes, but I don't like the fact that it's broad spectrum, because I would have to take too much to keep up with my sodium losses. I do great with Succeed! Ecaps, however.
Some of this is undoubtably my personal physiology, and some of it is that I don't get enough hot-weather training and therefore my sweat is saltier than somebody who does. I have friends who do the same distances and never have problems.
Oh - one more thing - I have tended to eat a fairly low-salt diet, so it's likely that during the times I had issues I may have been a bit salt-depleted when I start.