sweat loss / hydration / electolytes...

affacat

so i've been researching the subject line, trying to decide if i can save money by drinking plain water or if i should stick to electrolyte powder (or possibly water + gel). to be honest, i love the powder, but it's one more expense and it ups my sugar, though otherwise fits fine within my diet.

so, today i used an online sweat calculator. ran 6 miles at 6mph (in an hour, obviously), drank 32 ounces, and dropped from 151 to 150. according to the calculator, that's 48 ounces of sweat (4 pounds!) and obviously an overall loss of 16 ounces of water. I normally drink just under 64 ounces of water during that run, but kept it to 32 just for today's experiment. i'll test again tomorrow with 64. (obviously weather plays a role, but today is pretty average)

anyway. during my electrolyte research, i've seen some say you don't even need to worry about it unless you're running for over an hour a day. i'm running exactly an hour a day. but something tells me i sweat more than average.

for that amount of sweating, what do people here recommend? plain water? electrolyte powder? gel (hammer, for example)? i do like the energy boost from the sugar of the powder or the caffeine of the gel, but neither is necessary for me to get through the workout.

meshashesha2012

i sweat a lot and i notice that if i only drink water, i get weird muscle spasms and cramps in my feet and eye twitches. what seems to work for me is making to sure to eat a banana a day or drinking a coconut water after working.

the banana is easier and much cheaper. on days where i feel like i've sweat even more than normal, i'll have both.

cyclerjenn

I sweat like a pig and I notice I run low on energy if I don't do the electorlytes. I get a liquid drops from the health food stop that I can just add a few drops to my water and they really help me. Just make it taste like salt water but adds no sugars to my diet. I also like Nuun which are tablets to drop into your water, light on flavor and only 4 calories.

jorge_007

Just eat your fruits and vegetables. You'll get your electrolytes from there. I use to use the powders and whatnot. From experience, you'll have better results if you consume fruits and vegetables as your main source of electrolytes. This past week I switched to mainly vegetables for electrolytes and I liked how I felt. I had a lot more energy than usual during my daily runs.