Drinking enough? Add more salt to hydrate better.

When it is hot and you are replacing most of your sweat, adding more salt to a standard 6% drink helps you hold onto fluid. It does not make the drink absorb faster. That depends mostly on keeping carbs modest and the drink hypotonic.

Wijering and collegues used trained male cyclists that rode up to 3 h at 55% VO2max in 34°C heat while drinking a 6% carb sports drink with either 21 mmol/L Na⁺ or 60 mmol/L Na⁺. Higher sodium kept plasma sodium and plasma volume higher. Ride time, core temp, HR and intake were similar.

Translation: more sodium helped retain fluid in the heat, not ride longer or drink more.

Takeaways

• Heat, long ride, high drinking rate: aim near 60 mmol/L Na⁺ ≈ 1,380 mg sodium per litre (≈ 1,035 mg in a 750 mL bidon).
• Cooler rides or low drinking rate: ~20 mmol/L Na⁺ ≈ 460 mg/L is fine.
• Keep carbs ≤6% for hydration speed. Get extra carbs from gels or food.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9813217/

On my mindOwn The Pattern

Been thinking about how life keeps handing you the same lesson until you learn it. Same fight in a relationship. Same burnout after a big push. Same regret when I sit on a chance. On the bike it’s the same late fade, the same tight hip, the same fuelling miss. It isn’t the plan. It’s me running the same pattern. When I name it and change one small behaviour, things shift. First 30 minutes easy, eat every 20, drink to plan, no hero pulls. Tick it off after. When I do the inner work, the outer world follows. That’s durability for me.

Damian