THE TRI-CHRONICLES: The Salt and Endurance Sports
Gotta stay off that white powder, man. Image courtesy of Jupiterimages/Comstock/Thinkstock.
Ah, the tragedy of being a self-coached triathlete. On the one hand I long to improve my race performance yet on the other hand I’m reluctant to hire a coach. So, I resort to the next best thing: the Internet!
So here’s my predicament: Every time I transition off the bike I get muscle cramps. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an Olympic Distance, Half, or Full. I always get them.
For me, it starts with the hamstrings. The bad news is as the race distance gets longer, the more it progresses to the calves and the sometimes to the front of the legs. On some occasions I’ve also had cramps on my feet. The good news is, the longer the event, the more time you have to work things out.
Walk, stretch, salt tablets, repeat. Walk, stretch, salt tablets, repeat.
There could be many reasons why it always happens. Lack of fitness is certainly one of them, something that I work very hard to improve day-in and day-out. Nutrition is another.
For this installment of ESM, I’d like to focus on the role of salt in reducing muscle cramps.
So, you might be wondering, what exactly is a muscle cramp? Besides something painful that makes movement really difficult, muscle cramping is a condition that results in painful involuntary muscle contractions.
That explains why the last time I got out of my bike and started to run, my left leg wouldn’t extend and my foot would claw into a funny hook and I couldn’t do more than hobble out of the transition area. It’s kind of funny, really.
What causes it?
One reason is not enough blood getting to the muscles. You may have experienced being stuck in a seated position for a long time and when you get-up: Pow! Your leg cramps up and you walk like a debilitated senior.
According to Wikipedia, other common causes are muscle fatigue or electrolyte loss (e.g., low sodium or low potassium).
This is where salt comes in.
If you remember your high school chemistry, salt is a mineral made up of sodium chloride. Salt ions are essential in regulating water balance in the body and for electric signaling by the nervous system. It’s those characteristics that reduce cramping, along with fitness, of course. But, just because it helps doesn’t mean you should take a fistful.
I remember when I did the Wildflower Triathlon. It was a very hilly bike course and as I left the transition area, I had to grab my left leg and had to almost help it forward with my arm. That went on for about a mile and was when another athlete came by and asked if I wanted salt tablets. I’d never taken them before, so I declined.
Big mistake! That was when I started looking into using salt in training and racing.
Check out my Michael Jackson "on the floor" move. Image courtesy of Hemera/Thinkstock.
If there’s one thing triathletes like to do it is experimentation. I tried many different things from eating salty pretzels and salty snacks. I eventually settled into using Endurolyte tablets. Since then, I noticed I needed a whole lot of it to avoid cramping.
I’ve even gone to the extreme of sucking on a beef bullion sliver after reading how ultra cyclists survived the Race Across America. I stopped doing that because it was just too salty. I recently have been adding table salt directly from a salt shaker into my water bottle. I’m not sure how much salt I add but suspect it’s about a pinch. More importantly, it seems to be helping my transition runs particularly now that temperatures have been running in the 90’s.
The amount of salt required for daily functions is not a very large amount. The USDA recommends a daily dietary intake of less than 2300 milligrams, any amount greater than that increases health risks such as high blood pressure. But, each body is different and each requires a different amount based on your sweat rate.
Obviously, the more sweat, the more salt lost. If you ever wondered what that grainy white stuff is on the side of your face when you run on a hot day, there’s a good chance it is salt and electrolytes leaving your body.
For endurance athletes, the risk of salt loss increases because of long training sessions in the heat. So how much salt should be consumed?
I still don’t know and I continue to experiment but a well known company that produces endurance supplements called Hammer Nutrition suggests that you have to be very careful.
The conclusions in its studies suggest that, “…limiting sodium intake during rest and exercise. The harmful effect of more chronic sodium over-dose above the bodys daily need is a real and present danger to compromise optimal health.” This means there’s a very real risk of over dosing on salt.
It goes on to say that “It only takes a few hundred milligrams every 15-20 minutes in the hottest environment to sustain aerobic pace. This assumes that fluid intake does not exceed 30-fluid ounces per hour or that calorie consumption exceeds 300-calories per hour.”
I guess it’s time to take another look at exactly how much salt I’m consuming. While the muscle cramps do seem to be going away, I may be risking more by not measuring exactly how much I’m taking.
Whatever the case, one this is for sure: I just want the cramps to go away.
SamG is a middle-of-the-pack recreational triathlete. Overweight and out of shape, he got into triathlons in 2006, starting with the shorter Sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. He has since completed a number of half-iron distance (70.3 miles) and a full-ironman distance triathlon (140.6 mile).
Very good bless you, There’s no doubt that your current followers could possibly want far more well written articles similar to this carry on the great content.
Thanks John! SamG definitely writes some great articles and we appreciate the kind words!