Electrolytes for Runners: What You Need to Know

Audio Transcript

Coach Sinead: Hi everyone. Thank you so much for joining me today.

As always, I’m here to answer your training and racing questions, and help you run smarter and faster. If you have a question you would like one of our coaches to answer in an upcoming episode, you can submit it at runnersconnect.net/daily.

Whether you have a question on racing, training, nutrition, whatever the case may be, we will be glad to answer your question.

Today we have a great question from Louise on Electrolytes.

Louise asks, “What is the science behind electrolytes and running? Why are they so important to long distances, and what can we do to replenish our electrolyte stores, especially during the summer?”

This is a fantastic question, Louise, and like you said, one that is especially important right now, as most of us are in the thick of summertime.

First off, I will start with your first question there about the science behind electrolytes.

Electrolytes are charged ions that play a multitude of significant roles in regulating your body, and not just during exercise, but during your everyday life as well.

These two main electrolytes include sodium and potassium, and these play a critical role in regulating your body’s water balance during exercise.

The levels of these electrolytes in your body allow your muscle cells, and every other cell in your body for that matter, to retain the right amount of water.

But when we exercise, we lose electrolytes through our sweat, and this is why our sweat is usually pretty salty. It’s because it has a very high sodium content.

And Louise, like you said, electrolytes are far more important for longer distances than shorter ones.

In a short race like a 5K, electrolyte loss isn’t a major concern even on a very hot day. That said, you do want to make sure that you are playing it safe in this instance, because if you are electrolyte-depleted, you are at a higher risk for heat stroke.

Make sure that you top up regardless of the distance, especially when it’s hot out, and the conditions are less than desirable.

On the other hand, in long races like the half marathon and the marathon, especially if you are running in the heat, electrolytes play a massive role in performance.

If you lose too much of your electrolytes and aren’t replenishing sufficiently, your performance will suffer.

This is why you want to take preemptive action, and have a good amount of electrolytes in your system before even toeing the line.

But especially in longer distances and in hot conditions, you want to be taking electrolytes throughout the race, just to make sure that those levels do not become depleted.

And while hydration is obviously very, very, important as well, if you’re only drinking water and not consuming any electrolytes at the same time, you can upset the balance of the electrolytes in your blood stream.

In a worst-case scenario, drinking lots of water during a very long race in the heat, can actually flush out your sodium levels to the point that your blood content becomes so sodium deficient that you can develop a very dangerous condition called hyponatremia.

You want to make sure that you aren’t simply replenishing your fluids with water alone, you do want to incorporate some electrolytes in there as well.

There are a lot of different options when it comes to how you get your electrolytes.

One way is by taking salt tablets. This is a kind of old-school method but it’s certainly effective, and it’s a good option if you want to try that one out.

You can also look into EnduroPacks, which happens to be our sponsor for this podcast. EnduroPacks have an electrolyte spray, and it’s got all the essential electrolytes your body needs, and it’s also extremely convenient.

All you have to do is spray it into any beverage you like or if you are racing, you can just spray it directly into your mouth, and that’s a nice concentrated way of getting your electrolytes in.

It tastes great. It’s a very subtle lemon flavor, so it’s nothing too overpowering, that you would not want to taste during your race, and it’s just a great convenient way to top up your electrolytes and keep your fluid levels balanced.

Another more obvious way to get your electrolytes in, is through sports drinks. Your Gatorades and your Powerades, lots of other sports drinks, do have all the electrolyte content that you want.

But I will say that they do tend to be sugary, and have quite a lot of additives that you don’t want as well.

So, while sports drinks are easy to take in when racing, when you are replenishing electrolytes throughout the day, you don’t want to be consuming high amounts of these sports drinks, because they do have a lot of artificial sugars and additives that you just don’t need and you don’t want, along with your electrolytes.

A few more options I will mention here are Hammer Fizz and Nuun. Nuun is one that I use quite often and it’s a great tasting one. You just pop a little capsule into your water bottle, and it’s got all the electrolytes you want.

Nuun’s a good one, and Nathan Catalyst is also a great one.

What I would suggest to you is experiment a little bit in your training, maybe in your long run when you are topping up your electrolytes, just try out a few of these different electrolyte products, and see which one you prefer.

Always leave the experimenting for your training and make sure that you know which one you prefer and which one your body processes best on the go. Those are all some great options you can try out.

In terms of when and how much electrolytes to consume, this is individual to every runner.

When it comes to losing and replenishing electrolytes, every runner is different. Some runners are salty sweaters and some people sweat very little.

If you do know that you sweat pretty heavily, and especially if you are running in hot temperatures, it’s important to take in some electrolytes before the run if your run is an hour or longer.

What you want to do is about an hour before the run, take a sodium-enhanced sports drink of some sort, or a tab, or one of the other options I have mentioned, and then during the run, every 10-20 minutes throughout your run, depending on how heavily you sweat, take in a little bit more.

This depends on conditions. You don’t have to do this when it’s a little bit more ideal outside, when the temperatures are more moderate.

But you want to just make sure that you are taking some preemptive action when it’s hot outside.

This is true as well for people who don’t sweat quite as much. I would suggest you take in some electrolytes about an hour before the run, especially if it is a run upwards of an hour long.

And then during the run itself, make sure that you are drinking to thirst, and if you feel like you need to go get some water, just have a little bit of electrolytes in there.

That’s where, again, EnduroPacks is very convenient, because you can spray a little in your bottle and then head out the door.

That’s a convenient way to get in your electrolytes and just make sure you are topping up your sodium and potassium.

But also, your magnesium and your calcium, these are other important ones you want to make sure that you are getting in, especially when the conditions are hot and you are losing so many of these electrolytes through your sweat.

I will say Runners Connect has a sweat loss calculator for runners that helps you tell exactly how much you sweat, and it gives you a very accurate estimation of how much water and electrolytes you need to replace.

If you are a Runners Connect member, you can find this sweat loss calculator in your members only download section, and it’s a great tool that helps to pinpoint your particular electrolyte and hydration needs.

Louise, thank you so much for submitting that question. Great question, and I enjoyed answering it today.

If you have a question you would like one of our coaches to answer in an upcoming episode, you can submit it at runnersconnect.net/daily.

We would love to hear from you and help you achieve your running goals, so please do feel free to submit any questions you have.

Finally, I want to thank our sponsor.

As the temperatures climb and your training continues to ramp up this summer, it’s important that you replace the essential vitamins and minerals you lose through your sweat.

But how can you stay hydrated and replenish your electrolytes without all those unnecessary calories and additives in sports drinks?

EnduroPacks is a fast acting liquid made by runners for runners, that provides natural vegetable-based nutrients to help you get the most out of your training.

Just squirt a little into your water bottle, and off you go. Everything you need, and nothing you don’t, for improved blood flow, muscle contraction, and overall health.

EnduroPacks has a great really subtle lemon flavor that I love because you can put it in absolutely anything. And I can already tell a huge difference in my performance since I began taking EnduroPacks just a few weeks ago.

See for yourself at runnersconnect.net/enduropacks.

Thanks so much again for tuning in and I hope you have a fantastic run today.