*Disclaimer: These blogs are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. Please consult a physician if you have any pre diagnosed health conditions. Remember, nothing new on race day, please try out all nutrition and hydration recommendations while training. This is generalized nutrition advice, please use the dietitian question box for individualized nutrition guidance*
One of the most important things to take into consideration while training is considering hydration and nutrition! Florida is hot and humid, it is very important to look into your sweat rate while training in your current climate as well as looking at the race timeframe you will be participating in and the average humidity and temperature in Florida during that time of year.
Not all rehydration products are created equally! Things that tend to be marketed to athletes as “sports drinks” like gatorade, powerade, body armor, or coconut water drinks tend to be a miss where it really counts. These are more filled with sugar and minimally filled with the proper electrolytes. Sodium is important to consider in this equation but so are magnesium and potassium, did you know that athletes can lose anywhere from 200-2000mg of sodium per liter of sweat or that it isn’t uncommon for athletes to lose between 1-2.5L of sweat per training session? Pretty wild, right?
- LMNT has 1000mg of sodium and 200mg of potassium per packet (5:1 ratio)
- Gatorade, G2, Gatorade Zero has 108g of sodium and 31g of potassium per 8oz (3.4:1 ratio)
- BodyArmor contains 20mg sodium and 353mg of potassium per 8oz (0.05:1 ratio)
- Prime contains 4.6mg of sodium and 333mg of potassium in 8oz (0.01:1 ratio)
- 1/2c 100% fruit juice of choice
- 20oz of water
- 1/2tsp of salt
- or
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 400mg potassium chloride
- 1/4 tsp of magnesium malate
- 20-32oz water
- add lime, lemon, or fruit juice of choice in at least 1/4c, add more depending on flavor and taste preferences