It’s June and I am two months away from my race. This has been a tough undertaking, both physically and mentally. I made sure going into this endeavor that I included proper supplementation into the plan. I’m taking vitamin D, Vitamin C, fish oil, glucosamine, probiotics, magnesium, and collagen. In addition to those, I’m working on using electrolyte drinks after my long runs to rehydrate my body properly.
Why Electrolytes Are Essential for Runners
The electrolytes sodium and potassium regulate your body’s water balance and during pro-longed exercise, we lose electrolytes through our sweat. That’s why your sweat is salty, it’s full of sodium.
If you are low on electrolytes you could deal with fatigue and cramping in the stomach, side, or legs.
According to Runner’s Connect, other electrolyte imbalance symptoms are: muscle spasms, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, constipation, dark urine, decreased urine output, dry mouth and foul breath, dry skin, muscle weakness or stiff and achy joints.
Which Electrolytes Should Runners Use?
There are a number of products out there but I will start off with saying Gatorade or Powerade is not the answer. Sorry tasty “sports drinks,” your sugar content is way too high!
Side story, when I ran track my mom would buy sports drinks. I was a short sprinter so it really wasn’t necessary, but it was the early 2000s. It was usually Powerade but one day she bought Gatorade. I remember the Gatorade was so sweet and sugary that it caused mucus to develop on my tongue. It was a hard sprint workout too with 4 X 600m sprints and I was sprinting my heart out with a slimy tongue. That wound up being the only practice I ever threw up at and I blame the Gatorade for that.
You’re better off looking at products that are added to water such as Pascoe’s Basenpowder. This is a powder you add to water that contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and zinc.
Basenpowder Pascoe is a multi-mineral electrolyte powder supplement. The electrolyte powder and mineral supplement replenishes the body to support vital physical processes as I mentioned above, which is incredibly important. Basenpowder delivers essential minerals and electrolytes to:
- Help maintain proper muscle function
- Help in tissue formation and bone health
- Support healthy hair, skin, and nails using zinc
- Support immune function
They come in great little sachet packets that make it so easy to travel with and place in your bag for when you’ll need it. What stands out to me the most is that Basenpowder is sugar-free!
** Written in partnership with Pascoe Canada.
