Endurance Innovation
Andy Blow on Hydration and Nutrition
Episode Summary
Precision Hydration founder Andy Blow is back to recap the 3 levers of hydration / nutrition and his thoughts on getting this often-neglected element of endurance racing right.
Episode Notes
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- 4:30 the PH ‘3 levers’ concept
- 6:30 1st lever - water
- Optimal intake depends on many variables: personal sweat rate, intensity, weather conditions, event duration
- Some net fluid loss during training is to be expected and is normal / desirable
- Typical intake ceiling is ~1,000mL/hr, but exceptions are common with folks able to drink and tolerate more fluid, but this likely needs to be trained
- How to measure sweat rate
- Do bigger athletes sweat more?
- Role of event duration on sweat rate
- The value of experience and listening to the body
- What is a reasonable frequency of urination on the bike?
- How to raise the max consumption ceiling beyond 1000mL
- 31:00 2nd lever - sodium
- Very wide range of ideal sodium supplementation due to variability in both sweat rate and sodium concentration in that sweat
- Sodium concentration in sweat varies greatly from 250mg/L to over 1800mg/L
- The resultant danger of hyponatremia
- Sweat concentration testing: PH lab test or online questionnaire
- How does knowing your sweat sodium concentration help you design your hydration strategy?
- Sodium preloading strategies
- 48:00 3rd lever - carbohydrates
- The value of decoupling CHO from fluid intake
- PH Carb Calculator is a useful resource
- Front-load your race nutrition while on the bike
- The PH approach to carb fueling
- Recording what you did and what works is valuable
Reach out to the PH team at hello@precisionhydration.com , visit their website, and check out the Facebook and Instagram pages.