Shaggy wrote:
if you people don't replace calories during the run, what do you all use for electrolyte replacement during the run? any recommendations on drinks or pills that can be used with water?
I like the Emergen-C electrolyte mix, because it has a nice variety of electrolytes instead of just sodium or sodium/potassium. Plus it's effervescent which seems easy to absorb - though I admit I have no clue if that makes a real difference or not. I think the body is pretty good about sucking electrolytes out of any solution you put down when it's deprived.
Great thread, I've been mulling over these questions for quite a while now. For what it's worth, I made great strides in ability when I stuck to a regimen for a while of weekly long runs with nothing but maybe some water. I still do that mostly, though I've tried taking some things during training before marathons, but either way if I load up on stuff right after I finish I recover pretty quickly.
The bummer for me is my gut cannot handle sucrose/Gatorade kinds of drinks, so I've been using GU2O (complex carbs). Since I'm not elite enough to have my own food bottles on the course for a big marathon, and they usually only serve Gatorade or something like it, I can get in trouble there.