Ok, now that we have that out of the way.
I'm an extreme sweater, always have been, probably always will be. It doesn't matter if I'm in excellent shape or terrible shape, I sweat. Honestly, I think the better shape I'm in the more I sweat, but I don't have actual scientific evidence to back that up. Over the past 18 months I've started getting monthly-ish massages to keep my body in check. My massage therapist is a friend of mine, also a yogi and Reiki guru, and someone who is very passionate about healing and whole body health. So obviously I love talking to her about all things mind and body, especially as it relates to my running.
Over the past year, as my running has really gotten serious again, there have been some aches and pains and some severe enough that I had to stop running for a week or two as a precaution. This is a far cry from previous years where I'd keep pushing through and then just be broken for months. So yay, that's a plus for me, I guess.
Another thing to note, is I started strength training almost two years ago. And despite doing it weekly (with some missed sessions here and there) I am incredibly sore after each strength workout. This spring, I got in a bad habit of skipping my strength because I'd be so sore from the workout, that I'd miss 2-4 days of running. And then I'd get hurt during running because I wasn't doing my strength workouts to keep my hips and glutes in check. GAH!
Late this spring, my massage therapist was talking to me about electrolytes. She was talking to one of her other endurance athletes (as she is not) and they mentioned what they used during their workouts. I used to use Nuun, I think during my last marathon cycle (so 2014) and just didn't think it did that much for me. I switched to Gatorade cut 50/50 with water and thought that worked better for me, but caused some stomach issues as I was taking GUs for my fuel. I never picked nuun back up after that. I also started utilizing salt tabs on my long hot humid runs, which I thought was sufficient. I also eat a pretty salty diet because I am such a salty sweater, and I know my body wants/needs to replace all that is lost. Bring on the nachos and kale chips.
After Sara's comment about the electrolytes, I thought it couldn't help to try to add nuun back to the equation, especially to try to figure some things out before marathon training starts. I'm 100% focused on running a strong marathon in October, and to do so I need to stay healthy, run a lot of miles, and not miss my strength sessions.
My last long run before Grandma's half, I drank a bottle of nuun after the run. And the next day, I felt the best I ever had after a long run. I started to do a lot of research about electrolytes and discovered a lot of things I deal with are spot on for people who have an electrolyte imbalance. Light bulb moment! I felt like such an idiot (see above). I get terrible headaches all of the time, my stomach is constantly a mess, extreme muscle fatigue from intense workouts running or lifting, irregular heart beat. Yikes.
I kept reading handfuls of peer reviewed research articles and they all kept pointing to the same thing, if you're an endurance athlete, you need electrolytes on any workout longer than an hour. If you're a super salty sweater, you probably need it sooner.
My next POWER lifting session, I drank nuun after the workout, and for the first time ever, the next day I wasn't sore. That weekend I had Grandma's half, and drank one bottle of nuun each day leading up to the race, and the morning of and that's the best I've felt on a race.
Since then I've continued to drink it after runs and workouts. I've also brought it along for 2 of my marathon long runs, as well as drinking after. On a couple of super hot days this past week, I drank it in the afternoon before the run. It's seriously making all of the difference in the world. It would be embarrassing to tell you how many ibuprofen I was probably taking on a daily basis for this headache, or that knee pain, or that tweak in my back from lifting. DAILY. I think I needed ibuprofen once in the past couple of weeks. Which is probably more on par with "normal".
I'm really excited to get some clarity on this and am excited to see how it helps my training going forward. Now I just need nuun as a sponsor ASAP, because those little tubes are adding up FAST. Thank goodness 605 Running Co. carries them so I can stock up whenever I'm there for a group run! (#notanad)
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