A hot one

I did my first solo 20-miler of the current campaign today in 23°C of unbroken blue skies. I ran well finishing in 2hrs45mins for an average pace of 8:15/mile and an average heart rate of 125bpm 72%maxHr. This is the fastest I've run a long training run so far (at a low heart rate). I felt so strong at the end, running sub 8:00/mile for the last few miles. That's the best I've felt at the end of a 20-miler.

I've been getting a bit of cramp lately, at night in bed but also during the day. It could be down to dehydration at night as it is usually when I've come in from training, eaten, and gone straight to bed. The cramp during the day though would seem to be a lack of minerals. I have a good diet, so I'd be surprised if I'm lacking potassium, calcium or magnesium, some of the usual culprits of cramp. I don't eat much processed food, don't tend to add salt to my food, so the suspicion is that I'm lacking sodium.

At the risk of grossing you out, here's some evidence that I'm losing a fair bit of salt during my runs: the salt marks on my neck after today's run:


I've made sure I've been drinking plenty of sport drink, and sprinkling salt on my salads, so hopefully I've seen the last of the cramping.

Incidentally, Lucozade Sport doesn't contain salt (sodium chloride), just sodium citrate as an 'acidity regulator'. I'm not sure if you need actual salt to provide dietary sodium, but I wonder if Lucozade Sport provides sufficient, if any, electrolytes. SiS Go contains sodium chloride and seems a better product, offering balanced electrolytes, so I'll stick with that.

I'm off to Lanzarote next week for a marathon training camp at Club La Santa, so I need to make sure I'm OK in the hot weather. Hopefully today was good acclimatisation.