Well, there are 77 swimming workouts in the app now, and the English Channel is only 21 miles wide at Dover. So maybe someone will have a swim across the Great Lactic Acid Lake as their Mount Sufferlandria.
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Chiming in here as I cramped horrifically until I changed my elec drinks. I used to fear going to bed after any heavy-ish ride.
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I swear by Precision Hydration. For big rides/ events I pre-load with PH 1500 the night before and the morning of, and have PH 1000 in all my bottles (I carry spare tablets to replenish.) This is predominantly sodium. Prior to this I found that no matter how much magnesium I consumed I still cramped.
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I have a stock of pickle juice shots at home. Seldom need them - except for my knighthood quest where I had 2 (around #6 and #8).
That said I now make my own drinks - same sodium content as PH1000 but higher magnesium. With a dash of lime juice!
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Would you mind sharing your recipe? I imagine you can use table salt for sodium. Where do you get magnesium?
Not at all. I was finding I was spending a fortune on drink supplements, energy bars and protein bars so now I make my own:
I very much believe in the KISS principle so while this (Homemade Sports Drink Recipes | How to Make Your Own Sports Drink) is a great place to start I do the following:
- 600ml water (my bottles are 600ml)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine Sea Salt (~580mg sodium)
- 1/4 teaspoon Magnesium powder (~ 50mg magnesium) - photo of what I use attached
- Dash of citrus juice (a squeeze or 2 of a lemon, lime or orange slice - to taste)
- (The magnesium powder I use also contains a little calcium, zinc and Vit C but not enough to have to factor in. Have a good look at what else is in the magnesium powder when choosing one to use …)
I don’t generally add carbs but if I feel I need to I use Maple syrup. Magnesium powders differ in their content but for the salt and maple syrup I got the following figures from googling:
- 2 tbsp maple syrup = 110 calories, 27g carbohydrate, 30mg calcium, 100mg potassium
- 1tbsp sugar = 60 calories, 15g CHO
- 1tsp salt = 2325mg Na
My purchased product contains 1000mg sodium/ 1000ml so 1/4 teaspoon salt is pretty much spot on for me. I’ll still keep some for the convenience factor (rather than carrying a bag of salt, a bag of magnesium, a lemon and a 1/4 teaspoon on my rides 
) but that will only be if I’m anticipating consuming >2 bottles.
The amount of sodium is also pretty much what many of the recipes in the link above use but quite a bit higher than the majority of sports drinks/ powders on the market, so the usual disclaimer about checking with your medico if you suffer from hypertension or something else that requires a low sodium diet.
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@Craig.Quarmby Thank you.
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