Added salt intake during marathon

Bob Beckert said:

I ran the RNR Marathon in San Diego on June 4th and I was surprised to see
the race directors handing out salt packets to everyone leaving the corrals
and entering the start line. They also suggested, and passed out, salt
during the race. What is the current thinking on taking added salt during a
marathon?

Salt or other electrolytes are used to keep electrolytes in balance when
drinking lots of fluids. It's to reduce probability of hyponatremia.
This is an issue for runners that are out for, say 4 hrs or more, but
could occur much sooner. There have been deaths in marathons from this -
too few electrolytes (mostly sodium) for the amount of water and not
recognizing the symptoms (hence "treatment" aggravated the situation).

This sort of highlights the important aspects
http://www.amaasportsmed.org/programs/hyponatremia.pdf

These go into a little more detail.
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/salt.html
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/hyponatremia.html

You might want to google for hyponatremia and focus on stuff in the last
couple years regarding hydration and hyponatremia. Some of the past
issues stemmed from bad advice from some organizations, but I think some
of that is starting to be clarified. And larger marathons are educating
runners as well as improving medical help available (like having a
device to test sodium concentrations in plasma, I think).

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people"
-Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

The stress of marathon running is well known. Dehydration and electrolyte
imbalance are two of the recognised complications of this sport. In a study
of collapsed marathon runners, however, investigators noted that
hypernatraemia with hyperosmolality was equally
as hypernatraemia

http://bjo.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/extract/89/7/930

--
I smile and go off waving
(Amiably) - for that's my way

Baal

http://www.helden.org.uk
"Dot" <dot.h@#duh?att.net> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Bob Beckert said:

I ran the RNR Marathon in San Diego on June 4th and I was surprised to
see the race directors handing out salt packets to everyone leaving the
corrals and entering the start line. They also suggested, and passed out,
salt during the race. What is the current thinking on taking added salt
during a marathon?

Salt or other electrolytes are used to keep electrolytes in balance when
drinking lots of fluids. It's to reduce probability of hyponatremia. This
is an issue for runners that are out for, say 4 hrs or more, but could
occur much sooner. There have been deaths in marathons from this - too few
electrolytes (mostly sodium) for the amount of water and not recognizing
the symptoms (hence "treatment" aggravated the situation).

This sort of highlights the important aspects
http://www.amaasportsmed.org/programs/hyponatremia.pdf

These go into a little more detail.
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/salt.html
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/hyponatremia.html

You might want to google for hyponatremia and focus on stuff in the last
couple years regarding hydration and hyponatremia. Some of the past issues
stemmed from bad advice from some organizations, but I think some of that
is starting to be clarified. And larger marathons are educating runners as
well as improving medical help available (like having a device to test
sodium concentrations in plasma, I think).

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people"
-Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

--
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"Bob Beckert" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I ran the RNR Marathon in San Diego on June 4th and I was surprised to
see the race directors handing out salt packets to everyone leaving the
corrals and entering the start line.

You got two good answers already. I'd just like to add, FINALLY, a
marathon that is coming of age with respect to salt. Hmmmm, I wonder if
Ozzie has any influence on this?

-DougF

Bob Beckert said:

I ran the RNR Marathon in San Diego on June 4th and I was surprised to see
the race directors handing out salt packets to everyone leaving the corrals
and entering the start line. They also suggested, and passed out, salt
during the race. What is the current thinking on taking added salt during a
marathon?

Bob, Something I'm curious about something that crossed my mind this
afternoon. Did they provide salt with no indication of what it was for?
Nothing in race packet, pre-race meeting, or ...? (I'm not familiar with
the various marathons, but I've heard people refer to race packets, etc
where they sometimes provide safety information) I'm just curious from
the perspective of runner education - either through training or race
packets or whatever. (I'm asking this from the perspective of someone
who's not always sure about a lot of things at races, which many people
just assume the runner knows.)

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people"
-Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope