Get Fit, Stay Fit, Feel Good - 2026

[two wheel tramp]

Just thought of this. You might be short on sodium. 400mg per hour of sweating is a good starting point for most. There’s very little in Gatorade and maybe little in the rest of what you consumed.

Are you saying I should have some potato chips on long rides?

(Or mix up a batch of your drink mix)

 

[stangmx13]

Chips, pickles, mustard packet, add 1g salt to a Gatorade, jerky, salt pills, and more.

Chips don’t keep in pockets though.

 

[Abacinator]

Chips, pickles, mustard packet, add 1g salt to a Gatorade, jerky, salt pills, and more.

Chips don’t keep in pockets though.

Tater tots do

 

[Sharxfan]

How does your leg feel today? Are you stretching?

I should change my name to "broken record."

I don't normally stretch on my off days but maybe I should start with some stretching on non-workout days.

I am surprised your cramping is so consistent. I’d think you’d have developed a little resistance just by doing it.

If you run slower, can you double the time to cramp?

I don't really feel it when I do about a 3.3 pace which is a fast walk 4.4 is about the slowest jog without a weird gait. Not sure why I went through a fine period with no issues then all of a sudden it crops up randomly sometimes on the front end sometimes on the back end. I want to believe I am hydrated.

How much potassium are you getting daily?

not sure I should probably track it and drink some hydration drinks if not getting enough. also try to eat at least a banana a day.


So Friday was a let down was doing so good at the gym was excited to get in there Friday and hit it hard for back/shoulder day. But God just laughed. I woke up Friday and was super lightheaded and my head was swimming. Had to call of work it was so bad, even walking was a chore. Waited for it to go away but no such luck it got a little better but nope. We to urgent care and they said I had something called transient vertigo or something like that inner ear is out of whack. gave me some stuff to help but it was so bad had to sleep upright Friday night because if I laid down head was swimming so bad I couldn't sleep. A little better today as last night got to sleep in the bed so hoping it clears up enough that I can hit the gym again on Monday I am really hating these missed days as progress has been good I don't want to lose it again.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Chips, pickles, mustard packet, add 1g salt to a Gatorade, jerky, salt pills, and more.

Chips don’t keep in pockets though.

Pickles! Maybe too late but after the ride I drank ayran, which is a salty Turkish yogurt drink.

 

[Mario]

I definitely feel like I did well preventing bonk and staying hydrated. My pee color confirmed I was well hydrated.

Hydration is key, always hydrate after a long ass ride!

 

[stangmx13]

I don't normally stretch on my off days but maybe I should start with some stretching on non-workout days.

I don't really feel it when I do about a 3.3 pace which is a fast walk 4.4 is about the slowest jog without a weird gait. Not sure why I went through a fine period with no issues then all of a sudden it crops up randomly sometimes on the front end sometimes on the back end. I want to believe I am hydrated.

not sure I should probably track it and drink some hydration drinks if not getting enough. also try to eat at least a banana a day.

The chances of this having anything to do with hydration or electrolytes are slim. You are reaching the fatigue/strain limit of those muscles. The tricky thing is why is it coming so soon. Are your muscles not used to the impact of running? Do you have a healed injury that needs some rehab? Are you not warming them up enough? Are you taking a supplement that makes you far more prone to cramping? Is your running form or your shoes or insoles causing extra strain on your calves? Are you doing something else in your life that is causing calf fatigue without noticing? I have no idea atm.

You may want to stop activity the second you feel the cramp. You may be doing extra unnecessary damage by running on the cramps. Itd probably be better to stop immediately, not be sore, and run again the next day. I push through cramping only during races and I pay for it for at least 3 days.

I would also be tempted to find the running pace where you can run without cramping ever. I'd rather run 30min slower than 10min cramping. That's a lot more training load and adaptation, which may fix the original cramping too.

 

[Climber]

My son asked me about the newest trend in track (and other sports?) called BioCarb which is really sodium bicarbonate or otherwise known as baking sode.
He told me that all of his 400m and 800m teammates were using it, at $17.50/pop, for their races. He hadn't used it but was curious if it was real.

I did some research and the science is to lower the body's PH balance so that when the lactic acid hits their cells, it doesn't hit as hard and allows them to generate more with lower impact.

Here is the article that I read on it: Boost Your Performance Using Simple Baking Soda

 

[Holeshot]

I want to believe I am hydrated.

not sure I should probably track it and drink some hydration drinks if not getting enough. also try to eat at least a banana a day.

Potassium deficiency isn't a hydration issue as much as it's a nerve/ signaling issue. Think of potassium as a bull horn, yelling to your muscles...extreme deficiency is hypokalemia. Lots of good info around on, but I doubt that's a problem with you. Excessive sweating without replacement of electrolytes may be somewhat at play. Take a look and see if any of the symptoms exist...none the less, it's not a bad thing to measure potassium intake from time to time.

IMO, no on the banana (sugars), but yes on Coconut water, Avo (not a fan), Wild Salmon, Beet heads, etc. This another reason I love the morning blended shake thing; I can add anything I want by throwing it in the blender and at least 1X per day, I'm getting what I need not from a sit down meal, but a drinkable morning concoction that's all done within 10 minutes.

 

[stangmx13]

My son asked me about the newest trend in track (and other sports?) called BioCarb which is really sodium bicarbonate or otherwise known as baking sode.
He told me that all of his 400m and 800m teammates were using it, at $17.50/pop, for their races. He hadn't used it but was curious if it was real.

I did some research and the science is to lower the body's PH balance so that when the lactic acid hits their cells, it doesn't hit as hard and allows them to generate more with lower impact.

Here is the article that I read on it: Boost Your Performance Using Simple Baking Soda

Many pro cyclists have their bicarb ingestion nailed down. They have bottles w bicarb marked, waiting in the team car, to be handed to them at a specific point of the race.

It’s fully accepted in cycling that it’s a performance enhancer. But everyone also knows that it takes work to be able to use it and you are risking shitting yourself

 

[Climber]

Many pro cyclists have their bicarb ingestion nailed down. They have bottles w bicarb marked, waiting in the team car, to be handed to them at a specific point of the race.

It’s fully accepted in cycling that it’s a performance enhancer. But everyone also knows that it takes work to be able to use it and you are risking shitting yourself

The recommendation that I saw was that you take 20-30 minutes to ingest it.

I was pretty confident that the cycling community had already used it, they seem to be, by far, the most advanced sport on the planet when it comes to metrics and ingesting things to help performance.

 

[stangmx13]

Average daily potassium consumption in the US population for 2017-2018

Potassium Intake of the U.S. Population - FSRG Dietary Data Briefs - NCBI Bookshelf

Recommended daily intake seems to be 3400mg for adult men, with a less accepted value at 4700mg. Recommended for women is 2600mg. So most people aren’t getting it.

I’m trying to find recommendations based on body weight, as guidelines only per gender seem insufficient.

 

[Sharxfan]

hmm you all have given me much to think about. It's weird as I have been doing the treadmill for a few weeks now and it just started happening randomly. Even if I jog through the cramp there doesn't seem to be any negative side effects the next day as I am just the normal sore and not in any prolonged pain from running through the cramps. I should probably up my potassium and will probably get a pill to up my intake that is why I suggested taking the hydration drink as it does have potassium in it.

Seem to be heading out of vertigo valley slowly so will probably skip gym tonight and tomorrow to make sure I am good to go at the gym which sucks but needs to happen to ensure I am ready,

 

[Holeshot]

Yeah, it's a rabbit hole...K2's another one to look at supplementing. If you do, just do the whole route of D3+K2 oil. IMO, you can never have enough D2. Have you had blood testing in the last decade for vitamin levels? Might be something to look into...as we get older, these things start to change considerably. Also, IME, I'm not into working through a cramp (if the feeling continues). I'd rather stop and switch to isolated leg exercises at a low speed/ medium weight, etc. All of us are different...but I like hearing how others are handling their workouts and issues with workouts. My problem: trouble moving to new workouts (diversity of exercises).

 

[two wheel tramp]

Many pro cyclists have their bicarb ingestion nailed down. They have bottles w bicarb marked, waiting in the team car, to be handed to them at a specific point of the race.

It’s fully accepted in cycling that it’s a performance enhancer. But everyone also knows that it takes work to be able to use it and you are risking shitting yourself

HARD PASS.



I have a cluster of varicose veins on my right calf from where my bone popped out when I was a kid. (Got hit by a car while pedaling). Yesterday, I noticed a ton of weird, red, surface-level bruising. It appears to be better already, but it was really weird, and I have never had that happen before. This is the same leg that was broken last year when I was hit by a car.

I really hate cars.

 

[Sharxfan]

Yeah, it's a rabbit hole...K2's another one to look at supplementing. If you do, just do the whole route of D3+K2 oil. IMO, you can never have enough D2. Have you had blood testing in the last decade for vitamin levels? Might be something to look into...as we get older, these things start to change considerably. Also, IME, I'm not into working through a cramp (if the feeling continues). I'd rather stop and switch to isolated leg exercises at a low speed/ medium weight, etc. All of us are different...but I like hearing how others are handling their workouts and issues with workouts. My problem: trouble moving to new workouts (diversity of exercises).

It is really weird. Used to have a ton of calf cramps at night but now that I have been hitting the gym and treadmill they have gone away but now these random cramps while running seem to happen even though I stretch fairly well before I hit the treadmill. I do have a blood test coming up but think its just the normal yearly stuff I may look into a vitamin test from a provider to see how much it would be out of pocket. Body is being really weird lately I think its pr0testing me trying to lose weight and get in shape.

 

[Holeshot]

I haven't gotten my test results back yet neither. From here on out, I'll be doing annual testing too. IMO, it's probably one of the best metrics we have for our overall metabolic health and wellness.

 

[stangmx13]

Define stretching?

Pre-workout stretching shouldn't really be stretching. Better practice these days is dynamic movements that use & engage the muscles to warm them up. That warm up can increase the used range of motion as you do it. But there's no stretch and hold like we did back in school PE decades ago. This is probably especially important since our tissues are older and far less flexible. Quick searches suggest leg swings, high knees, lunges, and calf raises as a warmup for running.

Cycling has renamed pre-workout stretching to "activations". The most common exercise I see is banded squats to really warm up the hips too. Some pros are religious about it with ~20min of activations and >20min of warm-up before big races.

 

[Melissa]

in my gym we do warm ups and cool downs.
Seems to help.
I moved around the mat today and feel much better for having done so.

 

[Sharxfan]

I haven't gotten my test results back yet neither. From here on out, I'll be doing annual testing too. IMO, it's probably one of the best metrics we have for our overall metabolic health and wellness.

I have a yearly with my PC next week will bring this up to him so I can see how he feels about it and if he will order it.

Define stretching?

Pre-workout stretching shouldn't really be stretching. Better practice these days is dynamic movements that use & engage the muscles to warm them up. That warm up can increase the used range of motion as you do it. But there's no stretch and hold like we did back in school PE decades ago. This is probably especially important since our tissues are older and far less flexible. Quick searches suggest leg swings, high knees, lunges, and calf raises as a warmup for running.

Cycling has renamed pre-workout stretching to "activations". The most common exercise I see is banded squats to really warm up the hips too. Some pros are religious about it with ~20min of activations and >20min of warm-up before big races.

I have been doing static stretches for a bit but I could see myself doing other movements if they can possibly help. although may have to stay away from lunges they seem to want to kill my groin ligaments.


So I spoke to soon last night was pretty bad seemed like the vertigo came back while trying to sleep and was also getting some pre-cramps in the top of my foot. not a fun night at all and here I was thinking about hitting the gym again tomorrow if I made it through today better than yesterday.