Timing Electrolytes for a Podium Finish
This post is sponsored by Venture Pal. The sachets were in my race vest long before their name was on this page. My packing list from weeks before this partnership existed.
On Sunday I finished third woman at the Big Bear 10K, and the part everyone saw was the sprint: 8:50 pace at 192 steps per minute, half a mile from the line, at the end of 1,398 feet of climbing. The part nobody saw was the plan that made sure that gear still existed.
The problem with drinking when you're thirsty
Here's what years of competitive sports taught me: by the time you want electrolytes, you needed them twenty minutes ago. At my night race two weeks earlier I barely drank all day, flew out too fast, and spent seven miles doing damage control. The full confession is in that debrief. Sweat takes sodium on a schedule. If your intake doesn't run on one too, the math catches you in the back half, and the back half is where races are decided.
The timing plan
So Big Bear got a plan, and it was almost embarrassingly simple.
The night before: one Venture Pal stick in my water while I packed. Pre-hydrating the lazy way, which is the way that actually happens.
Race morning: one stick in 16 ounces with breakfast, finished before the start. That's 1,000 milligrams of sodium on board before the first climb, which matters because you start losing it the moment the gun goes.
In the vest: one stick mixed in my 500 milliliter soft flask, and the rule that made the difference: sips on a schedule, not on thirst. Top of every climb, two sips. The climbs come often enough in Harriman that the schedule runs itself.
What that bought me
A controlled first mile at heart rate 164 while the field sprinted away. A 17:55 mile up the big climb, hiking with purpose. A descent at heart rate 153. And at the end, when the race usually takes the sprint away from people, the sprint was still there. The full race story is in Debrief 26-04, splits and all.
What the timing plan did was make sure nothing was missing when I asked for the finish. That's the honest job of race fuel.
Why this brand
Venture Pal's high-sodium stick is 1,000 milligrams of sodium with potassium and magnesium, no sugar, and it dissolves fast in a soft flask without clumping, which matters more than it sounds at 7 AM in a parking lot. It's what I used all fall, from training runs to the night race to the podium.
Next test: 20.6 miles at Ray Miller in December, where the timing plan graduates from 90 minutes to four-plus hours. The schedule scales. That's the point of having one. Venture Pal is also supporting the Ray Miller Even shake out, so I'll have some for everyone to try and bring with them on the trail the next day. Love to see companies supporting COMMUNITY. Thank you Venture Pal!
