Pace Setter : January 2026

The Athlete's Kitchen

The Athlete's Kitchen - by Nancy Clark

 

Article 1 - Sodium: How much does a runner really need?

Sweat contains more than just water; it has electrically  charged particles (electrolytes, commonly called minerals such as sodium) that help keep water in the right balance inside and outside of cells. You've likely seen ads for electrolyte supplements that highlight sodium.
 

Sodium gets lost with sweat, so it makes sense sweaty runners should replace those losses, right? Are there sodium guidelines? How much sodium does an athlete actually need before, during and after exercise? What are the best strategies to maintain optimal sodium and fluid balance? Do runners really need daily commercial electrolyte products—or can you take the info in those advertisements with a grain of salt?

To address these questions, I defer to respected sport nutrition researcher Alan McCubbin PhD of Monash Univ. in Australia. In his recent article Sodium intake for athletes before, during and after exercise: review and recommendations, McCubbin states:
 "Currently there is no evidence that athletes require a greater dietary sodium intake day-to-day, due to regulation of sodium losses via the kidneys and sweat glands. Whether before, during or after exercise, evidence suggests that it is the relationship between sodium and water that influences health and performance outcomes ... Sodium intake strategies will be most effective when thought of as part of, and not independent from, hydration strategies."

Daily sodium intake:
The more we exercise, the more food we eat, and the more sodium we can easily consume. Most of us ingest far more than the recommended limit of 2,400 mg/day. That's the amount that can help manage blood pressure in one-third of healthy people who are "salt-sensitive", meaning their blood pressure rises when they eat salty foods. This excludes many runners.

• The food we eat offers an abundance of electrolytes. For example, a recovery drink of chocolate milk offers more sodium than Gatorade (135 vs. 110 mg/8 oz).
• A 150-pound athlete (69 kg) stores about 67,500 mg sodium in the body, mostly in fluids that surround the outside of cells. While runners lose some sodium in sweat, they are unlikely to deplete their body stores.

 Should runners consume sodium before they exercise?
• Even without electrolytes, plain water is hydrating. With electrolytes, we retain water better, i.e., it doesn't just go in one end and quickly out the other.
• Consuming pre-exercise sodium can increase thirst and a desire to drink. Being better hydrated can optimize performance.
• Some runners believe they should sodium-load for three to four days before a marathon or other endurance event. Doing so appears unhelpful and may not reduce exercise-associated muscle cramps or low blood sodium (hyponatremia) during the event. Our kidneys do a fine job of maintaining a stable sodium level in the body.

Consuming extra sodium within just 4 hours of exercise can increase total body sodium if you want to hyperhydrate. That said, consuming a lot of extra sodium and extra fluid might contribute to intestinal issues. Current research suggests this pre-exercise hyperhydration tactic may not improve weight-bearing exercise (i.e., running) in hot weather, though more research is required to confirm this.

Should runners who must "make weight" cut back on sodium to induce water loss (diuresis) to weigh less?
Three days of a low-sodium diet might contribute to about 1.3 pounds (0.6 kg) of weight loss. This may not be helpful if the runner ends up underhydrated starting the event.

Should runners consume sodium during extended exercise?
• Athletes lose proportionately more water than sodium in sweat. In under-hydrated athletes (who replace less than 70% of water losses during sweaty ultra-exercise), the amount of sodium in their blood can actually increase even if the athlete does not consume any sodium.
• Concerns about low blood sodium (hyponatremia) arise when an endurance runner over-hydrates with plain water. This dilutes the reduced amount of sodium in the body. Drinking excessive plain water without any added sodium or food that contains sodium is what leads to hyponatremia.
• The amount of sodium consumed during exercise has little impact on enhancing the absorption of fluids (or glucose) from the intestinal tract.
• Sodium losses during exercise may—or may not—be connected with muscle cramping. Many factors trigger exercise-induced cramping.
• Sodium consumption during exercise has not been linked to better performance (apart from one weak study) —that is, unless the consumption of extra sodium leads to greater thirst and thereby greater fluid consumption, which reduces the risk of becoming dehydrated. 
• Attempting to replace 100% of sodium losses (as ads for electrolyte replacers might suggest) could result in hypernatremia (elevated sodium) in underhydrated runners.
• Sweat-composition testing may help ultra-endurance runners determine their personal sodium losses. But this testing, in general, is needless and comes without benefit for those who underhydrate. Blood sodium levels will rise regardless of sodium losses.

How much sodium should runners consume postexercise?
• Consuming sodium after a sweaty workout stimulates the drive to drink as well as helps retain recovery fluids. That said a runner who is underhydrated likely already has elevated serum sodium which nudges a drive to drink.
• The kidneys conserve sodium when the amount of sodium in the blood drops, hence that reduces the need for consuming extra sodium (until you start drinking lots of water).
• To optimize fluid retention and replace sodium losses, enjoy salty recovery snacks (pretzels, salted chips) and/or a salty meal (soup, pizza).

Listen to your body
Anecdotally, many runners swear they feel better when they consume more electrolytes such as sodium. An extra sprinkling of salt can be helpful and is unlikely harmful, unless it elevates your blood pressure. If you are craving salt, first think about sprinkling salt on your recovery food instead of buying an electrolyte supplement.

 

Article 2 - Managing Food while Traveling with a Team

Traveling with a team to a weekend-long track & field meet or running event presents many sports nutrition challenges—especially when some runners may have special dietary needs (vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, etc.). Add in back-to-back events with limited recovery time, and optimal fueling gets even more challenging. Many of today's professional, Olympic and collegiate teams hire a Registered Dietitian (RD) who is also a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD) to help reduce those challenges. This RD CSSD makes arrangements for proper meals and snacks for when the team is on the road—and may even travel with the team. In comparison, athletes and coaches on high school, club, and community teams are commonly left to fend for themselves and figure out how to eat well.

While a coach, athletic trainer, or parent might step in and attempt to manage fueling needs, this can easily fall outside of their area of expertise. The goal of this article is to heighten awareness of the importance of managing a traveling team's fueling needs and offer some tips. This summarizes a webinar presented by Professionals in Nutrition for Exercise & Sport (PINES, a global organization) and the American Sports and Performance Dietitians Association (ASPDA).

• Inevitably during running events that involve travel and hotels, food challenges arise, such as needing food for an event that unexpectedly starts in 45 minutes; replenishing a dinner buffet that runs out of food because another group got there first; finding budget-friendly food choices, etc. Ideally, a RD CSSD can take charge, handle food issues, and offer the team a huge advantage.
• Event-day fueling tests nutrition knowledge the runners may have learned during the season, including how to plan in advance for meals and snacks on the road—and how to be adaptable when food expectations fall apart. When athletes understand WHY it matters what and when they eat, they are more likely to apply optimal fueling practices, even when routines disappear.
• Back-to-back events are challenging to runners who may have little time to refuel optimally. They need to be taught how to take advantage of every opportunity to eat and drink—before, during, and between events, as well as before bed and in the early morning. A team nutritionist can educate runners during training sessions, so they understand the important role food plays on a daily basis to enhance performance, recovery, and injury prevention.
• If traveling by plane or bus, some teams get handed a travel pack (fluids, food, protein bars, energy bars, ear plugs, eye mask). That is a nice touch, if budget allows. At least, someone wants to make sure each runner is carrying a water bottle. Never travel without fluids being readily available!
• On-site snack shacks may sell hot dogs, French fries, and other inappropriate sport foods. Whoever is responsible for feeding the runners will want to find out in advance the location of nearby grocery stores, bring a rolling cooler for fluids, and pre-pack quick, carb-based sport snacks (pretzels, bagels, grapes). Gathering information from other teams who have previously been at that site can be very helpful. But even with the perfect plan in place, good intentions often fall apart.
•  Pre-event anxiety can heighten runners' fears about suffering from GI distress or "feeling heavy" if they eat before they compete. Ideally, the team nutritionist has encouraged them to experiment with event-day fueling prior to the trip. Popular and well-tolerated carbs include gummi chews, gels, and applesauce, as well as cut-up fruit. Note: athletes generally prefer cut up fruit, such as orange slices, over whole pieces of fruit.  
• Back-to-back events require rapid refueling to start as soon as possible. Runners should prioritize calories and carbohydrates (not protein). When the event starts, someone needs to start preparing recovery fluids, shakes, and snacks so they will be ready and waiting to replenish sweat losses and energy stores.  Ideally, someone has packed a cooler with a variety of shakes and recovery products that are ready to be grabbed post-event. Writing the athlete's name on the shake increases compliance.
•  When athletes finish events at differing times, such as happens at track & field events, the best plan is to have the post-event dinner delivered to the venue. This is far preferable to wasting refueling time by waiting several hours for the whole team to dinner at the hotel.
• By mid/end of the season, traveling teams often have become tired of "travel food." A creative dietitian can nudge hotel chefs or caterers to tweak their standard menus and add some of the athletes' favorite meals while keeping sports nutrition principles in mind. Offering special meals and some fun foods encourages adequate intake of carbs and calories.
• Travelling to an international event adds even more food challenges, given the meal/food that gets ordered may not be what the runner expected. For example: an American rice cake might be entirely different from a Japanese rice cake.
• At the elite level, some Olympic & Paralympic teams create their own performance pantry that is well-stocked with desired sport foods. Given the main dining hall in the athletes' village caters to thousands of athletes, volunteers, and staff from over 200 countries and over 30 sports, having a food panty can trouble-shoot potential food problems.
• Food safety is of critical importance at all sports events. No athlete wants to lose an event due to food-related illness. Unfortunately, the ever-present self-serve buffets are known to be one of the riskiest food-service environments when it comes to infection control...

Concluding comments:
 When participating in multi-day regattas, you can spot the runners who do not have sports nutrition knowledge or a food plan. You don't want them be on your team! With prior nutrition education and pre-travel meal-planning, your team will have an advantage. A sport dietitian (RD CSSD) can be instrumental in helping a team overcome fueling challenges before, during, and after repeated days with back-to-back events. If you are going to be a serious competitor, why not eat to win?

 

Article 3 - Nutrition Podcasts for Runners

Listening to podcasts while running can be a convenient opportunity to educate yourself about all-things-nutrition. Nutrition podcasts can not only entertain you during yet-another long run, erg session, or workout at the gym, but also teach you how to fuel better so you can run faster.

To help you choose trustworthy podcast selections, I have listed below a few options with topics of potential interest to runners: health, energy, eating disorders, injury repair, current food-controversies, plus more. I hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to learn from these top-notch nutrition researchers and clinicians from around the globe.

Given many sports nutritionists do not have their own podcasts, you might also want to google podcasts with ___. Fill in the blank with respected clinicians and exercise physiologists such as Louise Burke, Stu Phillips, Asker Jeukendrup, and Trent Stellingwerff.  You'll be able to listen to these guests on someone else's podcast.

Sound Bites with registered dietitian (RD) Melissa Joy Dobbins.

Posted 2/month; ~ 60 minutes.
Melissa's information is popular with both dietitians and the general public. You'll learn about topics related to your daily diet, with a focus on current trends and controversies. For example: 

• How Safe Are Food Dyes? An Expert Weighs in on the Research and Regulations

• The Sober Curious Movement: Embracing an Alcohol-Free lifestyle

• Plant-based Performance Nutrition: Benefits, Challenges & Key Nutrients

Spot On! with Joan Salge Blake EdD RD
Posted 2/month; 30-45 minutes

Joan, a RD and nutrition professor at Boston University, covers timely nutrition topics. In her lively style, she interviews top experts who offer practical health and wellness information. For example:
 • Food Order: The Science Behind the Eating Pattern of a Meal and Your Health
 • How a Creatine Supplement May Boost Your Muscle and Your Mind
 • Why "Calories In vs Calories Out" is a Myth For Weight Management

 Exam Room Nutrition with Colleen Sloan, Physician Assistant, RD  
Posted 1/week, ~30 minutes.
Designed to address medical and nutrition questions, Colleen provides practical guidance on how to manage food for health. You'll find food guidance that bridges the gap between medicine and nutrition.
 HDL=Good, LDL=Bad? It's Not That Simple
 Overcoming Nutrition Challenges for Women Over 40
 "I'm barely Eating. Why Can't I Lose Weight?" The Hidden Factors at Play

 Fueling Endurance – Nutrition for Runners, Cyclists & Triathletes with Alan McCubbin PhD
Posted 1-2/month; ~60 min.

Alan, a sports dietitian, nutrition researcher, and lecturer at Australia's Monash University, addresses a rich variety of topics based on questions that athletes ask him as a dietitian for endurance athletes.
 • Are high carb diets a health concern for athletes?
 • Can I trust AI with my sports nutrition questions?

• Are omega-3s important for athletic performance?

We Do Science with Laurent Bannock
Posted 1/week,~60+ min.
This podcast out of the Institute of Performance Nutrition features a wide variety of leading guest experts who are clinicians and/or scientists with expertise in sports and exercise nutrition or other related/relevant fields. They take a deep dive into current trends and hot topics.
 Nutrition for the Prevention and Treatment of Sports Injuries
 Plant-based Sports Nutrition
 Advising Nutritional Supplements

Unbiased Science with Jessica Steier & Sarah Scheinman
Posted 1/week, ~30 minutes
The hosts take close looks at the science on health-related topics that may be a source of controversy. They debunk health myths and clarify the confusion with facts.
 Cholestero-all In! The role of Cholesterol in Heart Health
 Protein, Creatine and "Skinny Teens"
 Food Dyes, Seed Oils and Nutrition!

 The Injured Athletes Club
 1/week; ~60 minutes
 Hosted by mental skills coach Carrie Jackson and health/fitness journalist and runner Cindy Kuma, this podcast offers support to athletes dealing with sports injuries. The podcast creates a community that offers hope to help make the recovery journey easier. The hosts interview athletes who have recovered from an injury, if not an injury after injury after injury.

• Coping When Recovery Feels Overwhelming

• Recovery from RED-S

• Expanding your identity

Whom to trust for nutrition facts
 After having listened to Why Should I Trust You?, I now better understand why so many people today mistrust messages related to food additives, ultra-processed foods, seed oils and other public health issues. One answer: Too many nutrition scientists need to offer clearer messages to the public. Two sources of clear messaging are Dr. Andrea Love PhD and Dr. Jessica Knurick PhD. They can help you better understand facts vs. hype  You can follow @dr.AndreaLove and @drJessicaKnurick on social media channels such as Instagram and substack.

May these sources of science-based nutrition and health information address your questions and food concerns, enhance your health and athletic performance, resolve nutrition confusion, and add listening enjoyment to your long runs. 

   

Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD counsels both fitness exercisers and competitive athletes in the Boston-area (617-795-1875). Her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook is a popular resource. Visit NancyClarkRD.com for more information.