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Get Fit, Stay Fit, Feel Good - 2026

stangmx13 said:
Water quantity sounds fine. 1 electrolyte packet every other hour sounds suspect. Electrolyte quantities range from 300-1000mg per serving. So that’s 150-500mg per hour. The low end prob doesn’t work for anyone in the heat. The high end might work for the avg person.

Oh, another part of heat performance is core body temp. Anything you can do to lower it will prolong performance. But extreme heat usually requires ice or swimming. Drinking cold water more frequently than normal can be effective. I doubt a 5min break in the shade will lower a climbing core body temp.

During my Sun ride, my bottles made it to ambient ~90F temps. Ugh that was the worst part - getting little to no reprieve from the heat from my fluids.
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I usually put a ton of ice in my insulated water containers. I try to finish drinking it before it gets warm. I could probably switch back to drinking more electrolyte powder as I had kind of stopped because it was gatorade for along time and it would mess with my intestinal track if I drank too much of it but the new stuff has little to no sugar so probably shouldn't mess with me that much.
 
I’m a lazy ass but cranked out ten miles on the surly. That’s our longest ride yet.

My VO2 is finally tracking in the right direction again.
 
I’m glad we are passed the days of Gatorade containing brominated vegetable oil, an emulsifier that could give people the shits. Though I think that chemical wasn’t finally banned until this year.
 
Sharxfan said:
was out all weekend in the brutal heat trying to get some stuff done before the rains. sore as shit and seriously wondering if something is wrong with me as I just feel off. Don't think its dehydration as I chug a lot of water when out in the heat and have been taking cool down breaks every 2 hours just feel way more wiped out than normal. This morning lower back was screaming so bad it took a bit to stand up straight which was weird but I did do a lot of moving retaining wall block around due to cement dudes messing it up putting in the forms for the concrete slab. Didn't hit the gym but did do some workout in the yard.
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Plenty of good sleep the previous night? Unfasted state, right? Morning protein? Possibly fatigued still from previous day?

Sharxfan said:
I usually put a ton of ice in my insulated water containers. I try to finish drinking it before it gets warm. I could probably switch back to drinking more electrolyte powder as I had kind of stopped because it was gatorade for along time and it would mess with my intestinal track if I drank too much of it but the new stuff has little to no sugar so probably shouldn't mess with me that much.
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IME: liquid IV and Dr. Berg Electrolytes (which can be soured up with a little ascorbic acid mixed in).
 
stangmx13 said:
And a QOM 🥳. Ya 25mph for 4min is firmly into the ‘aero matters a lot’ category of cycling.
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Yeah I was tied for QOM for a while on the Vassago then earned it outright on that bike. This thing is just a zoom machine. I love how it rides. I’m still working on a few things. The seat is cool. It’s hand positioning and I def need to work on upper body strength.
 
The results are in. I did my first sweat test today. I put my test patch on, made bottles, and left the house at 10am. It was about 80F and 80% humidity with UV-index at 7. One hour of RPE4, I stopped and took the results using the Gatorade app. Here’s what I got:

IMG_6465.jpeg
IMG_6467.jpeg

In metric:
975-1065mL/hr sweat loss
740-1180mg/L sodium
== 750-1100mg/hr sodium loss

I’ve been consuming 750ml/hr fluids & 600mg/hr sodium on warm days. So I’ve been undershooting what my body needs by a good amount 😳

I’ll be doing more of these tests. I want to do another at RPE4 in cooler temps, maybe at night. And I want to do RPE7+ in warm and cool temps. That should give me all the data I need.
 
stangmx13 said:
The results are in. I did my first sweat test today. I put my test patch on, made bottles, and left the house at 10am. It was about 80F and 80% humidity with UV-index at 7. One hour of RPE4, I stopped and took the results using the Gatorade app. Here’s what I got:

View attachment 600659
View attachment 600657

In metric:
975-1065mL/hr sweat loss
740-1180mg/L sodium
== 750-1100mg/hr sodium loss

I’ve been consuming 750ml/hr fluids & 600mg/hr sodium on warm days. So I’ve been undershooting what my body needs by a good amount 😳

I’ll be doing more of these tests. I want to do another at RPE4 in cooler temps, maybe at night. And I want to do RPE7+ in warm and cool temps. That should give me all the data I need.
Click to expand...
I am interested in trying this, thank you for sharing. My diet does not have added salt or electrolytes and I think that my sweat has a lot less salt in it than it used to when I had a traditional diet.
 
stangmx13 said:
The results are in. I did my first sweat test today. I put my test patch on, made bottles, and left the house at 10am. It was about 80F and 80% humidity with UV-index at 7. One hour of RPE4, I stopped and took the results using the Gatorade app. Here’s what I got:

View attachment 600659
View attachment 600657

In metric:
975-1065mL/hr sweat loss
740-1180mg/L sodium
== 750-1100mg/hr sodium loss

I’ve been consuming 750ml/hr fluids & 600mg/hr sodium on warm days. So I’ve been undershooting what my body needs by a good amount 😳

I’ll be doing more of these tests. I want to do another at RPE4 in cooler temps, maybe at night. And I want to do RPE7+ in warm and cool temps. That should give me all the data I need.
Click to expand...
I really hope it accurate. The contrarian in me screams, "OF COURSE THE GATORAID PATCH SAYS YOU NEED MORE BRAWNDO!!!" :laughing

:thumbup definitely more testing to do. It' super cool if its really an accurate tool and not just a decoder ring that wants you to drink more ovaltine. I appreciate you taking the plunge and sharing mang.
 
Accuracy is def questionable. A more accurate test would require patches on way more spots on the body. Using only the forearm is definitely extrapolation. People sweat differently from diff spots.

They did ask for my weight, age, and gender. But not my height. I may be able to find a publication with the algorithm they are using.

Gatorade claims 75% confidence for these values. That’s prob useful for the sweat loss because the range is small. But the sodium range is large 🤔. I don’t think these a drawback to 50% too much sodium during exercise. I’ll have to research.

IMG_6468.jpeg

Based on what I’ve seen online, my values are not outliers. It didn’t say 300 or 3000mg/hr. But I prob shouldn’t get extra confidence from being in the middle of the bell curve.
 
Our family went for a bike ride. I installed 5mm shorter crank arms on my bike so a family ride was a good way to familiarize my self with the change. I did notice my hips are a little more open and that felt really good. I need to make some subtle changes to my riding position (seat height and possibly forward or back just need to see where it’s more comfortable).

On a fun note, we had a race over the last 1/4 mile, the last one home wins. The wife gave up and it was a heated battle between me and the 13 year old. Well not too heated because I smoked that little knuckle head. They tried to cheat by stopping but I still won. It was a good lesson on low speed skills and surprisingly fun.
 
stangmx13 said:
The results are in. I did my first sweat test today. I put my test patch on, made bottles, and left the house at 10am. It was about 80F and 80% humidity with UV-index at 7. One hour of RPE4, I stopped and took the results using the Gatorade app. Here’s what I got:

View attachment 600659
View attachment 600657

In metric:
975-1065mL/hr sweat loss
740-1180mg/L sodium
== 750-1100mg/hr sodium loss

I’ve been consuming 750ml/hr fluids & 600mg/hr sodium on warm days. So I’ve been undershooting what my body needs by a good amount 😳

I’ll be doing more of these tests. I want to do another at RPE4 in cooler temps, maybe at night. And I want to do RPE7+ in warm and cool temps. That should give me all the data I need.
Click to expand...
When it comes to performance like a marathon, you dont want to aim to replace every drop of water and pinch of sodium.

Hammer Nutrition's Endurance Guide cites research on Marathon runners:

the front of the pack was dehydrated
the middle of the pack was regularly hydrated
the back of the pack was overhydrated

Concluding that trying to replace all of the water lost during your event can hurt performance. Aim for recovery after the event.
 
Killroy1999 said:
When it comes to performance like a marathon, you dont want to aim to replace every drop of water and pinch of sodium.

Hammer Nutrition's Endurance Guide cites research on Marathon runners:

the front of the pack was dehydrated
the middle of the pack was regularly hydrated
the back of the pack was overhydrated

Concluding that trying to replace all of the water lost during your event can hurt performance. Aim for recovery after the event.
Click to expand...
My events are often a bit longer than marathon winning times.

The current guideline is that performance suffers by 2% dehydration. That’s only 1.3kg for me. My current hydration strategy has been ~750mL/hr. My sweat rate this summer is 1L per hour. So my performance could suffer due to dehydration by 5.2hrs. It could be faster from more sweat or less starting hydration (AZ 105F heat) or it could be slower in cooler temps. My races this year have ranged from 2h53m to 6h40m. But sometimes I fail at the 750mL and that may be contributing to not ending strong in the longer races.

Hammer has fallen so far out of favor. They used to be all the rage in cycling 10yrs ago. Now some of the crap they post on the blog seems to go against what everyone is doing. It’s so hard to not be skeptical of all their info.
 
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I partially dislocated my shoulder trying to lift up my GS this morning, like an IDIOT. I have fairly mobile joints so it was a quick subluxation and there isn't any pain. There is a slight weakness at certain positions but easy enough to not do that. I've read that I should take it easy for a couple of weeks?! I feel like I have been taking it easy so I'm not too inclined to change up my workout tomorrow, but if I feel anything I will modify as needed.

9b21ed72-6b63-4ae7-bf1c-1348af2d47aa_text.gif
 
Do you do Facepulls regularly, Chris?
 
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