Just a note about Gatorade.
When the Marines came back from deployments to Iraq and rehydration with government issued Gatorade, their teeth were quite eroded. The military dentists said it was the high phosphoric acid in the Gatorade.
Circling back here, with an update ….on the course with an opportunity for pit replenishment every 2-3 hours, this was a good event to shake out nutrition needs for the heat i expect in Texas.
I consumed about a liter per hour of electrolyte fluids and switched to plain water during the overnight, I use Maurten products and their 320 sachets. I used one with caffeine in the morning. I supplemented with Salt Stick brand electrolyte chews with magnesium. For food I used Maurten bars(oat base) and Maurten hydrogels. These are unflavored and absorb extremely well. I also took some nsaids and Prilosec before and during the paddle. I ate a couple PBJ crustables as the mood struck. I felt great for the duration, never bottomed out physically and honestly recovered nicely as well
Balanced against my success was my partner who completely tanked during the overnight but i suspect his issues began much earlier, only consuming about half his planned liquid intake
I have done two trips that were really hot. The Green River in Utah in summer, and the Upper Missouri River in Montana where we hit the hottest weather of the year. Both of those trips had days over 110 degrees. It was warm even at night.
In Utah we started to go over the side and float with the boats to cool off. In Montana we just kept our clothes wet. I started to set up a tarp at rest stops for shade. We mostly pumped water out of the rivers and drank it on the spot. Water that reaches air temperature is hard to drink. .
I got dehydrated for real in Montana. We stopped at a BLM field station. The air temp at their met station was 114 degrees F. It was hard to believe MT could be that hot. The sprinklers were going so we filled up all of our water bottles. I think I drank 3 quarts in one sitting. Still a great trip of 151 miles from Ft Benton to Kipp Bridge. I would go in the fall next time.
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A friend of mine has been doing the Texas Water Safari for the last several years. He drinks Boost Nutritional drinks.
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