Happy July 4th to everyone!

I hope you all are enjoying the long weekend and have been able to also enjoy the heat, sun, thunder and down pours! Over here in the Methow we’ve had a solid mix of all four this weekend. However, the warm temps from the last week have helped the alpine melt out a little more, and a few of us have started exploring up high. One of our Cascade Endurance Slack Members even made it up to Cutthroat Lake this weekend where the trail is officially snow free! I’d love to hear where your feet have taken you this weekend so please share some photos and stories in our Slack Channel.

As we roll in to warmer days, it takes time for our bodies to recruit positive adaptations to combat the stressors of heat and humidity. One such positive adaptation is our bodies ability to sweat, promoting evaporative cooling during exercise. On the flip side, when exercising it is possible for an athlete to lose up to 1.5 liters of fluid an hour! So it is incredibly important that we make sure we are always staying hydrated on our runs. When we sweat, our sweat glands secrete fluid that is highly concentrated with essential electrolytes such as sodium and chloride from just below the surface of our skin. That is why it is incredibly important to not only run with water on hot days, but also ensure you’re consuming enough electrolytes to replace what you are losing through sweat.

If you’re new to the electrolyte scene, no worries! We’re here to help and I’m sure others in the Slack channel can give great good suggestions as well on individual preferences. The top three brands I typically rotate through are Nuun, Tailwind and Skratch Labs. When I check out a new brand for the first time, I typically try to purchase the “sample pack” so I can try multiple flavors on shorter runs on cooler days so I can see which one I like. The last thing you want to happen on a hot long run is to realize you hate the taste of kiwi strawberry, preventing you from drinking water. I unfortunately can share some horror stories of that happening to me on a 95F humid day racing in Florida.

I’d love to hear how training is going and if you have any questions about anything running related. Feel free to direct message via Slack or shoot me an email at Steph@Cascadeendurance.com

Happy running!

Steph