Prolytes

One thing I have learned about myself through 85 marathons, thousands of miles of running and pushing myself through extreme temperatures and climates, is that I sweat. Sure we all sweat to some extent but Webster may think about putting a picture of my pores next to the definition of "sweat". They work hard. They do their job. They just make it really damn hard for me to keep adequately refreshed in the races I love to run so much.

As my new book See Dane Run says, I almost gave up long-distance running a few years ago as I felt I was not built for it. I would get to the half-marathon portion of a marathon feeling great. then a few miles later the crash and burn would occur. As I soon found out, I was losing electrolytes FAR faster than most other people through the copious amounts of sweat I produced in rigorous exercise.

Soon thereafter I learned how to drink more properly through a race and if conditions were cool, I was fine. But without a doubt, as the thermometer goes up, my chances for success went down. As time has passed, I have found myself far better at adapting to these changes and doing the best I can to keep that crash abated. However, I really put myself to the test lately in the 12-Hour One Day Race in San Francisco.

You see, the temperature on this late October day in San Francisco reached a high of at least 82 degrees. There was not a cloud in the sky the entire days and there was not a leaf of shade on the course to keep the ELSO (Evil Life-Sucking Orb) know as the sun from breaking me down. Since my goals for the day were going to be far less than I was hoping for, I decided to experiment.

For months, I had been using a product called Prolytes to help replenish the electrolytes in my system before or after a run or workout.


But I had never done so during a race. On this day, I most assuredly thought it was worth the effort to try something new. The old adage of never trying anything new on race day goes out the window when you know that conditions are already changing your goals! So, I started taking Prolytes in my liquids I was drinking. Gatorade, water, you name it, I put the Prolytes in and took it down. The day wore on and I got tired. The sun beat down and I went through more liquid than I can remember. It was hot and I was sweating. But I never completely crashed.

The end result was 68.3 miles and a 3rd place overall finish. Without a doubt, this was the best I had ever managed a hot weather run, especially one of this length of both distance and time. I think that my doing so was in no small part due to my taking of the Prolytes through the run.

Nearly flavorless and packed with a powerful blend of potassium, sodium, magnesium, chloride and sulfate, Prolytes can be mixed into any drink you desire.I would highly recommend that for those looking to effectively re-hydrate and replace your body’s lost electrolytes that you give Prolytes a try.