Last night I got an email inviting me to join the BASE Performance Race Team in 2017! Out of over 1500 athletes who applied, I survived the final round of cuts! I couldn't be more proud of this!
This is the story of how everything came together...
In the middle of this summer, I came to the realization that I was losing way too much salt on my long bike rides. The heat and humidity, no matter what time of day it was, would leave me with patches of white salt all over my arms and legs during the ride. As I would stretch my hands to get more comfortable on the bike, my hands felt stiff. While I was staying hydrated, I was losing salt and I was losing it faster than I could take it in. Basically, my fluid balance was completely off. I thought back to my first marathon where I met a runner who told me she took salt during races because her hands would swell. As that thought crossed my mind, I thought of a vendor that I remembered seeing at my Half Ironman last summer. BASE Performance. I remembered their black and red tent they had set up and decided to take a look into it since it seems relatively new to the triathlon market.
I asked around the triathlon community and there were somewhat mixed reviews on how effective it was and if using regular pink Himalayan salt was just as good at a cheaper price. I considered their opinions and even bought a bottle of the pink Himalayan salt and it was a huge pain in the ass partly because I didn't have the vials to put it in to make it easy to consume on the bike. I also couldn't get it fine enough so there were still big pieces in whatever I took. I almost ran off the road several times, trying to mess with the container I was trying to use. I decided to do some more research to figure out if getting BASE salt would be worth the price. One big differences is that BASE salt has 84 essential minerals which when combines with sodium chloride, help with fluid balance in the body and help to avoid muscle cramps during workouts (my feet and calves cramp more than any other body part!) This sounded like a perfect solution to my problem.
I decided to go ahead and try the stuff out. I searched for a discount code and then placed my order! When it arrived, it came with 4 vials and the container of salt. They recommend taking two vials with you on the bike and two on the run just in case you drop one and your salt goes everywhere! The next day, I used it on the bike (every 5 miles as suggested) and my hands were not nearly as swollen as they normally would be. Over the next couple weeks I learned how much I needed to take in to balance fluids and to get to a point where my hands didn't swell at all. In an upcoming post, I will explain and demo exactly how to use BASE salt during training.
After Ironman Maryland I received an email from BASE Performance congratulating me on finishing the race and also inviting me to apply for their 2017 Race Team. I have applied for teams in the past couple years but always get the "Thanks for trying!" email within a few weeks. I am honored to be part of the BASE Performance team and can't wait to see what new opportunities will come from this!
This is the story of how everything came together...
In the middle of this summer, I came to the realization that I was losing way too much salt on my long bike rides. The heat and humidity, no matter what time of day it was, would leave me with patches of white salt all over my arms and legs during the ride. As I would stretch my hands to get more comfortable on the bike, my hands felt stiff. While I was staying hydrated, I was losing salt and I was losing it faster than I could take it in. Basically, my fluid balance was completely off. I thought back to my first marathon where I met a runner who told me she took salt during races because her hands would swell. As that thought crossed my mind, I thought of a vendor that I remembered seeing at my Half Ironman last summer. BASE Performance. I remembered their black and red tent they had set up and decided to take a look into it since it seems relatively new to the triathlon market.
I asked around the triathlon community and there were somewhat mixed reviews on how effective it was and if using regular pink Himalayan salt was just as good at a cheaper price. I considered their opinions and even bought a bottle of the pink Himalayan salt and it was a huge pain in the ass partly because I didn't have the vials to put it in to make it easy to consume on the bike. I also couldn't get it fine enough so there were still big pieces in whatever I took. I almost ran off the road several times, trying to mess with the container I was trying to use. I decided to do some more research to figure out if getting BASE salt would be worth the price. One big differences is that BASE salt has 84 essential minerals which when combines with sodium chloride, help with fluid balance in the body and help to avoid muscle cramps during workouts (my feet and calves cramp more than any other body part!) This sounded like a perfect solution to my problem.
I decided to go ahead and try the stuff out. I searched for a discount code and then placed my order! When it arrived, it came with 4 vials and the container of salt. They recommend taking two vials with you on the bike and two on the run just in case you drop one and your salt goes everywhere! The next day, I used it on the bike (every 5 miles as suggested) and my hands were not nearly as swollen as they normally would be. Over the next couple weeks I learned how much I needed to take in to balance fluids and to get to a point where my hands didn't swell at all. In an upcoming post, I will explain and demo exactly how to use BASE salt during training.
After Ironman Maryland I received an email from BASE Performance congratulating me on finishing the race and also inviting me to apply for their 2017 Race Team. I have applied for teams in the past couple years but always get the "Thanks for trying!" email within a few weeks. I am honored to be part of the BASE Performance team and can't wait to see what new opportunities will come from this!
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