Paris Holiday Day 3

Montmatre was the destination this morning. We took the journey up to Sacre Coeur, both inside and outside, then wound our way back down again bagging scenes from Amelie along the way. Our last destination was Montmartre cemetery. I loved the walking this morning, the weather perfect.

On the way back we stopped by the Decathlon store to compare the home brand isotonic powder with Gatorade we normally use. The stand out ingredient difference was sodium chloride with more than double the ratio in the Decathlon brand (which explains why it didn't taste sweet). I am no nutritional expert but from my brief reading it is likely we consumed more sodium than we needed in the final 48 hours and dehydrated instead of hydrating our bodies (which explains the cramping). Further I carried two bottles of the Decathlon high salt concoction during the race and when I started to get cramps consumed even more salt. It wasn't until I lost the bottles that I started drinking water from the 5km stops far too late.

The lesson: I tested the shoes, type of gel, had already settled on Gatorade years ago, socks, race wear and so on...only to change one key ingredient on race eve...stick to what I know.

The reason for the excursion  to Decathlon this morning....last night I tried to remember a single long'running race (including 4 marathons) or training run where I had cramps but couldn't. I do remember several sprint sessions and one very long cycle race (Baw Baw Classic 200km with huge climb at finish) but no cramping on runs after only 40 minutes.