Sodium Phosphate

[RoadRaven]

Thanks Alpine... appreciate your reflection here

For me, as an enthusiastic amateaur am just interested to see if it makes a difference to my LT or to the preceived ease or pain I have in completing an intense race.

For others trialling this at a much higher level of racing I guess it will remain to be seen whether it can assist in precious seconds.

As you say - so many variables...
At the moment the weather is calm and mild - what if i battle a wind this afternoon?

How I perform toady will be different to how I would perform in 2 weeks time when I will have my period.

I have taken notes of food consumption for the past few days... and if I feel NaPO4 makes a difference today, I will try and replicate the same race (food, pre-race week rides, rest etc) without NaPO4 in a few weeks, and then again with another loading period.

Its about as scientific as I can get. I'll get back here this evening or tomorrow and give my opinion as a "user".

[RoadRaven]

Did it help?
I think so… this is the first TT I have completed where I was able to sit at or above my LT for almost the entire ride.

My average HR for the race was 162bpm. My last measured LT was 159bpm. I am assuming that an average of 162bpm is my new LT resulting from specific training and not as a result of taking NaPO4.

However, the fact that I consistently had my HR sitting around 168-175bpm makes me wonder if that was the Sodium Phosphate, because although my training has tried to be specific, I have never ridden that high for so long before.

No stomach upsets (apart from being “more” regular) and no other side effects to my knowledge.

I would try this again, but I did a few things wrong in my pre-race week and on the day, so I have to get those things right too (see Racing Report forum).

[RoadRaven]

Well, last TT of the season this coming Saturday.

I have some Sodium Phosphate leftover from last year's "test", and have decided to use it up this week.
I did a TT on Sunday which gives me a good indication of my current performance level.

So I'll start loading today (4 grams per day for the 3 days before race day) and see if there is a more discernable difference than my last "I think so/maybe" conclusion.

I'll keep you posted.