A Natural Drink to Balance Electrolytes

Image borrowed from http://tipdeck.com/home-made-lemonade-recipe

I first learned about electrolytes after a race in the late 90s.  It was a sweltering hot day--the first really hot day of that summer.  After completing the race I was talking to a reporter, who was intrigued by the fact that our sisters were running in full habits with the children from St. Charles.  

After that conversation, I remember turning around and heading to the refreshment stand.  Next thing I knew, everything around me started to swim and my face was in the grass (I am so glad there was grass there!)  Other runners were very kind.  They told me to sit there and put my head between my knees until the dizziness went away.  Some one got me a banana.  I wanted to disappear into the grass.

Since then I have learned that if I sweat a lot and then rehydrate really quickly right away, I am susceptible to this kind of dizziness.  I am not alone:  that is why sports drinks have been invented, with their special ingredients to help replace the electrolytes in our body that we lose when we sweat a lot.  I don't like all the sugar in those drinks, however, and I wanted to share a natural recipe given to me by my naturopath  that works really well for me. Here it is:

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar powder

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup grapefruit juice (I use unsweetened)

3 1/2 cups water

It's quick and easy to make and less expensive than those sports drinks.  Works for me!  For more information about electrolytes and how to avoid electrolyte imbalance, here is a good article.  

How Do Those Sisters Run in Those Habits?

At the very beginning of this blog I thought I would answer a burning question that is on many people's minds when they see our sisters running.  How on earth do we run in these habits?  First of all, we are used to it.  Since we train in the habit every day, our attire does not have any impact on our performance at a race.

During the summer after running races when the temperature was in the 80s or 90s, I would often get the question, “How can you possibly run in that long dress?  Aren’t you hot?”  I always found the question a little amusing because I was as cool as a cucumber and the runner asking me was usually pretty hot!  You see, our bodies are very intelligent.  When it is hot and when we work out, we sweat.  The purpose of the sweat is to cool our bodies down.  When the sisters run in a road race wearing their long, blue & white habits on a hot day, the habits become damp.  After the race, we are as cool as if we were in a swimming pool.  


In the winter we layer just like everyone else.  Probably the most difficult part of running in a habit (especially a white one) is that if it there is mud or slush on the road our hemlines get very dirty.  For that reason we tend to have a designated "running habit."  


One last thing about the habit:  we designed them for running.  Although the skirts are long, they have 4 big pleats.  Our stride is never hampered by our skirts.  So, running in the habit is easy once you get used to it.  Some of our sisters ride bikes in their habit.  Unfortunately, that is a skill I never mastered.  The skirt always gets caught in the bike chain.  Maybe I should practice more.