We were having some drinks in the Blue Light pub this week when the conversation suddenly turned from crazy fast times on the track to explosive diarrhoea. This was all my fault, to be honest, as I was trying to explain why so many running records are tumbling.
It was one of those rare evenings in the Dublin Mountains when the heat still lingers after the sun sinks down behind us − the tranquil outline of Howth set out below in perfect miniature − and when living up here feels very wise, unlike the feeling of complete madness you get most days in winter.
We weren’t a particularly sporty crew, and the question was innocently put to me about why we’re witnessing an onslaught of records. World, European, Irish, etc. There’s my usual answer of the super spikes, the wavelight technology which has revolutionised pacemaking, possibly some banned substance we don’t yet know about, plus the increased use of sodium bicarb – the fast trending and perfectly legal running superdrug better known as baking soda.
It amazed me that none of them had heard of this before. The use of sodium bicarbonate, given in full molecular terms, has in fact been flagged as a potentially performance-enhancing aid going back to the 1930s. Just not to be confused with sodium carbonate, which is better known as washing powder.
There is no precise figure around sodium bicarb use, but judging by any conversation around athletics these days, it’s clearly prevalent. Especially among middle-distance runners. Britain’s Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson is an ambassador for the Maurten brand of sodium bicarb, her coach Trevor Painter last year saying he “couldn’t recommend it strongly enough”.
At last Saturday’s Pre Classic meeting in Eugene, Oregon, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet broke the world record over the 1,500m and 5,000m, respectively, and in the Bowerman Mile, a record 13 men ran under 3:50, the deepest field in running history, with 20-year-old rising Dutch star Niels Laros leading the way with his 3:45.94. Bonkers.
In the men’s 800m, five of the seven fastest runners of all time are currently battling it out on the Diamond League circuit. In the 400m, two-time Olympic gold medallist Vernon Norwood, from the US, is another sodium bicarb ambassador, and my estimate is at least 50 per cent of top athletes in these events are getting their pre-race dose in some shape or form.
There is no telling what exact role sodium bicarb may or may not be playing in these sorts of times, although the science behind its use is relatively simple. Whenever the human body is subjected to intense bouts of physical activity, the muscles, increasingly starved of oxygen, start to produce more lactates. Which is not a bad thing, as lactate acts as a further fuel source.
Traditionally, runners tying up in agony at the end of races were said to be swimming in a sea of lactic acid. The problem, rather, is the excess of hydrogen ions, another byproduct of intense exercise, which interfere with muscle contractions, decreasing the PH and causing acidosis. That’s the muscle-burning sensation most of us know about.
So here’s the deal: A small amount of the alkaline sodium bicarb in the bloodstream can help buffer the hydrogen ions, reducing acidosis and the sense of exhaustion, thus improving performance. In turn, more lactate production can increase muscle power output.
But here’s the danger: Getting sodium bicarb safely into the bloodstream is a tricky exercise, as any excess will soon cause digestive issues, including cramp, bloating and, in worst cases, that explosive diarrhoea – fast cancelling out any performance gains in the process.
For many years, some athletes might take a teaspoon from that little red tin of Royal Baking Powder and mix it into water, hoping for the best. Same as they might mix a spoonful of Kretschmer Wheat Germ into their cereal, back when that was thought to be performance-enhancing.
Modern science has looked more closely at sodium bicarb, the newer supplements originally coming in capsule form. One lengthy study carried out by the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2021 concluded that sodium bicarb supplementation improves performance in “muscular endurance activities ... including boxing, judo, karate, taekwondo and wrestling, and in high-intensity cycling, running, swimming and rowing”.
This was mostly established for exercise tasks of high intensity that last between 30 seconds and 12 minutes, the sodium bicarb consumed about 90 minutes beforehand, in an ideally measured dose of 0.3g per kg of body weight. Another study suggested a performance benefit of 1.4 per cent over a 40km cycling time trial.
In 2023, Swedish nutrition company Maurten released its Bicarb System supplement, which claims to completely bypass the stomach using its hydrogel technology, carrying it straight into the small intestine for easier absorption, and reduced side effects. This is the same jelly-like technology used in their energy drink mix, which Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge also swore by when breaking the marathon world record, and is also the leading drink of choice in the peloton.
[ Tokyo 2020: Kipchoge’s memorable marathon success a fitting final actOpens in new window ]
A four-pack of Maurten Bicarb System will set you back €70, and comes in five different serving sizes, the small nuggets of sodium bicarbonate to be mixed up with the hydrogel immediately before consumption. An athlete of Hodgkinson’s calibre wouldn’t play around with this before an Olympic final unless she was sure there was some benefit, and zero risk of any side effects. And the Maurten brand has certainly been setting the pace on sodium bicarb consumption, with few reports of any unpleasant surprises.
My current levels of intense physical activity wouldn’t justify any such investment, although that 2021 study also concluded that, while the benefits of sodium bicarb are primarily due to a range of its physiological effects, “a portion of the ergogenic effect seems to be placebo-driven”.
You know what that suggests. Like caffeine, creatine and L-carnitine, sodium bicarb may be perfectly legal, but that doesn’t always mean it’s doing exactly what it says on the tin.
