The Legal Supplement Pro Runners Use (I Tested It 4 Times)

[00:00:00] this white powder it’s completely legal every pro knows about it. Most

won’t talk about it and if you mess it up, your race ends on the toilet. I tested it four

times and that’s all I needed.

[00:00:11] Here’s what happened, what I learned, who this stuff is for and why even

a one to 3% performance boost wasn’t enough to keep me using it.

USP

—

[00:00:19] I’m Daren D Lake and I’ve been running for almost 30 years. I research,

test, and experiment with everything just like I did with baking soda to keep running

sub three hour marathons and fast 5K races.

[00:00:31] My goal to figure out what works so self-coach runners like you can get

1% better each day. Let’s get into it.

Section: How Baking Soda Works for Runners—

[00:00:38] So how baking soda works for runners, elite runners, they fight for every

second quarter of a second millisecond, one second per kilometer. That’s the

difference between tens of thousands in prize money and going home with nothing.

So they look for any legal edge that they can find. Enter baking soda. AKA sodium

bicarbonate, AKA bicarb soda. How it’s known to the international world. The other

English speaking, I’m in Australia. They say sodium bicarbonate or bicarb soda in

the uk. They say it there at New Zealand, et cetera. Yeah, the same stuff in your

kitchen and the stuff you use for cookies and cleaning your sink.

[00:01:12] But here’s how it works. Think of your muscles and blood like a campfire.

When you run hard, they make smoke. That burning in your legs during a hard 5K

race. That’s the smoke baking soda acts like a small fan blowing the smoke away.

[00:01:25] It clears the lactate so you can push harder for longer. Sounds perfect.

Right? Not so fast. Like all things in life, there’s always a trade off.

[00:01:33] So we’ve got three big problems. First, it can destroy your stomach.

We’re talking race slash training run, ending bathroom emergencies. On your long

run out in the middle of nowhere, don’t want that. Second, the pro version that has

the least amount of reported stomach issues, which is made by Morton, is

expensive.

[00:01:50] Yes. They’re the ones that make the gels. It’s $17 and 50 cents USD per

serving or run, and it doesn’t ship to where I live in Australia and other parts of the

world. And the third problem, you need perfect timing, get it wrong and it doesn’t do

much. So I wondered, can I figure this out? Can I make it on my own?

[00:02:07] Is it even worth it?

Section: Do This To Help Another Runner

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[00:02:08] But if you’re feeling all of this that I’m talking about, all I ask in return is

that you watch or listen to this all the way to the end. First reason is that you’ll fully

understand if this works for you and how you can implement it. Second, you can

help a fellow self-coach runner see this video or this episode, or listen to it. ’cause

the algorithm will get the signal that it’s purifier and they need to watch it. Whileyou’re on here, feel free to throw a, like, subscribe, share the link out to another

runner.

[00:02:31] Or, you know what? Just comment below. If you think about trying this or

you don’t care at all, you think baking soda is just silly. Let’s get back into the

episode.

Section: The Science Behind Baking Soda Buffering In Running

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[00:02:39] Quick run science nerd Break. So your blood, it has pH levels. We’re

getting back to chemistry High school. Think battery acid versus dis soap. One eats

through the metal and the other neutralizes and removes grease when you run hard,

you gasping for air. Legs burning.

[00:02:53] Your heart rate’s maxed out. You make lactate, ak lactic acid, lots of it.

That lactate makes you slow down. Baking soda, it soaks up the lactate like a

sponge quick note. Some people say lactic acid, you might read that. And some say

lactate. Scientists prefer lactate now, but honestly, it’s the same thing.

[00:03:12] Don’t stress. Oh, and if you wanna learn more about lactate and

threshold, I did a full deep dive on that. Hit the video above, or the links in the

description or show notes below.

In video CTA – Lactate 1

—

[00:03:21] But here’s the key point. This baking soda buffering thing only works for

efforts under 60 minutes, and the most effective is actually way shorter than that.

[00:03:29] I’ll get to that in one second. Why short, hard efforts like a one mile or 5K

all out. You’re running from a dog back in the high school mile that you would do

and you’re like, oh my God, about to die, and you’re like, roll over. That’s how hard

you need to go. You’re building up lactate fast and the baking soda, it helps a lot,

but half in full marathons.[00:03:47] You’re running at a steady pace and even 10 K, if you’re running closer to

like 60 minute 10 K, 70 minute 10 K, you’re not building much lactate. So in those

slower paced or longer events, there’s not much lactate to be cleared out.

[00:04:00] So the baking soda, it doesn’t really do much. And I’ve got the receipts,

the research to prove it. The International Society of Sports Nutrition checked

hundreds of studies. They’re finding begging soda works for high intensity efforts.

Lasting 30 seconds. Yes. 30 seconds to 12 minutes. That’s it. Not 30 minutes. And

another big review. Found gains in events lasting 45 seconds to eight minutes, even

shorter, but for longer runs.

[00:04:24] One study tested runners for 39 minutes. The result with baking soda.

39.6 minutes with the fake pills. 39.3.

[00:04:32] Not a big difference. So the bottom line for all this, this works for 5K

runners and if you run the mile, I don’t know who’s really run the mile when you get

older and you’re not really into track racing, but you might, you might run the two

mile race.

[00:04:44] It might work a little bit for half marathoners, but probably not for

marathoners. So back to my test experiment one. This actually works.

Section: Experiment 1: This Actually Works

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[00:04:52] So the first test, eight by one k. Repeats at current 10 K Pace fitness with

about a 62nd flute in between. So I’m actually jogging very slowly in between. This

workout is comfortably hard, so I took 19 grams. So I’m gonna have the numbers

up here ’cause it gets a bit mathy as I call it. I took 19 grams, that’s about 2.5

teaspoons for you Americans, 90 minutes before the start of my run, knowing I

would be in the middle of the session within two hours. And that’s the standard low

end starter dose from research and Morton site.

[00:05:25] And we’ll get into Morton in a second how they’re relevant. So that’s 0.2,

five grams per kilogram of body weight. Sorry, you Americans. I’m not transcribing

or converting it over. It’s, it’s not hard to figure all this out. So I mixed it with water, I

chugged it and I waited 90 minutes later.[00:05:41] Did the run. Felt strong, felt really strong. Those final reps, I usually feel

like death and my heart rate starts to creep up. . I crushed them and had a nice and

steady heart rate. It was a couple beeps lower than it normally is, so I know it wasn’t

just in my head.

[00:05:55] The heart rate confirmed it, my power was up two to 3%, and the effort

felt easier overall. The burn came much later than normal.

[00:06:03] I thought, this is it. This is the edge that actually works. But here’s three

things. One, I spent hours trying to get the timing right, the dose, the mix. I didn’t

just guess. And actually days two, the taste was horrendous. It was super salty and

not at all easy to drink. With that much baking soda, you needed a lot of water to

cut that really high sodium type taste like you’re drinking the ocean.

[00:06:25] It’s just worse than the ocean. But the more water I had, the more I had

to. Drown in the terrible taste. So I had to drink more and I tried to do less water and

it was just way too salty. Ooh. Number three, I tried to go higher in dose for the next

run trial because it worked so well. Why not go to 0.3 grams what they recommend?

And that’s when I realized if you want to try this, yes, you watching or listening,

you’re going to need a system.

Section: Use This To Make Your Own Baking Soda and Run Faster

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[00:06:46] So I’m giving you mine completely free, my full baking soda loading

protocol with the reverse engineered Morton formula. Which I’ll get into in a second.

It’s exact dosing guidelines, timing charts, and a tracking sheet so you can run your

own experiment safely and a bonus, you’ll get a sub threshold eight week free

training plan so that you can test this out while doing threshold runs.

[00:07:06] The link is at the QR code here or below in the description or in the show

notes. Let’s get back to test number two.

Section: Experiment 2: My Gut Rebels

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[00:07:12] Experiment number two, my gut was not happy. Uh, I did tempo

threshold, run with the same timing. But different dose. I went up to that pro level of0.3 grams per kilogram of body weight, which was 22.5 grams total, which is about

three teaspoons. You might be like, it’s not even that much. Whoa. Yes, yes, it was

spoiler.

[00:07:33] Everything went wrong before I got out the door. 15 minutes after taking

it, I got the bubble guts and my stomach started making the noises. The bad noises

like a shaken soda can about to explode, but then the burps happened. For like 15

minutes after, so I’m at 30 minutes after, and like I went to the toilet, not once, not

twice, but four times in the span of the hour.

[00:07:54] I got out the door an hour later or 30 minutes later than I wanted to. Then

it calmed down and I finally went out for the run. But yet the whole run, I was

freaking out and I made sure I was close to a bathroom. I think I went to the

bathroom once. Luckily it was a bathroom and it was, it was not great.

[00:08:08] Uh, I didn’t feel good. My stomach was off during the run. I ran, it was

pretty good, but experience of the bathroom issues for the next two to three hours

when I got home. So my stomach was just irritated and it was like, no bueno.

[00:08:22] The problem baking soda is super alkaline and your stomach is acidic,

and when they meet your gut, it freaks out. It seemed like 0.3 grams per kilogram of

body weight was too much and that the 0.25 grams. Was the magic bullet. So more

is not more in this situation, it’s not better. The workout was ruined and here’s what

nobody tells you.

[00:08:42] Research shows 50% if not more, of people that take this stuff, they get

gut issues, nausea, cramps, diarrhea. That works. I’m not special. And that’s when I

thought, how do pros avoid this? What’s the secret if I can’t access Morton’s actual

product, which says way less gut issues, it’s time to go full. Send experimental

nerd.

Section: Experiment 3: Cracking The Maurten Baking Soda Code

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[00:09:00] So experiment three, cracking the Morton Code Morton’s formula costs

$70 USD. Again, that’s $17 and 50 cents per serving, and you can’t even buy it in

some parts of the world.[00:09:11] Again, Australia, where I live in New Zealand, but what if I could make my

own? So I started digging reading patents, using Google and AI, and checking

ingredients to reverse engineer this thing, taking photos of certain things, et cetera.

Morton Trick Smart Chemistry. They use baking soda, obviously sodium alginate,

which makes a gel that protects your stomach, xantham gum and or pectin. I added

in maltodextrin and some sweet raspberry flavoring from my carb mixed drink

powder perfect ratios,

[00:09:40] it’s not magic, but just good food science. I spent the next few days

tweaking my own version in the kitchen, testing, adjusting, and I got pretty close. So

my version cost about two to $3 per serving USD and Morton’s. Again, $17 50

cents. Yeah, almost eight to nine times cheaper.

[00:09:55] It actually tasted way better and was way easier to take down.

[00:10:00] It was chunky, but putting it in the fridge the night before helped a lot.

Cold drinks usually taste better. So test three. The actual test outside 30 minutes at

my true threshold with my DIY formula. So I’m running between 10 K and half

marathon pace and my stomach really good.

[00:10:16] There were no issues, really. Performance still got that two to 3% boost.

Low heart rate, low power, low perceived effort. Maybe I figured it out. So time for

the real test, a race.

Section: Experiment 4: The Truth

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[00:10:26] All right, experiment number four, the actual three kilometer race or about

almost two miles, and it was 10 minutes of pure suffering, so perfect for testing.

This whole baking soda, bicarb soda experiment. I used my DIY formula. The timing

was perfect. The gut felt normal. Zero issues in the race. I performed well.

[00:10:45] It was my first three K race. I pushed harder than normal and was 10

seconds off my random time that I chose that I was going for 9 59 for, again for that

three K two mile race. Because I didn’t race it before, I didn’t know what I was

capable of, but my training said I should be able to hit around low 10 minutes.

[00:11:01] So I tried for it and I ended up actually touching my highest heart rate

ever, like in my life, at age 42. And it was 193 beats per minute, which did notactually feel bad. I didn’t feel bad. I didn’t feel like I was dying. I thought I was

gonna feel like I was dying and the physical side worked.

[00:11:19] So it actually, maybe it blunted a bit of the perceived rate of exertion

when your heart rate is high. But the whole race I was. A bit stressed out, mildly

stressed out about my gut, wondering which lap would be the one where I’d have

to, uh, exit. Said field, exit. Said track. And I was second guessing things like the

fueling hydration, the timing and the prep for it all was so annoying.

[00:11:40] So it’s more stress on top of a stressful day races stressed me out

[00:11:43] for what? Maybe one to 3% gain in training. Sure. Experiment.

[00:11:47] But in a race where you train for months and one issue can throw all of

that work out the window.

[00:11:53] I don’t know.

Section: Do You Really Need Baking Soda To Run Faster?

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[00:11:53] So some honest truth. After the four test, here’s my take. Try it. If you are

running a 5K or on the faster side of a 10 K, like 40 minutes or faster, not race with

the words marathon in it. You don’t want to have or full marathon chasing a lifetime.

Best willing to practice multiple times and have hours available for you to tweak and

play kitchen, lab, rat, and you’re fine with risking gut issues on race day, but for me,

it’s not worth it. Not worth the stress, not worth the gut gamble, not worth the

hassle and the real gains, this is where they come from.

[00:12:23] Consistent training month after month, good sleep every night, and

proper recovery day in and day out. Smart pacing and workouts and fuel that you

trust because you’ve been testing it over months and years. Sometimes the best

experiment is knowing when to stop. I got my answer. Now I’m moving on to what

actually matters.

Section: Use This To Really Race Faster With Less Effort (do not rewrite this section)

—[00:12:41] Again, go and get that free download. It’s my full baking soda loading

protocol with the reverse engineer Morton Formula, exact dosing guidelines, timing

charts, and a tracking sheet so you can run your own experiment safely as a free

add-on, you’ll also get the sub threshold eight week training plan because you need

to put it into your training and as another bonus, ‘ cause there’s always more, you’ll

get automagically signed up for my weekly five minutes or less email newsletter. I

go deep on stuff like this fun type of experiment, strides VO two max, and even

touch on the psychology behind.

[00:13:13] Why US runners do what we do and how to just be a better running

human. Links here at the QR code or below in the description, show notes. But

baking soda is just, it’s supplemental. You need to get your training right and if you

do anything from the 5K to the marathon, you should be dialing in your threshold.

[00:13:30] So go and check out my deep dive on the five mistakes that Runners

make with threshold workouts below, or link in description or in the show notes

piece.