Originally Posted by
big john
I remember that story. I think you said you got a little relief from eating the salt on your skin? One of my club mates did RAAM solo for the first time when he was about 60 and suffered hyponatremia and had to be hospitalized. He gained about 15 pounds of water weight and couldn't put his shoes on. DNF.
The next year he came back and became the first over 60 finisher in the race. He learned a lot by failing.
While virtually all heat casualties are hyponatremic to some extent, this kind of "normal" sodium deficiency has to be distinguished from water intoxication, which is what it sounds like your friend had. Drinking too much during hot weather exercise may seem unlikely, but it's a significant danger and can be deadly. Unfortunately, data I've seen suggest no reduction of risk from consumption of sports drinks instead of plain water. I still suspect sodium supplemented drinks help, but the observational data available don't pick up the signal for some reason.