Homemade Electrolyte Drink for Runners

I'll be honest, for years I never really thought about electrolytes. I'd sip water on my long runs, wonder why I felt flat and headachy by hour four, and just put it down to tired legs. Turns out I was drinking plenty and replacing none of what I was sweating out.

If you've read my homemade honey energy gel recipe, you'll know I'm all for natural, no-nonsense fuelling. This is the other half of that story. Because a gel gives you carbs, but if you're not replacing the salt you lose in sweat, you're only doing half the job. So here's the wee mix I now carry on every long run and ultra — three or four ingredients, about a minute to make, and no fluorescent-blue anything in sight.

🧂 Why Bother With Electrolytes?

When you sweat, you're not just losing water — you're losing sodium, and a fair bit of it. Depending on how salty a sweater you are, that's anywhere from around 400mg to over 1500mg of sodium per litre of sweat.

Here's the bit that surprised me: drinking loads of plain water actually makes it worse. Sodium and a little glucose work together to pull water through your gut wall and into your bloodstream, which is the exact same principle behind the rehydration solutions they use in hospitals. Plain water has none of that teamwork going on — which is why you can glug litres of it and still feel parched, sloshy and rubbish. Worse, drinking loads of plain water on a long effort can dangerously dilute your blood sodium (a condition called hyponatremia), so this genuinely matters.

🧪 The Recipe: One Bottle = ~500mg Sodium

This is my everyday long-run mix. It hits the sweet spot — enough sodium to actually replace what you're losing, a touch of natural sugar to help you absorb it, and citrus so it tastes good hour after hour.

Ingredients (per 500ml bottle):

• Water – 500ml

• Himalayan or sea salt – ¼ tsp (~500–600mg sodium)

• Raw honey – 1–2 tsp (for absorption and a little energy)

• Fresh lemon or lime juice – juice of ½ (for flavour and a bit of potassium)

Instructions:

1. Add the salt to your bottle

2. Squeeze in the citrus

3. Add the honey

4. Top up with water, seal and shake until everything's dissolved

That's it. It should taste mildly salty — like a very faint seawater — not unpleasant. If it makes you wince, you've overdone the salt.

Why It Works

• Sodium: The main thing you sweat out, and the main thing this replaces. Everything else is secondary.

• A little sugar: Honey gives you glucose, which partners with sodium to speed up how fast your gut absorbs both the salt and the water.

• Citrus: A bit of potassium, a hit of flavour, and it stops the whole thing tasting like tears.

• It's actually drinkable at hour six: The single most underrated quality in any fuelling product. If you don't want it, you won't drink it, and then none of the clever science matters.

Customisation Tips

🧂 Salt

This is the dial you'll adjust most, based on the weather and how much you sweat:

• Hot day / heavy, salty sweater: go up towards ⅓–½ tsp per 500ml

• Cool day / light sweater: ⅛–¼ tsp is plenty

• Start at ¼ tsp and tweak from there

If you get white salt crusts on your skin or your kit after a run, you're a salty sweater — lean towards the higher end.

🍯 Sweeten (or Don't)

• Honey's my go-to, but maple syrup works just as well

• Want it lower-sugar for shorter or easy runs? Cut the honey right back or skip it — you'll absorb a touch slower, but for anything under an hour it's no drama

• Don't go overboard: too much sugar tips the drink too concentrated and your gut has to pull water in to dilute it, which is the exact bloating you're trying to avoid

🍋 Citrus

• Lemon, lime, orange — whatever you've got

• A splash of coconut water in place of some of the plain water adds natural potassium if you fancy it

Gel + Drink: How I Use Them Together

On a long run or ultra, I run the two side by side:

• Honey gel for concentrated carbs, roughly every 60–90 minutes

• This electrolyte drink sipped steadily alongside, aiming for around 500ml of fluid per hour

The gel's carb-dense and low on fluid on purpose — so the drink is what keeps everything absorbing nicely and stops the dreaded sloshy stomach. They're a team.

Storage & Real-World Use

• Mix it fresh the morning of a long run, or the night before and keep it in the fridge

• Homemade means no preservatives, so use it within a day or two

• Always test it in training first — never try a new mix on race day. Everyone's sweat rate and gut is different, and this is exactly the kind of thing you dial in over a few long runs.

Final Thoughts

You really don't need a cupboard full of expensive tabs and sachets to hydrate well. Water, a bit of salt, a little honey and a squeeze of lemon will carry you a very long way — literally. It's cheap, it's natural, you know exactly what's in it, and your gut will thank you for it.

Give it a go on your next long one. Start with the base recipe, see how you feel, and adjust the salt until it's right for your body. That's the whole game.

— Kayleigh 🐝