Wow. Well, here you go- all the electrolytes you need plus complex carbohydrate and up to 50 more calories and .5 oz. more Gel PER PACKET than GU, Hammer Gel, Power Gel, Carbboom and all the others:

TRY E-GEL! It's simple: Gel, electrolytes (240mg of sodium per gel pack- compare to less than 55 for almost every other brand) all you need in one package!

I am amazed more people haven't tried E-Gel.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I’ve also found soy sauce a good alternative if you can’t get salt tabs. Another good mix is sardines that come packaged in soy sauce. They are easily transportable to bring to the race (thanks to the indestructible packaging) and the sardines provide excellent protein. The combination is also great for training (helping recover). If you can stomach it, can some while doing your cool down so you don’t miss that critical window for absorption of the protein.



(note: make sure you get the boneless ones. Nothing worse than coughing up a bone mid way on a long bike or run).

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Kyle Marcotte
Team Timex Multisport
http://teamtimex.timexblogs.com/ - http://calgarytriandbike.blogspot.com/ - http://twitter.com/dukyle/

Leaving the 'Kyle coughing on a bone' thing aside....



... I recently received a can of Sardines in a race package I picked up for a race this weekend. I thought it was crazy until I heard of so many people using them for recovery. Cool.

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Trev Williams
http://www.thedoctrine.ca

Where can you get 'em?

Spot

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Du-Kyle. I've heard of the sardine trick. Not sure how edible they would be after sitting in a car baking all day. I have had Kim-chi (korean pickled spicy cabbage) after bonking on a trail run. I had a cooler of groceries in the car and it was the easiest thing to eat.

I am always surprised how little people know about "natural" foods that actually help your performance, make you recover faster and in general help you lead a healthier life.

In general I think people who rely too much on supplements are borderline mal-nurished, because those engineered foods lack the completeness that gives you minerals, vitamins and other macronutrients in one setting. Forget one of your "designer" supplements, and you are in a hole....

We get sucked into all the advertisement and hype that goes with the supplement industry. Take this, take that, I am surprised you are not using this, blah blah blah....

All it is effective in is burning a hole in your wallet.

(My supplement sponsor is the mortage company, who allows me to have a backyard where I can grow my own "supplements")

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adrialin

(BOMK, racing drug and supplement free since 1985)

Wow, I didn't really want to comment on supplements. I use salt tabs in hot races. I have a rule never to try new things during races, but that was unavoidable. I thought it was quite McGuyver of me to use soy sauce packets. And I placed so maybe the secret is soysauce, so simple, so complex.

I’m a big believer in natural foods too. Maybe this is a small town/farm thing but what about the salt cubes that farmers give to cattle? If you were to post one on your bike, couldn’t you just lick it during the race to get your sodium supply? I think they are readily available at most pet stores.

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Kyle Marcotte
Team Timex Multisport
http://teamtimex.timexblogs.com/ - http://calgarytriandbike.blogspot.com/ - http://twitter.com/dukyle/

What is an example of an "un-natural food"?

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Malt-nut powerbar I think could be considered un-natural. It could actually be considered sick and wrong.

Here's an example...

As a gag, Kyle filled one of my gel flasks with red ink and water while I was on the swim leg of a HIM, made it look just like the gel I usually use.

Trev

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Trev Williams
http://www.thedoctrine.ca

[reply]I am always surprised how little people know about "natural" foods that actually help your performance, make you recover faster and in general help you lead a healthier life.

In general I think people who rely too much on supplements are borderline mal-nurished, because those engineered foods lack the completeness that gives you minerals, vitamins and other macronutrients in one setting. Forget one of your "designer" supplements, and you are in a hole....


[/reply]

I don't know about that... yes, I believe that most people are best off by eating a well-balanced diet of natural, healthy and diverse foods. But for people doing major endurance training and competion, the amount of calories you need can go up so high. I find that the size of the side salad stays pretty much the same, but the amount of pasta i eat increases. it's pasta: natural, energy-filled, but also processed and not particularly rich in vitamins and minerals. in cases like that, it makes some sense to do some supplementation...

otoh, i agree with you that some people do get too into their supplements. i tried that for a while. it didn't seem to change anything (w/the notable exception of the color of my pee) and yeah, it's pretty spendy.

Hey,

I sweat salt so much I become Mr. Salty of pretzle days gone by. In the summer in Austin, TX "Center of the Triathlon Universe" I have to salt the hell out of my food, eat assorted salty nuts, I drink Eload which has tons of salt.

Probably the greatest recovery "natural" or accidental recovery drink is pickle brine. It's got all the stuff you need and if it's cold, it's quite refreshing. Believe me, this season I have had a cramp/crash course in finding how to salt my dog so I don't die in a tetanus shivering mass. At a race in July I probably lost 2 whole minutes on the bike on account of my calves cramping H A R D on the bike.

Lovin' it in Austin,

Robert

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"That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet."--Emily Dickinson

I've looked into the salt licks at a pet store. They're not actually table salt but a mix of electrolytes quite similar to endurolytes or lava salts, but in a solid cake form. I thought it would be a cool thing to take a chunk of blue and put it in a ring - kind of like a mood ring stone. You could just run along and lick the thing when you got, um, unsalty. I always find I figeting with a tic-tac container of salt tabs, or more recently, soy sauce packets. The ring would be a good alternative. Not sure how you'd regulate exactly how much salt you took in, but I tend to lose track on long races anyways.

I started making my own sushi at home. I used extra amount of salt and jasmine rice (better nutrients). It worked great until I got a tapeworm. It turns out you are supposed to freeze the fish for some time before you use it to make sushi. I got the recipe from Trev, I can’t believe he never got sick from it. The good think about making sushi at home is you don’t put any MSG in the ginger or sushi, bad thing is the tape worms. Also a great way to have sushi if you are a cheap engineer,

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Kyle Marcotte
Team Timex Multisport
http://teamtimex.timexblogs.com/ - http://calgarytriandbike.blogspot.com/ - http://twitter.com/dukyle/

In ocean swims, I just drink the water every breathe. It makes up for my salt loss on course...and if everyone did it, the swim would be shorter, which would be grrrreeeaaaaattttt.

The new in thing is the profile rhino bar for 2006....one bar, both hands.

You know I was thinking about this the other day.... I wasn't being very enterprising with the tape worm business.

Really, if you think about it, the tapeworm probably has nutrients all on it's own. So you could have home made sushi like crazy, if you get the occasional tape worm coming out, you could eat that too in order to get back the nutrients it may have eaten out of your food... it would be the perfect circle of life.



Trev

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Trev Williams
http://www.thedoctrine.ca

We have a winner!! Can't say I've tried pickle brine. But it would be rather refreshing. So, in races I've used several engineered foods to help me get to the line... a shortlist...

1. Soy sauce (Troika 2005)

2. Nacho chips WITH the fancy cheesewhiz hot sauce from the Mohawk station before Richter Pass (IMC 2002)

3. Dairy queen dipped cone (medium) - 1000Peaks Triathlon, 2002 (I had no cash and had to beg for a free cone).

4. Scary gas station pizza (Cat 2 Canada Cup bike race back in the 90's).

I'm sure our tofu-sucking leftist will comment on unnatural foods, but the distance in the races were un-natural, and FRICK was I hungry. I don't think I could have done the distance drinking water and eating rice-crackers.

Please add to the list of unconventional supplements.

I tried e gel for the reason you tout.

I hated the taste.

For a prespective on my tastes:

Yes, I used to eat chocolate frosting out of the can.

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When racing (and hard training) for extended periods of time, the body needs protein. To get this, I rely on Endurox R4. I take in about 1/2 my fluid through it. Nothing like getting a meal out of your waterbottle. It works great. Good mild flavour with a wicked punch. At IMC I am going to increase it to 3/4 of my intake.

But the sardines sound like a great idea. A tin would fit either under the seat or in your jersey with ease. I know what I am eating tomorrow.

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http://www.speedtheory.ca

As an aside, I've laughed Endurox R4 out my nose on a training ride. It was the green flavor. Hurt like hell.

As an aside, I've laughed Endurox R4 out my nose on a training ride. It was the green flavor. Hurt like hell.[/reply]You think that hurts???? I once laughed a sardine out of my nose.

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Kyle Marcotte
Team Timex Multisport
http://teamtimex.timexblogs.com/ - http://calgarytriandbike.blogspot.com/ - http://twitter.com/dukyle/

Ok, back to the sardine benefit. I remember an add a few years back for the Bass-O-Matic '76. If you could track one down, you could make a gel from the sardine and carry it in a gel flask. Having the salt and protein early on the run would rock!

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http://www.speedtheory.ca

Best flavor?

Mike Hayes was third overall at Troika...clearly the secret is out...soy sauce. It actually sounds like it would taste much better than trying to stuff dry pretzels into my mouth at mile 19 into an Ironman !

You know what? Frankly, I am not too into any of the flavors anyway. But the taste doesn't matter. What matters (to me) is how it works.

I mean come... we're talking about using soy sauce during a race. Talk about tasting bad....

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Kim Chi is an excellent natural replacement for electrolytes and minerals. I make the stuff and eat it daily and can vouch for the way it works. You soak cabbage in salt brine and add garlic, peppers, onion, or any other vegies you want to pickle. Let it sit for 3 days uncooked and it's ready. You get all of the vegetables in a raw form that you might otherwise not eat, tons of salt plus other nutrients not found in supplements. One problem: it smells terrible so careful where you eat it.

Hostess Sno-balls (St. Patrick's day version- green). These are made of complex polymers and elements with atomic weights above 200.



-- Jens

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My latest book: "Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire" is on sale on Amazon and at other online and local booksellers

I personally love olives, and they have about 165 mg of sodium each! I use them for a couple of days before an IM instead of salt tablets, but just want to know why we're not filling our Bento boxes with the damned things!

link????

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"The aspect of sport that you learn is that you have your good times and your bad times, but you share it with great people." - George Gregan

I do not know if my "supplements" have soy sauce in them, but I think they work very well. I got them in Europe, and it has been amazing seeing the results! I took :20 off my 5km PR! Plus my swim times have improved, and I feel much stronger climbing on the bike. I was warned about one thing with them, and that was testicular swelling happens in 1% of users. They cost $150/month US, but they are worth it. I will do anything to qualify for Hawaii, and if that means that I have to pay that much money, then so be it.

Now I may have to try this Soy Sauce thing...I tried soy milk, but I think that is different as that does not taste salty at all!?!? So I am putting Soy Sauce in my protein smoothies...not very tasty yet, but when I find a combo that works, I will post it...any ideas?

-Note: I have NOT had any testicular swelling, but did have some minor genital tenderness after a long ride...not sure if there is a correlation.

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it is better to have loved and lost, then to do an Ironman in racing flats and no socks!