Concentrate the powder in fluid... ideally in large capacity fluid reservoir. Ideally don't spend time mixing on course.

Next week's headline: IM sees the future. No more aid stations.


IM administration says that they intend to see their way out of aid stations entirely, forcing reliance on what you can carry, in a move to stay relevant with the current gravel scene. Opponents say the move is said to further solidify triathlon's lack of accessibility from the top down, but IM says it's about a spirit of alignment with athlete interests and market demand.


Headline in 2 weeks: IM Announces 6-year Partnership with Major Bike Brands

IM partners with several major bike brands building in-frame 4-liter reservoirs with positive pressure technology, starting at $19,999 for last year's midrange groupset, and some old-model zipp 404. An anonymous IM exec team member claims non-dentists & non-C-suite 'white collar working class were never really our target market.' It's not clear if that internal ethos informed the partnership with a hydration company that doesn't provide the carbs athletes need on-course. IM has yet to respond to repeated inquiries on the matter.

For the newbies to the forum: pink text = sarcasm / satire, in case that wasn't clear. I had to ask a few years ago so I figured I'd just make that abundantly clear.

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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📱 Check out our app → Saturday: Pro Fuel & Hydration, a performance nutrition coach in your pocket.
Join us on YouTube → Saturday Morning | Ride & Run Faster and our growing Saturday User Hub

I wonder/hope that Mortal may do a branded "endurance formula" that is more targeted to IM athletes? Maybe?

Didn't IM partner with Powerbar for drink, or something like that 10 years ago? Memory fades.

Anyways - I thought maybe Mortal is small enough to do this and if co branded or something could be a windfall. But also - some decisions made aren't the smartest so maybe I'm overly optimistic!

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

This. It's not too difficult to have 1 concentrated bottle for the first half of a IM bike and a second concentrated bottle for the 2nd half of the ride. And then use aid stations for water/hydration needs.

Other option is to use special needs with bottles already mixed. You may lose 30-45 seconds by stopping for special needs.

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blog

I needed this laugh immensely, it’s a nice break from stressing out about this now to get ahead of the wave with my athletes.

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

I've been anxiously awaiting your input on this one.

What is your take on the use of stevia in the drink?

To someone else's point - I too also hope that they are coming out with an 'endurance formula' of sorts. Otherwise, I am practicing with a hyper concentrated bottle to get me through Texas.

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IG: NCGregory8778

I'm reminded of the time that I did Barrelman and the aid stations were using a beverage that contained Stevia and Xylitol but no sucrose. Also reminded of Ironman dropping Subaru for VinFast.

Working on it for publication to Slowtwitch.com's front page ASAP

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
📱 Check out our app → Saturday: Pro Fuel & Hydration, a performance nutrition coach in your pocket.
Join us on YouTube → Saturday Morning | Ride & Run Faster and our growing Saturday User Hub

I completely understand the frustration over this decision and the concern for the majority of people into category 2. I also agree that generally speaking people fall into those two categories. So everything that follows is very specific to myself and likely not a common category. I simply am providing a data point.

I train 95% of the time with Dr. Harrison's sugar and sodium citrate recipe. I use the Saturday app to guide all of my fueling decisions for training and racing up to 70.3 distances bc I can carry all of my own nutrition in a hyper concentrated mix in my front hydration system and then water in bottles to chase and hydrate with. I use it 1: because it works and 2: because it is cheap. However, for long long training rides or races longer than 70.3 having to restock can be a pain. (yes, I know I can use special needs on 140.6 to restock)

That being said, for my upcoming IMTX, I am actually very excited about the move to Mortal bc my plan for that race is to fuel with gels (SIS Beta Fuel, 40 carbs per gel, 1:.08 ratio G:F to get close to the table sugar ratio on the ride and Maurten on run) and use my hydration system for water only to make sure I am getting enough water in through the heat and humidity of Houston. I will have sodium citrate in water on the bike and in special needs, but am thrilled that there will be a higher sodium product on course, especially during the run.

In other words, I use my own nutrition for calories on bike and Maurten gels for run, but having a backup electrolyte source without a high caloric count is actually a plus for me as I can be more precise with getting the carbs per hour I want in the ratio of G:F that I want and then use Mortal to supplement sodium as needed.


Again - I understand my specific fueling strategy is not common and my excitement for this move doesn't change the fact that it is annoying at best and detrimental to someone's race at worst. But wanted to at least give one positive perspective on this.

We may not want to believe it, but very few IM competitors come to this page.

Even fewer actually read the Athlete Guide.

How many are going to reach their first Aid Station and wonder what the new stuff is and where's the Gatorade Endurance?!
I suspect you're correct about it being an epic meltdown/blow up event.

I also heard Little Debbie was coming back to IM CHOO this year as the title sponsor and nutrition sponsor. Aid stations will feature a variety of Little Debbie snacks, including Swiss Rolls, Cosmic Brownies, Oatmeal Crème Pies, and Fudge Rounds.


Another one:


This story is missing half of the picture. IM will be offering Mortal Hydration mix alongside Ketone IQ shots. The combination will propel athletes to new heights while remaining in ketosis. Some athletes are already starting to train this way by using intermittent interval fasting (alternating between fasted and fueled intervals).

Concentrated bottle of Dr. Harrison’s Potent Potion helped me to my best 70.3. So darn simple…sugar and sodium citrate.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

What are you doing about the run? On the bike, you can have a concentrated solution and then mix with water but that's harder on the run.

Normally I run with a hand flask, and I refill at aid stations - this is usually just a better way to make sure I get all the calories into me over time (rather than big glugs at aid stations), but even this approach might not be enough if there aren't many calories at aid stations.

If true... I would 100% signed up for that race :)

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E-DUB
Chief Janitor @Slowtwitch
Life is short. Dont be mad all the time.

Probably underfueling…

Maurtens, water, ice…maybe Clif Bloks? Coke eventually. I probably was drinking whatever drink product they had.

Never done a full. My 70.3 nutrition strategy is probably a combination of being optimistic about calories consumed on the bike still working and being silly about how many I actually need.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Word on the street that while they are looking for a Gatorade replacement. This is NOT it ( at this time) and it will not be on course for Oceanside or Texas. We will all the the pleasure of drinking non branded gatorade.

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E-DUB
Chief Janitor @Slowtwitch
Life is short. Dont be mad all the time.

Enervit was in use at 2019 worlds in Nice. Bike course we're giving out refillable IM Nice branded bottles with the mix in them. I regret not keeping 1

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IG - @ryanppax
http://www.geluminati.com
Use code ST5 for $5 off your order

Lots of local races w/o a nutrition sponsor just go to Costco.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Hey, I’d be down for that. I love oatmeal creme pies on the bike. They don’t get gross in heat, easy to open wrapper, easy to chew, 26g cho and yummy.

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

So was the contract with Gatorade up or did something else happen?

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Let food be thy medicine...

High number of Slowtwitchers qualifying for the WC because they were prepared for the change when non-ST folks are surprised and negatively impacted. Go ST!

It's not complicated tho. Water, sugar, salt. Things surely in the top 10, maybe top 5 of foodstuffs availability.

Making a plastic bottle, a cardboard crate, warehousing, marketing, supply chain. All of these things are orders of magnitude more complicated than the actual liquid.

Of the $3 you pay for the sport drink:
Water -the residential cost is ~$1.50/1000 gallons. <$0.01 per 500ml drink
Sugar ~$1 per kilo for a consumer. Or $0.05 consumer cost per drink.
Salt ~$2 per kilo, or $0.10 per drink, consumer cost

So me in my house can make one for $0.15. There's dye and stuff too, but it's not unreasonable to say when you buy Gatorade the actual Gatorade is free, you're just paying for the bottle to be near you when you want it.

Haha right? :). All your ST folks ROCK :)

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E-DUB
Chief Janitor @Slowtwitch
Life is short. Dont be mad all the time.

When I ran the Berlin marathon I did some research before hand. I was surprised to find out Gatorade is not sold in Germany bc of a ban on some food colorings Germany has and Gatorade didn’t want to reformulate. Hilariously I found It lead to some Germans fueling with beer to get the carbs

Coke! Tons of carbs/cals in that stuff