I take one pill an hour before the race like a habit, but I don't see much difference. Rinny, Tim and Potts advertise AltRed, so that I started using it.
Well, marketing works for sure though.

So basically does nothing

Umm ok clearly you don’t use essential oils. There is no need to be rude. The poster asked if anyone had experience and I commented with mine. If you don’t want to use it, great, use that $50 to buy some other crap you don’t need. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

Sure I do. My shower smells great of eucalyptus and my bedroom has a lovely lavender aroma.

I asked this same question of a well-respected triathlon-focused registered dietician. The response:

Yes, this product has been getting a lot of popularity. To be honest, I think they had a lot of money for marketing and did a great job with getting athletes to endorse. But I wouldn't waste your money on it. While beet juice does have research in terms of drinking before exercise, the research is inconsistent on how much. I don't think 50mg is enough to even elicit a response to dilate blood vessels. I'd skip it and just do a good warm-up.

---

Nourish - Sports Nutrition Made Easy

I don't use altred, but Ill take the whole foods beet juice for a few days before a big race. I've tried it during training (trying to keep everything consistent) and during a taper. I've gotten pretty consistent results that it drops my resting heart rate by about 5-10 bpm on the the day I start taking it and it stays lower while I am taking it I don't know if it actually makes me faster (I suspect it does), but it's definitely doing something. Heart nitrate medication works by a very similar mechanism. To me there is no question that it's more than just snake oil. Quantifying the benefit of course would be nearly impossible, but I'm gong to keep taking it.