For calorie replacement drinks I have tried:

Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem.

Hammer Nutrition Sustained Energy.

Champion Nutrition Metabolol Endurance.

Enervit Enervitene.

Of these the most effective have been Perpetuem, Enervitene, Sustained Energy and Metabolol Endurance in that order.

They all worked, but it boiled down to a case of the one that was the least invasive with my G.I. tract. All of these are a little hard on your stomach, which is why it is important to use them extensively before race day.

Metabolol Endurance uses MCT's as its primary fuel source. Those can produce substantial gastric distress in some athletes. I found that if I was training: No problem. If I drank it outside of the contest of training, bad.

No problems at all with Perpetuem. It works very, very well. As I found out the hard way at IMNZ almost all of these need to be supplemented with additional sodium (Na) in the form of Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes or a similar sodium/electrolyte supplement or sports drink with high sodium concentrations.

Additionally, E-Gel uses 230 mg of sodium per 1.5 oz. serving as compared to only 45 mg. per 1.1 oz of Gu brand energy gel.

I hope that is of some assitance. Once again: Thank you to my friend efernand on this forum for his sagacious advice on race nutrition.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

If it works for you then it's a GREAT choice. Gotta go with what works, dude. Everyone is different. Practice nutrition during training. It took me about 3 years to figure out what to eat, drink, etc. Prior to that I was Mr. Stomach Problems. Just get in the calories, one way or another.

-TxDude

So here is a more thoughtful response - I can tell you what I use but it might not work for you.

For anything up to and including half ironman's I use the following:

Water

Hammer Gel

Endurolytes (for my electrolytes since I only drink water)

For long rides 70+ miles and Ironman events I use the following:

Water

Hammer Gel

Endurolytes

One large bottle with super-concentrate of Sustained Energy...I sip on this bottle bottle during the whole event, it will have about 800-1000 calories in it.

Special Needs - in the Ironman I'll throw in a hodge podge of stuff in my special needs bag which is picked up around half way on the bike. PBJ wedges, bananas, just some solid food in case I feel the need to put something in my stomach.

-TxDude

I can't believe I got a reply from the "man" Tom Demerly. Talk about making my morning.

The reason I'm considering Hammer Nutrition products is that I can get them at a slight discount with my team sponsorship. I usually don't have too many stomach issues unless it's running after consuming any dairy products.

I'll give Perpeteum a shot tomorrow and see how it goes.

Do you recommend taking sodium/electrolyte supplements or would combining Cytomax and Perpeteum provide enough sodium? Cytomax has 100mg Sodium per scoop and I usually use 1.5 or 2 scoops per large bottle.

I'm worried that if I start taking e-caps, sodium, sports drink and perpeteum I'll forget something somewhere, so the simpler the better as I already have a hard enough time remembering to eat/drink as it is.

One of the things e-caps added to Perpentum vs. Sustained Energy was "A modest electrolyte profile", equivalent to 1 or 2 Enduralyte capsules. If you are a light sweater and/or don't have too much trouble with electrolytes (don't know if that's really possible) you might get away without any additional supplementation. I would suggest taking some Endurolytes also though.

I like Cytomax, but if you want to keep it all in the e-caps/HammerGel family, one nice thing about HG is that it can be mixed into a drink. If you carry a flask or two, you can add it to a front aero bottle with water and have a decent drink. You are going to be getting most of your cals from the Perpentum, so it would be mostly for flavor.

TIP: Get some small (snack size or smaller) ziplock bags for your Endurolytes. Put 2 or 4 in each one and carry a few. That way you won't have to try to fish a couple capsules out of a bigger container with wet/sweaty hands and risk dropping the rest.

Thanks for the props Tom. I am glad the plan worked out better for you than it did for me.

I'd like to keep it all in the Hammer Nutrition family, but World's Toughest uses Cytomax. I want to make sure I can stomach what they have to offer at aid stations instead of carrying all my own nutrition.

I'm a moderate to heavy sweater so I probably will end up having an electrolyte problem. How often should one take an Endurolyte? Every 30min, 45, hour, etc...

I figure I'll go through a large bottle of Perpeteum on the bike with some Cytomax to mix things up. Once I hit the run it'll be Cytomax and probably Hammer Gel every 10-20min depending on how I'm feeling.

Thanks for all the ideas.

I just recently started adding Hammer Gel to my Sustained Energy high-concentrate bottle. Makes it go down easier and it dissolves just fine.

For my endurolytes, I use a 35mm film capsule - that holds quite a few. I have a Bento box on my bike and keep the film case in it. To take the pills on the fly, I just take the top off with might right hand while covering the opening with my left thumb. Then I just raise it to my mouth and toungue out how ever many pills I need at a time.

I also have extra's stored in special needs...just in case I lose the others on my bike.

-TxDude

Do you use anything other than Sustained Energy mixed with Hammer Gel on the bike and Endurolytes on the bike?

Thanks for the tip on the Endurolytes.

Hammer Nutrition recommends 1 - 6 and hour. It obviously varies by individual. I'd look at starting with 2 and hour. If it's hot and/or you're sweating a lot, go to 4 an hour or 2 every 30'. I haven't had any problems stomaching them.

Use your eating plan on all long rides and runs. I use gatorade in my jetstream, water every 30 min. when I eat "carboom" and electrolites.

Many have said they have good luck with Spiz. I like it also but use it for my pre race meal.

Related question: I am a little confused about why it is necessary to both use an electrolyte replacement drink (i.e. Sustained Energy, Accelerade, etc.) and an electrolyte replacement pill/supplement like Endurolytes? Don't they do the same thing? What am I missing?

Hello,

Great topic, I just received my Perpetuem and it tastes like a meal in a bottle. I added to Hammer gels to the bottle to give it some flavour and to add calories, tasted marginally better.

My question is why add sodium when the Perpetuem already has 231mg per serving??

But I used the stuff for a long run and it is really LIGHT on the stomach......it was only +1C so the test will come in the summer when it is warm.

Tom how strong did you mix your bottles for Ironman?? Did you add any gels to your mixture of Perpetuem?? Curious as I am doing IMF this fall......

Thanks again for the great topic.



Trevor F.

Is there much difference between Carbo-Pro and the HammerGel products (Sustained Energy and Perpetuem) as far as the ability to fuel you for a long workout or race? Last year I trained with Carbo-Pro mixed w/Accerade and it seemed to work in training, but @ IMWI I had a hard time stomaching it, I don’t know if it was the heat or what, so this year I’m looking for something else. Also is the main difference between SE and Perpetuem the added electrolytes, or is the other things that make one better than the other?



Dan C.

Spiz works great.

i like to keep one bottle of high concentration cytomax/hammer/whatever i'm into at the time and then take water at aid stations. then i can control whatever concentration i want in my aero bottle without monkeying around with bottles much, and i don't have to take the flavor they have at the aid station if i don't like it.