I’ve tried all sorts of different sports drinks, juices, etc and have tried watering them down and watering them down even more. The bottom line is: I can only drink water while working out or racing. I can handle GUs or nutrition bars and sunflower seeds, but when it comes to hydration it can ONLY be water. What can I do to get the sodium, chloride, and potassium needed that typically comes in a sports drink? I heard that eating takes 3 hours to digest so it would need to be a gu or something. How about liquid potassium? Anyone try that? Help! I’m doing a half Ironman and this will be the longest race I’ve done.
try enduralyte tablets from hammer nutrition or another electrolyte tablet like lava tablets. I got a little pop top tube container that had M&M minis in it that works well for holding them. I’ve had good results using them on long hot days.
Why? Does it make you sick do you have an aversion to the taste? Have you tried Pedialyte? It has a very low osmolality and is very easy on a bad stomache.
I have the same experience, and I did IMs in 1002 and 2003 using primarily water, Lava Salts, Clif Bars and Gu. No problems for me, but I did make sure to train with that combination.
Never tried training or racing with Pedialyte, but my baby girl was born since that time and I’ve had opportunity to taste it; I definitely won’t be using it.
Both. It leaves a wicked aftertaste in my mouth and it upsets my stomach into the following morning. I haven’t tried Pedialyte. Does it offer everything?
Lava Salts…is that a brand name? Where do I get them? How much do I take? I haven’t heard of them. Perhaps that speaks to my newness at longer distances. 
http://www.squeezy.com/salts.htm
This is what they just happened to have in stock at all3ports in Atlanta when I was looking for a sodium supplement…I haven’t shopped around to see if its the best, but it worked for me. Good luck!
ok, here we go again. i had this problem too. stomach cramps, even…worse (horrible bathroom problems). i called infinit and it’s the answer for me. call them up and talk about your situation. they’ll design something that works for you.
i swear everybody should be drinking this stuff.
ok, i promise i’ll shut up over it now
you can get enduralytes or lava salts at a lot of tri or bike shops or online. as far as how many to take, the hammer nutrition site has a lot of info on the use of their products but as with most things the dosage range will vary quite a bit from person to person. I would definitely try out either one on a training day first and come up with a way of getting the tablets while riding. a lot of people use those little plastic clam shell coin purses.
I carry my Thermolyte pills (have more sodium than endurolytes) in those little tiny medicine ziplock baggies. You can get a 50 pack at Walmart for cheap. Then you can put 1 hour’s worth (or whatever frequency you want) in each bag, and then consume one bag every X minutes. They are smaller and less obtrusive than something like the M&M’s mini container, and also have been waterproof in my experience, but you can also double bag to be sure and that way you can carry them from the start, whereas swimming with that M&M’s container jabbing you in the back/side (wherever your pocket is) can be hard.
eGels also have a fair bit of Sodium and other electrolyes, so you might want to try those instead of Gu, which doesn’t have quite as much.
Pedialyte is ok, but the taste is not great. Give it a try though. You’lll still probably need to supplement with electrolyte pills even with Pedialyte.
Infinit? Who are they?
the best there is–made by athletes for athletes. they know their shit. call 'em up and tell them what you need! it’s the best thing i’ve done for my nutrition strategy…
Best solution:
PLAIN maltodextrin. It has almost zero taste. You can mix a lot of calories in a bottle too… and no taste.
I can’t stand artificial or “natural” flavoring.
Drop in a couple (2-4) of Endurolytes from Hammer Nutrition in each bottle and your in business.
The endurolytes give it a slightly mineral taste… but that’s abou it.
FYI, gu’s are made with maltodextrin.
I’d second the malto. You can get it in bulk, cheaper, at bulknutrition.com. Or you can go with Carbopro. I utilize the enduralytes from e-caps.com. I get the powdered form and along with the bulk malto. make my own sports drink. You can pre-load your elctrolytes to some degree, everyone is different, prior to your 1/2IM. Try 12 oz of V8 every day for three days prior to your race. With a nutrition challenge you’ll have to take it easier on the bike, perhaps much easier, than you would anticipate. Many can hammer an Oly with minmial nutrition needs. A 1/2 is a whole new ballgame.