…in cups? Or in disposable bike bottles, such as I received at the 1/2 IM I did yesterday? - There didn’t seem to be much flavour or saltiness. Is this a common practice? I planned an all Gatorade race, which went very well from a stomach and intestinal viewpoint (inasmuch as one can accept the conceit of internal organs ‘viewing’ anything), but despite keeping up what I thought was a decent hydration strategy, the run was a sorry affair, and I only started to feel better about km 15, after having run remarkably slowly for a long time and then getting some GU (yummy stuff!). Wisdom? Anecdotes? Withering flames? j
I don’t think they intentionally water it down but if you’ve ever worked an aid station filling those jugs up there is a good bit of guesswork going into it. You get the cooler and fill it with ice, then you dump in your drink mix which hopefully is the right amount for that cooler although often companies will give you whatever spare stuff they have around, for instance Cytomax usually (at the races I’ve seen) gives the big monster canisters which mean you pretty much guess how much powder to put in. Oh and then you have the ice factor as in if it’s a 5 galloon jug at first only 3 gallons or so is actually water so do you put in enough powder for 3 gallons, for 5 because it’ll melt, for 4 for halfway?.?.?. And then when you’re jugs run down you’re filling half empty jugs back up which makes the mix even weirder. Anyways, it can get kinda stressful sometimes mixing the drinks up;) Best is when no one has anything to mix it with (the shaking the whole jug only kinds works and when they are full they are really really heavy) and you carry the jug behind the table where no one can see and use your arm to mix it:P
Like Tai said, if the stuff is in sealed bottles then, no, it’s the real thing.
If it is in cups and was mixed on-site, then anything goes. I’m sure most people try their best, but itsn’t as easy as you’d think to get it right. Personally, I’d rather get it watered down than the opposite.
Not to ask a dumb question, but did you train with gatorade powder or pre-mix?
The pre-mix is very different in my experience than the powder. This is probably because the premix needs more flavor(sugar) to get non-athletes to purchase it.
With Gatorade Endurance I did not notice as much of a difference between the pre-mix and the powder.
All good answers! I’m supposed to be in charge of the run portion of a tri in a few weeks, so doubly good to know. I’ll make sure my arm is particularly clean that day. hmmm…should I use the left one or the right one?
I train with both the pre-mix in bottles and the powder, which I used water down more, but which I now mix according to the instructions, which works out just fine. I can’t check right now, but I think the pre-mix and the powder worked out to about the same concentration - the flavour of the pre-mix does seem a bit more intense though. I’m going to experiment with supplemental salt in long rides now, since i think I might need more of that.
My opinion, on the basis of what you’ve all told me, and some thought, is that what races do is mostly good, since it will be most benign to new people and experienced triathletes have resources like the people of this forum, as well as their own races, and can prepare and adapt their nutrition/hydration regimen. The ice factor would seem to allow the faster racers to get the strongest concentration too. I am concerned about the mix’s inadequate salinity though - a clubmate of mine, who is relatively new to long distances and has not trained quite as appropriately as he might, sweated copiously in a hot humid 1/2 IM for 6 and 1/2 hours - I was rather concerned for him (he’s fine btw).
“But on a long bike, this is why I take one bottle on the downtube with the appropriate number of scoops, so I can grab water at the aid stations and mix it myself in an aerobottle.”
…so you keep the powder in a bottle, but with no water till you need it - for weight saving?
I’m thinking that the main justification for keeping it watered down is so that when people try to wash down their gels and powerbars it’ll end up being less of a digestive crap-shoot. Like you, i would prefer it at normal strength (and I may experiment to see if I can take it a little over). j
My experience has been that most gatorade at aid stations is over-mixed, which is why I stick with water and gu (at least for a marathon).
The pre-mix gatorade has 10 more calories per serving, so your right on about increasing the amount of sugar and probably why no matter what ratios I mix it, I can never get it to taste like the bottle version.
Now I understand! Good strategy, which I shall attempt to emulate. I too value that thing called inertia, much of which tastes very good indeed.
I can only get the ‘orange’ flavour in powder here in the Canadian prairies. I’ve got used to it, though I rather prefer variety of flavour - getting tired of that blue stuff though. I tried some yesterday having put extra salt in it - it seemed fine. I can’t wait till my next long bike to experiment with this. j