Recently I haven’t been bothering with energy drinks, and I have just been putting table sugar (sucrose) and sodium citrate in a bottle. Is there any advantage to do anything more complicated than table sugar? Are monosaccharides of fructose and glucose easier on the stomach and to digest then a disaccharide of sucrose? Any downside to going very high carbs every workout 90-120 grams per hour? Will high carbs during workout aid in recovery?
I do nothing but table sugar and sodium citrate. Plus maybe a little flavoring. I don’t do 90+ g/hr for most workouts. I only do that for long workouts of 2+ hours. I’ve done 120+ of plain sugar for 3+ hour trail runs without any issues.
Sucrose breaks down to fructose and glucose in the stomach and small intestine. Very few have stomach issues with it… Though some do. Have you had issues? If not, don’t worry about it.
3 Likes
Phil Mosley from myprocoach posted his recipe for homemade energy drinks recently.
I’ve used it a few times and loved it. Saves buying gels and specialised product for training rides. For races I’d still go for commerical stuff but trusted and tried brands.
1 Like
Why?
I prefer sodium citrate to table salt.
- It’s less salty.
- It’s easier on the stomach in larger concentrations and over longer periods.
When I go for 3+ hour trail runs, I need 4g of sodium. That’s 10+ g of table salt. I find that much chloride starts to bother my stomach. But, citrate doesn’t have the same effect.
I like the Pure Nutrition gels, taste great. For races I plan my nutrition based on points in the course so I know when I get to a point to feed. Means I don’t forget. Also prefer the feel of straight water but will compromise for training rides
Interesting, where do you buy it?
Sodium citrate? Amazon. ~$10usd / lb.
Note you need 50% more sodium citrate (by mass) to get the same amount of sodium.
This ebook is all you need. It is from the same person who created the Saturday app. Dr. Alex Harrison is also on this forum.
1 Like
What’s to be gained by making a homemade hydration solution vs commercial product?
Customization and price.
Sugar is about $1 / lb. Sodium citrate is about $10 / lb. For me for a 4 hour run I’d use 350g of sugar, and 21g of citrate. That’s about $1.50.
I use Dr. Alex’s app which calculates fluid, sodium, and CHO needs independently based on duration, intensity, sweat rate, and certain personalization variables. In the end it generates a recipe for today’s workout:
xxx oz of water
xxx g of sugar
xxx g of salt or citrate
I mix it, I pour it into bottles/bladders, I go workout.
1 Like
And 350g of sugar at 4 kcal/g is 1400 kcals. If your commercial gel is 100 kcal and costs $2 USD, then you need 14 gels ($28 USD) for equivalent calories. Drink mixes will vary (gels, too), so this is just an example. But $1.50 USD will be way less than any commercial product for the same calories.
Yeah when you start adding up the cost of those little packets, it’s kind of ridiculous for the convenience.
I ordered a few things this week and am going to try and make an electrolyte mix. My wife uses 1-3 lmnt/day. I don’t she’ll give my mix a fair chance but I’ll use it if it tastes good and at least offset some of my outlay monthly.
Going to try maple syrup instead of gels too
1 Like
I guess…? But Nuun tabs and Gu gels (for example) are so cheap if you get industry or ambassador discount. They’re no-fuss/clean, pre-measured, travel well, and it’s so easy to change the flavors to not get bored, etc.
This is why I was asking… it seems like such a hassle, same taste all the time, etc., to BYO…
It’s good points …I know where you’re coming from.
Is there ambassador pricing for lmnt and maurten?
Gu just doesn’t work for us. I get horrible gut rot with it.
Let’s say you do a 2 hr bike ride followed by a 1 hr run. That’s prob 5-6 gels and 2-3 bottles of fluid.
Most of the electrolyte packs are 1.50 ea. Gels 2-4 each.
So we’re throwing down $8-20+ every workout x 2 people. Just really starts adding up.
I know convenience plays a factor but so does price. Can I afford it? Yeah I can but I’m also a frugal person and don’t love paying for a lot of packaging and price. Honestly would rather a lot of the companies just sell the stuff in a big container.
How cheap are they as an ambassador? How do you become an ambassador? 3 GUs an hour on a 10 hour week is 30 GUs per week? Nuun doesn’t have any calories. I have just been finding a scope and a half (90 grams) of table sugar with a teaspoon of sodium citrate per hour so easy.
Everyone has their own “hassle” tolerance, I guess. But, its literally a 5 or 10 lbs bag of sugar, and some flavorings (I tend to buy the Miio flavors) from the grocery store…as simply part of our normal grocery ordering. And a 1-2 lb bag of sodium citrate from Amazon…which lasts quite a while.
Mixing is mixing…like any other premade mix. I’ve always used powdered mixes…I don’t really like gels regardless.
So for me, the differences are:
- Buy gatorade or 5lbs of sugar, and miio flavors.
- Get gatorade out of canister or get sugar+citrate out of other canister.
ETA: I guess sugar doesn’t come in its own cannister…just a paper bag. Plus? Minus? you decide.
2 Likes
Ambassador/pro/industry discount varies on individual/team, etc.
Gu: I dont recall when the program opens. Reach out to them.
Nuun: Program usually opens/closes in Dec. each year.
The wife and I consume a lot of sports nutrition.
We like the flavor variety.
We dont like the wrapper trash/waste, but understand the necessity and trade-off for premeasured and portable “doses.”
I can see how the cost adds up.
Thanks for honesty about why.
3 Likes
Tom do any of the Mio flavors come without an added sweetner? I already find straight up sucrose to be on the sweet end of the spectrum so go with a large portion of maltodextrin to tamp the sweetness way down. Plain old Kool Aid works for me as long as I rotate flavors regularly.
I use old school Kool-aide for flavor. Cheap and lots of choices.