Been considering moving on from Infinit to see what else is out there. Every race I’ve gotten super sick of the sugary flavor - I concentrate into 2 or 3 hour bottles but dial the flavor back. I have a fair bit of sodium so wonder how that would play out. I have base salt but seems a bit of a PITA to replicate what I can get from a bottle of Infinit.
That said for half I run a 3 hour bottle, add 2 ish gels, get water at aid stations.
For fulls I run two 2 hour bottles, get another at SN. Tried two 3 hours but have moved on from that as the 2 hour bottles are a bit more palatable. Add a few gels and a king sized payday in thirds. Water from aid stations
Run live off the course (and probably don’t fuel enough)
It seems pretty simple, but as said I get sick of the flavor after 5-6 hours. And my runs have always deteriorated somewhat badly. Not sure if that’s bike nutrition or not getting enough from the course
Thinking of switching to Tailwind as a friend uses it. Anyone switched over from Infinit to that or something else? Success? Failure?
I have used EFS successfully in 70.3 and 140.6 and love the new formulation. Lots of electrolytes and it doesn’t taste very sugary. I have gone through a canister of the new orange and love it, watermelon will be next. I have never used Infinit and I can’t stand Tailwind.
If you feel Infinit is “sugary”, then Tailwind will be the exact wrong move for you. Floors are far more vibrant and the mix in concentrate will be way too high in osmolity to be absorbed well. To my taste, Infinit and Skratch are some of the few players where the floors are palatable after a few hours. Mix in Carbopro to get the calories you need and keep the taste workable. Some people are mixing their own blends and I’m sure a search will give you some of those ideas.
I have tried EVERYTHING, and always come back to Carbo Pro. I find it simple, dependable, and always works. No GI distress, and can add a bit of whatever flavor works for you. I also call it “clean” tasting and feeling.
CarboPro is the cleanest tasting and most palatable I’ve found but I have to supplement with sodium and Nuun. I tried Infinit and didn’t care for it. Just moved to skratch superfuel, lemon lime. I’ve got half a dozen 4+ hour rides with it. Overall I like it but as with most of these I do get palate fatigue. I stuff a snack bag of pretzels sticks in my bento. Usually after 2-3 hours I’ll eat a few of those in between sips. So far it has worked fine.
I switched from Infinit to First Endurance (EFS-Pro) a few years ago. EFS-Pro has worked excellent - it’s not at all sweet and the flavor is very minor. I have found it really easy to drink in both high intensity events (crit racing) as well as all-day training rides or IM races. Always worked great on my long runs too (but I don’t do those anymore nowadays). I do find it quite pricey; I just ran out and so had to place an order and pay full price but usually I try to place larger orders when they have a sale.
(I really dislike artificial flavors and sugary drinks, so EFS-Pro has been a great fit for me).
I use F2C Glyco-Durance Raw… which is unflavored to mix highly concentrated bottles that I mix with water on the course. Mix in a scoop of the regular Glyco-Durance and you’ve got yourself a lightly sweet drink mix. I also mix in Electro-Durance to get the exact amount of sodium required.
Just use whatever product you like the flavor of, but reduce flavor intensity by adding:
Maltodextrin from Bulk Supplements, via Amazon plus Fructose from Bulk Supplements on Amazon, (or any other malto+fruc)
orsugar.
or
All three.
Also add Sodium Citrate.
Most of even the best beverages on the market are formulated to be consumed at 60g/hr by flavor intensity, even though much higher carbohydrate consumption rates are probably optimal. This results in people reporting flavor fatigue, or sweetness intolerance.
Usually the sweetness intolerance is less about sweetness and more about flavor intensity, which can be reduced as above.
This explains how I do it, using Gatorade. Would work the same for any other endurance beverage mix.
Saving Money as an Endurance Athlete
If it really is about sweetness, then increasing sodium concentration seems to reduce that sweetness aversion for most folks, and probably encourages better rates of fluid consumption, in general, too.
Just use whatever product you like the flavor of, but reduce flavor intensity by adding:
Maltodextrin from Bulk Supplements, via Amazon plus Fructose from Bulk Supplements on Amazon, (or any other malto+fruc)
orsugar.
or
All three.
Also add Sodium Citrate.
Most of even the best beverages on the market are formulated to be consumed at 60g/hr by flavor intensity, even though much higher carbohydrate consumption rates are probably optimal. This results in people reporting flavor fatigue, or sweetness intolerance.
Usually the sweetness intolerance is less about sweetness and more about flavor intensity, which can be reduced as above.
This explains how I do it, using Gatorade. Would work the same for any other endurance beverage mix.
Saving Money as an Endurance Athlete
If it really is about sweetness, then increasing sodium concentration seems to reduce that sweetness aversion for most folks, and probably encourages better rates of fluid consumption, in general, too.
Just use whatever product you like the flavor of, but reduce flavor intensity by adding:
Maltodextrin from Bulk Supplements, via Amazon plus Fructose from Bulk Supplements on Amazon, (or any other malto+fruc)
orsugar.
or
All three.
Also add Sodium Citrate.
Most of even the best beverages on the market are formulated to be consumed at 60g/hr by flavor intensity, even though much higher carbohydrate consumption rates are probably optimal. This results in people reporting flavor fatigue, or sweetness intolerance.
Usually the sweetness intolerance is less about sweetness and more about flavor intensity, which can be reduced as above.
This explains how I do it, using Gatorade. Would work the same for any other endurance beverage mix.
Saving Money as an Endurance Athlete
If it really is about sweetness, then increasing sodium concentration seems to reduce that sweetness aversion for most folks, and probably encourages better rates of fluid consumption, in general, too.
This is intriguing to me and I’m interested in trying it out but I have a question. 1.2 cups of sugar seems INSANELY high to me. Is that per 32oz bottle? I was looking at doing this per your recommendation:
Use one large scoop regular gatorade, rest of carbs from sugar (~1.2 cups), 1/2 tsp each of table salt and sodium citrate, one caffeine pill
So I do the above mixture, add water, and shake up in a 32oz bottle and that equates to: “300g carbs. 3000mg sodium. 200mg caffeine�
Or am I totally missing something?
Awesome info by the way and your contribution and expertise is much appreciated!
Are you sure it is wise to concentrate Infinit or any other nutrition mix? It would increase the osmolality and result in differences in how easy it is to digest right? I have no domain knowledge in this area but I once inadvertently mixed my bottles of Infinit double strength and had some stomach issues that day. It led me to investigate and I came across this excellent article from Infinit: https://www.infinitnutrition.us/osmolality-101
Since then I mix it per instructions and have never had an issue.
Unless I misunderstood, the OP mentioned mixing a 2 hour or 3 hour bottle - which I assume means it is concentrated. Seems like you could do that IF you followed up with an equal sized sip of water at the same time - but then why not just drink it normal strength?
One time I mixed a 20oz water bottle of Infinit Napalm and used that as fuel for a long ride. I can’t remember how many servings it was but I drank it over a 5 hour ride.
Small sip then chased with water. It worked really well but it’s expensive and can be wasteful.
Are you sure it is wise to concentrate Infinit or any other nutrition mix? It would increase the osmolality and result in differences in how easy it is to digest right? I have no domain knowledge in this area but I once inadvertently mixed my bottles of Infinit double strength and had some stomach issues that day. It led me to investigate and I came across this excellent article from Infinit: https://www.infinitnutrition.us/osmolality-101
Since then I mix it per instructions and have never had an issue.
Unless I misunderstood, the OP mentioned mixing a 2 hour or 3 hour bottle - which I assume means it is concentrated. Seems like you could do that IF you followed up with an equal sized sip of water at the same time - but then why not just drink it normal strength?
Am I dead wrong on this?
Yes, I follow every sip with water. Concentrate so I can carry one or two bottles total for half, grab another one for full, get water at aid stations