has anyone used this new product “NUUN”? this stuff is great. a friend gave me some a Ralph’s and i absolutely love it. you just drop a tablet into your water and it dissolves. tastes like a weak gatorade (lemon / lime). its just right. not too sweet.
I think you can only buy it online. i have not seen it in any stores just yet.
Check em out at http://www.nuun.com/
Good stuff!
I agree. I think it would be especially valuable for those long hot rides where you can’t carry enough water and need to refill on the ride and want electrolytes for the last half of the ride. It would also be useful for racing if you didn’t like the electrolyte stuff they were giving out on the course. You could just get water and make your own.
It would also be great to have along if you did back country hiking, etc.
I was lucky enough to try Nuun as well. Richie over at Elite Bicycles gave me a canister that they had on their counter. I was a little skeptical at first, however, after trying it I have to admit that it was very good! Tasty and did the job it is meant to do. The funny thing is, I put one in my water bottle before I left their shop (after a free tune up, might I add!) and headed out on my ride. The flavor seemed to improve over time due to my heightened sensitivity that one gains during training and the sugar-free product was quite sweet by the end of the bottle. Here is where the product did its best. By the time I finished my bottle I was out on the path far from any store. There was, however, a water fountain on the trail so I could fill my bottle with water. I reached into my back pocket, grabbed the canister, popped out a tablet, dropped it into the bottle and, BANGO, more tasty hydration drink. I was very pleased to have this! I immediately rode back to Elite, thanked Richie for the sample bottle and bought three more. Needless to say, I am hooked…and you will too once you try it!
Trust
Sounds a lot like Quic Disc (which was grape only). I know many people who lamented their disappearance (don’t tell them that I still have a stash). Maybe someone has finally stepped up and filled a useful niche.
I bought a canister of nuun at tri shop while I was is Seattle last week. I was a little sceptical at first but I had seen it in the triathlete nutrition review and figured I would give it a try. Without question this stuff exceeded my expectations. It tastes so much better than the accelerade I have been using and is completely hassle free - no measuring or mixing. I am solidly converted. Great product I highly recommend you check it out. It can be a bit hard to find though. My local shops in San Fran don’t have it yet but I checked the website and you can order it directly.
John
I like the taste but here is the rub – it is only 5 calories per 8 oz serving. Over a long course tri that is a lot of calories you are going to need to find a replacement for.
Fun for training, but maybe not idea for long course racing.
Thanks for the posting. Actually, nuun has < 5 cals (i.e. none) So why?
The website explains this a little more clearly so let me borrow from there:
"nuun has no carbohydrate. This was done for two reasons:
you choose - we believe that you are the best one to manage your carb intake. Gels? Bars? Bananas? Pretzels and fruit? Your call. We’re all different so what’s right for you isn’t right for me. Combining hydration and energy as all other sports drinks do is therefore counter-intuitive to us, so we opted to give you the choice on how to refuel. nuun does hydration - optimally
more product - sugar (the carb) is big and bulky. Adding even small amounts of sugar bulks up the tabs and results in less drink. If you’re like us, you want a product that actually lasts and goes the distance for a huge ride/run…so there’s no sugar. With no carb, nuun is perfect for those avoiding carbs for whatever reason. After all, why drink an energy loaded sports drink in the gym when all you really want is the hydration for the spin class?"
At Wildflower this weekend we had a number of athletes racing on nuun. People did carry a little more gels/bars though some used CarboPro with nuun - they’d established that the former worked with them, had worked out that nuun did too, so adding the two is the natural thing to do.
Wildflower was an interesting wake up for many given the conditions. It’s worth noting that on hot days you drink more but need the hydration and not the energy. Where products are mixed, i.e. GENERICADE, the more you drink, the more you load the system with carbohydrate and that can lead to being sick…which is the last thing you want on a hot day.
Whilst nuun can be used in races, it’s primarily designed for use ‘all’ of the time and helps keep you optimally hydrated before, during and after the workouts.
The upshot Bryan is that you’re correct and it’s important to highlight the lack of energy. But once you know that, and know that it’s designed that way, most people realise that it’s pretty handy. It’s also interest (maybe) that one of the things people seem to really like is that the lack of sugar means nuun is not sticky and therefore more refreshing.
With nuun - you can continue your workouts wherever you are and not be limited to finding a convenience store to avoid hyponatremia or dehydration/electrolyte headaches.
Hope that helps
Tim that does help and I think you hit on some very important points. In the short term, I plan on utilizing nuun as part of my training regiment. I think it is an ideal hydration drink for daily sessions and as a component of a nutrition plan for long rides/runs.
That said, in my view the calorie concern for racing extends beyond the “consume more gel/bars” suggestion that you/nuun make. One of the real benefits of a G-Push or an Accelerade or a Cytomax is its ability to provide you fuel in liquid form. Over the course of an IM bike leg, you would have to carry significant quantities of gel or other foodstuffs to replace the 1500 – 2000 calories you might take in through liquids. That’s a lot of gel or bars. Further, caloric intake through fluid is simply easier and in many cases more aerodynamic (maybe I am simply not adroit at eating gel out of single packs to hold my position).
An underfueled triathelete is going to have a tough time keeping their heart rate zones on the run leg. Finding another way to take in calories is essential if nuun is to be part of a long course racing program. I don’t know that more gel is the answer. Maybe mixing with Carbo Pro is one solution, but that is a nut that must be cracked before nuun is widely accepted by long course racing.
I look forward to spreading the word about nuun and wearing the logo as part of Team Elite Bicycles.
used this stuff last weekend in St Croix. good stuff. nice taste and you don’t have to carry salt tablets. already sodium in product. hot, one less thing for me to carry.
morgan
Never heard of nuun, but, after reading this thread, I went to the website. I use Endurolytes for electrolyte replacement. I have no problem with them except for dealing with the tablets on rides. Not usually a problem, but I did end up dropping them accidentally at mile 30 of the bike at WF. Anyway, looking for something easier.
Reading the ingredient list, I noted that there is sorbitol. A common side effect of sorbitol ingestion is gastric distress. That’s the reason I don’t chew sugar-free gum. I assume it’s used to give flavor and mask saltiness without adding carbs, but do people have stomach problems with the stuff? I can’t imagine running at all with that in my system.
Great question. The short answer is that at the levels we’re talking about, there’s no risk of gastric distress, as can be seen in the extensive use of sorbitol by the food industry. If you want to read more on this…keep on reading. Sorbitol is a naturally occuring ingredient found in primarily in fruits. It’s used in nuun to control the dissolving process and also partly as a sweetener. As with anything, too much of anything can always be an issue. Sorbitol at extreme quantities may make you fart like a trooper (and propel you forward thus increasing thrust?!?) but we’re talking EXTREME levels. In fact, to hit that level you’d be taking in dangerously high levels of both liquid and sodium/potassium…the latter would constitute a health risk which is a far more serious issue. In fact, fructose and lactose as going to be as significant irritants as sorbitol. So - real numbers? The FDA states 50g is the start point of potential issues similiar to the ones you mention. To hit that you’d need to have about 100 nuun’s which is 25 litres diluted at normal strength. If you’re taking on that much liquid I suggest you have plenty of other issues to be dealing with! Simply, a tab of nuun has less sorbitol than a small cup of apple juice. All that aside, at the end of the day, we’re dealing with a drink that is consumed under extreme temperature conditions and taken by athletes often undergoing intense physical exercise. The formulation was revised and tested over a couple of years until right and is now in use across all manner of sports and regions but the best advice I can give is to try some - with any product, especially a hydration/nutrition one. I hope that answers your question/comment. tim ******** tim@nuun.com
You should put it in a PEZ dispenser
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I used nuun during IMNZ and it worked out really well. The drink they were offering during the race made me gag (literally), so I used nuun instead. It was easy to use. I just grabed water at the aid stations and threw in the tabs while riding. I was a little concerned about carbs, but in the end I had prlenty of carbs between the gu I took, the gels they handed out, and those awesome bananas.
I plan on using it for my long training and race sessions.
Anzus