After trial and error for several years with an assortment of electrolyte and protein shakes, I’ve decided to not eat or drink any commercially prepared sports drinks during workouts or post workout.
For post workout I’ll use high glycemic index fruits and vegetables such as bananas, potatoes, rice etc mixed with an easily digested protein such as eggs, tuna, chicken.
sure. the feedzone portables stuff is great. I don’t use any commercial products with the exception of a BCAA (amino acid) mix. Not because I have anything against commercial products, I just prefer the taste of real food. Most of my bike training is indoors so if I can have food right there if I need it (like a stack of pancakes, or pizza). For very long outdoor rides I make some rice cakes, but I don’t do many of those. I also love those Dang Toasted Coconut chips but those things are more addictive than crack, and despite being natural, are not great if you have racing weight aspirations.
Post workout, I love a green smoothie with a bit of whey. I find that eating a lot of greens etc. helps me recover quite well. On the other hand I also like the occasional big mac.
My longest rides in the last 6 months have been actual races or race rehearsals, where I take in all nutrition as I would on race day.
this is my ultra endurance homemade sports drink i made, this is the fastest way to get glucose into your blood stream and then max insulin response to get that glucose to glycogen. also very very dense in electrolytes. this is the most glycemic solution you could make. here it is
2/3 cup maltodextrin
1tbsp dehydrated coconut water
1/4 tsp salt
15g worth of protein in powder
a little bit of sodium bicarbonate
water 16oz
dextrose is more glycemic but you can only get ~120 cal per 16oz effectively in the 280-303 mOsm. maltodextrin is higher on glycemic index than fructose, sucrose, etc and allows you to put much more calories in solution = much much higher glycemic load even though slightly lower on index than dextrose. protein with carb doubles insulin levels compared to carb alone. compared to 120 cal sugar solution with this you get
360 kcal total
290 kcal carb
65g complex
10g simple
15g protein
also a huge amount of electrolytes to avoid hyponatremia which happens all the time with sports drinks still
you can also carry it as powder and add it to water you pick up
but be careful that you don’t over do it, a little known fact is that it was a “bad” malto to baking soda mix that leveled Nagasaki. I like to mix in flax oil as well.
This is a good idea. Finally ditched all of the “sports drink” and consumed only one packet of gu at my last IM race this year and all was good. I will be consuming real food from now on during racing.
I will never ditch coke or redbull though. There is absolutely no replacement for that.
Yes, I’ve always used this approach. Other than in a very long race I think it’s never particularly difficult to do. In some instances a “sports drink” may be of value, but most of the time people over-consume them and think they’re necessitated by every single workout.
Overall it’s a great idea. I think people make nutrition too complicated. Nutrition is what you what 7 days a week. During a race you should focus on portability, simplicity, flexibility (ALWAYS have a back-up plan), convenience, density and make sure it’s something you like to taste. Determine what calories per hour you need or can handle, and consume that. Drink to thirst. Don’t be afraid to drink more than you might have planned. You usually won’t regret it so long as you’ve done this in training and know how to feel you limits.
Like a protein powder that can be pea protein powder, rice protein powder, whey protein isolate but like don’t put in the whole serving only get like 15g of protein worth. I use a mix of rice and pea cause that provides a good amino acid profile, is fairly pure no fats etc like whey concentrate, and is vegan. You can get dehydrated coconut water on amazon and I’ve seen it at health food stores a couple of times but idk if it’s common for them to have I’ve always got it on amazon. I haven’t figured out the perfect amount of carbonate but probably like a teaspoon or maybe half. Yea similar to flax oil I’ll have chia seeds in the morning then again if it’s long haul over 5 hours or something. That’s my race nutrition you can replace some malto with sugar but for every 1 part of sugar remove 2 parts of malto, dextrose is the best sugar in this situation.
Hey, this real-food substitute for gels is not my original recipe, but it’s great for long bike rides.
Mashed yam, almond butter, honey and salt. Add in some pumpkin pie spice if you like that.
Spoon it into plastic sandwich baggies, squeeze out the air and tie a knot in the bag. If you make these the night before, just put them in the fridge and load them into your bento box or pockets for the ride.
This has the fast energy carbs from honey, slow-burning energy from the yam, protein and fat from the almond butter, and added sodium from the salt. The pumpkin pie spice has cinnamon, which is an anti-inflammatory, but seriously, there isn’t enough cinnamon in there to ease any significant pain.
On a really long ride, I would take in one baggie of yam at the top of the hour, and a Clif Shot (which is certified organic) or some beef jerkey or banana at the bottom of the hour.
This is a good idea. Finally ditched all of the “sports drink” and consumed only one packet of gu at my last IM race this year and all was good. I will be consuming real food from now on during racing.
What was the real food you carried with you during the races?
It was bananas and bonk breakers. I consumed water, coke, and redbull on the bike.
Then on the run, I had one gu followed by nothing other than coke, redbull, and whatever food I saw at aid stations that looked good.
I would love to know how many bananas I ate that day. For whatever reason, I never had the urge to shit.
It was bananas and bonk breakers. I consumed water, coke, and redbull on the bike.
Then on the run, I had one gu followed by nothing other than coke, redbull, and whatever food I saw at aid stations that looked good.
I would love to know how many bananas I ate that day. For whatever reason, I never had the urge to shit.
I’m pretty sure that redbull and coke are pretty much sports drinks.
It was bananas and bonk breakers. I consumed water, coke, and redbull on the bike.
Then on the run, I had one gu followed by nothing other than coke, redbull, and whatever food I saw at aid stations that looked good.
I would love to know how many bananas I ate that day. For whatever reason, I never had the urge to shit.
I’m pretty sure that redbull and coke are pretty much sports drinks.
I’ve actually come off sugar altogether, since it seems to reduce the inflammations from my ankylosing spondylitis. So I use water, salted nuts, and dried dates (or occasionally “raw bars” based on dates and nuts for convenience), and it works OK for me. I can’t push as hard, but also seem less affected by bonking and gastrointestinal woes. Haven’t gone a long triathlon on this, but I did do a fifty mile trail run over two days and managed well.
Those are all personal subjective observations, though. Might be placebo, but hey, I’ll take good effects whatever you call them.
So, here’s the ingredient list for Lemon-Lime Gatorade. Top three ingredients are water and sugar. Then there are a few things to make the liquid mix work/stablize, some salt, some potassium, some color and tasts additives, and some presevatives. And that’s it.
So…how is this, the epitome of “sports drinks” not sugar and water?
WATER → water
SUGAR → sugar
DEXTROSE → sugar
CITRIC ACID → preservative/adds a sour taste
NATURAL FLAVOR → chemicals used to add taste
SALT → salt
SODIUM CITRATE → salt/adds a sour taste
MONOPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE → source of potassium (also a fertilizer)
GUM ARABIC → stabilizer for the liquid mix
GLYCEROL ESTER OF ROSIN → stabilizer for the liquid mix
YELLOW 5 → coloring