I’ve read that you’re supposed to drink water w/ your gels as opposed to a sports drink. Does anyone know why this is? If there is water around I will use it, but I rarely bring water while training; most of the time I just down some sports drink afterwards. Is there a problem with this?
I do it all the time, but then I’m not fast. Probably that’s not why.
However, I think the reason is that because sports drinks are sugary, they don’t really ‘wash’ effectively. There may be other reasons having to do with slower gastric emptying of sports drinks or something like that.
I think it depends on the gel. I know when I use Hammer Gel, if I drink Gatorade or any similar sports drink in an OLY or longer, I get major gut cramps and gas. I have an easier time with Clif shot and Gatorade, but I’m trying Hammer Gel again now, so I’m sticking to water or water with HG mixed in it. There could be other combinations that work, but I’m still pretty new to the science of race nutrition. It’s supposed to have something to do with the combination of complex and simple sugars. Supposed to be bad. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can give a more complete answer.
I’m not an expert by any means, but I believe the reasoning is that sports drinks are already a 7-9% carb solution and adding a gel to that pushes the mix over the optimal absorption %. That being said, I take my Gu Chocolate Outrage with Cytomax Citrus Cooler and have not had any problems whatsoever.
Like everything else in triathlon, “whatever works for you is what’s best”.
You either take gel or sports drink, not both at the same time. They basically do the same thing. The nice thing about Hammergel is that you can mix the gel in water and kaboom you have it all taken care of.
You either take gel or sports drink, not both at the same time. They basically do the same thing. I don’t get this. Gels don’t rehydrate you. I have always done both. I was just curious why it is recommended to wash gels down w/ water instead of sports drink.
I think Dave’s on it. From my understanding, your stomach can only absorb a certain amount. You put gel, with a certain % sugar, and a non water liquid with its %, you risk being maxed out (not necessarily bad, just for the tender among us this can cause gastric pains). The mixture directions of an accelerade, for example, assumes you’re not gel’ing at all and instead maxes you out with just their mixture. I know very few people that follow these directions, particularly 'cus at their advised levels accelerade’s a bit much of a muchness. Instead, you cut down on the amount of powder you use in your mix, allowing the gels you take with it to have their own effectiveness, and thus everybody wins and you get hydrated at the same time.