This question is for people who do endurance sports or long workouts such as biking, running… What sport drinks do you use during the event and what recovery drink do you use after? Why do you use the one you do- nutrients, taste, organic…?
I do distance running and I drink water.
If I have a headache after a long run, I’ll drink Gatoraide because I like the way it tastes.
thats it.
I used to do a lot of long hikes (6+ hours, 10-20 miles over moderate to hard terrain). I carried a big Camelbak of plain water and sipped regularly, also carried a canteen of Gatorade and had a swig every 30-60 minutes to keep my electrolytes replenished.
No special “after workout” drink. Gatorade because I happen to like the taste of the red fruit punch flavor.
I have used lemon-lime Gatorade for a long time. I use the powder and mix it about 1/3 strength. I stick with it because I like the flavor, it doesn’t upset my stomach, it helps me drink plenty of water, and it contains some electrolyte replacement. I don’t count on it for carbs, though.
I am about to try Nuun, which is capsules. If it works, I’ll be able to carry it more easily when I want to mix “on the go”. But it has to work, first.
I take creatine before workouts, and use Amino Vital powder afterwards. This I just started, based on the recommendations of sports nutrionists writing in Bicycling magazine. I don’t know if creatine works or not. Amino Vital (glutamine) has a quirky, refreshing taste.
My rule of thumb is to drink something that
[ul]
[li]Is relatively inexpensive[/li][li]tastes good[/li][li]leads you to drink water[/li][li]replaces electrolytes, including salt[/li][li]doesn’t upset your stomach[/li][/ul]
Any violation of those rules, and I cross it off the list. You can probably get by with a pinch of salt and a bit of orange juice mixed with your water!
I try to avoid having anything to eat or drink for 1 to 1 1/2 hours while training. This conditions my body to burn a mix of fat and glycogen right away, rather than depending on incoming carbs. It also helps my body store more glycogen in the muscles and be more efficient with the glycogen it has.
In a race, I usually go with something no later than 45 min - 1 hour in. I do triathlons, so I’m usually doing most of my intake on the bike and run. I rely on sports drinks mostly for hydration and electrolytes, and go with GU and sports bars for food, but then again my stomach tolerates that pretty well. I wash it down with extra water.
I try to force fluids anyway. Hydration is a daily thing, exercise or not.
Cyclist here. I drink water during road races, simply because sports drinks tend to dribble out of the water bottles and run down the frame to the derailleur cables, where it gums up the works and makes the shifting funky. So it’s water to drink and energy gels ( I use Carb-booms, though the Honey Stingers are tasty too) and Clif bars to eat. After the race, it’s whatever enery drink is available by the race promoter, otherwise just skip it and go eat lunch or dinner.
Same goes for mountain bike races. Water in the camelback, because energy drinks make the bladder funky if it’s not cleaned right away (same for water bottles). So even with long (3 to 4 hour) events, it’s easier to keep water and eating separate.
When you are just starting out, it’s easy to think that you need the sports drinks. You really don’t. Use them if you want to, there is nothing wrong with them but you don’t need them - you can keep hydration and eating separate. Back when I did use them, it was either Gatorade (cut 50% with water) or Cytomax. Either seemed to work, but I liked them mixed on the light side.
I used to do a lot of long hikes (6+ hours, 10-20 miles over moderate to hard terrain). I carried a big Camelbak of plain water and sipped regularly, also carried a canteen of Gatorade and had a swig every 30-60 minutes to keep my electrolytes replenished.
No special “after workout” drink. Gatorade because I happen to like the taste of the red fruit punch flavor.
Never had this problem, and never heard anyone complain about it! But, I do clean my bike after most long rides.
Agreed, but cleanup is pretty easy.
Depends on what you use the sports drink for. Gatorade’s inventor meant it as a re-hydration and electrolyte replacement drink for football players who were working out in very hot, humid conditions. It was never meant to replace nutrition.
You do need to replace water and electrolytes. As I remarked in another post to this thread, you can do that with a bit of salt and orange juice. Potassium , calcium, and magnesium salts will also help. The other stuff aids in absorption and transport into the muscles.
Perhaps some food will also help, but you should check before you assume that eating will replace electrolytes.
Moved to IMHO.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
I’ll typically bring one water bottle of gatorade made from powder and one bottle of water on my long rides (4 - 6 hours).
Keep in mind that hyponatremia is just as dangerous as dehydration, even though it doesn’t get the publicity. It occurs when you’ve sweated out your salts, and just replaced with water, so you really do want a sports drink.
I don’t really focus on recovery drinks. Usually just gatorade or water depending on how I feel.
That’s pretty much when I use it: on hot days over 95 when I’m working out in the evening for a couple hours. I usually mix it from powder at a diluted strength. I find on really, really hot days, I get a head ache if I only drink water but on days under 95, I just stick to water and I’m fine.
Water. 4-8 oz every 2 miles, no exceptions.
Recovery after–water, along with something salty & carby.
If I’m running more than 16 miles, I -might- bring along cereal.
Just relating my experience. It is pretty hot down here in southern New Mexico, and I’m a guy who sweats a lot. After a 5 hour ride in the heat, I have salt stains on my shorts and jersey and salt caked on my helmet straps. So I’m pushing a lot of salt out of my body, but just drinkng water and eating on the ride works for me. I won’t argue that it makes sense that the salts needs to be replaced, but I’m not convinced you need to get them in the form of a drink.
Maybe the OP will come back and give us an idea of his workout and hydration concerns. Sometimes people overanalyze things like this. I recently did a 30 km time trial. A week before the event, another rider asked me what I was taking on the bike to drink. She was surprised when I said that I wasn’t taking anything, it was going to be at most a 45 minute effort and I’d drink during the warm up. She was convinced that she had to start drinking at 20 minutes because of something she read somewhere. On race day, I noticed that most riders (including the winner) didn’t take anything with them on the the bike. Anything longer, like a 40k, and I’d take a bottle. 45 minutes or less? No.
Another one for Water and lemon/lime Gatorade, the old school flavor.
Mostly water with some salty food along the way.
I also carry powdered pediatric electrolyte replacement, which I occationally use when I feel I need it but that is rare. It is also quite expensive at about $4-6/qt. Has many more electrolytes and much less sugar then sports drinks.
After, I try not to load up on simple carbs, and go very easy on all carb’s
I’ve started using a Camelbak for long cycling rides and it works pretty well, although I’ve had a couple of problems getting the hooked securely to the bag.
Anyway, I generally fill it most of the way with water and then maybe add a little Aquarius (pretty similar to Gatorade). Pure Aquarius tastes too sticky-sweet when it gets warm.
(running and triathlons - I’m bad at both, but getting better at running)
Water
I recently found cytomax pink lemonade flavor. It doesn’t suck.
Other than that, I’ll do gel before sports drinks (which also do not taste good, but seem to not taste good for a shorter amount of time). I also just found clif shot blocks, which are great. They’re like gummy cubes.
I’m horrible at making choices for post workout food - so generally just water.
However unless I haven’t eaten at all in a long time before a workout, or it’s going to be a really long workout, I don’t really go for anything other than water. That’s generally enough - especially given all the sodium that’s in most people’s foods - unless you’re going very hard or very long.
Ooh, I know this one!
I have a couple of friends who do 24-hour cross country mountain bike races, and last year my boyfriend and I went as their support crew. During the laps, they go on either water or heavily diluted e load, depending on how they’re feeling, with an occasional energy gel on the course. They’ll drink a little bit of flat Coke between laps if they need the caffeine and sugar during the last 8 hours or so of the race. Food in between laps is a closely guarded secret stolen from ancient ninja bicycle monks, which I will not reveal here in order not to hurt their chances in this year’s race. (Last year they won beer, though, so we don’t think anything can top that.)
After the race, it’s strictly beer and cheeseburgers.