You are hereBlogs / Rob's blog / Sports Drinks Compared
Sports Drinks Compared
At the risk of looking like a nerd... 
I've made a sheet of three different drinks I have the tubs for at home, and shared it in a spreadsheet which you can view here:
Update: Have added Hammer Perpetuem and Gu2O to this.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pUcxuWiLA...
At the moment this compares Endura, Gatorade & Balance Endurance (Balance Endurance Elite Fuel Supply Restore Energy Supply if you want the full name!). Would like to add some Hammer products and anything else you can recommend to this to compare. Please PM or post the ingredients/nutrition from any pack you have as this is annoyingly missing from the Hammer site for example.
FWIW, on long rides I've previously used one scoop Endura with two scoops Gatorade mixed in a single bottle, with plain water in a hydration pack. Eating Organic Food Bars and Gu towards the end of a ride.
Yesterday though, tried something different - put 13 scoops of Balance Endurance in the hydration pack (2.75l of recommended strength) and took water in the bottle. And to be honest think this worked out well. It was stinking hot so I had almost drunk the lot (the whole backpack + 1l from two bottles I was carrying) in around 3 hours/40Km. At this point we re-filled with water at the Buddhist Wat and moved on.
I didn't have any more Endurance to fill up with, but if had think that would have been good. Around 10Km later I put half of some Endura/Gatorade powder I was carrying (so that's half scoop Endura + 1 scoop Gatorade that went in) into a full water bottle and began to drink that. I'd also eaten 2 Gu between 40-50Km mark, having prior to that had 2 Organic Bars.
Sorry to waffle, but I have had some troubles with the stomach and wanted to share/document this. From past experience think I know if I'd had that much Gatorade things would not have been good - I like this Balance stuff so far, although a couple scoops Endura mixed in might have gone well as I had a couple of twinges along the way telling cramps might be creeping up.
- Rob's blog
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
Hi Rob,
From my experience I will not touch Gatorade ever again due to very bad experiences of bonking and crashing on more than ocassion. Basically the sugar in the gatotrade is absorbed very quiclky followed by a big downer. Also I find that a got stomach cramps when using Gatorade.
Endura Is fine with me for the first part of a race then after a couple of hours I find that it doesnt "wet the whistle" like plain water does. Also post race Endura tends to lead to the bowels emptying themselves very quickly in a bad way. I am not the only one that suffers from this either.
I have tried all sorts of gels and while I take them I am yet to find one I really like or one that upsets my stomach. I never feel a boost or kick from the gels but I do tend to take one every 40-45mins regardless of how im feeling.
I have recently spent a bit of time looking into this and as a general rule I should be aiming for around 400cal a hour on longer races. I aim to get about 50% from drink and the rest from gels.
At the moment the plan for the coming up race is 2 ltrs of FER http://torpedo7.co.nz/products/FFPWTNNS5 at full strength in the camelbak, 1 bottle of plain water on the bike and gels as well.
I will be drinking water and gels early on in the race with the aim to have an empty bottle at the first water station. Top up there and then start on the FER drink. I am aiming to eat a gel 15mins prior to the start then one gel every 40mins or so throughout the race. Making sure i take on plenty of water with the gels.
I suffered at the angry doctor cause I ran out of drink and I was silly and didnt carry a waterbottle and didnt want to lose too much time topping up the camelbak. That made me hurt a lot!!!
I too used to suffer from cramps, the endura helped but led to bad bowels later. the FER has magnesium in it as well but doesnt cause any problems. I now also do a 10 day loading programe using muscle relief (magnesium complete powder)made by Nutrivital. It seems to help with the muscle fatigue as well. Go and talk to a health food store about magnesium and muscle cramps, there are a couple of other options including a spary to use at the time of the cramps.
Im not sure if I have been any help but I like FER at the moment. I will report back on how the drinking eating goes in my blog following the n-duro 100km this Weekend.
Well its bad for me anyway.
I was using Endura mixed as per the instructions I would always have problems with my bowels straight after a race or ride and during the solo 24hr had to spend a bit of time of the bike and stuck on the loo. I had always put this down to the cycling and thought it was my bodys way of dealing with the physical effort. I was told it may be the Endura so cut it out of the equation and have not had one problem with my bowels since.
I use Powerade now but mainly just to flavour the water so I drink more which I wouldnt do without a bit of flavour. During a 100k race I use just Gu's exactly as per the instructions of one fifteen minutes before the race and then one every 45 minutes. I have also started tacking salted cashews along on some rides (but not races yet) as these have a huge amount of calories and the salt is probably good too.
Why blame the Endura - you have just made you ass sit on a bike seat for 24 hours straight, it's seeking revenge.
I have never had any problem with Endura but I was warned that exceding the recommended dose would cause a reaction but I think that is a general rule with any product containing magnesium.
Instead of gu's, etc give raisin's a try (not sultana's but raisins). My wife said they contain sugar and potassium, so I'm going to give them a go at the Fling.
Ha, welcome all to the eternal quest for the 'right' supplement program!
I've tried Endura, and it doesn't agree with me either. Although many swear by it.
We seem to have a fair few endurance riders, so getting it right is more important than the 1-2hr events.
As per rob, i use Balance elite recovery fuel, mixed full strength (It's a LOT of powder!), and it is working well for me. I also use powerbar gels (with caffeine), up to 6 on a 100km ride.
I personally need some solid food along the way, and don't like chewing on hard bars, so take a couple of sandwiches (one savory avo + vegemite, and one with jam), and nibble on them, half at a time. Even add a couple of bananas sometimes, or some dried fruit like figs.
For the relay races, i eat creamed rice as well, nice and easy to get down.
My naturopath has prescribed some magnesium tissue salt tablets at the 2, 3 and 4hr mark (3 max).
This is in addition to taking a magnesium supplement morning and night throughout the year.
(Pharma Mag Fort - practitioner only).
I've looked at putting together a spreadsheet to ensure I get the right number of calories per hour, but it has been too hard up to now. I just eat lots of small portions throughout the rides and seems to be working.
W.
It's not the Endura, more the magnesium inside.
I once had more than the recommended 4 doses in a race and can confirm it's not a nice effect.
Magnesium is known to do this, and look at the sheet - Endura has loads of that stuff. As Loz will attest - if you take loads of Codeine based painkillers (known for their opposite effect) at the same time though, you'll be right!
I had 10 scoops of endura for the doctor... 10 Nurofen Plus's as well
Worked out well. I do have an iron stomach though.
Loz
I originally thought it might be just that.
The only thing I changed was the Endura in my water and the very next ride and 100k race I had no more problems what so ever with my bowels not even a hint of the runs. Where as before I would have problems on just about any ride not just the longer enduros where I used Endura I would even get problems with it doing a single lap of the dam. I only ever mixed it as per the instructions and never OD on the stuff but after talking to my LBS I discovered that I am not the only person to have had a bad reaction to the stuff.
I use gu's because they are very easy to open and I can get them down while on the go without having to stop and muck around. Instead of raisins I have used dates just shoved in a back pocket while they where great they did get very messy.
As for nutrition I am heading in the direction of trying to keep it as simple and easy as possible with nothing that is too difficult to open eat or digest it just has to do the job.
Sitting on a bike for a long time does mess up your date.
This comment has been moved here.
dont know if you take masgnesium as a daily suppliment but i do and although im very 'regular' i never get the squits on race day as i think my body's so used to the magnesium. even if you dont take it daily it might be a good idea to load up on it a week prior to a big event.
Thanks for sharing Gaz!
As a daily-ish magnesium supplement I take BioCeuticals Ultra Muscleze. This stuff is twice as potent as Endura so only take a single dose a day with care! It's also good to mix with other stuff when riding if that other stuff has no magnesium of course. Have added details to the sheet mentioned in the original post even though it probably doesn't belong there.
I also eat zillions of bananas (at least 2 a day) which are supposed to be full of the stuff. FWIW I very, very rarely cramp. Am much more likely to get muscles knotted than do that. However, massaging knots out of your legs when you've overdone it is no fun either!
No I dont but have wondered if I should take it as I do come close to cramping now and then at the longer events.
isn't muscles knotting up called cramping???? and ive told you billions of times to stop exgagerating! two is not a zillion!
Don't get all technical Gazza! What do I look like? Some kind of doctor of muscleness?
Ok - so what I call cramping is the feeling when your muscles spasm uncontrollably during a ride. Rather painful. Stretch it out as you feel it coming on to hopefully prevent it getting real bad and back off for a while.
And I call knots a tight feeling in a muscle you only notice after a ride - and when you look you can see the muscle all bunched up. Needs pretty heavy massage to 'relax' and return to it's more normal position, but doesn't really hurt (until you get stuck into said massage).
I had issues with too much Endura, then i discovered HEED, I find it so much better.
I can drink it all day without any tummy issues that endura gave me.
I cant change anything on google docs but here goes
maltodextrine 91%
sweetner 967 ( yum yum)
natural flavours
salt, alanine,leucine,glycine,calcium citrate, magnesium phosphate (good for the nervous system?)
pottasium citrate, L-tyrosine, vitamin b6, manganese citrate,chromium nicotinate
this is for one 500ml serve or 1 scoop (29gm)
max 2 serves day
Energy 425kj 102 cal
protein less than 1g
fat less than 1g
carbohydrates 25g / sugar 2g
sodium 24mg
glycine 31mg
alanine 25mg
leucine 25mg
tyrosine 11mg
manganese 0.2mg
chromium 25mcg
vitamin b6 .2mg (13%RDI)
hope that is of some use to you
I've only done two races (third will be this Sunday) and i always drink Gatorade whenever i ride, be it race or training or fun.
I have no stomach related troubles at all.I have not cramped yet.
I did play around with Glycerine for a short time to try and hyper hydrate. just ended up on the toilet. think i'll leave that one to the athletes( who ever they may be).
i like GU and can eat a bunch without tummy problems. plenty of fluid at the same time as recommended.
Food is not something i have worked out yet as i don't seem to get hungry and am always reluctant to stop once i am moving.
peanut slabs or almond slabs are good but melt too quickly (262 calories-6.9 protein-18.4 fat-16.6 sugar).
does anyone have good race food suggestions?