|   cytomax vs gatorage+gu | keram
Nov 7, 2003 4:00 PM | | any comments? I'm novice rider (10-15 mile races) |
| cytomax +hammer gel nm | CraigW
Nov 8, 2003 3:39 PM | | |
| re: cytomax vs gatorage+gu | Bogus
Nov 16, 2003 7:23 AM | | Either of those combos will work fine. Each brand of sports drink, energy gels, etc. works great for somebody. The key is to experiment in training with what tastes good to you. Nothing is magic and a brand that one guy loves, the next guy will hate.
I think it's key to take in some calories and electrolytes during any race over 30 to 45 minutes in length. I've got a pretty strong stomach and don't mind any of the sports drinks I've tried although I tend to prefer the sweeter tasting ones (like Gatorade, Cytomax, Powerade, Accelerade, Coke, Mountain Dew) and don't care for the more tasteless ones like Sustained Energy and Perpetuem although lots of racers love them and swear by them and they definitely work. Try as many brands/flavors as you can. Don't hesitate to dilute them down to make them taste the way you like it. Some people only drink straight water and hit gels every 30-45 minutes and get by fine but I think some sort of sports drinks helps ensure a constant infusion of energy. If you ever get cramp, consider taking electrolyte tablets as well.
Try out different brands/flavors of gels, too. Some brands are too thick in my opinion (like Gu or Powergel) and are like swallowing cake frosting making it hard to breath and requiring a few swallows of drink to get them down. I prefer the thinner ones like Hammergel or CarbBoom that you can swallow and wait for a while to drink if you're in the heat of battle or on a rough trail...I know a guy that dilutes Gu with water and drinks it out of one of those small gel flasks and says it works great.
The key is to try this stuff out in training, especially on hard days that stress your body--like doing speed work. That way you won't be surprised and feel sick from it during a race. I'm amazed at how many really experienced racers haven't tried out some of the newer brands of gels out there--they freak out at how good some of the newer brands taste when I give them one.
Remember to drink early and often. I'm convinced that most of the times that I've seen racers feeling sick during a race (usually in hot and humid conditions here in Texas) and they start blaming it on what they ate, they're actually dehydrated. If you let yourself get dehydrated the first symptom you get is usually nausea and soon nothing will taste good to you and things will only get worse from there--no matter what drinks and/or gels you brought. I've done lots of adventure races and have watched this happen again and again to my own teammates and other competitors over the years. I always ask them when was the last time they pee'ed and invariably get the answer that they haven't pee'ed once all day (a sure sign that you aren't drinking enough to keep your motor running right). I'm an MD so lots of them ask my advice on the subject.
I know there has been some press lately about people "drinking too much water" and getting hyponatremia. The vast majority of cases seem to be with people that are replacing fluid losses with pure water only and not replacing electrolytes (which you are constantly losing via sweat). Their hyponatremia is from too little sodium in their system, not "too much water." It's virtually impossible to overhydrate if you have normally functioning kidneys and replace electrolytes--don't believe some of the cr@p written in the lay press. I'm very skeptical about the report of someone getting hyponatremic while consuming a sports drink.
Good Luck. |
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