Nutrition Groups, Part Two: The Endurance Drink Mix

For the purposes of this post, endurance drink mixes are those products that are marketed to people who are doing exercise, typically sustained aerobic activity, that lasts over an hour.  It could, of course, be activity that lasts a lot more than an hour, but the hour is a pretty commonly used minimum benchmark when you're talking about endurance sports nutrition.

To clarify again: nothing in this post should be taken as advice about what to eat (or drink, in this case).  This is just a wee roadmap to the sports nutrition aisle.

In comparison with the Mostly-Hydration drink mixes (covered in part one of this post), endurance drink mixes are often built around a "drink your calories" (or at least, "drink many of your calories") approach to nutrition.  In general, that means there are more calories per serving of Endurance drink than of Mostly-Hydration drink.  On top of that, some of the drinks will give instructions for mixing up a multiple-serving bottle, in order to condense a large number of calories into something conveniently portable.

Endurance drink mixes will be sold in bulk canisters or bags, and in single-serving packets.

There are sometimes many more ingredients in these mixes than there are in the mostly-hydration mixes; they might include protein, fat, or amino acids.  Some drinks (notably Carbo Pro) have fewer ingredients. Some drinks look a lot like Mostly-Hydration mixes, with a bit of sugar and bit of sodium.  We'll map them out after these messages...

Some recognizable names in the Endurance Drink department:

• Accelerade
• Carbo Pro 
• Cytomax
• EFS
• Gatorade Endurance Formula
• Gu Roctane
• Hammer Perpetuem
• PowerBar Perform

1) Meal in a bottle

Perpetuem, by Hammer, is one example of a meal-in-a-bottle. There are carbs; there is protein and fat; there are amino acids and electrolytes. Each serving of a meal-in-a-bottle will be quite a dose of calories, and there are often instructions for mixing up a multi-hour (that is, a multi-serving) bottle.  The intention behind meal-in-a-bottle mixes is to provide everything, or most everything, that you need for an endurance event or training session.  You can supplement with food or gels if you want variety or need extra calories, but the meal-in-a-bottle is meant to be the main structure of your nutritional intake, and not just your main carbohydrate source.  These drinks are not, however, meant to be your hydration; the directions will usually tell you to drink water from a separate source.

2) Just calories

Carbo Pro is a good example of a calories-only mix. There is one ingredient. It provides no electrolytes, no protein, not even any flavor. What it does provide is a source of energy, and it's meant to be mixed up as thickly as you need.  Like the meal-in-a-bottle style of drink, the calorie-only drinks can often be mixed quite thickly.  For that reason, you'll probably be directed to drink water from a separate source.  For other nutritional things, like electrolytes, sometimes it works to mix everything together in the same bottle with the calorie drink; sometimes it works better to take separate pills or chews or whatnot.

3) Looks like the Mostly-Hydration mix to me....

Yeesss...Yes, some of the "Endurance" labeled mixes look remarkably similar to the lighter hydration mixes once you look at their ingredients and serving content.  Well, there are no laws governing the use of the term, but if the label says "endurance" and the calorie content isn't very high, look for two things.
First, look at the serving size.  The PowerBar Perform serving size is 8 fluid ounces. Most people don't drink out of bottles that small unless they're using a hydration belt.
If serving size isn't the culprit, look at the bottom section of nutrition label.  The electrolyte content might be greater, or the mix might include amino acids (which I'll address below).
If, after all, everything still looks like a light energy drink mix, it could very well be just that - if you ask Skratch or Nuun, you should be using their drink mix for your endurance events anyway, and many people do.  You'll just be getting more calories from somewhere else.

This kind of drink mix usually won't work well if it's mixed too thickly - the taste is would likely be obnoxious, since it was designed to taste good (or acceptable) at a certain concentration.  Beyond that concentration, the drink can turn syrupy and oversweet.

 *****************

Protein and Amino Acids

Protein doesn't commonly show up in hydration drink mixes or your typical deli-fridge sports drinks.  You'll see protein in recovery drinks, in muscle-building products, and in some endurance drink mixes.  You'll especially see protein in the meal-in-a-bottle endurance mixes.

Amino acids might appear alongside or instead of protein.  Sometimes they are called out explicitly as amino acids; sometimes you'll just see a list of names below the electrolytes in the nutrition section of the product label - Glutamine, Leucine, Histidine.

The protein and/or amino acids that appear in endurance drinks are supposed to cut down on lean muscle tissue cannibalization during exercise and recovery.  The protein will also provide calories in addition to whatever the included carbohydrates contribute.


A quick content comparison

Drink	Cal./16oz	Carbs (g)	Protein	Sodium (mg)	Potassium (mg)	Other?	Multi-Hour
Carbo Pro	350	88	No	No	No	No	Yes
Gatorade Endurance	107	27	No	387	187	No	No
Gu Roctane	365	90	Amino	486	76	Taurine Beta Alanine	No
Hammer Perpetuem	203	41	5g +Amino	165	56	Electrolytes	Yes
PowerBar Perform	140	34	No	380	20	No	No

The Gatorade Endurance, Gu Roctane and PowerBar Perform numbers above reflect a 16oz bottle at the minimum recommended serving density.
Hammer Perpetuem and Carbo Pro amounts are based on the instructions for a one-hour bottle for a 175lb athlete.



Hope this was helpful and informative. I've run out of time for this post, so please email info@speedyreedy.com if you have additional questions, or leave your comments below!

Nutrition Groups, Part One: The Mostly-Hydration

Let's cover some ground in nutrition.  There are lots of products out there, lots of ideas floating around about what works best(backed by lots of research, sometimes dubious, often contradictory). So this will be another multi-part post.

TO BEGIN WITH....
Nothing in this post or those following is intended to advise you regarding what to eat or drink.  This is only a kind of road map to the sport nutrition aisle.

The Mostly-Hydration

Our first subject is relatively new to the mass consciousness of sport.  In the category of Mostly-Hydration, we'll include products that are (pretty much) electrolyte-only, as well as products that are relatively low-calorie that include a significant electrolyte profile.  In the marketing material for these products, you'll typically read something about water/sweat replacement, something about electrolyte/salt replacement and some mention of the low-calorie nature of the product, or perhaps its non-syrupy consistency.  It's pretty common to hear, unofficially, that some such product is an anti-Gatorade, contrasting the high sugar content and syrupy texture of traditional Gatorade/Powerade/(name your knockoff) with the lower sugar content and lighter flavor of the new product in question. 

At the store, Mostly-Hydrations will be sold as drink mixes in bulk cans or bags and single-serve packets, or as dissolving tablets, typically in plastic canisters that resemble long film canisters.  Everything we're addressing here becomes a drink.  One or two scoops of mix in a bottle of water, one tablet in a bottle of water - that kind of thing.

Some recognizable names in the Mostly-Hydration category:

• Clif Shot Electrolyte Drink - bulk bags and single-serve packets
• Gatorade Low-Calorie G2 - premixed bottle and single-serve packets
• GU Brew Electrolyte Drink - bulk cans and single-serve packets
• GU Brew Tabs - film canister
• Hammer HEED - bulk cans and single-serve packets
• Hammer Endurolytes Fizz - film-canister
• Nuun - film canister
• Osmo Nutrition - bulk cans and single-serve packets
• Skratch Labs - bulk bags and single-serve packets

Why use it?

There are two stated purposes of the MH (and yes, I'm going to call them MHs from now on).  One purpose is to speed up your body's absorption of water during exercise.  The other is to replace electrolytes that are used and lost during exercise, either through sweat or through muscle contraction. Conveniently and unsurprisingly, both water absorption and electrolyte replacement are affected by the content of your drink, so one product can do double duty.  Depending on the product and the research or beliefs behind its design, you might find one or both of these purposes mentioned when you're reading the packaging.

A quote from the Skratch Labs FAQ page: "...a little bit of real sugar paired with sodium significantly enhances the rate of water absorption through the small intestine."

For the endurance athlete, the MH product is a way to separate hydration from calorie intake.  That means you can tailor your nutrition to your own body's needs and to different conditions (hot/cold, humid/dry - Sir Sweats-a-lot/Monsieur No-Sweat) without switching products entirely.  You can drink more on hot days without drastically increasing the amount of sugar in your stomach.  You can drink less on cold days, but keep your calorie intake the same (by eating supplemental calories from a different source).

The taste and texture is as important as anything else when you're picking your drink. MH products tend to have a much lighter flavor and lower viscosity than old-style sports drinks. That makes them a lot easier and more pleasant to drink, especially during the second half of a long race, ride or run.

So, some differences to look for:  Drink mix powders vs. Tablets

 

Skratch Labs: a spoonful of sugar, a spoonful of salt.

Hammer Heed: light calories, light electrolyte profile.

MH products in the form of drink mix powders (Skratch, Osmo, HEED, etc.) will typically include sugar and will therefore provide some calories.  It won't be a heck of a lot, so most people will use these mixes for hydration, and eat or drink something else for bulk calories during long training sessions and races.  For short-to-moderate distances, many people find the MH drink mix provides sufficient energy, so they use it alone.

Nuun: the most well-known electrolyte tab, sold in a film canister.

MH products in the form of tablets (Nuun, Endurolytes Fizz, GU Brew Tabs) do not provide calories - so, energy from a different source if you want any, at any distance.

Otherwise, between each mix and tablet, you're looking at differing levels of electrolytes: sodium and potassium, in many cases magnesium and calcium, sometimes various vitamins.

The list below compares the calorie and sodium count for several MH products, just for the curious.  In the list below, the calorie and sodium count is based on 16oz of drink at the minimum recommended serving density.

Product	Cal/16oz	Sodium (mg)
HEED - Lemon-Lime	100	40
Skratch Exercise - Lemons and Limes	80	240
Osmo Active Hydration - Men's	70	320
Osmo Active Hydration - Women's	70	360
Gatorade Low-Calorie G2	38	200
Nuun - Citrus Fruit	8	360

You'll notice a bit of variation. Sometimes the numbers change slightly between flavors of the same product, though it won't be by much - remember that each product will be built around some particular research or purpose or philosophy that determines the ideal drink content.

Websites for the drinks mentioned:

Clif Shot Electrolyte Hydration Mix
Gatorade Low-Calorie G2
GU Energy
Hammer HEED and Endurolytes Fizz
Nuun Active Hydration FAQ (with nutrition information)
Osmo Nutrition Active Hydration for Men and for Women
Skratch Labs Exercise Hydration Mix and Hydration FAQ

I do recommend reading through the Skratch Labs FAQ page. It explains hydration in a pretty clear and believable way, whichever product you end up using.

Lufthansa apparently makes it easy to fly with your bike.

You still have to pay a baggage fee ($150 for an intercontinental flight), but you don't have to box your bike.  You don't even have to take the pedals off. I guess you just wheel your bike up to the baggage desk and check it in?

This is at least a double convenience; no disassembly/reassembly of the bike and no bike box/travel case to deal with.


Lufthansa Baggage Guide

Where do I put my bike hydration? Part 3: Right up front.

 

Here's where things get interesting. In parts one and two of the bike hydration series, we covered water bottles mounted behind the saddle and bottles mounted to the downtube and seat tube. In part three, we'll cover hydration systems that mount a bottle on or around your aerobars.

First off, there are way too many systems to cover all of them individually, and there are some styles of front-end hydration system that have proven...unpopular. So I'll just leave those ones alone and focus on the two kinds that you're most likely to see and use. Also, the systems I'll cover here mostly require aerobars to be installed on your bike.

Horizontal bottles

Pictured above are three cages with mounts that will hold a standard water bottle between your aerobars, pointing forward. These three are made by Profile Design (HC Mount), XLAB (Torpedo Mini Mount) and Speedfil (Z4). In their simplest forms, as shown, you stick a water bottle in the cage and switch the bottle out when it's empty. This is supposed to be the most aerodynamically efficient way to carry a round bottle, because it's filling a space between your arms where airflow is typically turbulent, and because a forward-pointing bottle is presenting its smallest cross-section to the wind.

Additionally, when your water bottle is right in front of you, you can drink without sitting up out of the aero position or dropping an arm below you or behind you. Certainly it's a convenient place to reach, and having a bottle inches from your nose can be a good reminder to drink while you're riding.

The most common problem people run into with front-mounted bottle cages is the computer space problem. If there's a bottle taking up all your aerobar space, where do you put your bike computer? Speedfil has solved the problem (for Garmin Edge/Forerunner users) by integrating a Garmin mount into their bottle cage. You can see the Edge computer sitting on top of the rightmost bottle cage above. XLAB sells the Aero Computer Mount, which can be mounted onto the XLAB Torpedo Mount or it can be mounted above any standard stem cap.

Straws: drink like a kid again

On a related note, XLAB, Profile Design and Speedfil all make bottles with straws, designed to fit their respective aerobar-mounted cages. Each has some sort of hatch built in so you can refill the bottle while you're riding. The straw saves you the trouble of pulling the bottle out of the cage each time you want to drink. I've found that having a straw in front of me leads me to drink more frequently, and usually in smaller sips.

Vertical bottles

The second type of bottle (counting all horizontal bottles, strawed and otherwise as one type) is the vertical aero bottle. TorHans and Profile Design both make vertical bottles in 30oz and 20oz capacities: TorHans Aero20 and Aero30; Profile Design Aerodrink and Aqualite. The bottles look pretty similar. Basically, there's a thin, tall bottle with a straw sticking out the top and a covered hole through which you can pour your drink refills. Aerobar mounts are sold separately, specific to each brand.

Vertical bottles offer a potentially larger capacity than horizontal bottles. Profile Design actually makes a third model called the Aquacell, which has two chambers and holds a total of 40oz of liquid; but even the 30oz vertical bottles will hold more liquid than the horizontal systems. Also, because the bottle is shorter front-to-back, it's possible to fit a computer mount onto the aerobars around the bottle, or to mount the bottle to very short aerobars.

Advantages of the front mount

The aerobar-mounted hydration systems add less drag than bottles mounted to your seat tube or downtube, but the biggest advantage is the convenience of the location. If you use a system with a straw, it's even more convenient to drink from, though you're stuck with refilling the same bottle over and over instead of trading whole bottles from elsewhere on your bike.