Tell me what Sports Drink you Prefer on those Long Training Skates!

I have had good luck with the Gu sports drink. It is not as sweet as the Gatorade, but still has the electrolytes. I use this with the Gu packets, which I know some people can't stand but they don't bother me. Except after the A2A, where after eating about 15 packets, it was all I could do to choke down another. It took me about a month to get over that adversion. The only advise I would offer if you go this route is on skates of more than 4 hrs, I would mix the Gu drink a little stronger than recommended. Or at least that is what works for me. The Gu products sit well on my stomach, even on a very hot day. I have not had good luck with the gummy bear kind of sports nutrition products. They taste so darn good I eat the whole pack right away and then have a stomach ache. So not a statement against the product, just against my eating habits. :-)

In the park I use a 24 oz. Polar bottle and I put one of the large size scoops of Gator in that. I think that's enough for a 32 oz. recommended mixture, but it's good as I often don't eat properly before skating. I try to eat a gel 30 minutes before or as early as I can on arriving at the park if I haven't eaten much lately. For subsequent bottles of water I may do the same or may use just water depending how I'm feeling. Sometimes I just keep adding water and it gets thinner as I go. But anything I need to do to get myself to drink is OK with me. It may be too many calories, but OK, it seems to keep me going. One tip is I've found when I need water the Dollar Tree is a good spot for a gallon if I've forgotten to get a jug of filtered (or not) from home. It's cheaper than the convenience stores, if not as cold. Sometimes I keep a filter pitcher in the trunk and filter whatever I can get but it doesn't matter much in terms of taste with Gator of course! On the road I use the CamelBak 48 oz. fanny pack and put 2 of the large sized scoops in with a half to a full teaspoon of Morton's Lite Salt (sodium and potassium). It cuts the sweetness and gets me started with electrolytes from the start of sweating instead of chasing it later. As the day wears on I usually have 2 large scoops in a zip with 1 teaspoon of salt if it's over 30 miles or so, as the supplied Gator is sometimes thin of course. Salt without fat is hard to find at rest stops so I try to mix it in frm the start (Morton's Lite Salt, that is) so I don't end up eating some fat salty snack that makes me want to give up and curl up in a ditch and sleep awhile. Some of the trail mixes offered up have enough sweets with salt clinging on and not too many nuts in there and it can be quite good. On Tour de Lions they had some Cranberry Trail Mix that was Kirkland brand (Costco) ooh and it grrrrocked!

http://www.sportsci.org/news/news9711/martin.html

An unsponsored survey conducted at the 1997 US Professional Championship Road Race showed that more than half of the cyclists drank Coca-Cola, usually during the last half of the race.

Assume you're a competitive road cyclist and you've been racing for more than four hours in hot conditions. Your carbohydrate stores are dwindling and your body water has dropped by more than four liters. With less than an hour of riding to go, you enter the feed zone one last time. As you look for every possible advantage, an important question dominates your thoughts: "What should I drink?"

In the sport of road cycling, competition typically occurs on successive days and generally lasts 2 to 6 hours. Competitions can be characterized as aerobically demanding with short high-intensity efforts that involve anaerobic energy systems. This type of activity depletes body water and muscle glycogen, so carbohydrate-electrolyte sport drinks are recommended. At the Australian Institute of Sport, athletes undergo nutritional counseling to ensure that they are aware of drinking strategies that are compatible with current scientific wisdom. But we have noted on many occasions that Aussie road cyclists, mountain cyclists, and cross-country skiers drink Coca-Cola during competition. The consumption of soft drinks, especially colas, was a common practice among athletes 20 years ago (VanHandel, et al., 1977), but you would think that top athletes would now be using the recommended sport drinks. We decided to do a survey during the US Professional Cycling Championships to find out what the best cyclists use.

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