Training & Nutrition - No more sugar water for me.....

I haven't done many tours/races now, but trying to keep properly hydrated I carry one load of water and one of gatorade/powerade/wahetevrade. However, whenever I drink the sugary stuff my mouth and lips dry out, crack, and bleed. It coats my mouth and is just plain yucky.

However, I don't want to have a problem in the Texas heat with losing all the salt, so what options are there? From what I've seen in the bike catalogs - ad I admit to not having read every description of every product - they all seem to have sugar.

Ideas? (I'm sure this has been done to death, but I didn't find anything in the search - not that great at searching this website for some reason)

Greg

try a couple of tablespoons of grape sugar plus Lo-salt (KCl + NaCl) in a bottle of water. Grape sugar is pure dextrose (an isomer of glucose), it dissolves immediately in water, it is not sweet or sticky and it provides immediate energy as opposed to granulated sugar (sucrose, a compound sugar). Grape sugar is commonly found in the baby food section along with similac, cereals and gerber products. it can also be found in health food stores.

Although I can't see any reason for sports drinks to dry out your lips, the obvious solution is to drink a little water after you have some sports drink to rinse the aftertaste out of your mouth.

You could also take along some salty foods like pretzels, potato chips, etc as a source of sodium.

You could take some Gu to supplement your water or eat energy bars.

I drink gatorade/cytomax/accelerade on my rides and I generally water it down a bit so you don't get that syrupy coating in your mouth after you take a drink.

But I still don't see how a drink would dry out your lips. Just carry a small tube of chapstick and use it when your lips dry out.

Here is a recipe for a homemade sports drink from http://www.cptips.com/hmdesnk.htm#sport
I use Celtic salt. It has more potassium then table salt.

I also just put a little unrefined celtic sea salt in filtered water. Unrefined celtic sea salt has a broad range of minerals, not just the 2 usual suspects and you don't need to use a lot, about a quarter of a teaspoon in 600ml (pint) of water.

Regards, Anthony

Thanks. I dunno why I get dry mouth - especially since I always water the -ade down by a third anyhow. All I know is that when I drink straight water, I don't have any issues. When I use it, dry mouth, cracked and bleeding lips.

Thanks for the tips. I'll give em all a try.

I ride in Texas heat every day (Live and ride in Galveston County and hereabouts), and I have no problem
with 'losing salt'. I ride about 35 miles a trip and on alternate days I ride maybe as much as 45 to 65 miles a trip. I drink water during the ride and only when I feel thirsty or feel I should drink some. I ride during the heat of the midday often and I have no problems. I'm 49 and still overweight and working to lean
myself out more.

Why people think they have to drink that commercial garbage with sugar in it is something this old school
bastage really can't grasp. Water worked for me as a kid, still works. Just don't drink TOO MUCH water and I doubt you'll have a problem. If your really worried about the salt/mineral issue drag along some peanuts and raisens or something.


Now, yes if you drink TOO MUCH water during and immediatly after exercise you can run into big problems
with elecrolyte imbalance and then I can see why some folk feel the need to replenish electrolyes. My solution may not fit but it works for me. Soltution=don't drink excess water. That said, in this high heat and on long trips be sure to have excess water with you if you don't know where to stop for the water during your trip. Just don't drink like a starved camel and you should be fine!

FInal tip, if your not acclimated to the heat it can be a bear so take it easy till you break yourself in.

perhaps the sports drinks make you lick your lips more, chapping them?

Some people are using this - Elete Water (http://www.eletewater.com/).

Smart Water normally.

The onlyl time you'll catch me touching gatorade is when I'm running for 2 hours or more. On the bike, its strictly water.

Smart Water normally.

The onlyl time you'll catch me touching gatorade is when I'm running for 2 hours or more. On the bike, its strictly water.


Okay, I'll bite. What the heck is 'Smart Water'?

Only thing I could come up with here on my own is 'water from a pregnant woman' but I sort of doubt your
drinking that but then again, who knows, people do odd things.

Oh, for those wondering where the hell I got that connection it was from some verbal connection from long ago with the term 'smart' and preggers. I haven't heard it used in that manner in decades, just somehow it bubbled to the surface here. Shrug.

http://www.glaceau.com/

Its water with elecrolyte's in it - a guy here at work got me hooked on the stuff when I'm out running or cycling. Due to the distances I was running, I was having to start incorporating salt tablets into my diet during exercise, I swear this stuff made up for it without adding a bunch of crap to my hydration.

Anyhow, it tastes good and only has calcium chlroide, magnesium chloride and potassium bicarbonate (just read the back of the bottle here on my desk) in it.

i.e. no HFCS!

Out of curiosty how much water are you drinking during the day. Maybe you are actually dehidrated.

I havent noticed accelerade do things like that. Even when I put the reccomended amount (only did it once) But usually I water it down. Watering drinks down helps.

Why not just have buy the cheap electrolyte pills or flavorless drink mixes that you can add to water? Has to be cheaper than power/gator/accelerade

-Jason Keller

There is a great energy drink that comes in a tablet and taste great with water. It is sugar free and contains alot of vitamin b12 for energy. www.liftoffenhance.com has alot of information on this

I haven't done many tours/races now, but trying to keep properly hydrated I carry one load of water and one of gatorade/powerade/wahetevrade. However, whenever I drink the sugary stuff my mouth and lips dry out, crack, and bleed. It coats my mouth and is just plain yucky.

However, I don't want to have a problem in the Texas heat with losing all the salt, so what options are there? From what I've seen in the bike catalogs - ad I admit to not having read every description of every product - they all seem to have sugar.

Ideas? (I'm sure this has been done to death, but I didn't find anything in the search - not that great at searching this website for some reason)

Greg
WOW YOU HAVE NOT HEARD OF E-CAPS OR HAMMER NUTRITION. I HAVE BEEN A DEVOTEE OF THIS COMPANY SINCE I RAN A SUB 10 HOUR 52 MILE RUN IN HAWAII. HOT HOT HOT. THERE PRODUCTS ARE SUGAR FREE 100% . I NEVER TOUCH THA GATORADE STUFF TOO MUCH SUGAR AND NOT THE RIGHT PH BALANCE FOR AN ATHLETES DELICATE STOMACH. E-CAPS ALSO DO GREAT ELECTROLYTE TABLETS AND POWDERS, GELS ETC....GO TH THERE ON LINE WEB SITE AT WWW.E-CAPS.COM I AM SURE YOU WILL FIND PLENTY OF USEFUL INFO. GOOD LUCK WITH THE TEXAS HEAT

Try ultima replenisher.
No sugar.
Only complex carbs - no simple carbs.
Doesn't taste heavy. I like it a lot.
www.ultimareplenisher.com