Hi James, thanks a lot! What i still don’t get is the optimal concentration of Carbs in the sports drink. Let’s say we target 90 grams / hour (60 Glucose + 30 Fructose). How much water would I have to consume per hour? In a 5 hour Ironman bike ride and taking the 6-8% guideline found in most articles I would need to drink 1.1-1.5 liters or 5.5-7.5 liters in total. That seems a lot. Is that really realistic? And what about pros consuming up to 120 grams of Carbs per hour? How much fluid do they really drink? Thanks for your answer!
Hey Mathias. This is a great question! The answer here links to individual gut tolerance at any given intensity, because it is strictly individual. For example, some people will be fine consuming 120g of carbs per hour in 500ml of fluid during an ironman bike, but others might need 1000ml for that same 120g carbs. The best thing would just be to find out how much fluid you need by repeatedly testing over long cycles at ironman pace. If you constantly find yourself becoming bloated or cramping then it's likely you need more water with it. Having a hydration drink (or water only, depending on individual set up) can be a great way to provide this balance. Essentially during your race if you are getting uncomfortable etc then dial back on the carbs and increase fluid and salt to balance it out. As to whether that sort of fluid intake is actually realistic, it definitely can be. Again, very individual and down to gut tolerance at that intensity. Some athletes can quite comfortably take 1L of fluid per hour. This is unfortunately also a bit of trial and error to understand how much you can tolerate. A good way to practice is trying higher fluid volumes with good salt balance and not as many carbs. If you can tolerate the fluid you know it's not the volume of fluid that is the problem. You also don't have to follow 6-8% guidance. Some drinks like Maurten are designed to be hypertonic, others are isotonic like SIS beta fuel but still 500ml of fluid. Which is totally fine if you practice and can tolerate it. Sorry that's not a definite answer but by nature it isn't exact. But hopefully that gives you a bit of guidance on it! Any more questions let me know 🙂
Hi james! Thanks for making this video, very informative! In terms of hydration, if i’m only drinking a carb/sodium mix (90g carb / 600mg sodium in 750ml water) every hour, on the bike. Am i essentially dehydrating myself for the run as i’m only drinking a hypertonic solution? Should I also be drinking plain water to achieve an isotonic or hypotonic solution in my gut? On brick sessions I find my heart rate is significantly higher (20bps) when starting my zone 2 run. On the bike its normal. Thought maybe this was due to hydration, and drinking only a hypertonic solution on the bike.
Hey, good questions. In short: if you're tolerating things without gut problems, it's unlikely a problem. In theory hypertonic solutions can dehydrate you in the short term, because you have to pull water from your blood into the gut to balance out the concentrations. The end result is the same though in that you will absorb everything again which means it won't actually dehydrate you. I wouldn't suggest drinking plain water just to achieve an isotonic solution if you aren't getting any problems. That sounds quite common for your HR being higher when starting the run compared to the bike. Most people's running HR is higher than their bike HR anyway, and swapping modalities (when fatigue) is also going to cause some differences. So yeah, if not specific GI issues then it shouldn't be a problem.
I don't have lots of experience with how track events are ran, but I would consider a hypertonic, high carb drink (1g of carbs per kg of body weight) after each event to help replenish glycogen stores quickly. Depending on whether you get any gastro upset or not, I would also consider a low fibre diet in the days before a competition
Any thoughts on tooth health with hypertonic drinks? I am making hypertonic drinks with 160 grams of carbs and sipping on them slowly. I believe that it could be bad for my teeth because this concoction would be very acidic. Any thoughts on how to get around that? Thank you!
Yeah, it's a bit of an issue. Not just hypertonic drinks, but any free-sugar containing drinks. There isn't actually loads of firm evidence to suggest that athletes suffer more dental issues if they have generally good oral hygiene and brush their teeth well etc. I'm not a dentist so won't presume to give good advice here, but first up just do the basics well and you put yourself in a good place. Brush your teeth well, swill your mouth with water after food and get regular check ups. Keeping well hydrated especially during exercise seems like it's important too - keeps the oral mucosa hydrated which is helpful for good health. There was a study from 2020 which suggested that hydrogel drinks (eg. Maurten) may reduce the risk of dental issues, because their carbs are encapsulated in the hydrogel and don't react in the same way with your teeth... But not enough for a firm conclusion. In short, it's kind of hard to get around. Practice good dental hygiene, have a good diet as much as you can and hope your teeth hold out 😅
Hey! Great question. In relation to our sports drink, an isotonic solution is considered something that contains roughly 6-8% of carbohydrates. So in 500ml, that would be 30-40g of carbohydrates. That's why you'll usually see around 30g of carbs if it's a 500ml drink and it claims to be isotonic.
How hard is the biking and postman stuff? I would have thought hypotonic is probably the one, as hydration might be more necessary than carb intake. Depending on how hard it is you might be fine just with a good meal beforehand a simple snack during?
Main thing for powerlifting is good quality diet outside of lifting times, with adequate carbohydrates. That's going to be far more influential on lifting and recovery. If you're doing a long session then something like 30g/carbs per hour on 500ml of fluid is fine. Don't worry whether it's specifically isotonic or not.
@@NutritionTriathlon I’ve otherwise read somewhere that sessions below 1 hour doesn’t actually require any sports drink but rather water would do as not much electrolytes are lost during or within 1 hour , but the other day I came across another where they mentioned water could possibly dilute your blood and reduce the blood pressure , I don’t know whether it’s a placebo effect or not but I’ve been feeling energised after sipping isotonic drinks rather than water
Yep, I'd agree that under 1 hour probably shouldn't need a sports drink. That said, there could be some psychological benefit from having carbohydrates, because they stimulate your brain and make you feel more alert. If they fit as part of your diet, aren't meaning you over consume sugar and they make you lift better - use it. The issue you're referring to is probably around diluting your sodium levels. Sodium is the electrolyte that's most integral to maintaining your blood pressure. If you just drink water when heavily sweating over sustain bouts of exercise (>90 mins) then you could cause an issue. If you're powerlifting and just drinking water during your session you shouldn't really have any issue with this.
Gotcha! Yeah it would work for that. You could also make your own sports drink, it's really easy! You can watch a video I created about it here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mitr9w2IX24.html
