So I decided to do some electrolyte comparisons and try Nuun. Unlike Hammer Nutrition's Endurolytes which you take like pills, Nuun is a big pill that you drop in your water bottle. I thought it might work out well on my long rides, to just drop it into my areo-bottle.....I'm not sure that I'm sold on the idea. Nuun is also flavored (its like drinking Crystal lite) so I thought it would help me to remember to drink a lot.I liked the way it tasted (I tried the "tri berry" flavor). And I like the idea behind it, but for riding it was more of a hassle than anything. First I had to constantly refill my areo bottle by squirting the water out of my camel-bak (This is on my 115mi ride). Then I had to fumble for the Nuun thing, open it and drop the pill into the aero bottle AND get it under the yellow splash guard thing...
Argh! I will admit that it was nice to have a flavor in my mouth that wasn't water or Perpetuem.I'm thinking in the race using Nuun would be easier because I will be constantly refilling my aero bottle at the aid stations, not with a camel bak. Endurolytes are just so simple. They are big though, if you don't take them with a big gulp of liquid they could be challenging to get down.
Electrolyte comparison:
NUUN
serving size = 1 tablet
recommended dissolution volume: 16 oz water
calories < 5
total fat 0
total carbohydrates 1g
sodium 360mg
potassium 100mg
magnesium 25mg
calcium 12.5mg
vitamin c 37.5mg
riboflavin 500mcg
ENDUROLYTES
| Serving Size 1 capsule | |||
| Amount Per Serving | |||
| Sodium (as Sodium Chloride) | 40mg | ||
| Chloride (as Sodium Chloride) | 60mg | ||
| Calcium (as Chelate) | 50mg | ||
| Magnesium (as Chelate) | 25mg | ||
| Potassium (as Chelate) | 25mg | ||
| Vitamin B-6 (as Pyridoxine HCL) | 6.6mg | ||
| Manganese (as Chelate) | 1.6mg | ||
| L-Tyrosine | 50mg | ||
Hummm, I never looked at that before....judging from this I would say Nuun is better! But....how do you know how much of this stuff you really need anyway? AND I drink a ton of Perpetuem, which has (in a 1hr serving):
| Calcium 243mg | |
| Phosphorous (as Sodium Tribasic Phosphate) 344mg | |
| Iodine 0.03mg | |
| Magnesium 11mg | |
| Copper 1mg | |
| Chromium Polynicotinate 100mcg | |
| Sodium 231mg | |
| Potassium 156mg | |
| L-Carnosine 100mg | |
| L-Carnitine Tartrate 50mg | |
| Choline (as Choline Bitartrate) 50mg |
SO! Do I NEED more electrolytes than that? Its time to do some research....
2 comments:
that is the trick! figuring out what you need.. and it changes with conditions. i generally start with one tab of nuun per hour. if it's hot i drink a bit more. eventually you will have your body figured out but that comes with lots of experience.
good luck!
When I use NUUN for races, I try to bring all the water I need, already laced with NUUN. For traiing, I bring plain water, and drop in the tablets. It's a pain, because I have to push the tablet down past the sponge in the aerobottle. But I figure if I train that way, then it will be eaiser when I do a long race and have to do it (cuz I won't be able to carry all my water). I use 1/2 NUUN per water bottle. I found that I felt an aversion to salt all day when using a whole tablet. Another symptom of too much hydration I've read about is swollen fingers. I only use Gu for nutrtion, and it hardly has any electrolyets, so I don't have to worry about the other stuff that can mix in. Hopefully you have plenty of time to hone in on your plan before B2B! Good luck.
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