A really quick word on race nutrition..

Someone recently said to me:

"All you really need is malto, water and salt to get through a ride"

Well, that's basically true.

I think this person read this: (I lifted it from the source verbatim)

"This is a summary of the use of the 3 limiting agents in endurance exercise.

Sugar (maltodextrin) Salt Water Period.

Everything else is pretty much marketing gimick.

The method I use to mix maltodextrin into my bottles for IM and HIM racing.

You need a measuring cup and a gram scale. The mix is a pure maltodextrin, no others sweeeteners, no taste, and no salts. I add these to the solutions."

Hmm, well, again basically true.

-Malto is carbohydrate which you need for energy, how many carbs you need in the formula is really something you need to gauge based on duration and intensity of the event. Obviously there are general rules here and I don't really need to list them as folks can vary by as much as a couple hundred kcals an hour of exercise.

There are other alternatives to a carb source outside of Malto, (it's really not the end all, be all) it all really depends on how you use (process) the carb. Dextrose is also a commonly used "agent" for carbs.

Without ponitficating on the advantages of one or the other it's worth giving either a try to see how they work for you.

-Salt is, uh, salt... How much you need is a tough one.. A person can have their sweat rate measured and attempt to leverage the data.. As a rule most humans fall into the same spectrum of salt loss, and naturally there are some outliers, folks who retain salt and others who lose alot of salt.

-Water is, duh, water and you need this for hydration.. The salt and water are critical components together because without the salt your ability to absorb water is diminished. Too much salt and an athlete becomes bloaty.

Marketing gimmics?

Well, there is peer reviewed research that supports the other agents added to a sports drink formula.

For me, it truly doesn't matter what extra stuff goes in there, and I guess I'm lucky in that regard. Mostly I need lots of carbs to keep going, a little salt (I'm pretty average in terms of salt loss) and my hydration needs usually (go figure) revolve around the weather.

So, just to clarify I've had extra stuff (beyond the basics listed above) and just haven't noticed a difference.

The big takeaway here has to be that we learn to train and race on the products that will be available at our key event race course, unless there is compelling reason not to.

I'd say if you load up the Tri bike w/four bottles of special formula and you eject a bottle in the course of Ironman then you have limited choices: You either go without the extra bottle or you grab what's on the course.

What would you rather do?