About Energy Drinks (part #1)

According to my wife, I have been obsessing a lot about energy drinks lately ... From all that I have seen and heard (in articles and podcasts) what you drink during a workout (or a race) is very important for anything longer than one hour so it's definitely an interesting subject for an inspiring endurance athlete, therefore my OCD.

So what's the deal with energy drinks? What is their purpose? 

• combat dehydratation
• replenish electrolytes (necessary for muscles)
• metabolic stimulation
• refuel the body (for continuing efforts)

While there is a LOT of various sport energy drinks on the market that will fills this list of requirements, I found that it is more interesting to come-up with your own recipe. It will also be better suited to your particular needs (e.g some energy drinks pack a lot of sugar) and tastes and probably cheaper overall. Such an home-made drink should be based on the following contents:

• water (filtered, e.g. with a Brita filter)
• calcium/sodium/potassium additive
• caffeine (from coffee or tea)
• fast and slow acting carbohydrates as well as some proteins

Depending on the type of workout and the duration, the amount of water, electrolytes and fuel to be mixed will, obviously, vary.

to be continued ...

Run to Stanley Park (26k)

Since we had timed our run to minimize the chance of (literately) running into the Lululemond organized half-marathon down-town, by the time we got to where we may meet the event, they had already cleared the trail. It's only as we got closer and closer to Stanley Park that we started to notice here and there on the floor spent energy gels :) Anyhow, our run went well. I was afraid I'll get that mysterious calf pain I have been experiencing for a few weeks, but it wasn't really the case (I did feel it on my left calf for a bit around the 9k mark). I was wearing compression bands on both legs, just in case ...

As I couldn't find Honey at home when preparing my energy drink this morning, I used Maple Syrup instead. It doesn't have a glycemic index as high as Honey, but definitely higher than Agave Syrup. I was a little worry the drink (which is a cold tea) may taste a little weird, but it wasn't the case and it was actually a lot less sweeter than with Agave Syrup.

After the run, we took the little guy to the outdoor swimming pool at Second Beach. Cooling the legs in the pool was kinda nice, however, since the pool is right on the seawall, it's windy and kinda cold so we didn't stay too long.

Speaking of carbo-loading ...

The wife and I (and the kid in his running stroller) are doing another long run tomorrow (part of our Marathon training). I'm pretty excited about it since it will be the first time in 9 years than I will have gone above the distance of 21k (the last time was at the Paris Marathon back in 2003). To prepare for that run (25k), we only ran twice this past week (11k each time) and I have been taking it a little bit easier on my commuting rides.

Following my post from last night, I realized that my homemade energy drink wasn't actually what I needed during a long run (or ride) since I have to reload some glycogen as fast as possible and that Agave Syrup has a low Glycemic Index (bummer). I may have to switch back to Honey until I can get some Maltodextrin which seems to be a favorite of many endurance athletes.

Prepping energy drink (for tomorrow morning ride)

• 3 tablespoon of Agave syrup
• 2 heaping teaspoon of tea leaves (I used Earl Grey)
• 800ml of filtered water
• brew over night