Sports Drink Chemistry

OK, so I did what I wasn't supposed to do and string two hard workouts together. Sunday was impromptu and then Monday's run was going easy and then wham! For no apparent reason while running around the track I kicked it up a notch. There wasn't a lot of thinking behind it. Looking back I think the sun was setting and I didn't want to run in the dark and somehow decided running faster would get the miles done before sunset and wham! It was done. Felt good. Until the next day.

I was psyched about going with Da Fish to the UT pool but by 3 o'clock I felt drained. The kind of drainage that feels like if you swam 100 meters you'd be susceptible to any freewheeling germ in the air or water so I bailed on Da Fish and Da Swim. One of my new year resolutions was "There are no rest days" in terms of triathlon preparation. In reality, there will be days where I won't exercise but there's other work that can be done. So instead of a swim, Salsa Verde got wrenched upon and got the Spinergy wheel replaced with it's backup and the body got some needed rest.

Laying off a day also meant I had some time to some nutrition math and work in the Sports Lab mixing concoctions. I've been reading Dr. John Ivy's book, Nutrient Timing and writing an article for GoodHealth.com based on the 30-minute glycogen window athletes have immediately following exercise to replace lost fuel. As I was running out of Endurox I was doing the math with my stash of Gatorade and supplements to see if I could make up a batch of what Dr. Ivy recommends for an exercise potion. Note! It's much easier if you don't have to use the cheese grater to shave the vitamin C capsules. The potion came pretty close to what I was drinking with Endurox but I was able to add the recommended electrolytes and minerals Dr. Ivy recommended. The next thing to do is see if I save any money by mixing it myself versus buying a bucket of Endurox. Even if it's about the same I gain the ability to flavor the mix according to my likes.

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Permanent Link: 3/07/2007 07:29:00 AM

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