Experiences with homemade sports drinks?

[blnchflr]

I wasn't going to tell anyone, because it's semi-harebrained, but as you probably know, it's hard not to talk about running, so: I've signed up for a ½-marathon in April D:

(More background: I've been wanting to get in shape for a ½-marathon for about five years now, but I never put in the amount of training needed, and finally had to accept I'm never going to be in shape to sign up for a ½-marathon. However, I'm not above run/walking distances, and I wasn't really in shape for the first five 10Ks I signed up for, but don't regret running a single one of them. So why not just sign up, and see how it goes? I'm hoping to make it in 2½ hours, but if it takes me 3 hours, it takes me 3 hours…).

I know fast runners don't need to worry about nutrition during ½-marathons, and some don't even take fluids, but I'm going to be on my feet for 2½ hours, maybe longer, so I'm thinking I'm better off paying a bit of attention to this.

Ideally, I'd like to go completely natural and organic, but as a first-timer, maybe I'm better of just buying commercial sports drink and not have to worry about ingredient proportion.

Still, wanted to hear if any of you had experience with making your own sports drink?

Comments

[treewishes]

Nutrition will be necessary, imho. The trick is carrying it with you. I also have learned I need additional salt whenever I sweat - more salt then you typically get in sports drinks. At one point I added salt to my drinks, but salt tablets every half hour are more palatable.

I totally agree on just signing up and doing it - deadlines are pretty wonderful motivators!

[blnchflr]

Nutrition will be necessary, imho.
Yeah, I agree - it'd be different if I could run it in 1½ hour.

The trick is carrying it with you.
In the fall, I ran/walked 14 km with a half-filled ½-liter bottle in my hand. I'm not saying it was awesome to carry it the whole way, but it was surprisingly doable, and I shockingly wasn't sore in the shoulders after, which I had expected. So if all else goes wrong/I'm too cheap to invest in a belt of some kind, I know I can carry a bottle in my hand.

On the other hand, it looks like there will be water stops every 4-5 km - on the other hand of that, I expect them to be crowded, so maybe I'll be better off carrying my own drink.

[temve]

Water stops are totally doable, and everyone walks through those anyway, so you needn't worry about getting access to them. In fact, if you're not deliberately running past them, volunteers will reach out and basically thrust water or sports drink on you. I didn't bring any beverage for my first half-marathon, and I was totally fine just walking through the water stops and drinking at them, and then guzzling lots of lovely free Apfelschorle after the finish line.

Also, yay you!!

[blnchflr]

Sports drinks at races here are very diluted - I'm worried they won't be enough. Mmm, there's supposedly hot cocoa and buns after the race, though.

[shadowkitty]

I've heard that if you want a hypotonic drink it's 100ml fruit squash, 900ml water and a pinch of salt. If you want isotonic, just switch 200ml squash, 800ml water and the salt.

I was once at a talk given by the ex-marketing director of Lucozade where he said all the commercial ones were a load of crap, so I figured he must know what he's talking about!

[gnomad]

If you want something customized but commercial, I recommend Infinit, which customizes the proportion of stuff in your sports drink. It's a bit more expensive than regular sports drinks, obviously, but a lot of people with gastric problems have had success using them for endurance events.

[blnchflr]

As far as I know, I want isotonic, but I assume the amount of squash depends on its sugar content. Hm, maybe I should start out with commercial sports drinks, and see how I fare on those :o)

[blnchflr]

Sounds interesting, but seems like I'd need to know about what my body needs during a long run, before I can make any kind of qualified choice.