JClark

Talking hydration only, this is my latest experiment with the help of a sports nutrition friend: http://www.nuun.com/what-is-nuun.html

mglobe

I didn't drink enough of it to tell if it helped or not, but I really liked the taste of the cytomax. I'm going to try it out.

Here's what I typically do to help with hydration.

WHB Porsche

HEED or Accelerade.

mhm993

Talisker

(Mindy)

Veloce Raptor

..

Mahler9th

nuun... hmmm... reminds me of Enlyten strips: http://www.enlyten.com/electrolytes.asp

And also the stuff that my Dartmouth classmate's company (CamelBak) sells called Elixir: http://www.camelbak.com/sports-recre...xir/berry.aspx

The key thing is to know that water by itself may not be optimal, and that both not enough and too much water can put your health in peril

race911

I forget what Pickett was into ~30 years ago when he was doing Trans-Am and SCCA in GT1 at a national level. (I was helping with an HP car, there was the SF contingent that would be at all the tracks.) But it was definitely an MLM health product plastered all over the car.

So we DO know that Muscle Milk is based on breast milk? I can't stand the stuff, I refused to put it in my machines, and only after Pepsi took over distribution and made us buy the stuff do the (now) owners of the vending company sell it. And not that much............

cannon1000

I believe I have been told/read/heard that "COLD" water is not good. Room temperature is much better for you. Obviously out of the car and cooling off it will help...but not good for digestion/absorption.

I'm sure this can be confirmed or contradicted with a little research or someone on here may already know.

RickBetterley

Its almost gotten to the point where I can predict what you will post.
Now I am working on how long it takes to post it.

ervtx

I'm guessing that you're referring to things like Red Bull, but just to clarify...

Red Bull and other caffinated drinks stimulate your nervous system. They may give you "energy", but they do not replenish the fuels your body needs to produce muscular energy. For that, you need carbohydrates and sugars. Carbohydrates are useful for prolonged exersion. Sugars are useful for short stints.

The problem with dehydration is that it depletes sugars. That is why Cytomax and other sports drinks contain fructose/glucose - in order replace the sugars that dehydration depletes. Thus it is possible to feel an increase in energy levels with these drinks - because without them, your body has nothing to burn for short term energy needs.

As an aside, most people know this process of burning sugar to produce energy as "metabolism". And as most people also know, metabolic rates (or efficiency) varies greatly across individuals. In addition, competing sports drinks use different forms of sugar (which also affects metabolism). That is why some drink combinations work well for some and not at all for others. And have you ever noticed that some people sweat more profusely than others? Sweating depletes electrolytes, so if you lose a lot of fluids through sweat, you might want to look into drinks that emphasize electrolyte replacement. If you think about it, there is no such thing as the perfect sports drink for everybody.

Mahler9th - good and objective info! Thanks!

Veloce Raptor

..

Mahler9th

There are a lot of myths out there and lots of unsupported information. For example, the relationship between caffeine and hydration has been studied by Larry Armstrong and others... and it is not what people would expect.

Like many fields, when you start to track the connections, the list of world thought leaders gets really small. And many of them are friendly and supportive. The world is small... here is an example...

When I was investigating hydration measurement, I discovered that there is one sport where hydration testing is absolutely mandatory for all athletes at least once each season: college wrestling. They use urine specific gravity. Awkward and messy. This led me to the national wrestling coaches association... the main man there took my call immediately and pledged to try to help us learn if our approach (conceptually a simple oral test with a thermometer-like device) could at minimum replace the urine-based approach used in wrestling. To do this we needed to raise money (Cantimer is a start-up).

He had some contacts for me... scientist Craig Horswill at Gatorade/Pepsi (a fellow WI native and a really good guy), Ronnie Lott former 49er, and a founding partner of the local Crosspoint VC firm. When I looked into Crosspoint, I discovered that Flying Lizards principal Seth Neiman is a managing partner!

I do not know Seth Neiman, but I race with Tom van Overbeek in the Porsche Racing Club, father of founding Lizard Johannes... so I asked Tom if he knew whether Crosspoint was actively investing... and so on.

Now its is just too funny that Johannes is racing for Scott Sharp, and hence is related to CytoSport... A high school friend who lives nearby is married to a OB doc that I think delivered a bunch of Pickett's progeny, and so on. Now that high school friend is the sister of one of my oldest high school friends that is an ultramarathoner from WI... went to grad school in physiology at U of I likely at the same time as Horswill... my buddy ran the western states 100 a few times, and maybe was a subject for one of Doug Casa's research projects... and Casa works with Amrstrong at UConn...

Anyway, they key thing is to be informed. Not by advertising, but by science. And there is a lot of great science out there. Don't underdo it, and don't overdo it.

TR6

Yes, Red Bull and the various copies of Red Bull out there are exactly what I was thinking of. I'm no expert, but that stuff doesn't seem healthy, especially not when you are fighting dehydration. But I still see a lot of it at the track.

I agree on the sugars and carbs. That is why I drink regular gatorade and not the sugar free version. But who knows, I could be kidding myself. Maybe the sugar in gatorade isn't the right kind of sugar. As I said, I'm certainly no expert.

Coochas

Medically speaking, you want to balance your "ins" and "outs." Therefore, drinking your own urine should work out well.

techno99

Only if you don't sweat...