I tried Gatorade and wanted to love it because it is on the IM course. After only one ride, I knew I could never use the product. For me, It is the green, purple, yellow and red goo of death, so I left the canister in my neighbor's mailbox for his tennis playing sons to enjoy it. A friend of mine is a pediatrician, and she does not recommend Gatorade for any of her teenage athletes.
My pediatrician's office uses similar visuals with not only Gatorade, but popular coffee drinks. The doctors emptied the container and then put the appropriate number of teaspoons of sugar in it.
I think he is spot on - love TED and TEDx talks - thank you for posting this one.
@Shaughn - Chewable stuff. Little bars or chews like cliff blocks. You can't get away from sugar. The point of the TED talk was "sugar is evil", but I think the point of most people's dislike is that "Gatorade does not work for me or makes me sick". You need those simple carbs, but if Gatorade does not work, or makes you ill, you have no other choice.
I re-confirmed at Lake Placid that Gatorade does NOT work for me. I was unable to take in Gatorade/ and or diluted at about mile ~56 on the bike and that lasted until I started to dry heave and then vomit in the bushes at mile ~2.5 on the "run-as if". By that point I had tried Infinit, water, chicken broth, etc. and nothing helped. Thinking back I had somewhat the same problems at IMTX, IMOO, and now IMLP. I'll have to experiment with other non-course liquid nutrition before IMAZ comes up.....but from now on NO Gatorade of any sorts for me.
I think the main point of the talk is that there are millions and millions of bottles of Gatorade (or Monster/Powerade/etc) sold every yr to kids and "barely athletes". I don't think he's actually talking about fueling an Ironman which is a whole different kind of crazy than the 8yr old soccer player that runs around for 20 mins then chugs a 32oz of Gatorade to replenish his "Electrolytes" as mom sucks one down in her folding chair on the sidelines.
I firmly believe that his overall thesis is spot on. Sugar is making our society fat and unhealthy!
I prefer a Marlboro Red, but only when I'm drinking Gatorade - yes, I am being a smart ass.
I never drink this crap for lesiure. Only when training. My kids tell me all about their friends who have pop in their school lunches. Not sugar that's making us fat, just dumb people, but that my friends, is a whole other discussion. Preferably discussed over a Marlboro and a Gatorade.....
I live in WA, so I switch to mary jane long ago....
I agree w all, the video (which seems to me a relatively weak TED lecture relative to others I have watched) makes no mention of Gatorade for purposes of extreme athletics. That said, I think there is enough evidence to question the true value of Gatorade during an IM - simply based on the number of ENers who can't do it, not to mention the number of articles available that suggest age groupers tend to over eat on the IM compared to pros (apparently).
My general opinion is that an alternative fuel/drink to what is on course needs to be amazingly better to overcome the advantage of not needing to carrying the fuel. I can easily drink this stuff down during an IM but I suspect I am not able to get as much down as I need, based on my IMC experience, echoing what Dino wrote on a prior post. So I plan to experiment quite a bit en route to IMAZ. First up is Tailwind, after reading Noyes' cool 100 miler. I am skeptical one can survive on liquid cals all day as they propose, but I will see. I will order up some Infinit next. I will also be trying out water, via the Dino plan, and NUUN. I am committed to peeing more on the bike and run, tho not as much as Sarner (who might benefit from some flomax
Haven't been able to stomach regular full-strength Gatorade since my first season. Even the Gatorade endurance is too much for me.
I agree with Doug that most people tend to overeat on their long stuff (training and racing).
I've been lucky that I seem to have found my recipe: Nuun (use the water from the rest stops and hand-ups, drop in my own tabs) with real food (honey stinger waffles now, or lara bars) with some occasional fake food (ex, pop tarts or rice krispy treats).
Living in Texas, my hydration seems to be a lot more important than nutrition for my long events.
I use Skratch for hydration. I can make a concentrate and get 6 botthese into one 24 oz bottle. I get water off the course and adid 4 oz of concentrate to the BTA bottle and ride on. I'll drink some GE on the course for a change of taste, but only a mouthful at a time.
But I get what he's saying, you don't have to drink a bottle of sports drink to do a 45 minute workout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9QVylWHS9Y
Comments
I tried Gatorade and wanted to love it because it is on the IM course. After only one ride, I knew I could never use the product. For me, It is the green, purple, yellow and red goo of death, so I left the canister in my neighbor's mailbox for his tennis playing sons to enjoy it. A friend of mine is a pediatrician, and she does not recommend Gatorade for any of her teenage athletes.
My pediatrician's office uses similar visuals with not only Gatorade, but popular coffee drinks. The doctors emptied the container and then put the appropriate number of teaspoons of sugar in it.
I think he is spot on - love TED and TEDx talks - thank you for posting this one.
Just curious about what form of carbohydrate you both use when racing and training for long events/workouts?
I re-confirmed at Lake Placid that Gatorade does NOT work for me. I was unable to take in Gatorade/ and or diluted at about mile ~56 on the bike and that lasted until I started to dry heave and then vomit in the bushes at mile ~2.5 on the "run-as if". By that point I had tried Infinit, water, chicken broth, etc. and nothing helped. Thinking back I had somewhat the same problems at IMTX, IMOO, and now IMLP. I'll have to experiment with other non-course liquid nutrition before IMAZ comes up.....but from now on NO Gatorade of any sorts for me.
I firmly believe that his overall thesis is spot on. Sugar is making our society fat and unhealthy!
Here's the trailer for the Documentary Fed Up which goes into this sugar epidemic in much more slanderous detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCUbvOwwfWM
JW's point is exactly where I was headed..............
Agree on all fronts....
SS
I never drink this crap for lesiure. Only when training. My kids tell me all about their friends who have pop in their school lunches. Not sugar that's making us fat, just dumb people, but that my friends, is a whole other discussion. Preferably discussed over a Marlboro and a Gatorade.....
I agree w all, the video (which seems to me a relatively weak TED lecture relative to others I have watched) makes no mention of Gatorade for purposes of extreme athletics. That said, I think there is enough evidence to question the true value of Gatorade during an IM - simply based on the number of ENers who can't do it, not to mention the number of articles available that suggest age groupers tend to over eat on the IM compared to pros (apparently).
My general opinion is that an alternative fuel/drink to what is on course needs to be amazingly better to overcome the advantage of not needing to carrying the fuel. I can easily drink this stuff down during an IM but I suspect I am not able to get as much down as I need, based on my IMC experience, echoing what Dino wrote on a prior post. So I plan to experiment quite a bit en route to IMAZ. First up is Tailwind, after reading Noyes' cool 100 miler. I am skeptical one can survive on liquid cals all day as they propose, but I will see. I will order up some Infinit next. I will also be trying out water, via the Dino plan, and NUUN. I am committed to peeing more on the bike and run, tho not as much as Sarner (who might benefit from some flomax
I agree with Doug that most people tend to overeat on their long stuff (training and racing).
I've been lucky that I seem to have found my recipe: Nuun (use the water from the rest stops and hand-ups, drop in my own tabs) with real food (honey stinger waffles now, or lara bars) with some occasional fake food (ex, pop tarts or rice krispy treats).
Living in Texas, my hydration seems to be a lot more important than nutrition for my long events.
But I get what he's saying, you don't have to drink a bottle of sports drink to do a 45 minute workout.