What about blocs, chomps or jelly beans?
These products are generally not made of maltodextrin and fructose, so that solves one problem. Secondly, chewing small bits of carbohydrate ends up slowing the distribution of the load on the digestive system and allows for better absorption than swallowing a big bolus of gel.
I know you like athletes to be consuming fluid and food each 10 minutes or so, rather than at 20- or 30-minute intervals, but sometimes that's not convenient—especially for mountain bike events or XTERRA triathlons. If athletes can't consume small amounts of fuel and fluid on short time intervals, does it cause problems?
While the preference is to consume fuel and fluid on 10-minute intervals, there are many race situations where it just isn't practical. This is when we look at course profiles and designate feeding times for the athletes.
When you were at the Cycling Summit, I was thinking you had a different name for the drink mix, where did the new name come from?
At the time of the Summit, we were in the process of forming a company and didn't really have a product name. The name we have now was organic in nature. As individuals left the teams we were working with, they still wanted to use the product. They contacted us and asked us to send them some "secret drink mix." Additionally, some team athletes were sponsored by specific drink companies; but didn't want to use that company's product. When others inquired what they were using in their bottles, they said it was a "secret drink mix."
Editorial comment:
Some Summit attendees challenged that their current fueling and hydration strategy has worked perfectly. They have not had G.I. distress, dehydration or thermoregulation problems in training or racing. For these people, there may not be a need to explore making a change.
Dr. Sims challenges, "How do you know you are maximizing your nutrition and performance unless you're willing to try something different?"
If you've had problems in the past, this drink mix might help you avoid problems. Know that this drink mix is lower in calories than most traditional mixes, containing only 80 calories per 500ml compared to 110 to 120 calories for the others. It does, however, contain three times the sodium of traditional sports drinks and it's in the form of sodium citrate and not sodium chloride.