Best Energy Drink for Marathon

trotter_inc

Running my first marathon in Cork in 3 weeks and just wanted to ask people what energy drinks they will be using during the race.

Like some other people here I am planning on having a friend have an energy drink ready for me around mile 20 or so.

I noticed on the Cork Marathon website that they will be providing 250 ml cans of 'Boost'.

What other energy drinks will people be using? What are the more recommended brands?

Thanks!

RJC

I make up my own from a powder you can buy in 'natures way' or 'Holland and Barrett' or one of those shops. I tried running with accelerade before as it is 25% protein but it just turns into a mess of froth with all the whey protein and it no good to drink on the go.

where can you get these boost cans - in the shops? i'd like to try it before the day of the race.

trotter_inc

RJC wrote: »

I make up my own from a powder you can buy in 'natures way' or 'Holland and Barrett' or one of those shops. I tried running with accelerade before as it is 25% protein but it just turns into a mess of froth with all the whey protein and it no good to drink on the go.

where can you get these boost cans - in the shops? i'd like to try it before the day of the race.

I'm sure I have seen them around somewhere but can't really remember where. You could try emailing them for a list of stockists, website is http://www.boostdrinks.com/ but their distributor in Ireland is Gleeson http://www.gleesongroup.ie/brands/softdrinks/boost_energy.html

Would be good to try out before the day itself alright.

Trampas

Not want him having the drinks ready before 20miles?

trotter_inc

Trampas wrote: »

Not want him having the drinks ready before 20miles?

The race passes by where I work around the 20 mile marker and one of the guys has offered to come out and have it ready for me.

I am probably just going to hide water bottles around the rest of the route and take some gels with them. I will take advantage of the energy drinks at the 'energy stations' as well.

Krusty_Clown

On my long runs I always found a bottle of freezing cold powerade to be most refreshing (even though it's made by Caco-calo). More so than lucozade sport, which was just a bit bland. The boost-stuff sounds nasty. Even their tagline is.. well... um.. uninspiring..

Functional drinks that allow you to... do more.

Aimman

I've had Boost before, but not during running. I thought it was more of a Red Bull alternative with caffine and taurine.

Either way, whichever you go for, make sure you get a bit of practice drinking it on training runs.

I was foolish enough to take a couple of cups of Powerade at stages in Belfast last week and got cramps during the run (yeah, I know, I should have learnt after the first cup ), But I was only used to drinking Lucozade Sport.

trotter_inc, would you consider getting a water belt for the run? Its handy, because you can have 4 x 150ml bottles and you can have energy drinks whenever you need them. When the bottles are empty, you can also fill them up at water stations again, in case it was a hot day like last year. PowerBar do one, but its €25 for the belt and bottles. The drawback is that its hard to get the bottles seperately if you lose them, but you normally pick them up during Marathon Expos.

trotter_inc

Aimman wrote: »

trotter_inc, would you consider getting a water belt for the run?

I actually have one Aimman Think it's called 'Powerbelt' or something like that. I use it for my long runs during training, find it very handy. Cork is my first marathon and was hoping to be able to run without the belt (for comfort reasons) and make use of the water stations on the route...not too sure what to do now tho

Killerz

That boost stuff doesnt fill me with confidence.

+1 in thinking that it was a red bull type thing.

alternative i can think of is to put some isotonic powder drink (that you need to mix with water) into your bottles that you are carrying, then fill up those bottles at water stations as you use them. could be messy, depends on what pace you're going at i suppose. or else just bring some of the powder mix and add it into a bottle of water as you get it... that kind of idea.

other alternative - camelpak!

TFBubendorfer

I have seen plenty of runners with water belts at all of my marathons, and I simply cannot understand why anyone would choose to carry extra weight in a race.

Now granted, I used to have a belt myself for training and hated it with a vengeance, so maybe I'm biased. But while I can perfectly understand why you would use them in training, I would never wear one in a race where they have watering stations provided at frequent intervals.

trotter_inc

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I have seen plenty of runners with water belts at all of my marathons, and I simply cannot understand why anyone would choose to carry extra weight in a race.

Exactly my thinking as well. The belts are great for training for no way would I wear a belt carrying water for a race.

Gonzales

trotter_inc wrote: »

Running my first marathon in Cork in 3 weeks and just wanted to ask people what energy drinks they will be using during the race.

Like some other people here I am planning on having a friend have an energy drink ready for me around mile 20 or so.

I noticed on the Cork Marathon website that they will be providing 250 ml cans of 'Boost'.

What other energy drinks will people be using? What are the more recommended brands?

Thanks!

Perpetuem from Hammer nutrition is very very very good.

thirstywork

VIPER;)

RJC

Gonzales wrote: »

Perpetuem from Hammer nutrition is very very very good.

I have used accelerade and any of the carb/protein drinks turn to milkshake if you run with them so you get a bottle of froth which is hard to swallow. On ultras or even cycling this wouldn't be a problem as you could stop to drink or stabilise yourself a little better (i.e. sit up on the bike).


That said, they do work (carb/protein drinks)

trotter_inc

Gonzales wrote: »

Perpetuem from Hammer nutrition is very very very good.

Thanks for that Gonzales, must look it up, never heard of it tbh.