Dustin Lin

Logo

Contact: yogurtandblueberries [at] gmail [dot] com
GitHub: DustinLin

Theme by orderedlist

DIY Sports Nutrition

With summer comes good weather for swimming, biking, and running.

It’s not a secret that sports nutrition is a huge industry. Everything from pre, during, and post workout is marketed. I was tired of buying expensive gels and sports mixes to use during my workouts, so gave a shot at DIY. I’m not an expert on sports nutrition, but I do want to share a couple of things I learned over this summer preparing for a half-ironman triathlon race. Time to put my high school biology and chemistry knowledge to use!

Our body uses carbohydrates for energy, and some electrolytes (fancy word for a collection of minerals that your body uses to send neurological signals to your muscles, eg: sodium, potassium) to make our muscles contract. We burn the former by moving, and the latter by sweating. These gels and mixes help replenish this stuff so we can keep moving for longer periods of time.

carbohydrates

Maltodextrin is the favorite carbohydrate to make gels with (it’s literally just glucose), and the ingredient itself is available online in large quantities. However I was too lazy to order something online, and recalled a cheap and readily accessible alternative: sugar. Regular table sugar (sucrose) is just 1 molecule or glucose and 1 molecule of fructose together. When digesting, our body breaks sucrose back down to it’s components via hydrolysis.

On a side note there are many studies online about what the optimal ratio of glucose to fructose consumption is for athletes. A quick search tells me that range from 0.8:1 to 1:2 fructose to glucose is recommended for optimal bodily absorption. With cost, availability, and the affects of diminishing returns I figured the 1:1 that sugar provided was good enough for my purpose. Either way, consuming straight gels/maltodextrin gives you an abysmal ratio of 0:1. This was an easily simplification for me (if there are any learnings from this, please let me know!).

What is great about both maltodextrin and sugar is that they are soluble in water. Liquid calories are a lot easier to consume, and you get the added benefit of hydration.

electrolyes

To get my dose of electrolytes I referenced this post online, skipping the calcium carbonate. Therefore my grocery haul was light salt, epsom salt, and baking soda. The proportions outlined in that guide mimic the ratio given in popular sports drink mixes (so I had faith it was safe). Combining this with the sugar above (I aimed for ~100-120 grams of sugar in my bottle) was enough to fuel me on my bike rides and longer runs.

It was a bit surprising at first measuring out cups of sugar and slowly dissolving it into a pan of heated water, but that goes to show how much energy your body burns! To combat the taste, I mixed in lemon juice and some lemonade drink mix (too bad I was only able to find sugar free ones, really could have used some more sugar!).

On race day I still brought a handful of gels (in addition to a bottle of my homemade brew) to eat. This of course was preceded by a couple practice rides/runs to make sure my stomach was fine with it, as one should “never try anything new on race day”.

back to blog