Sports drinks

I find that there is a lot of misinformation and confusion surrounding sports drinks. When exactly should you be drinking them, and what benefit can you expect from them?

Part of the problem is that the large manufacturers of sports drinks would have you believe that you need a sports drink everytime you so much as look at your trainers. Most runners will not get much benefit from sports drinks, except under some specific circumstances. It also doesn't help that the products of some of the large manufacturers aren't actually that great, and won't give you much benefit at the best of times.

As it applies to the sport of running there are two main types of sports drinks: Energy drinks, and Recovery drinks. You will generally see energy drinks in your local shop a lot more than you will see recovery drinks, that's probably because recovery drinks don't usually taste that great!

These drinks, as the name suggests, are there to give you energy! They are there to replace used calories as you are actually doing the exercise. Their main ingredient is carbohydrates, usually a combination of something like maltodextrin, fructose, or dextrose. They will also commonly have some other trace ingredients, such as Sodium(Salt), and Potassium. These are there just to replace other minerals you are losing when running.

As a runner you need to make sure that your diet and general nutrition is good enough to support the amount of running that you do. Nutrition is another topic, but energy drinks are there to supplement your normal diet as opposed to providing your main source of energy. Your diet should be good enough that your body has enough reserves to complete most of your runs without needing an energy drink.

What this means in practise is that you will only take energy drinks with you on longer runs, and even this is very much down to the individual. Personally, I don't take energy drinks with me when running, and I will run up to 22 miles in training for a marathon. Would I benefit from an energy drink in this situation? Yes, I'm fairly certain I would. I just don't like carrying a drink, so I don't carry one! However, I enjoy cycling in the summer as well, and will always take an energy drink with me on the bike.

Should you take an energy drink with you when running? If you are running over 15 miles, then you are going to benefit from taking one with you. Whether you take one with you or not is individual preference. I prefer instead to take a recovery drink as soon as I get home instead.

An energy drink will benefit you while you are actually running, but I find the biggest benefit from energy drinks comes from a much better recovery instead. Taking an energy drink when running means you are reducing the stress on your body at that time, which in turn means it has less to recover from in the first place. The practical benefit to this is that you can run 18 miles one day, and your legs will still feel relatively strong the next day to run another 8 miles for example.

You need to bear in mind that not all energy drinks are created equal, some are successful due to marketing as opposed to performance. Others are better suited to different types of sport, and probably to a lesser extent, the individual as well. I find that for running, the best energy drinks are those that have a blend of maltodextrin and fructose, my preferred brand is Science in Sport (SiS). Maltodextrin has a high GI index, and will give you a quick boost in blood sugar levels. Fructose has a lower GI index, meaning it takes longer to be absorbed in to the blood, standing you in good stead long-term. This kind of blend gives you energy when you drink it, but also means that your blood sugar levels don't crash 15 minutes later.

You will sometimes find other ingredients in energy drinks. Avoid those with any protein in them, it may be necessary in sports like cycling, where you are can be on the bike for hours and hours on end, but it won't normally benefit you for running. Some will also have caffeine in them. Some people swear by a little bit of caffeine. In endurance sports like running, I personally don't think it provides any benefit. I think Caffeine gives a placebo effect at best.

Recovery drinks are very similar to energy drinks in terms of what goes in to them. The biggest difference is the addition of protein. The addition of protein helps with muscle repair/recovery and growth. So, as the name suggests, the carbohydrates replace the energy you have used (and aids recovery indirectly), and the protein will help your body to repair itself. I find that a normal energy drink will also aid recovery.

As I said for energy drinks, a recovery drink should be there as a supplement to a healthy diet as opposed to a replacement for any part of it. Your diet should be good enough to support most of your running schedule. A recovery drink is there to help recovery after the harder runs, normally the longer runs but it can also be useful for shorter, but harder runs.

The best way to use recovery drink is to consume one as soon as you get home from a run. The quicker you start drinking it, the more benefit you will get. You should then consume meals that day as you would normally. I find sometimes that you can't eat immediately after drinking a recovery drink, so bear that in mind as well.