DopeyBadger
Imagathoner
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2015
Maurten Sports Drink Mix 320
I saw on Sten's Strava that he was trying out a new (to me) product Maurten Sports Drink Mix 320. What peaked my interest was the statement about it having 79g carbs per 17 ounces of water. Now I've always been a proponent that it takes 1 ounce of water for every 2 ounces of carbs to make an isotonic and absorbable solution. Yet, this Maurten Drink Mix 320 is 79g per 17 ounces. So that's 4.6 g carbs per ounce of water vs 2 g carbs per ounce of water. The claim is the use of hydrogel technology allows the carbs to be consumed without the need for the extra water. I've worked with hydrogels in the past, so this is interesting.
The human limit for carb consumption per hour while running is around 90g. So this would fall just slightly below that level, but generally far above what most others take on a consistent basis. I'm personally at about 45.5 g per hour when taking 4 E-gels during a 3:15 marathon. The most I've ever done was 7 E-gels during my 3:38 marathon (71.9 g carb per hour). The main hang up for me has always been consuming enough water per hour to absorb the 90g. That's 45 ounces of water (or about 15 water aid station cups, assuming 3 oz per cup). If I run at a 6:52 min/mile in a marathon, then in 60 minutes I'll run 8.7 miles. Most races have an aid station at most every 1.5 miles. So I'd hit 5, maybe 6, aid stations in the timeframe. That's about 2.5-3 cups of water at every aid station to be able to consume enough water to absorb the 90g carbs. But the claim here is that instead of 45 oz, I would need 19 oz. Or about 3.1-3.6 oz per aid station or one cup. So instead of 2.5-3 cups per aid station, now we're talking one cup. That's certainly intriguing. But that would require carrying the "satchel" of powder while running. I'm unlikely to do that. So I might consider doing this as my first bolus dose of carb consumption right as the race is starting as that would gain me 60 min before I'd need to start taking the E-gels (37g carb a piece). But it's an interesting consideration for someone willing to carry fuel/water while running.
I think where this product might be really enticing is in the idea of liquid carb loading using the Western Australian carb loading procedure. As I've discussed in the past, the Western Australian recommends 10.3 g carb per kg bw on the day prior to the marathon. So for me, I need to consume 767.8 g carbs. Approximately 80% of those carbs should come from a liquid source. So that would be 614g carbs. With a normal isotonic solution that would be 307 ounces of water (9 liters or 2.4 gallons). But if it were consumed using the 4.6 g carbs/1 oz water ratio of Maurten Drink Mix 320, that would be 133 ounces of water (3.9 Liters or 1 gallon). That's a big difference as my main hang-up on the day before the race has always been tolerating drinking that much liquid. It just never ends. But if I could cut the water needs by 150%, that would be outstanding.
So this product has definitely peaked my interest.
I saw on Sten's Strava that he was trying out a new (to me) product Maurten Sports Drink Mix 320. What peaked my interest was the statement about it having 79g carbs per 17 ounces of water. Now I've always been a proponent that it takes 1 ounce of water for every 2 ounces of carbs to make an isotonic and absorbable solution. Yet, this Maurten Drink Mix 320 is 79g per 17 ounces. So that's 4.6 g carbs per ounce of water vs 2 g carbs per ounce of water. The claim is the use of hydrogel technology allows the carbs to be consumed without the need for the extra water. I've worked with hydrogels in the past, so this is interesting.
The human limit for carb consumption per hour while running is around 90g. So this would fall just slightly below that level, but generally far above what most others take on a consistent basis. I'm personally at about 45.5 g per hour when taking 4 E-gels during a 3:15 marathon. The most I've ever done was 7 E-gels during my 3:38 marathon (71.9 g carb per hour). The main hang up for me has always been consuming enough water per hour to absorb the 90g. That's 45 ounces of water (or about 15 water aid station cups, assuming 3 oz per cup). If I run at a 6:52 min/mile in a marathon, then in 60 minutes I'll run 8.7 miles. Most races have an aid station at most every 1.5 miles. So I'd hit 5, maybe 6, aid stations in the timeframe. That's about 2.5-3 cups of water at every aid station to be able to consume enough water to absorb the 90g carbs. But the claim here is that instead of 45 oz, I would need 19 oz. Or about 3.1-3.6 oz per aid station or one cup. So instead of 2.5-3 cups per aid station, now we're talking one cup. That's certainly intriguing. But that would require carrying the "satchel" of powder while running. I'm unlikely to do that. So I might consider doing this as my first bolus dose of carb consumption right as the race is starting as that would gain me 60 min before I'd need to start taking the E-gels (37g carb a piece). But it's an interesting consideration for someone willing to carry fuel/water while running.
I think where this product might be really enticing is in the idea of liquid carb loading using the Western Australian carb loading procedure. As I've discussed in the past, the Western Australian recommends 10.3 g carb per kg bw on the day prior to the marathon. So for me, I need to consume 767.8 g carbs. Approximately 80% of those carbs should come from a liquid source. So that would be 614g carbs. With a normal isotonic solution that would be 307 ounces of water (9 liters or 2.4 gallons). But if it were consumed using the 4.6 g carbs/1 oz water ratio of Maurten Drink Mix 320, that would be 133 ounces of water (3.9 Liters or 1 gallon). That's a big difference as my main hang-up on the day before the race has always been tolerating drinking that much liquid. It just never ends. But if I could cut the water needs by 150%, that would be outstanding.
So this product has definitely peaked my interest.
