Anyone who knows me will know that I am a bit of a nutrition/ hydration nerd. My rationale is that there is no excuse for not taking control of these things as there are so many other things that can go wrong; it’s about minimizing the odds.As I am sure you all know; if you are running or cycling or exercising at any intensity for more than an 60 minutes you should be refueling on the fly…you do know that right?!?
All this year I have been using Accelerade and EndoroxR4 as my primary source of during and post exercise nutrition/hydration. As my supplies dwindled towards the end of November I decided to change. Two things prompted me to change, the first was the discovery that Accel Gel contains HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) and the second was that the taste of Accelerade had become decidedly too sweet for me, in fact a lot of foods seem to have taken on stronger flavors of late, I think this is a result of the Paleo diet which I have been following this month where I have eliminated all processed foodstuffs, salty snacks and sweets, my new snack of choice is an apple with a dollop of almond butter…yum!
Anyway I digress, having done a bit of research I decided to give Hammer Nutrition products a whirl. My preliminary conclusion; I am impressed. The flavors are flavorful but not sweet or strong, they are very gentle on your stomach; I have the constitution of a compost heap, but even so they are very palatable. My initial order was a tub of Perpetuem for during and Recoverite for post exercise, I also ordered a selection of gels. The package arrived promptly, they are located just up the west coast from me, and to my surprise contained a multitude of goodies; extra gels, gel bottle, sample sachets of Heed and electrolytes and energy bars as well as a newsletter and catalog. I am working through the “extras” but so far I am very impressed. The energy refueling has proven to be effective, I have two 20+ milers under my belt in the last 12 days and no sign of the wall. As mentioned they are very gentle on your stomach and very palatable.
If you fancy trying them, and I recommend you do, click on the above image and you'll be directed to “my page”, here you will receive a 15% discount on your order, in return I accumulate a percentage of your order towards my next order…hey that’s a win:win in my book.
I used Hammer's stuff this year and it worked out pretty well. I agree, the flavor isn't too overpowering, which is good.
ReplyDeleteI use a combo of of Heed and Perpetuem. And then add in enduralytes as well - which I find make the biggest difference in the hot summer weather.
I've heard good things about Perpetuem. Good luck with it.
ReplyDeleteI know lots of people who love the hammer gel. Maybe I should switch too -- GU has never sat well with me.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check it out! I've heard good stuff about Hammer Gel as well.
ReplyDeleteI could use a cut out of processed foods *sigh* My diet is HORRIBLE! New Year, new start LOL
I love Hammer products! Perpetuem works very well for me as to the gels. Heed is probably my least fave but I would pick it over Gatorade any day! Thanks for the comment on my blog! :-)
ReplyDeleteeek. I just can't do gel. The texture creeps me out. Plus my stomach is so sensitive. But i'll check out the other products....
ReplyDeletethanks for the info
All I can say is Perpetuem all the way!
ReplyDeleteThis stuff rocks. It gives me solid energy throughout my runs.
I cannot stomach Heed though, but I have gone from Gatorade to plain water and Perpetuem as my main source of energy.
Stomach problems have plagued me, and still sorta do during races.
This coming year, I am switching to full Hammer products.
I'm back in Seattle to see my Mom in Feb. Maybe I'll order some to try and pick it up from her-- I shudder to think what the shipping would be to the uk...
ReplyDeleteHey, I've had this post saved in my RSS feed to look at for a while until I could really examine all of the links. I really need to find a new nutrition product (all of the high fructose in the other gels is killing my stomach) and I too am curious about Hammer. Keep us posted and I'm going to try some myself. Thanks for the analysis.
ReplyDelete