THANK YOU FOR VISITING SWEATSCIENCE.COM!
As of September 2017, new Sweat Science columns are being published at www.outsideonline.com/sweatscience. Check out my bestselling new book on the science of endurance, ENDURE: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, published in February 2018 with a foreword by Malcolm Gladwell.
- Alex Hutchinson (@sweatscience)
***
A few months ago, I promised to look into how to make your own sports drink at home. It has taken me a while to follow up, but I thought I’d pass the following along. From the book “Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook,” as cited in a New York Times blog entry:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup hot water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 1/2 cups cold waterIn a quart pitcher, dissolve the sugar and salt in the hot water. Add the remaining ingredients and the cold water. The drink contains about 50 calories and 110 mg of sodium per 8 ounces, approximately the same as for most sports drinks.
Hey Hutch, Giitah Macharia put together a homemade sports drink for the World Champs Marathon this year. I think it was 2T of honey 1t of salt per 250mL’s water. or something along those lines. The rest of the guys on the team thought it was kind of funny. But, Trent Stellingwerff (Nutritionist with the National Team) said that surprisingly it was pretty sound in terms of ratios of sugars and sodium to provide fuel and electrolytes. Giitah said a lot of Kenyans make drinks similar to his for the marathon.
Hey Dylan — interesting stuff! Thanks for the recipe. I guess it’s yet another indication that you don’t need the latest, fanciest supplements and sports drinks to succeed in a sport like running. Just ugali, honey-salt water, and 200K a week!
By the way, just noticed your new website — it was great to read your recap from the World Champs (as it was to read the diaries leading up to your debut in Rotterdam, which I’d seen before). Anyone interested in the details of what an elite marathoner does in weeks, days, and moments leading up to a big race should check out http://www.dylanwykes.com.
I dilute fruit juice to the desired sugar concentration and then add a little lite salt to make homemade sports drinks. This Fruit-Ade recipe makes a great tasting natural sports drink with the nutrition from the fruit juice. There is no need to add any refined sugar.