Tailwind

Tailwind, have you heard of them? There are just as many hydration products out there in the market as there are shoe makers it seems these days. Over the past few weeks the new name I have heard tossed around is Tailwind. From Half Fanatic boards to my MRTT group. One of the bad ass MRTT ladies just came back from Miowk offering up her old mixes, stating that Tailwind is what she was going to be using from here on out. So when someone tough enough to tackle a 100k talks about this stuff I try to listen. First off they have a few flavor options so I went with a 4 pack of assorted flavors. I ordered on a Wednesday and was hoping it would arrive  not for my long run that week but the week after. Well I was WRONG. I got it that Friday, as in 2 days later. Only Amazon could have been any quicker (and no it's not available on Amazon). I also was able to grab a 15% discount by "liking" their FB page, so if you're going to give them a try start there.

Before we start, a little about what I was doing. I have been using Cytomax. Which is a low sugar electrolyte. I came to it quite by accident when I won a can of it in a raffle after a flash mob race. I have about a 1/4 of a can left so I will continue to use it during my mid-week runs. On a normal long run I typically take 1 bottle of water (10oz), 1 bottle of Cytomax (also 10oz) and 2 GU's (every 4 miles) and a pack of honey (for my cool down), that normally gets me to 12-13 miles.  To compare the two I noticed right off that the sugar content is different, or is it. Cytomax labels its carbs (22g) as an "advanced carb system" that has 12gs of sugar, no fancy name for the carbs on the Tailwind just 25gs that come from 25g of sugar. Seems simpler. My next concern is the sodium content, but use Sodium Citrate at about the same level (115 mg - 120mg)  but Tailwind also lists sea salt under its sodium content at 188mg. That means Tailwind has more than twice the sodium, 303mg total. For those of you who think sea salt is better for you because it has less sodium, you're wrong. Salt is salt. The notion that sea salt is better comes from the fact that sea salt grains are larger so when you measure out the same amount of sea salt vs table salt you get less sea salt so yes, you get less sodium but if they are ground to the same grain size, they are the same. It is however better for you because it is nothing but pure evaporated sea water. Sorry about that, where was I going with this? Oh yeah... the main thing I am wanting to accomplish by changing hydration is that at the end of a hot long run I am still sweating and am not left chugging that horrible gateraid stuff or sipping Nuun for the rest of the day to make up for what I just depleted by body of. 

The test. Mother's Day. It's a relative easy long run 5-8 miles, only 73 out with 94% humidity at 6 am. (UGH! but these are the conditions I am going to be running in until November) I chose to try the berry flavor and followed the directions on the website to measure out for my 20oz bottle, packed a GU (just in case) and a honey packet (cuz you never know) and $5, in case I have to loop my run to anyone of the convenience stores along my route. I started with my normal intake schedule at 2 miles and then every mile after wards. It didn't have that strong of a taste and it didn't leave a funky aftertaste or feel in my mouth. I did feel a little stomach girggling about 2 1/2 but pushed on, my body was noticing the difference in sugar. When I got to 4, I normally would have needed the GU but I held off, still feeling pretty good. At mile 5 I was still debating how far I was going to run, I took the GU, thinking I might go for 2 more miles. I was having luck that the sun hadn't broken the clouds and there was a good breeze out but as I ran to 6 the clouds parted and the sun broke so I headed home, finishing just under 6 1/2 miles for the day. First thing I noticed as I took my cool down walk was that  I wasn't dying, I didn't need to suck down my honey as I usually would and I still have sweat dripping off my elbows. I did finish off what was left in my bottle as I waited for breakfast.

The aftermath...even taking in account that this run was the shortest long run I have taken in the past few weeks adding the fact that it really was the first "summer" type run for the year, I didn't feel completely spent and it didn't take the rest of the day until I felt "normal" again. So that is success enough to try it again on my 9 miler next week. The only problem and I'm not sure if I should blame the Tailwind or the meatballs from Saturday's dinner but for the rest of the day I got to enjoy quite the game of "let's just blame that smell on the dog." 

UP next, still training, Texas City 10k 5/31, Coasting the Coast Galveston Half Marathon 6/7, No Label 5k 6/14, Baytown Heatwave 5 miler 7/4, Xterra Magnolia Hills 7/12. Also looking to hook up with the USA Fit Cypress group in June to start marathon training.