In this instructional video, Curb Ivanic walks viewers through a practical guide for selecting and using sports fueling and hydration products during training and racing. He begins by outlining basic nutrition targets—30‑60 g of carbohydrates per hour for running and up to 30‑90 g for cycling, 200‑300 ml of fluid every 20 minutes, and 500‑1500 mg of sodium per hour in hot conditions. He then explains how to read standardized product charts that compare powders, gels, bars, and electrolyte drinks on a per‑serving basis. The core evaluation criteria include carbohydrate type (fast‑absorbing fructose combined with glucose, dextrose, maltodextrin), absorption rate, total carbohydrate amount, presence of protein (useful for events >4 h), and fat content (relevant for ultra‑endurance, low‑intensity work). For powdered drinks, he stresses aiming for a 6‑8 % carbohydrate solution for optimal absorption. He also reviews additional ingredients such as caffeine and vitamins, noting that they are optional and often marketing‑driven. Hydration products are assessed primarily on sodium content, with a reminder that a small amount of carbohydrate aids sodium uptake. Finally, he warns against over‑hydration, recommending a maximum fluid intake of ~800 ml per hour to avoid hyponatremia. Throughout, he emphasizes experimentation in training to identify personal tolerances before race day.
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Hey there, and thanks for downloading the Fueling and Hydration Products Guide. So this guide is designed to help you figure out what products to use in your training and then in your racing, because you want to experiment and try different products to find out which ones work for you. And I've made this guide super simple to use, and we'll go through it here really quickly. Then you can start go to your favorite local store or order them online and start experimenting with the different products that we have. So this guide is designed to look at fueling products, the ones that provide carbs and calories, such as pill powders and gels and bars, and also hydration products, which provide electrolytes that mostly come in powder form, but there are some capsules and pills as well. So in the guide you'll see here that I have, we start with some fueling basics and hydration basics. So I want to make sure that you understood how much you should be eating and drinking in your training and your racing. And so that's why I've given this, so you can figure that out. Basically, you'd be taking anywhere between 30, 60 grams of carbohydrates for running per hour, or up to 30, 90 grams of carbohydrates if you're biking. You can generally tolerate more carbs, more fueling when we're biking versus running. So you can use that as an example. You can read through the chart here to see it depends on the duration you're going, how much you want to take, and then for hydration, you want to be drinking somewhere between 7 to 10 ounces. That's 200 to 300 milliliters every 20 minutes or so. For. In terms of sodium, what the electrolyte, the main electrolyte you want to replace, you want to take anywhere between 500, up to 1500 milligrams per hour in hot conditions and if you're a heavy sweater. So in my personal best nutrition course, I go into much more detail about these topics. But for the purposes of this guide, those are kind of the basics that you have to know so you can figure out your needs. Then you can look at the products and come up with ones. You want to try and see the amounts that they have and do they match up to what you're taking. So that's all that stuff that's covered here in the. In the basics section. And then here we go through and I actually talk about how to read the guides, the charts, and some of the things you should be looking for so you can read through this. But what I'm going to do in this video is actually go through it. And I think that's the best way to teach you, show you what to do. So I have charts for most of the popular brands of fueling drink powders. Those are the ones you mix in water. And then I've got also energy bars and gels. And then the final category is we have hydration drinks, electrolytes that provide electrolytes. So what we want to do is when you're looking at these, to compare them, I've standardized everything to their the individual serving size for that product. Even though the serving sizes may be different, it's still one serving size. You can compare product to product. And what we're looking for in fueling drinks is what kind of carbohydrates do they have and where do these, what carb sources are they, how many types of carbohydrates they have and the absorption rate. What we want to see is if you want to take in more carbs or if you want faster acting carbs, you, you'll do better with products that have multiple carb sources. And especially the fastest type carbs that will be absorbed will be the ones that have fructose and then some other kind of sugar, whether it's dextrose, sucrose, glucose, but fructose is one. And then any other kind of sugar like melt and maltodextrin is another example. And the reason being is that fructose has a different transport mechanism across the gut barrier to these other sugars. So by taking in fructose and other types of sugars, you get more sugars crossing the gut barrier and getting into the bloodstream. So that's why it's faster responding or faster absorbing, should I say? And you'll see I've got that absorption rate in here. There's one category of carbs called slow carbohydrates, lower absorbing, that's mainly fructose and some of them. There's also some starches that, that are slower as well. Those are fine, but they are linked to more gastrointestinal issues because they stay in the gut a bit longer than the other carbohydrates. But, you know, it's a very individual thing how you respond to different types of carbohydrates. So you might be fine with those and you might actually have an issue with some of the other carbohydrates. So that's how you look at these things. So if you need a lot of carbs and quickly Absorbing. Look at the absorption rate and look at how many types of carbs they have in the carb sources. The other thing you want to look at is protein. Protein isn't necessary in most events. But once you get into events that are lasting like out four hours or longer, like we're getting into that ultra distance, or maybe the half ironman or ironman, our bodies do start catabalizing our own muscle and providing an outside source of protein, those amino acids can help offset that happening. So if you're doing some really long training sessions or long events, like I said, four hours or longer, you might want to look for products that contain some protein in form of amino acids or whatever. And so you can see that here, you can see the products that have in this category here, if they have any protein. The other thing you want to look at is if a product has any fats. Again, it's not a primary consideration. It does play a role if your event again is longer and lower intensity. So again, coming into that ultra distance, you might want to have some energy coming from fats. But again, that could slow down absorption and may lead to gastrointestinal issues. But a lot of people do fine with them as well. But in shorter events, you probably don't need any fats, so you don't have to look for products that have that. Now, if we're talking about fueling drinks, the powders, you're gonna be mixing those powders in water. And in the charts for the few powders you'll see, it tells you how much water to use. And then from that we can calculate the carb solution percentage. In generally, we're looking for a percentage between 6 to 8% carb solution, which will is the best absorbed in that amount. It's most readily absorbed into the bloodstream. So look for formulations that are 6 to 8% carb solution percentage. And then some of the powders and bars and gels will also have electrolytes. And you can see which ones have those and how, what amounts. So when you're calculating your sodium intake, don't forget to include this. If your product fueling product does have electrolytes, make sure you include that along with any hydration products that you're using. And the final category here that we have is additional ingredients, something like caffeine, which can give you a mental energy boost because it kind of decreases your perception of how hard you're, you're training or exercising. Then if there's any other ingredients like vitamins and minerals that are added now, if it's got a vitamin or mineral added, if there's a check mark, and if it doesn't, you'll see an X. But don't feel that if a product doesn't have added vitamins and minerals or caffeine that it's a bad product. Not necessarily. A lot of times companies will add vitamins and minerals to more for marketing purposes or to increase cost. The evidence. Do some of these things help? Maybe, maybe not. So the primary thing you're looking for in a fueling product is the carbs and the carb sources, how much carbs are in there, how quickly are they absorbed, and then possibly some protein. So those are the main things that you're looking for. So when you look at evaluating the powders, you can see how, what kind of carb sources they have, if they have any sodium. And then with the bars and gels, obviously we're not going to have the carb solution percentage because they're not liquids, so we don't have to worry about that. But again, you can look at the carb sources, the types of carbs and the number of carbs, if there's protein, if there's any nuts or, sorry, fats, and a lot of times it comes from nuts or oils and you can compare that. And again, some of these products will have different varying amounts of sodium and other electrolytes. And then you can see if they have any caffeine or added vitamins and minerals. Now, the final category, like I said, is the hydration drinks that provide. And the main, the primary focus of the hydration drinks is to provide electrolytes, primarily sodium is the one you're looking for. So you can read through these tables and see what amounts of sodium and other like potassium, magnesium, other electrolytes that they have. Now, one thing to keep in mind is some of these products do have some carbohydrates in them. The ones that don't, you see here, these are capsules and tablets. The other ones, almost all of them have some carbohydrates in there. And the reason they have a little bit of sugar in there is that sugar helps your body absorb the sodium. So it's not a bad thing if they have them. But just remember when you're calculating how much fueling you're taking in, that if you're using some of these hydration drinks, they'll contain a little bit of calories and a little bit of carbs as well. So you can, you can include that in calculations of how many carbs you're taking in for that hour. The other thing I want to mention here really quickly about hydration is, and I cover this in the hydration basics is when you're drinking, you can get dehydrated, drink too little, but you can also over hydrate, and that can lead to a condition called hyponatremia. And that is when you dilute your blood sodium levels too low, and that could be potentially fatal. Now, I don't want to scare you unnecessarily, but there have been a few deaths over the years due to this condition. And so to avoid that, you want to limit total fluid intake for long races or long, long training sessions that are, you know, over two hours. You don't want to be drinking more than 800 milliliters. That's about 27, 28 ounces of fluids per hour. Even if you're taking electrolytes with that, that still won't necessarily prevent hyponatremia from happening. So, you know, if you're doing a marathon in a hot condition or, you know, half Ironman or whatever, Grafondo, avoid drinking more than 28 ounces or about 800 milliliters per hour of fluids, even if you're taking electrolytes with them. So that's kind of my kind of warning to you for that. But there you go. And that's how simple it is. So you can look at these products. It's going to save you time and money by being able to compare. You can look at the fueling basics chart in there and calculate how many carbs you need for whatever event you're doing, whatever duration it is. And then you can look at these powders and drinks and bars and gels and figure out, okay, what am I going to try? And the key is to experiment and try these things in training so when it comes to race day, you know what works for you, and you know that you're good using that product and that you can take it and race well with it. So use those. Use these charts and products to help you figure out which products to try, experiment with them, and then hopefully you kick some ass on race day. Thanks for downloading the guide and good luck with your training and racing.
