Can sports drinks replace h2O?

During my last race, I was conquered by a very challenging choice at the first aid station. Water or sports drink? I ended up drinking the sports drink and showering myself with water.

At the last stop, though, when I was already out of breath, I must have reversed the selection because someone breathed, “hey sweetie!” at the finish line.

And…going back to the title of this entry…

I was never the type who took the ‘8-glasses-of-water’ rule seriously because I hate feeling 'bloated'. Although mom always remind me to follow this simple rule to keep me on my toes the whole day, I was content with one glass for every meal.



But when the high-energy activities started to bug me, water has become my staple food – so to speak. And just when I thought that water was the only thing to keep me smiling all the way to the finish line, a wide array of sports drinks came into the picture, convincing me that they are all designed to give the boosted energy I need, or the sodium replacement I lost, or the sugar requirement that I will crave for, blah blah blah.

These drinks generally contain - as the label shouts it out - carbohydrates, electrolytes, minerals, vitamins, herbs, metabolites, and other less-proven ingredients which might as well get lost under the ‘best before’ numbers or the price tag.

For the purpose of this blog and to educate moi on whether the contents of these sports drinks will help boost my performance (and to avoid encountering another challenging choice on my next run), I head off to the nearest supermarket and chose 6 of the sports drinks that have managed to send off the 'marketing promises' unrelentingly.

And the battle begins…



According to a magazine article, the key to choosing a sports drink is to select the one you find most palatable. In short, if I like how it tastes, I buy.

For most of my treks, I have been used to the taste of Gatorate orange. In fact, my friends and I brought along powder Gatorade on our hike up to Mt. Apo. And the taste buds had quite a party. Ten races after though, the palates were having a mind of their own and took an inkling for Powerade. However, it became more of a ‘drink’ rather than a ‘hydration’. Then, Vitwater cut in the dance. The sugary taste kept me coming back for more of the blue stuff. Until they ran out of booths in races. So far, 100plus is keeping me company.

So, why this entry? I want to know if these drinks play key roles to my performance at all.

I guess the best way to check is to experiment. Testing the drinks will probably help me survive the next race and not just base on the theory (read: the promo pitch) that I need more than just H2O.

So do I really? Starting tomorrow, I will test Exhibit A (Powerade) for a week of training, then Exhibit B for the next week, and so forth. If one of these drinks are good enough (if not better) for a high-powered, high-energy activity such as running, I will keep you posted.

If not, I guess mom really knows best.


Not!