All in all, I had a great racing year. It was the first year I really pumped up the pill and powder usage. Here is a breakdown of what I used and some of the informal results I’ve seen:
Accelerade, Lemon-Lime
I continued to use Accelerade Lemon-Lime as my primary drink mix for my bottles on both the bike and run.
Endurolyte Powder
In each water bottle and Fuel belt bottle, I dump in 2 scoops of Endurolyte powder as I am a heavy sweater and need electrolytes to help prevent cramping. Man was I covered in salty, sweat grit after IM WA!
Saltstick pills
I have a little ziploc bag which contains Saltstick pills. I take 3 per hour, one every 20 minutes. This is in support of the Endurolyte powder already in my fluids.
Sportlegs capsules
These amazing wonders keep the burn out of my legs, and I think they help prevent cramping as well. I take 3 before the race, and then 3 capsules every 3 hours during the race. I also take 3 after the race to keep post-race soreness down.
Optygen capsules
Taking 3 every morning, these little red Matrix capsules seem to have raised my tolerance for heavy efforts and seem to help oxygen transport to my muscles. During IM WA, I did not feel myself going to lactate threshold at all, or feel ever that I was running out of breath. While I admit that my fitness is also getting better, I cannot help but wonder that these little capsules helped a ton.
First Endurance Pre-Race powder
Before the race, I dump a heaping scoop of this into my pre-race drink, which is typically Endurox recovery powder. I credit this powder with giving me the ability to maintain extra effort throughout the whole race.
Endurox Recovery powder
Love this stuff. After the race, I take one packet of this in a water bottle. I also dump in one packet of Emergen-C to boost my vitamin in-take. It really helps hasten the recovery process. As mentioned before, I use Endurox as my pre-race drink too, along with a scoop of First Endurance Pre-Race and a packet of Emergen-C.
Emergen-C powder
My secret weapon against getting sick during training, and helping with performance and recovery. I take one before each long training session and race. During my peaking weeks, I know that my immune system is lowered, so I take upwards of 3 of these per day just to ward off getting sick. Containing a cocktail of vitamins, it’s loaded with 1000mg of Vitamin C to keep me healthy and going!