If you have ever trained and raced in longer distance races at some point the thought of gulping down one more ounce of the traditional nutrition drink fair becomes more painful than the task at hand. I have hit the nutrition drink "wall,"after countless hours of training, I can no longer stomach the usual sports drink. I have a nice collection of powders, drinks, mixes and other elixirs, gathering dust in my pantry just waiting to be passed out at the next block party as a soda substitute.
The entire situation leaves me in a awkward spot, because as we all know, the fourth discipline of triathlon is nutrition, and if you have ever seen someone bonk in person, you know you don't want that to happen to you.
In steps Nuun tablets. I am easily affected by the heat and dehydration. So, on my "long" ride, I still need to have something other than just water if I don't want to get splitting headaches after the ride. I need electrolytes
Nuun provides those electrolytes with out all the sticky, sugary, gooey "goodness" that we are used to.
Nuun comes is a tablet that quickly dissolves when you drop it into a water bottle and gives you instant electrolyte replacement. The cost is about $7 a tube and that makes about a gallon at the recommended tablet-to-water ratio Although, the container may seem like a small detail, Nuun gets it right. With the plastic tube and cork-like plastic top, you can throw the tube into any saddle bag or jersey pocket and not worry about water leaking into the tube and dissolving the tablets until you are ready to use them.
Nuun comes in plenty of "fun" flavors, including my favorite Lemon Lime. Once you drop a Nuun tablet into a bottle of water, they dissolve like Alka-Seltzer, it leaves your water a bit bubbly. It took me a bit of time to get used to it, but after two bottles, it was fine. It doesn't effect your digestion or ability to process the drink, it just looks weird.
After being conditioned to the taste of a thick, sugary drink, it was
odd to taste Nuun, because you barely taste Nuun (pronounced Noon by the
way), which is great. The taste is faint and barely noticeable, which
is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a more natural taste.
I have used the Nuun tablets every Saturday for two months on pretty
much the exact same ride. The temperatures have varied during that
time. Thus, I can state with confidence that Nuun does work. After
those rides, with nearly the same intensity each week, in varying
conditions, I have avoided the affects of dehydration. I did not
suffer headaches later in the day as I usually would. Also, I believe
the faint taste, encourages more drinking as you are not overwhelmed by
the taste other sports drinks provide.
If you're going long, training in the heat or just want something that
tastes great, isn't hard to haul around does what it promises, then
Nuun is worth a try.
Nuun has about 5 calories per serving, which is a bottle, and thus does
not cause digestive distress. Thus, you can hydrate and get
electrolytes, in your drink without having to take a pill with water.
I am practical. Would I spend my limited training budget on this
product as a triathlete? Yes. When I realized my tube only had one
tablet left, I scrambled to find a local dealer so I could buy another
tube before my Saturday ride.
Lonnie Renda is a 2 time Ironman, a lawyer and a writer. To read more of Lonnie's articles and thoughts click here.
I love Nuun! I'm not a huge fan of Gatorade--too sweet--so this stuff does the trick before and after a long run. And I like that it has a little bubble to it. The price seemed steep when I was buying it, but it totally comes out to be as much as, if not less, than Gatorade--without all the extra plastic bottles! I get it over at Running Away Multisport in Bucktown ... Thanks for the great post!