Runners - cheap supplement/drink/gel substitutes please

BerryH

Hi lovely running chums.

I'm training for the London Marathon and I'm getting to the point on my long runs where I need to fuel on the go, and to look into joint supplements, as I'm prone to aches and pains due to not having much cartilage.

Back in the day its would have been isotonic drinks, gels and specialist joint supplements (fish oil, chondroitin and glucosamine) all the way.

These days I'm on a seriously tight budget down to just about enough to eat at the end of the month level, and these are looking like luxuries.

Does anyone have any ideas for cheap substitutes? Have you tried the dilute apple juice with Lo-Salt (which has potassium as well as sodium) drink thing? Does it upset your stomach? Can I get by with jelly babies (and maybe pretzels) for fuel? Would just cod liver oil do enough to protect my joints?

The benefit of your experience, knowledge and links to any resources would be much appreciated :flowerforyou:

Tracey_Smith

Orange squash, a little salt (taste it before your run) and a nice hot bath to ease the joints and muscles afterwards

Aperture_Science

Does anyone have any ideas for cheap substitutes? Have you tried the dilute apple juice with Lo-Salt (which has potassium as well as sodium) drink thing? Does it upset your stomach? Can I get by with jelly babies (and maybe pretzels) for fuel? Would just cod liver oil do enough to protect my joints?

The benefit of your experience, knowledge and links to any resources would be much appreciated :flowerforyou:

On the few runs where I've required fuel during the race I have experimented with Jelly Babies and GELs. I found GELs were better BUT one person is hardly a clinical trial and I tried a couple of races using each, so we are not even talking about a significant set of results.

I can't think why Jelly Babies should be less effective than GELs (OK I admit GELs may have a mix including more complex carbs but you can counter that by popping a J/B every so often and therefore spreading the sugar boost over a longer period of time).

For electrolyte replenishment (which I only use for long runs or hot days: I use just water for most runs) , like Tracey_Smith, I use diluted fruit cordial (orange squash) with a pinch of salt per 500mls. It seems to work fine for me and I have never had any stomach issues with it. The only way you will find out if it is the same with you is to try it.

I don't take any supplements at all so can't comment on them I'm afraid.

tam120

I've read that raisins are good.haven't tried them but I read they are a good sub for gels.

marylou1976

I'm not a runner but... there's a website called approvedfood.co.uk they sell a lot of end of line or out of date/close to sell by date food, my partner works out and I always get him the energy drinks from there, this week they had a isotonic drink 5 bottles for £1!!!! there is a £5 postage charge so always best to try and buy in bulk (maybe not until the end of the month tho......) so this may not help you at the moment but it's something to bear in mind for the future

SueInAz

I don't know what Jelly Babies are but I almost exclusively use regular Jelly Belly jelly beans (not the sport beans) when I run. I bought a 3 pound container a few months ago so they were relatively inexpensive. I eat a few beans every half hour or so. I've also used dried cranberries and other pure sugar candies I had around the house. You're just looking for easily digestible carbs, really, so non-fat pretzels or something that's just plain carbs should also work just fine.

For runs under 10 miles, I just drink water, even when it's hot. I usually use some sort of watered down sport drink (Gatorade, etc.) on longer runs, especially when it's warm, which it is here most of the year (73°F for a high today!) because I sweat buckets even though it dries quickly in our low humidity. However, unless you're going for runs exceeding 4 hours, you should be able to get by on plain water during the run. Pretzels for snacking would be more than enough to replace your sodium.

If you really feel you need to replace electrolytes, I don't know if you can get anything similar, but Gatorade is often on sale here for under $1 for a 32 ounce bottle. Watering it down makes it go much further.

BerryH

Thanks everyone, some lovely ideas to try! London provides Lucozade sport drink which is over-sweet, hypotonic muck that gives me a belly ache. I'm also not fond of sweet stuff in general. The only other Marathon I did (epic fail) I had a stooge at mile 17 with an ice-cold full-fat Coke and some pretzels. Bliss!

brandyk77

instead of gels, I have often used gummy worms

If you search the web, there are some recipes for homemade drinks

Jconner30

get something like GU's or Chomps - they are quick energy and they have caffene. I love the GU's chocolate explosion. The GUs are in a small blister package that can easily fit into your pocket. You just tear and squirt into your mouth.

Also to replinish your electrolytes, I would recommend you get some Cytomax powder and mix it with some water and put it in your water bottle.