Liquid Shot: Instant Energy w/o the gel!

In my last post, I discussed the limited stores of carbohydrates our bodies' have and how quickly we use up these stores during exercise; therefore we need quality nutrition to replace them before/during/after exercise in order to maintain our intensity and spare protein metabolism.

In my EFS sport drink review, I mentioned that this product is a great for hydration, especially with it's unmatched electrolyte content.  It provides 96 kcals of carboydrate per scoop- they recommend that you put 1.5 scoops into a regular 18 oz. water bottle, so you will get ~135 kcals per bottle.  However, if you are burning carbs at a rate of 600-1000+ kcals per hour, it may be very difficult to stomach 4+ bottles of fluid every hour to get the calories you need!

This is where Liquid Shot comes in.  I started using this product in 2009, before First Endurance was a sponsor for Team Trakkers, so THIS is why I am stoked to represent this company:

Liquid Shot comes in a 5 oz. flask that you can easily carry or store in a jersey pocket.  Each "swig" you take from this flask contains ~100-150 kcals; the whole flask contains 400 kcals from carbs (3-4 swigs).  That's a LOT of fast energy without all the water bulk of a sports drink!  The Liquid Shot is far better than the competing "gels" on the market, because it DOES NOT contain any gelling agents- it truly is a LIQUID shot, and it goes down much easier than a goopy gel does.  

It also contains 1500 mg of electrolytes (like EFS sports drink) and  1000 mg of amino acids (helps muscle recovery), so many people actually dilute this product with water and use it as an alternative to a Sports Drink!  This is what professional triathlete Michael Lovato does for his races- Check out his Kona 2010 Nutrition Report.  Personally, I use a combination of both EFS and Liquid Shot for my training and racing.

It comes in 2 flavors:  Vanilla and Berry.  I love love love the Vanilla flavor- it is lightly sweet and not fruity like everything else I consume on race day.  The berry flavor is OK, not my favorite, but again, only because it DOES have a fruitier taste.  It seems like most of my Trakkers teammates prefer the berry flavor.

The 5 oz. flask is washable and reusable- awesome.  You can buy just one or a tray of six.  First Endurance also sell Liquid Shot in a 32 oz. refillable container, which is what I buy, then refill my old flasks.  On the FE website, they were giving away one flask of the Berry Liquid shot with every order; not sure if that has changed for April or not.

Remember that now is the time to practice your race-day nutrition; use your training to find out what works for you and what doesn't, and to customize YOUR plan.  After all your hard work, you don't want nutrition to ruin your race!  

For more help and advice on sport nutrition, you need to check out the First Endurance Community- it contains numerous nutrition reports from age group and professional athletes, research-driven information and plans for caffeine, salt, gluten etc. and a whole lot more.

Happy TRAINING (and for us Midwesterner's, it looks like 50's this weekend! woo hoo!)