RUNNING INFORMATION ARTICLES

Sports Foods and Drinks

While it is important to have a healthy diet, you would need a more specialized source of energy when you are racing, especially during longer ones such as the Half-Marathon and Marathon Running. They are the sports foods and drinks and they will be discussed in detail in this section.

First up is the sports drink. There are a lot of brands with even more different flavors available in the market today which make it pretty confusing to choose among them. But all of them perform a basic function, that is to keep you hydrated and replace lost body salts especially during long races. Sports drinks contain different kinds of carbohydrates which, as indicated in the section on Runner's Diet, provide fuel to your body, thus giving you the much-needed boost in energy.

Aside from providing you with energy, sports drinks replace your body salts that are lost due to sweating. It is especially important to replace them because not doing so would lead to a condition called Hyponatremia. It is a condition when the body's sodium level drops to an abnormal level which, in extreme cases, can lead to coma, even death. So it is best to consume four to eight ounces of sports drinks every 15 to 20 minutes of races longer than an hour.

Meanwhile, energy bars provide you with extra fuel or carbohydrates, just like sports drinks. So don't be misled that energy bars make you more energetic, rather, they provide you with extra energy in long races.

While most energy bars contain loads of other vitamins and minerals aside from the carbohydrate content, don't take energy bars as substitutes for real food. Think of energy bars as a form of specialized fuel that is only ideal to be used in special conditions like long races. Real food provides you with other nutrients that may not be found in energy bars so it would be wiser to eat them instead of energy bars.

This section dealt with the sports foods and drinks that a runner like you need. However, keep in mind that these are just supplements that would keep you going in long races, especially those going to more than an hour. They contain mostly carbohydrates which provide you with extra energy when you need them the most. As discussed, they are best consumed only during special situations like Marathon Running and are not to be treated as substitutes for real food. Real food provides you with a more complete set of nutrients, vitamins, minerals and fiber. Eat right before the race and let the sports foods and drinks keep you going up to the last mile!

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