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Electrolytes & nutrition

prglewis

Warming-Up
Jun 2, 2019
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What does everyone use for electrolytes and cycling nutrition in general out here? And where to buy from?

I passed by Y's road near me but the selection was tiny, and I can't find much online!

Thanks!
 
What does everyone use for electrolytes and cycling nutrition in general out here? And where to buy from?

I passed by Y's road near me but the selection was tiny, and I can't find much online!

Thanks!

In short, decent stuff is hard to come by and, if you can, fairly absurdly priced.

My advice, order from an online retailer such as Wiggle (unless you need emergency/last minute gels, in which case drop by Y's Road and hope they have something suitable for purpose).
 
Thanks, I'll try wiggle...

I wonder what Japanese people put in their bottles?? :ashamed:
 
I've tried Japanese brand electrolytes from Meitan but tasted just awful. they have a lot of cycling and running stuff, and to be fair I've only tried one electrolyte powder, but was so bad I teased riding mates to try it as you wouldn't believe this was deemed OK for human consumption. everyone agreed it was horrible hahah
 
High-5 is the stuff I like.
 
For electrolytes I use SIS tablets, which cost me about ¥600 per pack on wiggle. I mainly use it because the taste of plain water is too dull. In Germany, I'd just buy these tablets in the supermarket. But here in Japan I haven't seen them. The powder I can get at the supermarket usually contains sugar, which I don't want. If I want carbs in my drink, I'll do that separately.
 
For electrolytes I use SIS tablets, which cost me about ¥600 per pack on wiggle. I mainly use it because the taste of plain water is too dull. In Germany, I'd just buy these tablets in the supermarket. But here in Japan I haven't seen them. The powder I can get at the supermarket usually contains sugar, which I don't want. If I want carbs in my drink, I'll do that separately.

I keep getting given a variety of stuff at races but each time I go for a ride I reach for a few bananas and fill the bottles with mugi tea.

If anyone recommends any of the below, let me know!

Andy
DSC_1052.JPG
 
Used to use Vega sport for Bikram Hot Yoga classes, 5-7x per week. Really good plant based sports nutrition company with no sugar. I'm really happy this thread got started because I don't know what to buy here as there are too many kanji on every package to even read them without an electron microscope. If you're in a pinch, a full water bottle with a teaspoon of kosher salt and a squeezed lemon will get you some (maybe half?) of the same electrolytes as what comes in the packs.
 
I fill my bottle a little over half full with Acquarius, then cut it with water and add a bit of OJ to top it off.

Depending on my mood, I'll either buy onigiri at the convenience store or carry a banana and make a peanut butter and pickle sandwich to take along.
 
Thanks guys. I ended up ordering from Wiggle but it's taking ages to arrive!! Also for some reason I didn't find the SIS tabs when I searched, so I have unfortunately (or stupidly) ordered the powder which has carbs in... doh!

@stu_kawagoe where can we buy OS-1?

@Karl thanks this acquarius thing might get me by in the years that my wiggle order will take to arrive. :)

@saibot I can't see the picture unfortunately. Could you try re-posting?

@Half-Fast Mike where do you buy your High-5 stuff from?
 
OS-1 aeon super markets have it as does Happy Drug.
High-5 https://www.wiggle.co.uk/high5/
Salt tablet things Saibot was talking about.
tablets .jpg
Also having sligtly saltier food in the hot months will help as well. I found Tohoku miso soup rather "usui" after living on the kanto plain and was told it's hotter down there and they need the extra salt. makes sense. Any salty food is good but if you want no carb source good old cheese is great. Available almost everywhere and is quite high in sodium.
 
Salt tablet things Saibot was talking about
In a rush between business trips I quite blindly clicked on @saibot's link. Having noted "jersey pocket size bag" elsewhere, I expected a pack of tablets to turn up. Instead, it was a box of six large packets. Not a problem - I can decant. But was thrown off my cadence for a brief moment.
 
I like the High 5 electrolytes with caffeine tablets from Wiggle.
For Japanese stuff, Jusco/Big supermarkets do cheap make your own sports drink powder. The lemon flavour is higher in sodium than the regular one. They also do a dedicated electrolytes drink with even more sodium, but I've not seen it in my local store.
https://www.topvalu.net/items/detail/4549741869973
Jusco does a Weider energy jelly pouch you can freeze, which is just about perfect after about an hour in a saddle bag. 100 yen a time. It's not freezable and quite bitter, but the Matsumoto Kiyoshi chemists does an energy jelly with about 70mg of caffeine for about 150 yen. The sports brand ones with caffeine are all 250 yen plus.
 
For anyone on a budget/in a pinch/just want to try something new (actually its not that big of a discount), juice one lemon per bottle, add a pinch of salt (on the munchkin sized salt grinders sold here, 10 twists is enough), add some ice and water to fill. I used to do Vega Sport electrolytes before, during and after hot bikram yoga regular classes (90 minutes) and advanced teacher training (2 1/2 hours) for about 5 years and can attest that nearly 5 years of high intensity workouts, the homemade stuff is just as good. You could add even more lemon if you want, up to about 30-40% of total volume is fine. Limes and grapefruits work too.
 
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