Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Gotta Get Your GU

For starters, check out Chris K’s outfit for his BQ marathon this weekend. Dude has some seriously good taste. Go over and wish him luck. Get your own mojo sticker HERE.

chrisk

Moving on. I was sent a tube the other day. Not a tube of KY Jelly (although they are having a Valentine’s Day special) or an inner tube. Not a tube of Crest or a feeding tube (thankfully I don’t have one yet).

A plain, white tube of mystery.

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Can you find the tube in the picture below? (Please avoid comments on the hair. I’m post yoga and massage and it’s negative 20 outside and my kids are on day #2 snow day. Yes, I’ve let myself go).

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Anyway, I was advised that there are only 26 such tubes in the entire world. This is starting to sound very CIA-ish.

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And, I hold one in my possession. In my shirt, right by my nipple. I realize I put myself at risk by talking about the tube openly. My house might be ransacked tonight. Just know the tube is in a safety deposit box and I’m not telling which bank.

I like to imagine Harish sitting in his room in Calcutta with the same tube. Perhaps, Cho Hee lies on her bed in Seoul gazing at her tube. Maybe Gustaf  sips schnapps in Stockholm while contemplating his tube (that’s what she said).

The contents of the tube? The newest product from GU Energy. The famous GU Brew Electrolyte Tablets. This product will not be available to consumers until late March 2011.

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Let me tell you more. But, first let me get the tube out of my shirt.

GBET (GU Brew Electrolyte Tabs, I like to call them Gee-Bets) are specifically designed to provide athletes with the electrolytes they need to excel on their longest workouts. The effervescent (big word = fizzy) tablets allow the body to retain optimal electrolyte balance without providing unneeded calories. The tablets are flavored with Stevia, a natural sweetener derived from the Stevia leaf. Tablets will be initially available in Orange, Lemon Lime and Peach Tea. Each 4.6 gram tablet has 10 calories and is meant to mix with 16 oz. of water. The retail price will be $6.50 per 12 serving tube.

Course if you like to use your sport’s drink to make up for calories lost while working out, this might not be the choice for you.

Check out the comparison between GBETs, Nuun and Cambelback:

guvsnuun

So, I tried this bubbly brew. Since I can’t run far enough to matter, I used it during my long pussy posse water run (70 minutes) and during a tough workout on my bike trainer. Sometimes I think it’s difficult to gauge how well a product is working, especially if the workout is under 4 hours. I will say that my energy never waned and I kept well hydrated. I wasn’t a huge fan of the flavor (orange) cause it reminded me a bit of baby aspirin. I think I would love the lemon lime or peach, however.

Bottom line is that the stats speak for themselves. When you are aware of how much electrolyte replacement you will need during each hour of exercise, you can figure out if GBETs are going to give you what your body requires.  Especially during particularly sweaty workouts where you’re losing lots of valuable electrolytes.

Although individual concentrations will vary widely, one pound of sweat contains approximately 80-100mg of potassium and 400-700mg of sodium. The average person will lose anywhere between .5 and 5 lbs of sweat per hour (source). A good way to determine what you lose is to weigh yourself before and after a workout. Amounts will vary with weather and exertion, obviously.

Do the math and see what works for you.

The nice thing is that GBETs are sweetened naturally, so no artificial stuff there. The price is comparable to Nuun and much cheaper than Camelbak. Also, GBETs have no sodium benzoate – a chemical/preservative in processed foods that has been linked to possible health dangers.

Off to shower and gaze at my tube,

SUAR

44 comments:

  1. As I mentioned on Chris' blog. It is only appropriate that SUAR mojo comes from the backside!

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  2. How very exciting and Mission-Impossible-ish. Keep an eye out for Tom Cruise suspended from cables. Not so much because he might steal your tube, just cause that dude is CRAZY.

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  3. Sounds great. If you really want to go natural, use coconut water--much closer to the electrolyte balance in your body with a much higher potassium concentration than most manufactured electrolyte replacers. I like cocofit sweetened with stevia. But, I use Gu gels in races too.

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  4. GBET's are ridiculously expensive at $6.50 for 12 servings salt! You can buy a bottle of 100 electrolyte caplets for $11.95. Better yet, pick up some Morton Lite salt from the supermarket for a few dollars and mix a little with your water or sports drink. Morton Lite salt is half Sodium Chloride and half Potasium chloride. An easy source of both electrolytes. It's not really necessary to take electrolytes unless you are exercising more than 3 hours in the heat.

    Dana, who has a lot of experience with this as an ultra marathoner.

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  5. You are MacGuber of the running world now.

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  6. My stomach doesn't do well with sports drinks, so I'm a big fan of NUUN for my longer workouts. I sweat a lot, so it's nice to have the option of just popping a tablet in my water when I need the extra electrolytes. I'll be interested in trying this out when it becomes available to the public!

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  7. Nothing like a little tube gazing...

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  8. so
    freaking
    awesome.

    26
    rocks.
    but there is only one SUAR.

    that's. the. bestest.

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  9. Good advice Dana. A much cheaper alternative for sure.

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  10. What!?!?! None for me? Guess I gotta go find me my own tube.

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  11. My running partner and I were discussing the pronounciation of GU. We call it "G.U.," but someone corrected us recently saying that it's pronounced "Goo." Does anyone know?

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  12. I'm glad that you are retaining your status as a fine upstanding example of tastefulness in the blog world. When I saw the title I could only begin to imagine there the blog was going to go. You should be proud of yourself that you took the moral high road.

    It's pronounced Goo. Unless it's frozen enough to make it hard to get out of the foil, and you have to chew it. Then we call it something else that isn't fit for print in this fine upstanding pure blog.

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  13. Day 2 including yesterday's blog and you have me laughing again till my sides hurt with the K-Y jelly clip.

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  14. I look forward to trying the new Gu electrolyte tablets. The only stuff I can get on post is the camelbak stuff that the soldiers use, and it has sucralose in it, which I'm allergic to. :/ They need a berry flavor!

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  15. Only 26 in the WHOLE WORLD! YOu are big time!!

    At least you showed us a pic of "Find the Tube" from the waist up!

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  16. Woohoo, go Chris K!!

    Sounds like a another awesome product from Gu. Hopefully they'll be available here soon since I was not one of the special 26. :)

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  17. Wow, so you're like a lab rat! This might be like the movie 'Resident Evil'. Let us know if you notice any strange super powers............

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  18. I am totally going to drive out to Colorado and steal that tube. The roads should be fine, right? :)

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  19. I'm not a fan of electrolyte drinks... they tend to make me feel super sick while running. However, that letter you got with the mystery tube was awesome! Would have probably freaked me out if it was me.

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  20. Why do you say something's wrong with your hair? It looks totally fine to me. You need a matching tube for the other side... your tubular boobs look lopsided ;-)

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  21. Holly crude!
    Just found your blog!
    You are hilarious!!!!!!
    Can't wait to keep reading....

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  22. GU may provide some amount of fuel, but certainly not as much as SUAR Mojo. Funny how many comments I got that the sticker needs to be about 12 inches lower.

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  23. Your the third person I've seen with those tubes! I WANT THEM!!

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  24. I always lose 2kg each workout in the summer. Just what happens when it is 31C and 85%. I rely on fresh (boy+machete+coco=juice) coconut juice. If I didn't have access to cocos I'd definitely be looking at those tablets, but then again, since we JUST got GU in 1 store here (within 80km) I'm not holding my breath for those tablets.

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  25. Good comparison chart. I'm almost ready to try GU or Nuun for my training - still not entirely sold on the idea. I love the tablet idea, though. Of course, I haven't seen them anywhere here.

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  26. I know I'm going to love these because in the summer I sweat so much here in New Orleans that I actually suffer from hypotension post-long run unless I pop a teaspoonful of salt. It's way too easy to lose a bunch of electrolytes!

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  27. I wonder if SUAR sticker would make him "run" (to the porta)??

    Gotta go when you gotta go, like Ada did!

    Good luck!!

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  28. You gotta feel pretty special having that tube in your possession. It's like you're 'the chosen one.'

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  29. Wow. I'm adding "participate in a top secret mission" to life list of things to do.

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  30. Not sure about the effervescence? Did you mind that? I'm not a soda drinker and if the tabs started me burping during a run, that could prove dangerous.

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  31. Whaddyamean you don't like the orange? I buy things BECAUSE they taste like baby aspirin. I'd fake headaches as a kid just to pop a few. My kids have heard me talk about it so much they're jonesing for some...unfortunately no longer available.

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  32. Joanne - the effervescences is pretty subtle. Not like drinking soda. It just has a tiny bit more fizz than regular water/sports drink.

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  33. This thing looks suspiciously like something from BALCO laboratories. If your times improve dramatically, you might want to avoid taking any drug tests!

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  34. I wonder why you pretend that "sodium benzoate – a chemical/preservative in processed foods that has been linked to possible health dangers.", while we can find that same preservative in all of the GU gels? Aren't they harmful in the gels? Please explain.

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  35. Secret tubes have been tied to all manner of mischief.

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