Home-made isotonic drink

It has been said many times that creativity comes up when the resources are limited. So did it for me this morning. I know I already posted today, but this is too exciting, even though perhaps marginal for someone. I went to bed at 10 pm on Saturday night (!!!) in order to get up early on Sunday, so I can fuel up for my long run and go out in the decent hour before the heat gets unsupportable and so do crowds of inline skaters and annoying cops at my favorite running location. And now me forgetting to do a proper shopping list should screw these efforts? No way!

Getting ready for my run, I realized that I used up all of my Isostar powder as well as my last carbohydrate gel that I used up for the long run on last Sunday. Unfortunately, I totall forgot about buying some of those during the week and realized it at 7 am on Sunday morning with no open shop around and with absolutely no intention to going to any shop. Then I recalled I read an article (article - in Czech only - went back to find it when writing this post, not at 7 am obviously) describing that you can actually prepare an isotonic drink by yourself at home. I remembered the key elements - you need some source of carbs, you should add some salt for the minerals you sweat out. My element - add something for the taste.


So for the two 8 oz that fit in my Fuelbelt (total of 16 oz = cca 450 ml). I used a spoon of natural honey (natural = made by someone I know, tasting 1000 % better than the traditional available in supermarket, the organic brands are usually getting close to it with taste). I added a bigger pinch of salt and a spoon of lemon juice I always have in fridge. (In organic quality - yes, I am organic freak - it is useful, when I have no time to go and buy lemons for my morning water & lemon routine.) Mixed everything with a bit of warm water, so the salt and honey dissolve easily, than added cold water and ice to reach the necessary quantity. And to my honest surprise, the result tasted just like lemon Isostar and the effect on the running was pretty much the same.


I do not suggest that you should switch to this home made option for good. The scientifically developed isotonic drinks have wider scale of minerals etc. necessary for the long distance running (and/or endurance sports). But it can be good option when you run out of your supplies or want to trim down your budget and go bit more frugal at least for your trainings. If you do this, don't forget to test the professionally manufactured Isotonic drinks during training before you use them in the race.


To recap, here is the recipe - for 450 ml / 16 oz of drink:

• approx. 10 ml of lemon juice - or squeeze fresh from a lemon
• 1 tea spoon of honey (preferably organic and unheated)
• bigger pinch of salt
• cca 430 ml of cold water

I hope this helps, feel free to leave me your running nutrition tips in the comments section.  Sign up for email updates or RSS feeds ... And just keep running and listen to your body!

PS: Long run was success given the high temperature, I was supposed to do 13 miles, so of course I went for 13.1 to finish the half marathon distance :) Time: 2:01:57, average pace 9'18" per mile, which is OK for slow long run, but I did not manage my warm up miles to be slow enough then did the fourth mile too fast. Finally I managed to balance and finished with two faster (but still slow run pace) miles at the end. Definitely need to get myself the GPS watch soon!