Very cool idea, but your data are going to be very biased. When you run a test like that, you need to balance (or at least randomize - maybe you did? Doesn't sound like it though) the order in which people try the drinks. There is typically a huge '1st sample' effect (people tend to give much higher liking ratings to the 1st sample); secondly, if these drinks are nasty, people will give lower ratings to the last sample than they would give to earlier samples. You won't be able to tell from your data how much this affected ratings, but it will. It's not a fair test, especially to whatever bottle was #5!!

Exactly.

What this test is: An informal taste test to help foster discussion of different sports driks and promote our brand and our vendors.

What this test isn't (as in, is not): Pure Science.

This is voting for prom queen.

As such, it is a start point- a launch pad for further discussion, maybe even more empiracle testing.

Want to shoot holes in the test protocol? By all means. It's full of holes.

Perhaps we'll see better tests soon, perhaps by others on this forum. Hopefully this test spurns that level of investigation.

In the man time, yesterday we voted for sports drink prom queen...

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

And at best drink #3 and 4 were the very, very ugly step sisters.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

If he puts the powerbar in bottle one and it still does the worst, that's a pretty conclusive vote of wretchedness.

Just curious, how many people did you get to sample all 5?

Looks to be either bottle 1 or 4.

EDIT: This was actually meant to be in response to "If he puts the powerbar in bottle one and it still does the worst, that's a pretty conclusive vote of wretchedness." BTW, my money is on bottle #1, but digital image tones can be deceiving.

Also, in a drink test like this you should not be able to see the beverage.

H

I like the taste of a lot of drinks, however certain ones (that I like the taste of) make me sick to my stomach while others make me puke near the end of a race.

There are a couple that don't make me puke or sick to my stomach and they don't include Gatorade, Powerade or Hammer.

jaretj

Screw these guys Tom......... let's see some results.......

Did you start off the test by saying, "imagine you could only drink ONE kind of drink for the next ten years"?

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Over 4.5 years bike crash free.

Hello Tom Demerly and All,

I like the testing of products - you always learn something.

For my money though - unless the taste is so bad that I cannot get it down - taste is WAY down on the priority list of properties I look for in a sports drink.

Not as low on the priority list as what color it is - but close.

What counts is ............. how does it work to keep the energy flowing and maintaining your hydration?

Cheers,

Neal

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

I too was one of the victims....errr, I mean testers! : )

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B.Oliver -My Blog...triguywithavx.wordpress.com
Powered by:
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Quite frankly Neal, I agree.

This banter about "So and so drink made me throw up!" is kind of overblown to me.

The pro athletes I've spoken with, andy Potts, Leanda Cave, Renard Tissink, Jimmy Riccitello and others have suggested that sports drink use is something that needs to be trained for. That you need to get "acclimated" to a given sports drink. That there is some logic to getting accustomed to using that drink for reasons of logistics and expedience prior to the race.

To me, when an athlete says, "The drink on the course made me throw up!" that is a little like saying "The length of the run made my legs sore." It is part of the race. Train to adapt.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Or if you have problems with milk or soy, then you might have a problem with the drink because of the equipment used during processing.

Others may not have a toleration of the proprietary C2MAX

But the bigger issue to me can be that this formulation is less tolerant than others.

If I use Infinit, Gatorade, Accelerade, or EFS, I might as well be able to swap over to one of those more easily without issues than Perform.

So by your own point here, that an athlete may have to acclimate themselves to a sport drink, if they like theirs, then the are screwed. By your own words, if you don't train with Perform, you may have issues consuming it on the course, where as some other blends may not have had issues. This may or may not be the case. I am raising it for conjecture.

So basically in short, if you don't want to carry energy drink on the course, you MUST BUY AND TRAIN WITH PERFORM. Very interesting. That is basically what you have said.

Now how this affects me. I like my nutrition. I like carrying it concentrated in my fuel belt, mixing with water in my mouth and having more than enough of what I like... Seems to me that both the water and de-fizzed coke may be in shorter supply, leaving me SOL.

My take away... Train to be faster so I get to the aid stations before they run out of water.

Where is the "like" button?

I haven't heard of any water shortages at WI. Maybe KY was an unfortunate isolated issue.

"So basically in short, if you don't want to carry energy drink on the course, you MUST BUY AND TRAIN WITH PERFORM. Very interesting. That is basically what you have said. "

Yes.

In the current race format the energy drink on the course is, according to what I'm hearing, the Ironman Perform. If you want to use another drink of your preference, you'll need to supply and carry that drink. That's correct as I understand it.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I completely disagree.

I train with Gatorade cuz it's cheap, I don't race with it cuz it upsets my stomach.

I've trained with Heed and despite that, every time I've used it as on course nutrition I've puked.

I don't have the time or the cash to train with every drink and I don't like to waste my races eating products from the highest bidder (or lowest) that don't work for me.

I don't pick my races according to what products they offer, if the pro's can eat anything that's good for them. Meanwhile I'll continue to avoid products that make me sick and stay with the ones that work for me.

jaretj

Sorry Sir- I got lost reading your post. I didn't understand what you disagreed with (I think I had so many reponses in here I couldn't figure it out).

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

This:
"This banter about "So and so drink made me throw up!" is kind of overblown to me."

A drink that makes me throw up is a big deal to me.

and this:
"To me, when an athlete says, "The drink on the course made me throw up!" that is a little like saying "The length of the run made my legs sore." It is part of the race. Train to adapt."

Nutrition is not supposed to make you uncomfortable, it's supposed to make you better.

jaretj

OK, I understand now. Thank you.

I'll agree- a drink that actually did make you throw up would be a big deal. Obviously. The heck of it is, and a component of my argument, is that people will blame a drink for inducing vomiting. I don't know about that.... I mean, was it really, entirely some component of the drink that made them involuntarily vomit? Would another drink at that same moment have induced an utterly different response?

I just can't say. I can suggest attributing a virtual plague or epidemic of vomiting to one sports drink or another sounds like... a bit of a stretch.

And the second part- Yeah, I can't disagree with that somehow. Nutrition is supposed to facilitate a better race- maybe I won't stretch all the way to "make you feel better", which, to me sort of creates images of a nice cup of tea or a delicious, cool smoothie. I think I understand what you mean though- and I agree. The nutirion is supposed to keep you going- keep you in the game- keep you fueled and concentrating on your performance. At which point the nutrition becomes something else you truly have "endure" then it's utility is diminished....

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

In the most Hetero way possible, I will say that Raynard is a very handsome looking dude.

I'll bet he scores all the chicks.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

Tom,

I realize this isn't "science", but it's not even the Prom Queen level.

What a drink tastes like (even warm) when hanging out w/ the crew at TriSports, is completely irrelevant.
How it tastes, and much more importantly, how my gut responds to it under effort, is what matters.

I have no problem w/ how Gatorade (for instance) tastes, cold or warm. I have a problem w/ it during races, or rather, my GI system does.
I wish it didn't, it would make my life infinit-ly easier (bad pun intended).

Another example - IF it's cold, I love Perpetuem. Works GREAT for me. Even if the taste is meh. The taste is irrelevant. It works.
Once it gets warm, it's just vile. Can't drink it.

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float , hammer , and jog

The real issue is quality control. When you have volunteers mixing drinks during the race (ala Rev3 Quassy) with no direction, the consistency, and strength will vary from aid station to aid station. I have NEVER had any problems with any drink while training. While I despise HEED but can tolerate it. The first and only time I have ever had an on course issue was at Quassy this year during the run. Tried whatever garbage was on course and nearly puked both times. I had a friend who ran an aid station and told me that they received no direction for mixing and that many people complained about the quality.

While I can not blame the drink, I can blame the lack of direction from the race organizers.

The new Ironman drink just tastes salty to me. Otherwise its fine.

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-- Aaron Davidson