Drinks pre-race and during
during the bike, I drink FRS Orange (regular not lite...120 calories per serving). I buy the concentrate so you can mix it to your liking. It tastes just like orange juice to me. During the run, I have a container of water and more FRS. So far, it's the only thing I don't get sick of. You can buy single cans if you want to try it out.
I used to just use water, but I tried using a nuun tablet at my last oly, it seemed to work well. The only problem is that there aren't any calories in it so you have to mix in gel or something else for the calories.
Tired is a state of mind, exhaustion is a state of body.
For me it depends on the race distance.
If it's a Sprint or Oly distance, then I'm a big fan of using the NUUN tablets in a water bottle. That and a gel or two is all I need for an Oly. If it's longer than that, I've had very good luck with Perpetuem from Hammer Nutrition in one bottle, and NUUN in the other to get calories, electrolytes, and fluids. Of course, Perpetuem can take some getting used to if you start mixing muli-hour bottles... starts to become shake-like in consistency if you get 6-7 scoops into 20 oz. of water!
To your point, there are lots of options out there for you.
I use the powerbar drink mix. It's lighter even at full-strength. You shouldn't dilute drink mix b/c you'll short yourself on calories.
Let me put one in for Hammer Nutrition products. I like the fact that they base their products on actual nutritional studies and don't have filler materials like some of the other products on the market (hate gatoraid). For events under two hours I use the hammer gel products (raspberry) in water and perpetium (for the protein content) for races over two hours and it works great. At the end of the day it's whatever works for your body the best.
You can check out their stuff here:
http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=AFFL_LANDING&AFFL.ID=100368
Gatorade is made from frustose and your body has "work" to use it as energy.
Trifuel posted a great article on nutrition, I'd suggest checking it out.
http://www.trifuel.com/training/health-nutrition/tri-gut-check-avoiding-...
I use GU for short distance racing Sprints/Oly
**Pain is weakness leaving the body**
*Smile, it does a body good*











I've been doing weekly training tris (400m/10mi/5k) and have been experimenting with a lot of different drinks before and during the event and find myself stuck. I'd like something more than water (during the race, at least) but Gatorade makes me nauseous and, after that, there are just so many options, I'm not sure what to do.
I've been getting a little crampy after T2, so I know I'm not fueling exactly right. Any tips?