Fast Running Blog

Superpump has  citric acid, magnesium oxide, potassium and some vitamins and caffeine.  I started to drink it before my runs because it gives me energy but I always wonder if it is bad for me?  If so, what else can I drink?  I dont drink coffee and soda doesnt do it for me.

I do not drink anything before my runs. I do not think it is a good idea to stimulate your body with caffeine or other stimulant before you go out.  You need to listen to your body's natural signals. Your body knows how fast it should go for best training results. When you constantly put it in overdrive it will eventually lead to overtraining and/or injury.

If you want to go with an all natural solution that is most likely not bad for you. I'd go with  Eating an apple and/or banana/grapes. plus emergen-C  (a "b" and "c" vitamin energy drink with electrolytes that works by using B vitamins to convert food into energy more efficiently) and 1 or 2 ginseng capsules. This should give you a decent amount of natural energy for a 1 hour run at least.

I can tell you that I'm woefully addicted to caffeine, but if I have more than 50-75mg within a couple hours of a run, my heart gets whacky and I don't feel as good later on.

citric acid and magnesium oxide won't hurt you. what you might want to watch out for are energy gels and drinks that contain sodium or potassium benzoate. These are also routinely added to soft drinks and other beverages as a preservative. In the presence of vitamin C the benzoate can break down to form benzene, a potent carcinogen.  Recent studies showed many soft drinks contained  high levels of benzene from benzoate breakdown. See this news article if interested: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4763528.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4763528.stm) . I believe this is more pronounced in some diet beverages. This may be linked to increases in esophagael cancer rates. Benzoate is simply benzene with a carboxyl group added. There is of course a reason it is a preservative.. preservatives kill organisms...hmm...
So- gu gels contain both vitamin C and sodium benzoate. Hammer gel contains potassium sorbate, not benzoate as a preservative. To my knowledge potassium sorbate is nontoxic at the levels used in food, but who knows. Anyway that is why I try to use hammer gel for training and in marathons rather than gu. You can verify the ingredients list of gu gels here http://guenergy.com/products/gu-energy-gel/flavors-nutrition_vanilla-bean (http://guenergy.com/products/gu-energy-gel/flavors-nutrition_vanilla-bean).  Just thought people might find this interesting, and you might want to look at the ingredients list on that processed drink or gel before ingesting a possible source of benzene.