Sunny Blende mentioned to us a new nutritional drink that we just had to try: Tailwind Nutrition. Listen to our audio review of this product!
Since this recording, Don ran Inside Trails Ultrachallenge 50 mile race with 11,000 vertical feet primarily consuming Tailwind lemon flavor.  He consumed 3600 calories over a 10-hour time frame:
3000 of Tailwind
400 of Vitargo Gener 8
200 of other food (banana & orange slice)
He took no other electrolyte supplements. Â He had no stomach issues, no cramping, and no energy lows the entire race.
Scott/Don – Just ordered the “Challenge” quantity – I am tired of staomach issues so will give this a try. Curios – how concentrated did you end up mixing it? I ask because if you are supposed to use 2 scoops per 24 oz bottle, and you are trying to suck down 24oz per hour, for me that is more fluid than I normally take in on a hourly basis. For me probably 16-20 max, so would like to mix more concentrated but don’t want a upset stomach over it. Also curios why you added the Vitargo into the race mix?
Thanks,
John
Sorry for spelling – make that “Curious”. Must have been tired after a run.
John I mixed 2 scoops per 20 ounce bottle. Personally, I do not think I could tolerate 4 scoops in a 20 ounce bottle. It would be a bit too “SAVORY” for me. đ If you have an issue drinking greater than 20 ounces of fluid per hour and your goal is to ingest 300 to 400 cal per hour then you will need to supplement with additional fuel source. My goal, when it’s hot is to put more than 20 ounces of fluid per hour.
Regarding the Vitargo: This was a training race and so I wanted to see if there were any issues mixing the Vitargo and the Tailwind products on top of one another. Vitargo has worked very well with my stomach and provides great number of calories ( I like the taste of the fruit punch). In a race where I will be out there all day and into the night fluid and caloric consumption is essential so I want to have as many options as possible.
I think Sunny Blende is spot on, “Ultrarunning is an eating and drinking contest with some scenery thrown in” I plan on fueling as much of AC100 as I can using Tailwind. The AC aid-stations serve Gatorade, so I feel I have a nice advantage,
Thanks Don. Makes sense. Since I know I will not be able to suck down 300 calories per hour of just the tailwind, because I cannot drink that much I will try like you did and work with added items to help top off the caloric hourly needs. Hoping of course what ever I use (Vitargo, Gu, etc..) won’t cause the GI problems. I guess my next question for Tailwind would be how concentrated can one make the drink and not have it upset the stomach. Maybe I will find the answer on that upcoming “Gut Check” podcast đ
Hey John,
A 20 oz bottle contains 2 scoops of Tailwind which is 200 kcal. I would think you could easily drink 1 1/2 bottles per hour?
Whatever you do, experiment on the training runs. (sorry to state the obvious)
I didn’t find Tailwind created an issue with any food choices I made during the run. Drink more, eat more and run more. đ
Scott, I am not an ultrarunner (YET!) but I am trying to wrap my head around the logistics of using this as a main fuel in a race setting. How did you refill your bottles with it? Were there lots of dropbags? Awesome crew? Or did you just carry a lot of the stuff with you (I heard the scoops are small, so this seems kind of feasible.) Wondering about some of the logistics here. Maybe when I finally run an ultra I’ll understand đ Thanks!
Is anyone a diabetic using this? how much insulin to cover it?? I have a friend sending me some samples to try, I might have to experiment.
Hey Donna, If Jeff and Jenny at Tailwind don’t have this answer, you may be a perfect candidate to help.
I will forward this thread to see if they can help.
Hi Donna,
The advantage of using Tailwind is that it is powder based, so you can mix it to vary glucose and water content to your specifications. Each 27g serving of Tailwind (1 scoop@ 100 calories) contains 25g of carbohydrates that is primarily glucose. If you run at 200kcal/24 oz of water you are ingesting about a 7% carb solution; if you run it at 250kcal/24 oz. of water it is a little bit more than an 8% carb solution.
The other thing to think about is that you will probably be sipping the drink as you run vs. downing it in one shot. That will help prevent a huge amount of glucose from entering your system all at once.
Everyone is unique and circumstances are different, so we highly recommend speaking with your physician about the use of insulin with Tailwind.
I hope this helps, and let us know how it goes!
Jenny
Thank you Jenny for the information.
Pumpers use the Carb to program insulin needed.
I am going to have to play with it, since I usually remove my pump while I run. But I dont usually take anything in but water on my run.
It will be some testing. See how it goes. I am kind of excited to see the results.
donna
We’ll be excited to see the results as well! Please let us know how it goes and repost with your results so other diabetics can share in the knowledge.
Thanks Donna,
Jenny
I usually do not leave a leave a response, however after reading a few of the remarks on Tailwind Nutrition – this may be the REAL deal! | Trail Runner Nation.
I actually do have a couple of questions for you if you tend not to mind.
Could it be simply me or do some of the responses appear like they are
coming from brain dead folks? đ And, if you are posting at other
sites, I’d like to follow you. Could you post a list of every one of your social community pages like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
Hi Monica,
I’m sorry if I sound “brain dead”. When folks ask questions, I try to answer them as best as I can! Here are the social community pages:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tailwindnutrition
Twitter: @gotailwind
We do not have a Linked In profile yet, but I’ll add that to my list. In the meantime, please feel free to email me at: info@tailwindnutrition.com with any questions. Oh, I’m sort of new at this whole social media thing so cut me some slack if I do come off as BORING (I’m really not, honest)!
Thanks,
Jenny
Hey can someone tell me what a “scoop” is? I bought the sample pack and didn’t receive a scoop with it. Can someone estimate it in Tablespoons or cups or oz. or some other measurement? Thanks
Justus, Keep digging. It may be down in the powder more. There was another Nation member that had the same problem and then finally found it. It is like a treasure hunt:) If you don’t find it, one scoop is approximately 1/8 cup.
So he spent nearly 70$ just on his race food. Is it just me that finds this ridiculous.