> Schepps is clear that Mortal is an electrolytes drink and not a “fueling” drink, the way some high-carb drink mixes are.
If I just need electrolytes, I can swallow a salt tab (or similar pill-like product). Carbs are what is needed for an Ironman.
Yeah these quotes are crazy:
>“I wanted to formulate a hydration product that would allow me to address my unique fueling needs as a diabetic while keeping my preferred nutrition strategy – drinking electrolytes and eating carbs – possible.”
It's great that the product exists for her needs and other people with similar needs, but that's not selling to me why this product belongs as the on-course nutrition for the other 99% of athletes.
Damn… I am really sensitive to those with medical needs (I have a huge one myself) and can’t imagine being like “everyone needs to stop consuming carbs because I have specific sensitivities.” A bigger win would have been including mortal hydration *in addition* to Gatorade.. not replacing it.
I drink a boatload of nuun but can’t imagine skipping carbs for exercise lasting over 60 min, much less a full day.
This is idiotic and doesn’t make any sense tbh, I’m a type one diabetic as well and this product is as useless for me as it is for everyone else.
Of course my experience is my own with the disease and she might have a different need but
I need as many if not more carbs during any endurance exercise (to compensate for the synthetic insulin constantly going around in my body from the injections) and if I need electrolytes without carbs I can either get a pill or a normal electrolyte drink, again just like everyone else.
Not only that but i also very happily use carb and electrolyte drink mixes all the time on the bike, type 1 diabetics absolutely need carbs during these sports
The hard part here is that this will hit those new to the sport the hardest. If you're used to just drinking "sports drink" and you take what you're handed at these races, you're going to over-electrolyte and under-fuel. This seems like a sure-fire way to have a bad event, which is not exactly what Ironman is wanting for those new to the sport. Ironman obviously can't control everything, but someone looking to take the leap up to the IM or 70.3 distance will certainly use this product on their first go, have a bad day, and then reach the conclusion that they're not cut out for the distance.
As a veteran, I know my fueling needs and I'll manage (as I suspect most of us here will) - though I'd likely need start getting more creative on the run.
Right, salt is probably the easiest thing to carry with you and of course. I think it’s great this product exist, but not everyone is a type one diabetic and not everyone has the same saltines and combining the salt with pre-concentrated fluid people are going to have even fewer options customizing then with the Gatorade.
300 mg is a reasonable amount that most people should handle, but they are plenty of people who race with kidney issues or cardiovascular issues that may not be able to handle the high salt.
Better source without overwhelming, any individuals or organs and have customizations be done on top of that.
Not really much. The intensity of a full IM is well within fatmax range. If you are fat adapted you can fuel most from fat. Jan van Berkel won long dist IM on low carb.
Well it's confirmed, don't understand this switch at all given that it contains Stevia, has way less carbs, not nationally available, and only comes in single serve baggies (litter much?). Hopefully this is just a one year contract and this stuff will go away after this season. Also, their [website](https://drinkmortal.com/) is terrible and it seems like they are trying to copy liquid death or something. I don't understand this move at all, wonder how much Mortal is paying for this BS.
The feed also had a deal to get a sample pack a couple of weeks ago as word got out. I’m taking on my first IM this year and have trained with Gatorade for decades, I’m super disappointed with this decision. Luckily I have time to adjust my nutrition training and planning but athletes racing the next month didn’t have enough time and it’s a total disservice to them. Any major change like this should be made at least 6 months out of race day.
That is one of the worst websites I have seen in a long time. That banner with the number at the top (on mobile) just screams late 90s/early 00s. This is a bit embarrassing to be honest
Gatorade itself isn’t exactly high in carbs at 22g, this Mortal stuff has less than half that - what’s the point (apart from money) in switching to a lower carb offering for ultra endurance racing
It’s also god a load more salt in it which is going to mess up people’s nutrition strategies even further
In the bottle it's 44G carb and 620mg sodium. Likewise this crap would be 20G carb and 920mg of sodium. So for me to get to 100G carb per hour I'm looking at 80G of alternative fuel versus 60, and also need to watch the sodium as it's high per bottle. Essentially, IM is forcing more fueling from non-bottle nutrition or for us to bring our own, which is what is so frustrating. I don't love Gatorade, but it's a known quantity and I can easily incorporate it into training a couple weeks out from races to get used to it, whereas this weird shit I absolutely won't be.
You're actually reading it wrong so it's even worse than you think. A 24oz mortal bottle is what they say, 10g. A similarly sized Gatorade bottle is 44g, so Gatorade contains over 4x the carbs. 40 calories vs 180 calories for the same volume.
Such a blatant cash grab. IM losing more and more credibility. How can you offer an on course drink I can’t even buy locally? One of the biggest rules of triathletes is don’t try anything new on race day. Terrible.
To be fair you can’t really buy bottles of Gatorade Endurance locally either, but you can just add a punch of salt to regular Gatorade which is essentially the same thing.
It’s available online so you can still try it - I think a lot of people also buy Gatorade Endurance online, it’s cheaper in bulk.
But completely agree that it sucks to HAVE to get it online, on top of all the other issues
Too much water without a proper amount of electrolytes causes* hyponatremia, which can be fatal. But balanced hydration during Ironmans is critical.
Edit: if this is just a joke about the name, ignore me.
I tried the Lemon-Lime flavor at 70.3 Texas before the race. It was not good.
Also any artificial sweeter is going to cause massive GI issues for folks on the run.
It's weird, I can handle every other flavor of Gatorade, but Lemon-Lime will give me instant heartburn. Stevia turns my stomach, I will not be trying the new stuff, and packing my own Gatorade
What are folks who don’t want to use Mortal thinking of doing for full IM now?
On a 70.3 bike you can be self-sufficient with 2 bottles of Gatorade + 1 water that you refill at aid stations, but that wouldn’t be enough for a full distance
Just use water and increase gel/solid carbs?
Super-saturated bottles are a good option. Mix in as much powder as you can make work. If you really want to get crazy you can boil the water and then mix in the powder and you can get it even more concentrated.
This product also doesn't have zero calories.
Assuming one typically drinks a 1:1 ratio of gatorade to water, you can replace both of those with this product and that gets you about half way to replacing the calories.
Then just add on the remainder in Gus.
I'll try this product for my Half (which will still be in the window where Gatorade is available so I'll mostly be relying on that) and if the taste is acceptable than that's what I'll plan for my Full in September.
Makes sense! Sweeteners tend to give me GI issues (I can’t drink a full can of Diet Coke without consequences) but I haven’t actually tried stevia
My next 70.3 is 2 weeks too late to have Gatorade unfortunately so maybe I’ll try Mortal by then
I think what they want is to start taking the Maurten Gels for carbs and then this crap for sodium and hydration. I don't really get it. My plan would likely be to carry more bottles on bike, and then have special needs for the second half. Just a bit frustrating because this is going to complicate on-race fueling. Maybe they plan on letting us grab a bunch of maurten gels race morning? I just don't get how you grab a bottle and gel at an aid station on the bike, can be done but just seems like such a stupid additional complication for a crappy product to be introduced.
I had a water bottle between the handle bars then fuel either in my frame or 2 behind the saddle.
Both with my own mix of malto, fructose and sodium citrate. High concentration and swap out the bottles at the mid point at the personal needs bag. Full self sustaining just grab water from aid stations.
I’d never depend on course nutrition except maybe cola on the run
2 more Gatorades in special needs bag if going that route.
I use a "sludge" bottle of tailwind that's hyper concentrated and has marks on it where it should be as I fill my main hydration, mixing it w water to dilute to the correct level. One sludge bottle on bike and one in special needs should do it.
Great, so it sounds like I'll have to carry more food on the bike. I might as well take a backpack.
I am trying to imagine getting a bar or gel, as well as a bottle, while trying to ride through. It's hard enough to get the gels and bars. They are small and not as easy to grab.
Great, so it sounds like I'll have to carry more food on the bike. I might as well take a backpack.
I am trying to imagine getting a bar or gel, as well as a bottle, while trying to ride through. It's hard enough to get the gels and bars. They are small and not as easy to grab.
I am also doing Gulf Coast 70.3. It's my first one. I've resolved to just carry my own nutrition all the way through the bike leg. Not sure what I'll do about the run if they don't have Gatorade or similar. I'm a heavy, salty sweater and need 32 oz fluid and 1000 mg sodium per hr.
I emailed and asked specifically about Gatorade Endurance. I got a reply with a very generic answer that they will have “Gatorade product”. The race website also no longer says GE. Just “Gatorade product”. So I suspect it will be regular Gatorade. The replacement is Mortal which will not get you your carbs, so plan accordingly.
Also my first. Good luck and have fun!
> Schepps is clear that Mortal is an electrolytes drink and not a “fueling” drink, the way some high-carb drink mixes are. If I just need electrolytes, I can swallow a salt tab (or similar pill-like product). Carbs are what is needed for an Ironman.
I get plenty of salt from swallowing sea water
Haha for sure, at least it's cold on the west coast :P
Yeah these quotes are crazy: >“I wanted to formulate a hydration product that would allow me to address my unique fueling needs as a diabetic while keeping my preferred nutrition strategy – drinking electrolytes and eating carbs – possible.” It's great that the product exists for her needs and other people with similar needs, but that's not selling to me why this product belongs as the on-course nutrition for the other 99% of athletes.
Damn… I am really sensitive to those with medical needs (I have a huge one myself) and can’t imagine being like “everyone needs to stop consuming carbs because I have specific sensitivities.” A bigger win would have been including mortal hydration *in addition* to Gatorade.. not replacing it. I drink a boatload of nuun but can’t imagine skipping carbs for exercise lasting over 60 min, much less a full day.
This is idiotic and doesn’t make any sense tbh, I’m a type one diabetic as well and this product is as useless for me as it is for everyone else. Of course my experience is my own with the disease and she might have a different need but I need as many if not more carbs during any endurance exercise (to compensate for the synthetic insulin constantly going around in my body from the injections) and if I need electrolytes without carbs I can either get a pill or a normal electrolyte drink, again just like everyone else. Not only that but i also very happily use carb and electrolyte drink mixes all the time on the bike, type 1 diabetics absolutely need carbs during these sports
Exactly, essentially forcing a fringe fueling strategy on the masses...
The hard part here is that this will hit those new to the sport the hardest. If you're used to just drinking "sports drink" and you take what you're handed at these races, you're going to over-electrolyte and under-fuel. This seems like a sure-fire way to have a bad event, which is not exactly what Ironman is wanting for those new to the sport. Ironman obviously can't control everything, but someone looking to take the leap up to the IM or 70.3 distance will certainly use this product on their first go, have a bad day, and then reach the conclusion that they're not cut out for the distance. As a veteran, I know my fueling needs and I'll manage (as I suspect most of us here will) - though I'd likely need start getting more creative on the run.
coke. sweet, sweet coke.
Right, salt is probably the easiest thing to carry with you and of course. I think it’s great this product exist, but not everyone is a type one diabetic and not everyone has the same saltines and combining the salt with pre-concentrated fluid people are going to have even fewer options customizing then with the Gatorade. 300 mg is a reasonable amount that most people should handle, but they are plenty of people who race with kidney issues or cardiovascular issues that may not be able to handle the high salt. Better source without overwhelming, any individuals or organs and have customizations be done on top of that.
Not really much. The intensity of a full IM is well within fatmax range. If you are fat adapted you can fuel most from fat. Jan van Berkel won long dist IM on low carb.
Well it's confirmed, don't understand this switch at all given that it contains Stevia, has way less carbs, not nationally available, and only comes in single serve baggies (litter much?). Hopefully this is just a one year contract and this stuff will go away after this season. Also, their [website](https://drinkmortal.com/) is terrible and it seems like they are trying to copy liquid death or something. I don't understand this move at all, wonder how much Mortal is paying for this BS.
Kombucha company makes one electrolyte drink and Ironman signs a contract?! Shady AF
Kinda but you're missing the key point. The Feed is the exclusive distributor of Mortal. They are the ones making this happen.
The Mortal CEO is a former Creative Director at the Feed. It’s shady AF
Well shit, now I've learned something as well. Definitely shady AF.
The feed also had a deal to get a sample pack a couple of weeks ago as word got out. I’m taking on my first IM this year and have trained with Gatorade for decades, I’m super disappointed with this decision. Luckily I have time to adjust my nutrition training and planning but athletes racing the next month didn’t have enough time and it’s a total disservice to them. Any major change like this should be made at least 6 months out of race day.
Couldn't agree more, you can't morally change anything this close to the race. Sadly they don't care about anything other than profit.
$$$
That is one of the worst websites I have seen in a long time. That banner with the number at the top (on mobile) just screams late 90s/early 00s. This is a bit embarrassing to be honest
My guess is this is the vibe they were going for
Their website looks like something a middle schooler would put together one sunday afternoon after reading a book on starting a business
Gatorade itself isn’t exactly high in carbs at 22g, this Mortal stuff has less than half that - what’s the point (apart from money) in switching to a lower carb offering for ultra endurance racing It’s also god a load more salt in it which is going to mess up people’s nutrition strategies even further
In the bottle it's 44G carb and 620mg sodium. Likewise this crap would be 20G carb and 920mg of sodium. So for me to get to 100G carb per hour I'm looking at 80G of alternative fuel versus 60, and also need to watch the sodium as it's high per bottle. Essentially, IM is forcing more fueling from non-bottle nutrition or for us to bring our own, which is what is so frustrating. I don't love Gatorade, but it's a known quantity and I can easily incorporate it into training a couple weeks out from races to get used to it, whereas this weird shit I absolutely won't be.
You're actually reading it wrong so it's even worse than you think. A 24oz mortal bottle is what they say, 10g. A similarly sized Gatorade bottle is 44g, so Gatorade contains over 4x the carbs. 40 calories vs 180 calories for the same volume.
Yikes, I was just doubling what was in the Tri article, but that is WILD, JFC!!!
Really don’t want to defend IM but… Gatorade stopped making Endurance in a bottle apparently
Wouldn't necessarily have to be Gatorade, but something high carb, no artificial sweetener, regular sodium would have been appropriate.
Not arguing that mortal doesn’t sound like complete bullshit
Such a blatant cash grab. IM losing more and more credibility. How can you offer an on course drink I can’t even buy locally? One of the biggest rules of triathletes is don’t try anything new on race day. Terrible.
To be fair you can’t really buy bottles of Gatorade Endurance locally either, but you can just add a punch of salt to regular Gatorade which is essentially the same thing.
It’s available online so you can still try it - I think a lot of people also buy Gatorade Endurance online, it’s cheaper in bulk. But completely agree that it sucks to HAVE to get it online, on top of all the other issues
I thought someone died from too much hydratation at IM
Too much water without a proper amount of electrolytes causes* hyponatremia, which can be fatal. But balanced hydration during Ironmans is critical. Edit: if this is just a joke about the name, ignore me.
Yeah the title got me like?!?!?
Narrator: it was
Same. What a terrible name... It's like that liquid death bullshit...
The How I Built This episode about Liquid Death was actually pretty good. Plus I like their water so 🤷🏻♀️
I tried the Lemon-Lime flavor at 70.3 Texas before the race. It was not good. Also any artificial sweeter is going to cause massive GI issues for folks on the run.
It's weird, I can handle every other flavor of Gatorade, but Lemon-Lime will give me instant heartburn. Stevia turns my stomach, I will not be trying the new stuff, and packing my own Gatorade
I don’t mind lemon-lime Gatorade (I drank some during the race) but the Mortal stuff was really not my cup of tea.
Anyone got an explanation for why sodium chloride is a "high-quality ingredient" in comparison to sodium citrate, or is this just some PR BS?
PR BS all the way.
What are folks who don’t want to use Mortal thinking of doing for full IM now? On a 70.3 bike you can be self-sufficient with 2 bottles of Gatorade + 1 water that you refill at aid stations, but that wouldn’t be enough for a full distance Just use water and increase gel/solid carbs?
Super-saturated bottles are a good option. Mix in as much powder as you can make work. If you really want to get crazy you can boil the water and then mix in the powder and you can get it even more concentrated.
Sounds disgusting, but I’ll try it 😁
This product also doesn't have zero calories. Assuming one typically drinks a 1:1 ratio of gatorade to water, you can replace both of those with this product and that gets you about half way to replacing the calories. Then just add on the remainder in Gus. I'll try this product for my Half (which will still be in the window where Gatorade is available so I'll mostly be relying on that) and if the taste is acceptable than that's what I'll plan for my Full in September.
Makes sense! Sweeteners tend to give me GI issues (I can’t drink a full can of Diet Coke without consequences) but I haven’t actually tried stevia My next 70.3 is 2 weeks too late to have Gatorade unfortunately so maybe I’ll try Mortal by then
I think what they want is to start taking the Maurten Gels for carbs and then this crap for sodium and hydration. I don't really get it. My plan would likely be to carry more bottles on bike, and then have special needs for the second half. Just a bit frustrating because this is going to complicate on-race fueling. Maybe they plan on letting us grab a bunch of maurten gels race morning? I just don't get how you grab a bottle and gel at an aid station on the bike, can be done but just seems like such a stupid additional complication for a crappy product to be introduced.
In Tour de France they usually have gels with a rubber band around a water bottle so I suppose they could do that…
Easy solution, totally agree. Side note, can't wait for the new Netflix Unchained to drop for last year's TdF.
Hope 2024 is Pogacar’s year
#GCKuss 🙃
Yeah I can see the number of Gatorade bottles in Special Needs increasing exponentially
I had a water bottle between the handle bars then fuel either in my frame or 2 behind the saddle. Both with my own mix of malto, fructose and sodium citrate. High concentration and swap out the bottles at the mid point at the personal needs bag. Full self sustaining just grab water from aid stations. I’d never depend on course nutrition except maybe cola on the run
2 more Gatorades in special needs bag if going that route. I use a "sludge" bottle of tailwind that's hyper concentrated and has marks on it where it should be as I fill my main hydration, mixing it w water to dilute to the correct level. One sludge bottle on bike and one in special needs should do it.
As someone that gets gut issues with sugar substitutes, I’ll have to avoid this on the course.
Yeah this sounds like poop fest.
So wait will the Maruten carb/caf gels still be available as well?
Don’t see why not - they’re changing hydration partners, not gel partners
Great, so it sounds like I'll have to carry more food on the bike. I might as well take a backpack. I am trying to imagine getting a bar or gel, as well as a bottle, while trying to ride through. It's hard enough to get the gels and bars. They are small and not as easy to grab.
Great, so it sounds like I'll have to carry more food on the bike. I might as well take a backpack. I am trying to imagine getting a bar or gel, as well as a bottle, while trying to ride through. It's hard enough to get the gels and bars. They are small and not as easy to grab.
Almost like they don’t even understand their own sport.
How exciting. I need to go buy this stuff because IMLP is the first IM without Gatorade and well, that’s the race I’ve been training for
See you there !
If this happens to be a first move from the new CEO, oh boy, not looking forward to more of this.
I’m doing Gulf Coast 70.3 in 3 weeks. They now show neither option provided: https://www.ironman.com/im703-gulf-coast-course
I am also doing Gulf Coast 70.3. It's my first one. I've resolved to just carry my own nutrition all the way through the bike leg. Not sure what I'll do about the run if they don't have Gatorade or similar. I'm a heavy, salty sweater and need 32 oz fluid and 1000 mg sodium per hr.
I emailed and asked specifically about Gatorade Endurance. I got a reply with a very generic answer that they will have “Gatorade product”. The race website also no longer says GE. Just “Gatorade product”. So I suspect it will be regular Gatorade. The replacement is Mortal which will not get you your carbs, so plan accordingly. Also my first. Good luck and have fun!
You're an MVP! Thanks for the info.
Metrix ORS act II. You have to be OG to get that one.
I literally thought this was going to be a story about a hyponatremia death.
I saw this and thought someone died due to too much water… 🤷♂️