Hi,

An interesting hypothetical to think through athletic choices is to frame it like this: what would you do if your life depended on peak performance?

Important note: athletics are not life or death, unless you’re in the Thunderdome. But the reason I love this thought experiment is that it helps me tease apart what is a choice, and what isn’t.

When I was younger, I think I was scared of the edge (you can tell I’m not young anymore because of the Thunderdome reference). Then, we had kids--they made me even more aware of mortality and how little time there was to explore things we cared about. After that, I was hit by a car while biking. That combo made me think about my own athletics differently. 

In the old days, 5 x 5 minutes on the uphill treadmill used to cook me. As I reframed things, my mindset changed. After the 5th interval, I could ask myself: “if your life depended on it, how many of these intervals could you do?”

The answer: probably 20 of them. That framing made it easy to just do whatever was best for my physiology (usually 8-10). 

I’ve been thinking of that framing recently in coaching pro road runners. While their lives don’t depend on race results, their livelihoods do. A breakthrough marathon could be worth 7 figures over the course of their careers. Fueling is the only thing that makes breakthroughs at that level possible.

And when the stakes are that high, with livelihoods on the line, I recommend Science in Sport Beta Fuel gels (my favorite as a salty sweater is the Electrolyte Gel). 

Most of the athletes I have seen at that level already check the box for mental toughness, where they don’t need to go through 12 hoops to motivate themselves to do the work (unlike me). But until recently, I’d often see a lackadaisical approach to fueling in those same athletes. Low carb intake or GI issues are 2 of the primary limiters at the edge, and SiS Beta Fuel electrolyte gels seem to solve for both.

Across athletes, I see WAY fewer GI issues with SiS Beta Fuel gels than other options (I took dozens of them at my 100 milers). That is likely due to their 1:0.8 glucose:fructose ratio, optimal for gut transporters with high carb fueling. The taste also seems to almost never cause palate rejection, with way less palate fatigue than other options too, even at 40g of carbs per gel. And the electrolyte gels make it easier to balance the sodium equation, allowing them to take in bottles that are less concentrated (which may also improve GI performance).

When pro runners aren’t sponsored by a fuel company, I get so happy because I can shovel these gels into a box that may change their whole future, especially if they had bad fueling experiences in the past.

Athletics are not life or death. Most of performance isn’t a choice. But if you’re trying to figure out what’s a choice and what isn’t when you’re truly going for it, Science in Sport Beta Fuel gels make the edge way less scary.

- David.