What do sports drinks, gels and bars contain?
Sport drink contains about 82-99 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams of powder, but the portion size to mix with water can vary, so 500 ml can contain varying amounts of carbohydrates. The advantage of sports drinks is that it's easy to consume a little at a time throughout your training.
Here are some examples of sports drinks, where 500 ml of prepared drink contains:
Enervit isotonic drink: 25 grams of carbohydrates
Vitargo: 46 grams of carbohydrates
Isostar Endurance +: 75 grams of carbohydrates
Maurten drink mix 360: 80 grams of carbohydrates
Umara, U Sport 1:0.8: 90 grams of carbohydrates (can be mixed to contain more/less carbohydrates)
This is just a small selection of all the sports drinks available on the market, and brands and varieties change all the time. What I want to show is that it can there can be a big difference in the amount of carbohydrates you get. In the examples above, they contain anywhere from 25-90 grams of carbohydrates in 500 ml.
Do you want to be in control and be able to mix what works best for you?
Make your own sports drink! It's much cheaper, easy and quick to make and you can easily mix the amount of carbohydrates you want in the drink bottle, read more here.
Energy bar: Most energy bars, for use during exercise, contain 40-67 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, but a packet is rarely 100 grams so most contains 21-43 grams of carbohydrates per pack. Be aware that some brands, such as Flapjack, have larger packs, so the amount of calories can be very high if you don't exercise very much.
You can also make your own energy bars. There are lots of recipes, so just try them out. I make one that´s called Runekakan that the Swedish long-distance runner Rune Larsson came up with. It contains about 70 grams of carbohydrates/100 grams (about 35 grams of carbohydrates per piece/cake). Recipes are available online. I think it's tasty, easy to make, and has an ok content with a mix of fast and some slower carbs. Energy bars are good but may be used mainly during longer sessions, if you want to supplement the sports drink with something to eat.
Gel: the amount of carbohydrates varies in different brands but the majority contains 45-80 grams of carbohydrate per 100 grams. However, a pack of gel rarely contains 100 grams but a pack is about 25-60 ml. That means that one gel provides about 20-28 grams of carbohydrates per pack and "lasts" about 30 minutes.
Gel is easy to ingest and is often used towards the end of the session to get a "kick". Gel is like a more concentrated version of sports drink. But gel can be used earlier and I would say that it is better to consume carbohydrates continuously (with sports drink and/or gel) and not wait until you feel you really need that "kick" (because then you have waited too long).
Gel is not as easy to make yourself so I prefer to buy it. You can also buy ready-made energy bars if you don't make your own. Just make sure not to choose a protein bar during the workout. During the workout, it is carbohydrates you should fill up with. After the workout, it's good to fill up on carbohydrates and protein, but you don't need protein during the workout. I order from HSNstore who has good prices and fast delivery to all of Europe.
Other options to have with you:
Dried apricots: 40 grams of carbohydrates/100 grams
Dried dates: 70 grams of carbohydrates/100 grams
Raisins: 65 grams of carbohydrates/100 grams
Banana: 21 grams of carbohydrates/100 grams, a banana without peel weighs about 110 grams and is then about 23 grams of carbohydrates in a banana
