The Best Beverages for Marathon Runners

Whether you live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and are training for a coastal marathon, or you’re in Boulder, Colorado training for a marathon in the Rockies, there are certain beverages that can help fuel a better performance. For those running for 90 minutes or less, plain water is fine, which will help replace fluids lost from sweating while preventing dehydration, but for marathon running, fluid intake is far more important. In addition to water, your body needs carbs and sodium.

A DIY Sports Drink

Many sports drinks contain all sorts of unhealthy additives that don’t do your body, or mind, any good when you’re trying to win, or simply finish the race. You can make your own healthy drink by combining one-part water with one-part fresh-squeezed orange juice and just a pinch of salt. You’ll get the fluid you need along with the carbs and nutrients in the orange juice, including potassium. This mineral that’s lost as you sweat is important for regulating fluids and maintaining mineral balance in the body’s cells as well as helping muscles contract.

Gatorade

Contains a good amount of sodium to help replace the amount lost from sweat, while its salty taste encourages more drinking, a benefit for marathon runners whose bodies need the fluid to keep going.

Tea or Coffee

While it’s somewhat controversial, drinking a cup of tea or coffee 30 to 45 minutes before a run does provide an energy boost that allows athletes to work harder, thanks to the caffeine content in either beverage. The caffeine may also help to improve glucose absorption so that muscles are refueled quicker. It’s best to drink only a limited amount, however, as caffeine can also be dehydrating.

Carrot Juice

The morning of your marathon, you may want to drink a glass of carrot juice. It not only contains lots of vitamin A, but phosphorous, which boosts the body’s metabolic rate and ensures optimal use of energy in the body while reducing muscle pain after exercise.

Beet Juice

About an hour before the race, try drinking a glass of beet juice. A study conducted out of Saint Louis University in Missouri found that consuming beets can “acutely improve running performance.” The results revealed that runners who ate beets 60 minutes before a race were able to run 3 percent faster, with the biggest improvements found during the last leg. The researchers noted that they believe the nitrate in beets helps to reduce the oxygen cost of endurance exercise, allowing the runner to use up less energy to produce the muscular force need to propel forward. It also increases nitric oxide production and improves blood flow, allowing muscles to perform more efficiently.

IG Charcoal BBQ - Holiday Gift Guide

If you are looking for a show-stopping gift for the man in your life, look no further than the IG Charcoal BBQ. This state of the art, stainless steel, charcoal barbecue is sure to be a gift he will never forget. And he will get lots of enjoyment out of it for years (or decades) to come.

This grill is truly impressive. All the awesome extras of a gas grill with all the flavor of charcoal. The IG Charcoal BBQ offers a plethora of great features. My favorite features are the folding side trays, the retractable legs (which make the grill compact enough to travel), and the rotating handle which raises and lowers the charcoal! How cool is that?

There are many other cool features like wheels (on all legs, locking on 2), Ash collection tray, that makes cleanup a breeze, and a multi functional top that can be a standard grill top or a removed top for skewers.

This is a barbecue unlike any other. All the style and function of a large gas grill, with the flavor quality of charcoal and the added portability that you don't get from a gas grill. Tailgating just got a lot better.

I don't know about you, but when I give a gift, I want it to be something that will get used. Collectibles are nice and all, and it's the thought that counts, but it is so much better to give a gift and know (or see) the other person is getting use from it. Imagine how many awesome meals this BBQ will cook. It is so well made I can tell it will last for many years.

I could gush about the IG Charcoal BBQ all day, but the best way for you to find out how awesome it is would be to buy it. Or better yet, win it. IG Charcoal BBQ has been generous enough to allow me to give one of these fabulous BBQs away. Enter below for your chance to be the lucky winner. Good luck!

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Café Matte Collection by GE

*The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.*
When choosing appliances, is style important to you? If so, allow me to introduce you to the GE Café Matte Collection, available at Best Buy. A collection of modern kitchen appliances that you can customize.

Choose your "canvas", select your appliance in Matte White (that comes standard with brushed bronze hardware) or the Matte Black which comes standard with brushed stainless hardware). You can then select brushed copper, brushed bronze, brushed stainless, or brushed black hardware choices to customize either matte finish and complement your overall kitchen design.

 

The end result is a beautifully customized kitchen.

I have always been partial to black appliances, but that Matte White, with that brushed copper hardware is stunning. The soft luster and warmth of the Matte White finish offers a fresh approach to a staple kitchen color. With a luxe look and a smudge-resistant, soft-touch feel, Matte White allows owners to create pops of brightness against dark cabinetry or a seamless blend in an all-white kitchen.

The Matte Collection's premium finishes in Matte White and Matte Black seamlessly complement premium cabinetry and flooring, setting the stage for mindful layers of warmth, depth and personality. You can't go wrong with style that also performs. It's time your appliance had a personality; yours.

I know I am excited about these amazing appliances, and we need a new stove anyway, so I will definitely be visiting Best Buy to check out the Café Matte Collection. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the collection. What is your favorite color combo? As I said, I love the Matte White and Brushed Copper. Let's discuss in the comments.