Why Infinit over other products and who didn't use Infinit? (Page 2)

Hammer products for me. Gatorade kills my stomach, especially on the run. Too much sugar.

I can tolerate GE, and actually like it.... so I trained with it since it was on the course. Sure made race day easy. I did carry 2 gel flasks on the bike because I love Raspberry Hammer Gel.

"once you go Infinit you can't go back"

Take the Infinate challenge and you will find out for yourself! Great company with a great product.

Does Infinit have a sponsorships available to AGers?

I use Infinit because it is the simplest nutrition I've ever used.

That would be sweet. I just ordered my first pack of their Clydesdale mix. Hope it keeps my fat butt from cramping and crashing in the HIM.

Infinit was the official drinks sponsor at IM South Africa, but because I had not trained with it I did not want to use it. 

On the bike I stuck with what I had trained with, but I will NEVER use it again.  By the end of the ride I hated it.  It did not cope well in the heat and went off (or at least tasted if it did), so I was drinking mostly water.  I was still a bit nervous to try the Infinit.

By the time I got to the run I figured I did not really have a choice and swopped to the Infinit.  Holy cow!!!!!!  I wish I had swopped over during the bike section.  That stuff was awesome.  I did not have any problems with my stomach and it tasted divine.  I had heard that you should only use that, but at each aid station I grabbed 1 water sachet and 1 infinit sachet.  I would drink out of both and then pour the remaining water on my head (it was hot).  I also ate a couple of sandwiches (I like real food) and had two GU's which were probably not necessary.

I had absolutely no problems with swopping over to Infinit, but I don't usually battle with my stomach. 

I am a firm convert and will be using it from now on.  It suited me and I won't be going back.

I resisted Infinit FOR.EVER. and finally tried it last week as I haven't been able to find anything else that was really going to work and be likable for my long rides this year.

I made up a concentrated 4-hour bottle and used a permanent marker to mark the bottle off by 15-minute portions so I could be sure I consumed it in a regulated fashion. LOVED it - no problems at all and this will clearly be the product for me in the year of my first IM. I thought it tasted better concentrated than not and never felt at a loss for calories during my long ride or subsequent run.

Going on three years with Infiit and I've never had a problem. I had GI issues with Cytomax, warm Perpetuem was hard to get down. I have two formulations like Michael said.

I don't use it for anything under 90 minutes (bike) or 45 minutes (run) unless it's hot/humid.

I wouldn't use anything else at this point.

I have a great half iron nutrition plan already, which includes Gu, NUUN mixed with water, and Boost. But a friend recently let me try Infint on a bike ride. It tasted good, and I even got so far as to create a formula. I think I'd actually save money by switching to Infinit.

But then it dawned on me that it's nice to have the calories apart from the fluid/electrolytes. The amount of water I take in varies greatly depending on the temperature. If it's 50deg, I'll take 20 oz per hour. If it's 95deg, I can take in as much as 60 oz per hour. I mix the NUUN in my water, and I need more electrolytes if it's hot, so it works out to simply drink more. I can control my calories with the Gu, and since it's separate from the water, I don't have to think about changing that.

So, what do you Infinit users do about varying fluid needs?

I liked Infinit because I could custom mix my own drink. I got the calories, sodium, protein, etc. that I needed in each serving. Calories being the very important one.

I could then put in 4 hours worth of servings into ONE bottle. Pretty awesome stuff to go out on a 100 mile ride, with half of your food in a water bottle on the bike. Makes for an easier day.

At my IM, it was ALL I could take in after mile 70 on the bike. My stomach started feeling bad and solids were not going to work. Luckily I had packed extra mix in my special needs bag and had mixed up extra... Plan B... saved my race that day, I'm sure of it. Once you start vomiting, you don't recover. I never did.

One disclaimer though... I think it tastes nasty... so I got the orange flavor pretty mild... and then I mixed in a little bit of orange Gatorade with it to make it taste good. Worked like a charm.

PS- and I figured out in training that if I took 2 sips every 15 minutes... my stomach could handle the calories and I would finish a bottle off in the perfect amount of time. If you train with it, you will figure out what you need to do to space the servings out properly.


Edited by KSH 2009-04-23 8:34 PM

So, do you drink water also? Do you add any electrolytes to that? Just wondering about heat and more water and more electrolytes! It's hot here in NC!

I think Carol brings up a good point about hydration seperate from calories. 

I just ordered Infinit and am hoping to test it on my long ride this weekend.  I prefer to drink out of me aerobar water bottle, so I was thinking that mixing a concentrated formula and marking the concentration mix on the bottle (like others have suggested) so that I can dump the right amount into my aerobar water bottle and dilute it with water (as I would in a race).

Any suggestions on this method?  What do you do for hydration if it is hotter than expected and you are thirsty?  Drink some straight water from the bottle hand ups?  Keep one bottle of water on the bike in addition to the concentrated formula?

Thanks for the advice!

Oh yes, I drink water with it. Infitnit should be viewed as nutrition... NOT as fluids.

Have you checked out the Infinit website? When you make a sports drink you adjust the electrolytes and sodium in the mix... along with protein. Which makes it even more useful, because if you live a hot region you can adjust those levels according to what your body needs.

Also, I live in Dallas, TX (100 degree days are common in the summer and very humid!)... and I raced in Ketucky (95 degrees with high humidity!)... using Infinit I never had cramps, etc.

Infinit should be viewed as nutrition... not as hydration. It's built to restore your electrolytes and to give you the calories you need. You still need to drink water with it.

Well, the mix can be sticky... you would be best served to keep it in your water bottle. Also, Infinit sells water bottles with the servings marked off. It's pretty cool.

If you do a concentrated bottle... you can put up to 8 scoops/4 hours of servings in that one water bottle. If you do that, you won't have to mess with mixing it. With the concentrated mix you can take 2 sips every 15 minutes and wash it down with water... worked perfect for me. I tried to do 1 serving in a bottle and to drink that in an hour... UH, it was too much liquid in my stomach. 2 sips every 15 minutes with water = not too much liquid.

Oh, when making a concentrated bottle, here is the secret... put in 2-3 scoops and add water. Let that mix/dissolve and then do more scoops. Do it slowly. I made the mistake of trying to dump in all the servings and mixing it at one time... DUH!


Finally... don't forget the Gatorade secret! It really does make the taste more tolerable and just a little bit of it will add a lot of flavor.



Edited by KSH 2009-04-28 11:23 AM

I view Infinit as calories and fluid. One bottle per hour....done. Easy and simple.

Which can work if you aren't doing a concentrated bottle. I know in 100+ degree heat and humidity, it's a good idea to drink water as well.

Since I didn't really enjoy the flavor, drinking an entire bottle an hour was not going to work for me.

I think it tastes much better concentrated, so a 4-hour bottle as nutrition (with a sip every 10-15 mins) is much easier for me to consume and stay on track than multiple bottles as hydration.

Living in the Mojave Desert, I tried Heat Mix a few summers ago to great effect, but my rides were much shorter than they are now. I mixed "normal" bottles and used the drink as fuel and fluid, though I usually carried extra water because, well, it's desert.

These days I'm using Perpetuem in a multi-hour bottle and the concept works for me.

Has anyone used Heat Mix, or do you recommend either (a) the Ironman formula or (b) an Ironman-formula-ish custom-blended mix?

I'm hesitant to drop forty bucks on something only to find out I "should have added a little more of this...."

A lot of people claim GI issues. I use Infinit because I sweat a lot. This year year I am moving away. I really like Infinit, but I want to 'live off the course.' I think a lot of us claim GI issues because we do not want to train out bodies to use other products or try them 1-2 times and give up.

 

On another note, if I was racing on courses that supplied Infinit, that would be ideal. Otherwise I have to move over to Gatorade / Gatorade Endurance

Edited by aarondavidson 2009-05-01 11:18 AM

When using the Infinit concentrated bottle, 3-4 hour bottle, how thick is it? I still need to do a lot of expermination for my HIM but one idea to try is to use an AquaCell with concentrate in one and water in the other. Will the concentrate be too thick to use with the straw of the aerobottle?

I went out on a 5 hour bike ride, and tried the concentrated bottle idea with 4 hours worth of nutrition (Boost + Gu mix) and mixed NUUN with water for hydration. This idea worked very well, and kept my energy levels good, so I may buy some Infinit to replace the Gu and Boost.

So, how do you take Infinit on the run course?

I noticed on the Infnit site that Joe Friel has a custom formula. Any opinions on that, over making your own custom one, or using the Ironman formula?

Thanks for the help so far!