Tailwind Endurance Fuel ReviewEasy Weight Loss

When you run for longer than an hour or so, you need to use something to refuel and rehydrate during your run.  Over the years, I've tried a lot of products, including all kinds of sugar-laden gels, jelly beans, and chews, along with Gatorade and Nuun.  More times than not I end up with the aching stomach that is known in the running world as runner's gut, and it can take me all day to feel better.

However, I need something to keep my energy up, as I have found out the hard way when my legs turn to jelly and I simply run out of oomph during a long run.  Plus I sweat like a fiend and will finish a run with a layer of salt crystals on my face and body.  But Gatorade gives me runner's gut and the new Nuun formula tastes terrible to me, so I was stuck with just water - at least I was hydrating, but I wasn't replacing the electrolytes.

I read about Tailwind in other running blogs - at first I wasn't sure what it even was, because they kept talking about using it as their fuel.  Was it a liquid, or was it a gel?  I finally had enough of the runner's gut and did a little investigating, and discovered that Tailwind is a powder that you mix with water - it has about 100 calories per scoop, and it provides you with a nice little trifecta in the form of hydration, electrolytes, and energy to replace some of what you're burning during a long run.  It's not sold locally in my area, so I had to order it - lucky for me, Amazon started carrying it while I was looking into it, which was nice because otherwise I'd have had to order it from the manufacturer and pay shipping, and I hate paying for shipping.

I got my first bag, which contained 50 servings, and both Jeff and I started using it for our long runs.  This was back in June, so we gave it a good test over the hot summer months.  My longest runs back then were 5 miles - 5 hot, humid, and very sweaty miles.  The Tailwind worked great and it was all I used for fuel, when previously I might have had a gel/GU around mile 3 if I was running 5 or more miles.  We used up the first bag and I reordered, thinking I'd given it a good trial and was ready to blog about it.  And then I had a longer run where I totally bonked while using it, so I held off on the review.  I ended up having to use some extra fuel in the form of GU, which I wasn't thrilled about because more than one will really make my stomach hurt, but we'd started our training for Houston and our runs got longer, so I didn't have much of a choice.  The Tailwind worked great, but it just wasn't quite enough for me - possibly because I am a slower runner - however, it certainly helped with giving me a steady stream of calories, as I'd take a drink way more often than I was taking a GU, and with every drink, I ingested a few calories.

I feel like a bit of a mad scientist, mixing up our special running potion...er, drink.

We are now on our third bag of Tailwind, and both Jeff and I still really like it.  I mix it up in a pitcher the night before our long run and usually pour some into our water bottles and put them in the freezer overnight, and then add the rest of the Tailwind to the bottles in the morning.  The bag of Tailwind costs $35, which makes it 70 cents per serving, which is pretty reasonable for us.

My favorite flavor is lemon - it's very light, and not at all artificial tasting, nor is it overly sweet.  My water bottle holds 24 ounces, which gets me through most runs on its own, but during my half marathon last month, I stopped at the water stations when my bottle was about half empty and topped it off with water.  An additional benefit to having lemon-flavored Tailwind in my bottle became apparent when, around mile 11, I noticed that as the volunteer was pouring water into my bottle from a plastic pitcher, a bit of debris (probably a small leaf) was poured into the bottle, so I dumped it all out and started with clean water.  I ran on, and when I took my first sip, I realized that the lemon flavoring had been masking the taste of the water, which wasn't very good.  I was really glad I hadn't had to taste that for all 13.1 miles!

As with a lot of things related to running, I'm always on the lookout for something new and magical that will make my running better.  And while Tailwind doesn't make me run super fast nor am I able to get through a longer run without still needing a little extra (right now I'm trying out the Bolt chews - jury is still out as to whether they will affect my stomach but so far it's looking good), it's been a great form of fuel and electrolytes that is working very well for both Jeff and I.  Tailwind didn't provide me with any free product nor have they compensated me for this review - I just wanted to share this with you, in case you are looking for something similar.

from My Journey to Fit: A Fifty-Something's Weight Loss Journey http://ift.tt/2laZrFS
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