Hammer Nutrition is aimed at serious endurance athletes. As a company, they are super nerdy, rather than marketing-driven. You won’t find your drinks in the fridge at a variety store. They make their products for cyclists, triathletes, and runners who are motivated to perform at their best. The website has a lot of good information on the science of fueling for endurance events.
They make two energy drink mixes. HEED (High Energy Electrolyte Drink) is designed for workouts and races of two hours or less, while Perpeteum is intended for longer events. How do they know and do the job?
Hammer Nutrition HEED (high energy electrolyte drink)
Hammer Nutrition HEED has a light flavor that leaves me with the chalky aftertaste that high sugar drinks have. The heat quenches thirst, so I tend to drink more, which helps prevent dehydration. I think if you don’t like to drink, then you don’t drink enough. The energy source in HEED is maltodextrin, which I believe is the easiest on the stomach of the different carbohydrate sources available. I don’t get the gut rot feeling that often accompanies the more popular commercial energy drinks. As you get a few calories with each drink, the energy is very even without the spikes that can come from high sugar energy drinks. In addition to carbohydrates, HEED has a full-spectrum electrolyte blend that will help the body absorb fluids and help reduce the chances of muscle cramps. For really hot weather or if you sweat a lot, you’ll still need extra electrolytes in longer wrinkles. I add Hammer Nutrition Enduralyte powder to my bottles to customize the electrolyte load as I sweat a lot and it is very salty so I lose a higher percentage of electrolytes. At around 100 calories per serving (suggest mixed with 500-750ml of water), you won’t get enough energy in an hour on your own if you push yourself hard. For wrinkle training of 3 hours or less, I will supplement a bottle of HEED per hour with a couple of gels. For shorter runs HEED is sufficient on its own. The price is good for the quality at about $30 for a 32-serving container. HEED is available in lemon, melon, strawberry and orange flavors.
Hammer Nutrition Perpeteum Extreme Endurance Fuel
For those long races or century old rides, Perpeteum may be the answer. It contains a mix of carbohydrates, fats and proteins in a ratio that studies have shown increases endurance and reduces muscle breakdown. Like HEED, they also have added electrolytes, but if you’re a heavy sweater or it’s hot, you may need to add more to reduce muscle cramps. In addition, they have added complementary ingredients that some evidence shows help improve performance, such as sodium phosphate, L-carnosine, and L-carnitine.
I treat Perpeteum as a food rather than a drink as it has a grainy consistency so I don’t find it as thirst quenching as HEED. I mix several servings in a smaller bottle and use that to get a little every 15 minutes.
You can mix it up three different ways depending on what works for you.
- Single bottle per hour which has about 260 calories. You’ll also get much of your liquid from just one bottle.
- Bottle of several hours. Mix as many servings in a single pot as hours of racing or training. For ultra-endurance events, this can mean more than one bottle. The mixture will be a bit thick, so you will need 600-1000 ml of water per hour from another source.
- Paste. Mix it thick like a pancake batter. Put it in small tubes or jars that you can get at the camping store. Use the pasta for calories and get your fluid from another source.
If you can find a system that works for you, Perpeteum works great. The energy is released steadily and is easy on the stomach. I can’t say if the extra ingredients increase performance, but having a steady stream of easily digestible calories certainly does. I like the fact that with this and the electrolytes I don’t have to think about fueling during long events. At a certain point, you have a hard time keeping things straight in your head and I don’t want to have to remember if I ate or drank enough. I don’t care about the taste or the consistency of the dough, but some people can’t swallow it. Try it out in training before trying to use it during a major cycling event.
Overview
I can recommend Hammer Nutrition HEED to everyone, but you will have to experiment to see if Perpeteum is the right fuel for your long distance cycling events.
