DIY energy drink/gels

So...  I've been curious about making my own energy gels for some time now.  There are numerous recipes on the interwebs to do it.  But I recently stumbled onto a product called UCAN that a lot of ultra runners use.  And then stumbled onto a great article and recipe here: http://theplantedrunner.com/tag/cornstarch-endurance-fuel/.  I recommend reading Claire's article on the background for using starch as an endurance fuel (scroll down the page to the oldest article.)  It's a quick read, and very interesting.

It took a couple tries to get my version of the recipe right, and I'm still working on it.  But I have my own "chocolate fudge" recipe that I tried this weekend.  It turned out pretty good!  My goal was to have something that was nutritionally similar to Vanilla Gu (which is what I usually have on long runs/skates).  I also wanted to add protein to it, and increase the caffeine.  Unlike Claire's version, I wanted to add sugar to mine (instead of Stevia) so that I could make it more calorie dense.

During the skate, it was a little tough to get it out of the bottle.  I had to squeeze & suck a lot harder than I wanted to.  (Insert dirty joke here you perverts!)  Halfway through my skate, I added a little more water to the bottle and the consistency was much better.  So the next batch I will probably use a full cup of water and see how that goes.  I'd also like to find some Morton's Lite Salt, so that I can just measure that instead of separately measuring table salt and 'NoSalt' for the sodium and potassium.  Anyway, here's the recipe if you want to try it!

Mark’s DIY UCAN – Chocolate Fudge

Liquid starch-based fuel that is an alternative to gels or chews.  Recipe makes roughly 16oz and is nutritionally the equivalent of around 10 gels.  The amount of water can be adjusted to make the consistency thicker or thinner.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups Argo corn starch (https://www.amazon.com/Argo-100-Pure-Corn-Starch/dp/B00JPT9BFW)
• 2 scoops Dymatize Chocolate Fudge Whey Protein (https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/dym/elite.html)
• 3 tbsp Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate cocoa powder (https://www.amazon.com/HERSHEYS-SPECIAL-DARK-Cocoa-Ounce/dp/B00J50PJUM)
• 1 g (~ 3/16 tsp) table salt
• 1.3 g (~ 3/16 tsp) “No Salt” (https://www.amazon.com/NoSalt-Sodium-Free-Salt-11-ounce/dp/B019G3FI7G)
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 4 "Motivation" Herbal Caffeine capsule (https://www.amazon.com/Motivation-Caffeine-Vitamin-Supplement-Capsules/dp/B00C5U96FI/)
• ¾ cup water – can adjust more or less, depending on preferred thickness

Instructions

• Mix all dry ingredients except water in a small measuring cup with a spout.
• Slowly add enough water to your desired thickness.
• Stir thoroughly and pour into a small running bottle.
• Shake before drinking.

Notes

• 1056 calories, 204.4g carbs, 51g protein, 5.5g fat, 640mg sodium, 495mg potassium, 400mg caffeine
• Based on absorbing 60g glucose/hr, entire amount could be consumed in 3 hours (or more)
• About 25% of the energy comes from protein.  Research I found online seemed to indicate 15-33% was okay.
• Most of the carbs are from glucose.  Only 12% are from glucose.  Ideally 33% of the carbs would be glucose.

I'd like to play with some more flavors - I may experiment a bit with a lemon flavor like Claire has on her page.  The chocolate tastes great, but I'm sure I would get sick of it after 7-8 hours.  I do plan on using this at Athens to Atlanta this year.

If you try it, or have ideas to change/improve it, please let me know!  :-)