Carbs, energy and conflicting labels have been the main focus of ultra-trail speak on social media over the previous few weeks, all circling round Spring Power’s Superior Sauce gel. In an Instagram submit, Olympic marathoner and ultra-trail runner Reid Coolsaet weighed in on his less-than-ideal expertise with the race gas through the 2023 version of Pike’s Peak Ascent 21K, in Manitou Springs, Colo.–his final aggressive race.
“If I had been consuming Superior Sauce within the peak of my profession or in a race I used to be gunning for the rostrum, I’d be tremendous pissed,” he mentioned.
Coolsaet’s submit comes on the tail of an issue about Superior Sauce that has been steadily gaining steam. In April, an ultrarunner on Reddit shared their doubts about Superior Sauce’s vitality content material. The unique poster, who said that they labored as an environmental chemist, observed that they skilled a “hollowed-out abdomen” feeling after consuming an Superior Sauce gel, which claims to pack 180 energy and 45 grams of carbohydrate. They carried out an at-home experiment with a dehydrator and a kitchen scale, concluding that an Superior Sauce gel offers a runner with solely round 60 energy and 17 grams of carbohydrate.
Whereas varied elites, amateurs and Web trolls weighed in on their beliefs across the content material of Superior Sauce, coach and professional ultrarunner Jason Koop bought some gels and despatched them to an unbiased lab for testing, then shared the outcomes on his web site and Instagram. The decision? Koop studies that an Superior Sauce gel incorporates 75 energy (not 180, as labelled), and 18 grams of carbohydrate (versus the 45 grams claimed on the label).
I despatched Spring Power’s awesomesauce off to a business meals lab for evaluation.
Outcomes-
75 cal vs 180 on the label
18 g CHO vs 45 on the labelThe precise unadulterated report is on my web site free of charge with no strings hooked up. https://t.co/RyWhQxpPFi@spring_energy pic.twitter.com/mu4ex5lQq2
— Jason Koop (@jasonkoop) Might 28, 2024
Coolsaet explains the challenges that committing poor fuelling selections (unknowingly) prompted him. Whereas he struggled through the last third of Pike’s Peak, he assumed it was attributable to altitude (the race finishes at over 4,000m). “I didn’t suppose fueling had something to do with falling aside as a result of I assumed I used to be consuming about 65 grams of carbs per hour,” mentioned Coolsaet, who was ingesting Tailwind and consuming Superior Sauce gels through the race. “Now it seems like as an alternative of 45 grams of carbs in every Superior Sauce there are solely 18 grams (take a look at @jasonkoop’s submit). So I used to be actually solely getting 35 grams of carbs an hour, which isn’t going to chop it when racing for 2-3 hours.”
On the finish of April, Spring Power responded to the Reddit poster, stating that they worth constructive criticism and enter. “Our evaluation helps the accuracy of our product labeling. Nevertheless, we are going to reevaluate to ensure our information is correct,” they wrote.
