Article by Mike Postaski
Skratch Hydration Sport Drink Mix
2.91 LB bag - 60 servings (20g per serving) $54.95
The “Hydration” mix slots in as your standard sports drink mix - basically for any type of activity. You can pretty much tell because they didn’t give it any kind of fancy name. Out of the three formulations I have been testing, this one has become my go-to on a day-to-day training basis. I’ve even purchased a couple of extra 3 LB bags to keep me going.
I like the ease of “mixability” and calculation when using this mix. Pop the recommended 1-1.5 scoops into a bottle, a couple of quick shakes and it’s more or less completely dissolved. Ready to go right away - ideal for on-the-go and racing scenarios. Based on my hDrop testing, I’ve discovered that I’m a salty sweater, so the high-ish sodium content works very well for me.
At the recommended “Heavier/Saltier Sweaters” mix level, I put 1.5 scoops into 16oz and get 600mg of sodium. So for 1L of liquid I would be getting roughly 1,200mg of sodium which is a good baseline for me. I’ve seen readings of 1,400+ in my testing. Your sodium rates will vary!
With that 600mg, I also get an even 30g, which is a nice round number and makes calculations easy. A couple of bottles and you’re at 60g, again, which is a good baseline. Throw in one gel, then you’re pushing close to 100g carbs/hr. No crazy calculations necessary, no fuss.
Perhaps the best feature of the Sport Drink Mix is the flavor. They advertise using real fruit for flavor, and I think this is noticeable. I detect a light sweetness as opposed to the syrupy artificial taste of a lot of sports drinks. For me, this goes down easier, which is probably the most important factor - allowing me to drink more.
The new Strawberry Lemonade flavor is really tasty, almost too good. Sometimes I’m tempted to just have some outside of training. I also wanted to try something more “basic” so I went with Orange for the ones I purchased. That one also tastes smooth and lightly sweet. Basically you can’t go wrong!
Some quick back-of-the-napkin calculations on the value of the hydration sport drink mix.. 60 servings x 20g carbs = 1,200g carbs. Compare to a typical 30g gel: 1,200g/30g = 40x 30g servings. $55 / 40 = $1.38 per 30g of carbs !
Scratch Super High-Carb - Sport Drink Mix
1.85 LB bag - 8 servings (100g per serving) $41.95
So now the names get fancier - “Super High-Carb”! The high carb revolution is here in endurance sports, so it makes sense to try to experiment with hitting those high carb numbers in different ways. I’ve typically used gels, and never fully liquid hydration. But there’s definitely been times when the gels stop working, often mid-race. If you’re like me, it’s probably worth exploring liquid fueling options.
In the past, with other liquid fuels, the sweetness and sugariness has been an issue for me. I just couldn’t stomach the overly sweet mixes needed to hit the higher carb numbers. This super high-carb mix from Skratch Labs is something completely different from other mixes I’ve tried.
Right off the bat, the taste is almost neutral, with just a hint of citrusy-taste (I have the lemon + lime flavor). With that much carb in the mix, it has something of a thicker texture, and I think the flavor is just there to offset the thickness and just to make that feel less weird.
The main component of this mix - Skratch Labs calls it “Cluster Dextrin” - a highly-complex carbohydrate which digests easily and steadily - that comes from the package. I was told that the molecular structure is more of a matrix as opposed to a chain, which allows it to stay together longer and more or less spaces out digestion.
One cool aspect of this formula is that you can adjust the amount you mix to hit the carb numbers that you want. In my test video HERE, I use 5 scoops per 16oz bottle, 2 bottles over 2 hours, to easily hit 80+g of carbs/hr with no discomfort. I actually finished my second bottle early and could have easily taken in more if I had some.
The instructions on the pack recommend 2-7(!) scoops in 16-20oz of water, so that’s a wide range of carbs you can adjust. I’ve tried the full 7 scoops on treadmill workout runs to hit an even 100g per 20 oz bottle. Those test runs went perfectly fine, and actually it was so much easier to worry about drinking a single bottle during my workout as opposed to thinking about gels and other mixes, etc.
A couple of things to note - the sodium content of the high-carb mix is not as high as the regular Sport Drink Mix. Even with the full 7 scoops, sodium is less at 400mg. So at least for me, I’d have to figure out how to get more sodium. An option is to mix less scoops of the high-carb mix, and add a different higher sodium mix. I find all of Skratch’s mixes to be highly flexible in terms of mixing and matching and varying the concentrations.
One big downside is the mixability of the high-carb mix. It’s definitely hard to mix and dissolve in a regular sports bottle. It clumps up pretty good the more scoops you add.
For my treadmill runs, and even that first test run, I premixed in a blender bottle with a wire ball inside to break up the clumps. This would not be possible during the race for me since I’m typically self-supported. But in a situation where you have a crew to prepare your fuel and hydration, this of course would help.
Between the Super High-Carb and regular Sport Drink mixes, I think Skratch provides an all encompassing hydration and fueling solution. I continue to experiment with different mixes and sometimes randomly just throw scoops in bottles for test runs. I have yet to have any type of gut issues, or any hint of sloshy-ness. I attribute this mainly to the light and comfortable fruity taste. So I encourage you to experiment with your hydration - Skratch is the perfect baseline!
Some quick back-of-the-napkin calculations on the value of the super high-carb mix.. 8 servings x 100g carbs = 800g carbs. Compare to a typical 30g gel: 800g/30g = 26.7 x 30g servings. $42 / 26.7 = $1.58 per 30g of carbs - pretty good compared to typical gel prices!
Scratch Hydration - Everyday Drink Mix
4.2 oz bag (120g) - 30 servings (400mg per serving) $27.95
Skratch also offers an electrolyte-only drink mix, which contains no sugar. They call this their “Everyday” drink mix. This is comparable to tablets like Nuun and many other brands that are meant to be used during the day, but not necessarily for training. You could definitely use them for training though, if you prefer to get your sugar/carbs from other sources.
The lemon + lime mix has a very light citrusy flavor - and of course it is unsweetened. So it’s just a touch of lime as opposed to the other mixes which are still slightly sweet. I’ve tried this typically later in the day, perhaps after an early workout just to make sure I’m re-hydrating consistently.
The sodium level is 400mg per scoop, so this could be used potentially as an additive to the other mixes if you’re a salty sweater like me. I haven’t experimented with mixing this one in just yet, but I’ll keep you posted if I settle on a mix ratio that really works well - especially with the long summer ultras coming up.
Please watch my sweat rate/fueling/hydration test videos @HumbleRunning:
Skratch SUPER HIGH CARB - NO SLOSH !!! // Adidas Agravic 3 Training
Don't let HYDRATION derail YOUR race | RUN with hDrop
Do you REALLY need to measure your sweat rate?
Mike Postaski currently focuses on long mountainous ultras - anywhere from 50K up to his favorite - 100M. 5'10", 138 lbs, midfoot/forefoot striker - he typically averages 70 mpw (mostly on trails), ramping up to 100+ mpw during race buildups. A recent 2:39 road marathoner, his easy running pace ranges from 7:30 - 9:00/mi. From 2022-23 Mike has won the Standhope 100M, IMTUF 100M, and Scout Mountain 100M trail ultras, winning the Scout 50M in 2024. He also set a CR of 123.74M at the Pulse Endurance Runs 24H and completed the Boise Trails Challenge on foot in 3 days 13 hours, besting the previous record by 7 hours. Mike's shoe preferences lean towards firmer, dense cushioning, and shoes with narrower profiles. He prefers extra forefoot space, especially for long ultras, and he strongly dislikes pointy toe boxes.
2 comments:
Scratch Hydration - Everyday Drink Mix may be the most suitable for me and other women trailrunners. Where can I buy this?
Try amazon or any running or cycling stores usually sell them,it’s good reliable stuff
Post a Comment