If you ever thought making sports recovery drinks at home (think Gatorade, GU Brew, Nuun, etc.) are hard, think again: they are much easier than you think! There are countless products available on the market and in local athletic stores. Over the past year as I’ve learned why it’s important to hydrate runs with sports recovery drinks vs. plain water, I became partial to GU Brew. It was mainly because I liked the flavors and taste. At almost $10 for a tube of 12 tablets, it wasn’t the most economical option but worked.

The below recipe for making your own homemade sports recovery drinks originally appeared in the September 2014 print and web edition of Endurance Magazine. The Endurance Magazine version contains sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda), which helps your body recover after intense workouts by decreasing soreness and stiffness. The original recipe also calls for honey. In my quest to follow a mostly vegan diet [READ: #RapOnTheRun: Thank Y’all + New Health & Fitness Direction], I modified the recipe to make it vegan friendly.

So how did the homemade sports recovery drink turn out? In a nutshell, great! I was able to mix everything in about 5 minutes. It is very easy to make plus I had all of the ingredients already in the kitchen.

I used the modified vegan-friendly version to fuel an 18 mile long run last weekend. Honestly, I could not tell a difference in my performance from using commercial sports recovery drinks that contain baking soda. As usual, there was minimal soreness and muscle stiffness post run. I loved the taste of the homemade version (I made both a lemon drink and a lime drink).

To make sure it wasn’t a one time fluke, I made some more yesterday and used it to hydrate during and after a 9 mile run this morning. Same results as the last time. Going forward, I will continue to make my own sports recovery drinks to save money and will only use commercial products for when I run during out of town trips.

Homemade Sports Recovery Drink Recipe (as appeared in September 2014 Endurance Magazine):
Ingredients:
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey or agave
2 tablespoons lemon, lime or orange juice

Prep:
Combine all ingredients in a container and shake well until everything is mixed.

Homemade Sports Recovery Drink Recipie (vegan friendly version):
Ingredients:
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons organic raw sugar*
2 tablespoons lemon, lime or orange juice

Prep:
Combine all ingredients in a container and shake well until everything is mixed.

*Tip: dissolve the sugar in a bit of warm water before mixing with other ingredients.

Disclaimer: This blog post is by no means meant to diagnosis a condition or prescribe any remedies. If you are having health issues or concerns, you may want to consider getting checked out by a licensed medical professional.

Y’all can connect to me via Twitter (@nancioishiphop), Instagram (@nancioishiphop), Facebook (Nanci O Is Hip Hop) and the blog for all running updates.

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