# PowerBar Ironman Perform and Restore, any experience?



## trhoppe (Sep 3, 2008)

I was turned onto the PowerBar Ironman Perform drink by my bike fitter after complaining about my nutrition at my first 6 hour race. I am really loving the drink so far and I have kicked ass (relatively speaking  ) in my next two 6 hour races using this drink. 

I drink 24oz of PowerBar drink and eat 1 GU gel per hour, and then supplement with some water whenever I feel like it out of my 50oz camelback. Has worked like a charm so far. No cramping, great energy, etc.

The only thing that I'm getting tired of is the one lemon lime flavor. Would love for it to have some other flavorings, but no go. 

So what I'm wondering is, anyone used the Restore Orange flavored drink as a sports drink? 

From the ingredient list, it looks like it's pretty much the same thing. A tad more salt, which is never bad, and then 4g of Protein. Figured the Protein would actually be good for a 6hr + race, as it will help with hunger, and the INFINIT nutrition endurance formula has the protein as well. 

The idea was 2 bottles of Perform, then 1 bottle of Restore and repeat for a 6 hour race. That would also make my last bottle a Restore, and after the race I'll have another bottle of Restore for recovery. 

Thoughts? Comments? Advice?

-Tom


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## hammarhead (May 29, 2004)

Oh man, try Hammer products. The only way to go! Read their literature and trust their recommendations as a basis then try minor alterations.


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## trhoppe (Sep 3, 2008)

Not really. And bump..


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## Burning Matches (Mar 14, 2011)

*My experience*

I've tried several sports drinks over the past several years (including Hammer) and Powerbar Endurance seemed to work the best for me, the easiest to drink and the easiest on the wallet. I also use the Powerbar Recovery drink.

Then Powerbar came out with the Ironman, which is essentially the same formula as the Endurance, but more expensive and carries the "Ironman" trademark - i.e. mostly marketing hype. Not long after, Powerbar decided to discontinue the Endurance formula altogether. When I found that out I bought like 10 tubs of the Endurance formula, just to have what I _know_ works for me. When that runs out, I guess I'll have to switch the Ironman formula.

The Endurance formula used to come in three flavors: lemon-lime, fruit punch and sun tea. The sun tea was my favorite but was discontinued a few years ago. I just finished off the last of my fruit punch, so now it is just down to lemon-lime. It is a shame that the Ironman only comes on one flavor. It was nice to have a little variety during long endurance events.

Nonetheless it's a good product and was the first sports drink I tried that eliminate most of my cramping. I've been using it ever since.


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## staylor (Aug 30, 2007)

trhoppe said:


> I was turned onto the PowerBar Ironman Perform drink by my bike fitter after complaining about my nutrition at my first 6 hour race. I am really loving the drink so far and I have kicked ass (relatively speaking  ) in my next two 6 hour races using this drink.
> 
> I drink 24oz of PowerBar drink and eat 1 GU gel per hour, and then supplement with some water whenever I feel like it out of my 50oz camelback. Has worked like a charm so far. No cramping, great energy, etc.
> 
> ...


So how many of the Perform are you drinking per hour?


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## trhoppe (Sep 3, 2008)

Oh man, I still wish the Endurance stuff was out there. Fruit punch would hit the spot! For a lower price, try going to performance bike. It's more expensive "on the shelf" there, but they match any internet price you find. I end up grabbing it for $15 a tub. 

I'm using 3 servings per hour + 1 Gu gel per hour. Works out to 300 calories and a ton of other goodies. No cramping, sustained energy, no bonking. 

-Tom


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## staylor (Aug 30, 2007)

Sorry, I was confused by your comment "The idea was 2 bottles of Perform, then 1 bottle of Restore and repeat for a 6 hour race."

So it looks like you are on PowerBar powder.

If that's the case I see 1 powdered serving of Restore provides 70cals and zero protein. And 1 powdered serving of Perform provides 90cals and 3gms of protein. So 2 servings of Restore and 1 serving of Perform is giving you 230cals per hour plus the 1 Gu you mentioned (typically 100cals) is now 340cals per hour. In my opinion that's a lot of cals per hour but if it's working for you that's great. Shouldn't be too bad up to the 6hr racing mark but if you are planning on going longer (at a race pace) you might want to back off on the cals. Another thing to consider would be the amount of sodium you are taking onboard per hour, but again if that's working for you, great.

As for cost... assuming 2 servings per hour of Perform and 1 serving per hour of Restore, you are paying approx $42 for 26hrs of 230cal per hour fuel (there is an additional 3hr serving of Restore left in the container so instead of $45 for 26hrs I pulled off $3). Add to that the approx $1 per GU and you have $70 per 26hrs of fuel. 

By way of comparison, you can get a solution from Infinit that would work for you, providing 25hrs of fuel for approx $40. 

Not trying to have you switch over to Infinit for any reason other than you asked for comments. I mention Infinit because I've raced lots of multi-hour events on it over the past 4yrs, I have a bunch of athletes who race on custom Infinit blends as well as other athletes who I don't coach. Never had a problem. The stuff works and the pricing isn't too bad.


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## trhoppe (Sep 3, 2008)

Interesting thought actually, and thanks for the comment. The 300 calories certainly works for me now. I'm also 180lbs now. I need more calories then the 140lb racer dude. 

I haven't thought about saying "Hmm, this ratio of sodium, carbs, etc etc works for me, but I want flavors and some protein, so let me make a custom Infinit mix". 

Interesting. I've got a few sample bags and a bunch of Infinit coupons from my last few goodie bags. I'll try that next time so see how the taste is. Thanks for the suggestion!

-Tom


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## staylor (Aug 30, 2007)

Glad some of that helped.

One more thing to think about, I have guys who are racing at your weight and they are on less than 300cals per hour for races lasting longer than 6hrs (typically in the 10-24hr range). It's not always about weight, it's about assimilation at race pace and how your particular system absorbs protein, carbs, etc and deals with osmolality. Everyone is a little different but anything over 300cals makes things 'interesting' after 6+hrs of hard racing.


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