Review: Tailwind

After running the Leadville 100 and coping with what the founder of Tailwind, Jeff, calls a “gut bomb”; Tailwind was born.

Some of us can cope with just water or electrolytes in our hydration packs and supplement calories with gels, gummies and bars. Hell some guys like Dean Karnazes can run all night, order a pizza  and have it delivered to him while running, and still not puke all over his shoes. For others that dang GI tract is not happy with that mess and can create a mess all of its own.

Tailwind was created to not only hydrate runners, swimmers and adventurers but to also provide clean calories that would settle decently and allow an athlete to perform at their best.

I’ve used Tailwind on a couple runs now and tested it to its full capacity at the 2014 Spartan Race World Championship Beast in Vermont. We all know “on paper” it said the race was 13-14 miles, but GPS data shows it was really anywhere from 16-17 miles. Regardless, it was grueling and if you were not prepared it was going to be a long day. Who am I kidding? For those of us that WERE prepared it WAS still a long day ! But I digress…

I filled my hydration pack with 70oz of water and 2 scoops of Tailwinds Organic Berry flavor and headed toward the starting line. Because it was hard to carry around the whole bag of Organic Berry, I brought along a couple sleeves of the one serving pouches to add later on. One of them had caffeine, how exciting! The flavors were clean, not overwhelmingly sweet which can be a detriment at times, I’m not looking for good taste to be honest, I am looking for results.

I was using a different product two weeks earlier and while that product claims it fought off cramps and the like, I still found myself cramping a bit. That worries me as I knew this Beast course was going to be nearly double the distance and a million times harder as far as elevation goes. I had come to terms with the fact I was going to cramp at some point, even with this new product I assumed it had to happen at some point.

Am I glad I was wrong! I did not cramp, not even once!!

How did it settle as far as digestion went? Well I didn’t barf, so that’s a good thing, right? Honestly, I wasn’t sure about Tailwinds ability to supply the amount of calories I was going to need so I did bring a few Quest bars with me. For these types of races ole Quest bars and I have been inseparable so, yeah I had a few. That said, the calories I got from Tailwind helped keep a continuous stream of energy coming. I really only ate the bars when I knew I was going to need them. It took my 10 hours to finish the race, I didn’t think I wasn’t surviving on the liquid alone. Although, it’s been pointed out to me, had I added more scoops throughout the day I could very well have received my caloric needs.

Hydration? I felt great! I did play it safe and started hydrating days before the event, with Tailwind even that way my system wouldn’t be shocked with a new product on race day. Not once during the race did I feel like I was becoming dehydrated or anything, I felt great. Now if Tailwind could only do something about all the downhill descents and the damage it can do to one’s knees, I can dream right?

Like I said though, it was great to have a constant source of energy coming in, so hydration and calories? Yeah, that’s a no brainer!

I like the fact it is a small outfit over there at Tailwind. They take the time to listen and understand what your needs are. Heck, my bag even had my name hand written on it, made me feel all warm and tingly! lol!

I know one thing for certain, Tailwind will have my back this January at the Winter Death Race, it will be the only thing (minus the water) in my hydration pack!

Product info: http://www.tailwindnutrition.com/

Rating: Excellent, highly recommended!