News

Tailwind Nutrition Review: Is the All-in-One Endurance Fuel Worth It?
Tailwind Nutrition is an all-in-one endurance drink that puts your carbs, electrolytes and hydration in a single bottle, built for runners who are tired of juggling gels, chews and salt tablets on long efforts. We stock it, we use it on our own long runs, and we get asked about it constantly. So here's our honest take: what Tailwind actually is, who it suits, the sugar question everyone asks, and whether it earns a place in your kit. What Is Tailwind Nutrition? Tailwind is a powdered endurance fuel you mix... Read more...
What Is ORS and When Should Runners Actually Use It?
ORS stands for oral rehydration solution, a precise mix of sodium, glucose and other electrolytes that pulls water into your body faster than water on its own. Most South Africans first meet it as the stuff you give a toddler with a stomach bug. But the same science that rescues a dehydrated child is exactly what a runner needs after a 30-degree long run or a Comrades training block. Here's what ORS is, how it works, and the specific moments it beats your normal hydration tab. What Is ORS (Oral... Read more...
Sports nutrition for women: South African female runner training
Sports Nutrition for Women: What Female Athletes Actually Need (A South African Guide)
Most sports nutrition for women in South Africa was written by people who treat women as smaller men. It isn't. If you're running, riding or playing sport here, the generic... Read more...
Comrades Marathon Training Nutrition: How to Eat for the 12 Weeks Before Race Day
Most Comrades fuelling guides cover race day. But the race is decided before you toe the line. The 12 weeks of build-up training is when you teach your body to burn fuel efficiently, train your gut to handle race-day intake, and lay down the glycogen base that gets you up Polly Shortts. Here's how to eat through the Comrades buildup so race day is the easy part. Why Pre-Race Nutrition Matters As Much As Race Day Comrades is decided in two places: the long Saturday training runs and the back... Read more...
Energy Gels for Runners: When to Take Them, How Many, and How They Actually Work
Most SA runners use energy gels wrong. They take them too late, take too few, or take the wrong kind for the distance. The result: bonking at km 30, GI distress, sugar crashes, and a finish-line that feels worse than it should. This is the practical "how energy gels work, and how to use them properly" guide we wish someone had given us before our first marathon. What Energy Gels Actually Do Your muscles store glycogen (the carbohydrate form of energy) in two places: your muscles themselves and your liver.... Read more...
Hydration Drinks vs Electrolyte Drinks vs Energy Drinks: What's the Difference?
Walk into any SA pharmacy or sports shop and the shelf is full of "hydration drinks", "electrolyte drinks", "energy drinks", "sports drinks" and "recovery drinks". They look almost identical. They aren't. We get this question on WhatsApp every week from runners trying to figure out what they actually need. Here's the practical breakdown for SA athletes. The Quick Answer Each drink type does one specific job: Hydration drinks replace water lost through sweat. Often water with light flavouring. Sometimes a token amount of electrolytes. Electrolyte drinks replace minerals lost through... Read more...
DripDrop ORS Review: The Doctor-Developed Hydration Solution for South African Runners
If you've trained for Comrades, Two Oceans or even a hard 32km Saturday long run in SA summer, you've felt that special kind of broken at the end. Headache. Nausea. Heart still hammering hours later. That's not just being tired. That's severe dehydration, and a normal sports drink isn't going to fix it. DripDrop is what we reach for instead. Here's an honest review of what it does, who it's for, and where it fits in a SA athlete's hydration plan. What Is DripDrop ORS? DripDrop is a medical-grade oral... Read more...
What's the Best Carb Gel for Running? A South African Runner's Guide
The science of carb gels has changed dramatically in the last five years. Old advice said 30 grams of carbs per hour was the upper limit. New research has pushed that to 90 grams or more for trained guts. Most SA runners are still fuelling with outdated information and wondering why they hit walls in long races. This guide explains what carb gels actually do, the difference between brands, and how to pick the right one for your distance. What Is a Carb Gel and How Does It Work? A... Read more...
The 32Gi Sports Nutrition Range Reviewed: An Honest Guide for SA Runners
32Gi is the homegrown SA sports nutrition brand that took on global giants and won shelf space in every Dis-Chem in the country. Their low-GI philosophy is genuinely different from what most international brands offer. But with eight different products in their range, runners often don't know which 32Gi product they actually need. We stock the full 32Gi range and have tested every product on training runs from parkruns to Comrades. Here's the honest breakdown. What Makes 32Gi Different From Other Sports Nutrition Brands Most international energy gels are built... Read more...
Running Supplements: What Actually Works for South African Runners
Walk into any Dis-Chem and you'll find a wall of supplements claiming to improve your running. Most of them won't. A handful genuinely will. The trick is knowing which is which without spending R3,000 to find out the hard way. This guide cuts through the noise on running supplements in South Africa, based on what actually has research behind it and what we use ourselves. Do Runners Actually Need Supplements? Honest answer: most don't, most of the time. If you're eating a balanced diet, sleeping seven hours and running three... Read more...
Running Nutrition for Beginners: A Simple Guide for New South African Runners
Starting running in South Africa is easy. Starting to eat properly for running is where most beginners get tangled up. Every website tells you something different. Carb-loading, intermittent fasting, protein shakes, fasted runs, keto, electrolyte this, gel that. Ninety percent of it doesn't matter for your first six months. This guide is what actually helps when you're new to running and trying to figure out how to fuel it. What Beginners Actually Need to Know About Running Nutrition If you're running three to four times a week for 20 to... Read more...
Comrades Marathon Nutrition Plan: A Practical Fuelling Guide for 2026
Comrades isn't won by the runner with the best legs. It's finished by the runner with the best fuelling plan. 87km on roads that pitch up and down through the KZN midlands, in unpredictable June weather, burns through glycogen in ways a normal marathon doesn't. Most first-timers DNF not from injury but because they bonked at 60km with no real plan for what to do next. This guide walks through the fuelling approach we use with our own team. Why Comrades Nutrition Is Different From Standard Marathon Fuelling A standard... Read more...