Running Advice and News announces our pick for 2007 Product of the Year: Nuun active hydration fluid-replacement drink.

Nuun takes the guess-work out of hydration for endurance sports.

Nuun active hydration is a phenomenal product for marathon runners, triathletes and other long-distance athletes. It handles one of the most important elements of any athlete’s race-day needs: replenishing electrolytes and re-hydrating the body as you lose fluid through sweat.

Electrolytes are critical for the absorption of fluid and an important piece of the puzzle in both staving off dehydration and avoiding over-hydration.

If you’re thinking that Nuun sounds like just another fluid-replacement drink, then you need to see one very important difference. The key distinction is that most fluid-replacement drinks also contain energy (in the form of carbohydrates). The approach with Nuun is to separate your re-hydration from your energy replacement tools.

As an electrolyte-only product, you can keep drinking Nuun without risking the stomach upset that can come from drinking too much of an energy drink to re-hydrate.

Strategically this is important, because if, in a key race, you were using a combined energy/fluid-replacement drink and you developed stomach problems, you could then also lose your ability to re-hydrate. Without a hydration tool, you could be forced into dehydration and a potentially critical situation.

In addition to being a strategically smart product, Nuun is also an amazingly convenient product. Nuun comes in a tablet form, which is carried in a small tube. A tablet can be dropped into a bottle of plain water, turning it into a complete electrolyte solution for re-hydration.

I’ve used Nuun with my athletes for the better part of two years now and I have seen it bring people back from the brink of major hydration problems. It has a mild taste that works even when the stomach is in distress. Personally, I’ve used Nuun at hot races at both the Ironman and 50-mile trail running distance and it has worked wonders for me.

Now for those of you that are avid readers of my columns, you will know that I only occasionally review products. I do this on purpose, limiting my product reviews to those products that I find important for all of you readers. It is my hope that by singling out this one product today that all of you might it in your next long workout and use it in your races in 2008. I think it will really be a help to you.

You can read my original review of Nuun by clicking here.

You can find our more about Nuun at their web-site www.nuun.com.

Congratulations to Nuun for making an outstanding product, one that every long-distance athlete should give their consideration.

Coach Joe English, Portland Oregon, USA
for Running Advice and News (www.running-advice.com)

Disclaimer: no compensation in cash, or of any other kind, was paid to secure this endorsement. There is no relationship between Running Advice and News and the company or companies that make or sell the product in this article.