I run with a 500ml run of the mill Evian/buxton or whoever bottle no probs. tried camelback in the past, heavy and rubs eventually.
I do occasionally run with music, I'm still debating whether to run with music here or not or will the crowds/spectators provide me enough entertainment to keep me going??
Gels for me on the nutrition front prob around 3 maybe 4 gels. Only water to drink though. Don't take gels with energy drink, you will over carb your body and you will feel like your running out of energy, however, the problem is that you have actually saturated your body with energy and it can't absorb it so creates a bottleneck around the receptor sites because there isn't enough water there to bind with to help absorption. You become dehydrated as the glucose/fructose etc sucks all the water from your cells This creates a feeling of low energy/hitting the wall.... So what will you do?? That's right take more energy on board... Only adding to the problem.
By separating hydration and energy, (gels&water or alternating energy drink/water), you are providing a water rich environment and the glucose/fructose etc will digest quickly and give you constant energy. That's why manufacturers point out 'take with 300ml of water'.
The same also applies to isotonic gels, but to a lesser extent, you still need water to digest them just not as much.
