Vega Sport

Ok faithful NMA readers, all the time you've wasted reading my blog might finally be worth a damn!  Brendan Brazier, vegan pro triathlete and author of Thrive, has a new product that's finally available in the U.S., and a lucky reader is going to win a tub of it.

The product is called Vega Sport Performance Optimizer, and it's a sports drink designed to be taken before and during workouts.  If you're familiar with Brendan's training and nutrition philosophies, then you can probably guess that it's made from only the highest-quality ingredients.  The carbohydrate in it is not from high-fructose corn syrup like you get with most commercial sports drinks, but rather from organic sprouted brown rice syrup and organic palm nectar.  This explains why Vega Sport isn't neon green or red like I'm used to seeing with sports drinks.  See?

There are a few more ingredients in Vega Sport, like coconut oil, berries, herbs, roots, and leaves, all designed to work together to maximize performance.  For example, the brown rice syrup is a high glycemic index sugar, so that you get energy right away, while the palm nectar has a low glycemic index, for slower energy release.  For those who are interested, Brendan put together a video where he explains what each ingredient does.

The most interesting choice of ingredients in here, for me, are yerba mate and green tea leaf, both of which contain caffeine.  I discovered this when I drank a double serving of this stuff about half an hour before a seven-mile run yesterday.  As I was watching the end of the Ravens game and letting Vega Sport go to work, I noticed an alarming amount of life-is-good-ness going on in my head, and only after checking the ingredients list did I discover why.  And that explains the warning on the package that Vega Sport isn't for children or pregnant women. (Sorry, Erin and Baby Fraz!)

In Thrive, Brendan is pretty much anti-stimulant, recommending caffeine for an extra boost only before races and your most demanding workouts.  From this I infer that ideally, Vega Sport shouldn't be drunk before every workout and should be saved for the times you really need it.  And this makes me feel a little better about the price tag — let's face it, 50 dollars for 30 servings isn't cheap (but all the better for you, the potential contest entrant).

And if the claims Vega Sport makes about performance are true, then it would be worth it for me.  I won't go into all the supposed benefits, but if you're interested, they're listed on the website.

So how was Vega Sport?  Well, it dissolved easily in water just by shaking it in a bottle; no need for an immersion blender.  And it tasted good — not great.  Kind of like most sports drinks but a little more natural tasting.  Of the two flavors, lemon-lime and acai berry, I prefer the lemon-lime.  But it's close; both are very drinkable.

My trial run with Vega Sport wasn't really an ideal testing environment, because I just did an easy seven miles on the trail.  And I felt good, but I never had to push myself too hard to really see if I noticed a benefit.  So you'll have to check back for that one; I'll definitely give it a try before my next track workout and I'll let you know how it goes.

Ok, enough of my yackin' — giveaway time!  The winner gets a tub of Vega Sport in either lemon-lime or acai berry flavor, like the ones shown here.

I hate contests where you get all these extra points for tweeting, linking back, etc.  They make me not want to even enter.  You will make me a happy blogger if you do that stuff, but it won't get you extra points in the contest.

So all you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this post before Friday, and I'll choose a winner at random.  Nice and simple, huh? Good luck!

Three more things —

1) I earn a commission on any sales that come via my blog.  Nothing to hide here, folks.

2) You might also be interested in my interview with Brendan Brazier, my review of Thrive, and two recipes from Thrive — raw energy gel and natural sports drink.

3) Thanks to Brendan and Kelly from Sequel Naturals for the opportunity to review and give away Vega Sport.

For more natural sports nutrition posts and recipes, check out the Running Fuel page.

Related posts:

1. Vega Shake & Go Smoothies
2. Vega Vibrancy Bars
3. Natural Sports Drink from Thrive
4. Thrive Raw Energy Gel
5. Thrive Fitness