I picked some up this week and am going to try and introduce it into my training and race routine. I noticed there's a number of ways to mix it  and i'm curious to find out how others use it.

Currently I use a vest (ultraspire omega) with a 2 liter bladder for water, and I also carry a 10 oz flask of gels (clif shots).

I don't want to use anything but water in the bladder, and I don't want to add a handheld bottle either. Should I mix it thick and put it in the flask instead of the gels? should I keep the gels, and add another flask with the perpetuem?

Is it meant to replace gels? I guess I could put it in an extra bottle that i'd stash somewhere along the trail, or put into drop bags.

How do you use it?

I use it in addition to or in place of gels (I have about a gagillion flasks, so I will often carry a flask of each). I make a thick paste and put it in a reusable flask. I put a couple of scoops in a plastic baggie, add water gradually until it's the right consistency (not runny, but not so thick that I can't squeeze it through the flask), cut corner of the baggie, and squeeze it into the flask. Super easy.

Beware when it gets hot, though. The stuff can go bad after several hours in the heat.

I switched to the solids when they came out . I found the mixing and carrying the powder to be a huge pain plus if it gets warm at all it tastes and smells like baby formula . The solids can take a bit of getting used to but in my experience they are much better .

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try it out this Saturday on my long run.

And Lace, that's the reason I was hoping you'd respond. I figured you had a little experience with that stuff, so thanks.

I started using Perpetuem early last fall, and I have used it in both 50-milers, and on some extended training runs.

I found that the thicker mixture (I mixed 4 scoops in a 10-oz bottle) tends to sit in my stomach longer, and over time, this may lead to nausea. I have never experienced serious GI issues, but got slightly nauseous, and then stopped drinking the Perpetuem for a few hours and drank more HEED/water, which resolved the borderline nausea.

I usually mix 2 scoops in a 10-oz bottle, which lasts about 2.5 to 4 hours. I drink HEED (1/2 to 1 scoop in a 22-oz bottle), and at races, I also eat gels (1-2 per hour, but then may go for hours without gels).

At races, where I get gels at aid stations, I found that carrying the drink in my handheld, and the perpetuem in my waist belt (one 10-oz bottle with perpetuem, mixed, one bottle with just the powder to mix later), works well. If I have access to a drop bag, I refill the perpetuem there.

I guess you could also use a waistpack with perpetuem and gel flasks/bottles, and carry water in a handheld. Or use the vest, and carry the bottles for food in its pockets. On longer, unsupported runs, you might carry just refills of the Perpetuem powder in ziplock bags, and mix it in your bottle with water from the vest when needed. To make the refilling easier, I cut off a corner of the ziplock bag, fold it over, and secure it with Scotchtape, so it works like a funnel and is easy to open and pour.

The Hammer Nutrition website also offers Perpetuem in single-serve packets, which are great for races (I cut off the corner, like above), and you can try it without having to pay a lot of money for a big container of something that might not work for you.

I found that I do best alternating Perpetuem and Sustained Energy, as I am a "quick burner", and the Perpetuem alone is a bit too "heavy" for me on very long runs. I do add a separate protein drink (Proasis) around every 20+ miles, though.

Yes, you sip out of it, trying to meter in the proper amount of nutrition. The bottle isn't intended for hydration. Perpetuem is an energy source and should be used similar to gels, but it's a different composition.

I like mixing 2 scoops w/ a 20 oz bottle, that gives me roughly two hours- I'll then use small ziplocks pre-measured w/ two scoops to re-fill

 

I tried mixing it stronger at the end of our R2R2R run and may have simply been coincidence, but I suffered serious gastric distress - again may not have been related at all, but I've used it a lot at 2 scoops and have never had issues

 

lately I've been using one scoop of HEED and one scoop of unflavored Perpetuem, that seems to work pretty well too

You may want to try the Sustained Energy. It's similar to Perpetuem but has different ingredients. They're used the same way though, and some people find they prefer one over the other. Also, getting the right mixture is really important. Hammer has people available to help you define the right products and mixtures based on your objectives and personal experiences with their products. The nice thing about Hammer is that their energy products can be used together in an endless combination of mixes. It's hard to find that with another product line.

I'm kind of a fan of the stuff for really long unsupported runs, as you can carry a lot of calories for very, very little weight, assuming a tolerant gastric system.  If you have water sources along the way, then it isn't out of the question to do 100 miles unsupported on the stuff.  It get pretty gross if you don't wash out the "goo bottle" after about 5-7 hours, and it tends to foam up a bit, so it makes you gassy, but for power-to-weight ratio it's hard to beat.

One way not to use it, however, is the way I did in the last 5 miles of Plain this year.  Too exhausted to mix it in the bottle, I just figured that mixing it in my mouth would be a convenient shortcut.  The difficulty with this assumption is that it fails to take into account the labored breathing of someone who has already run 100 miles and the plaster-like consistency of the resulting compound in one's sinuses after coughing it back out.  I was still hacking up Perpetuboogers the next day.

So the watchword is:  Don't mix it early, but definitely mix it.