Accelerade, a sports drink that has been sold for years in specialty running and cycling shops, is having its coming out party. As part of the promotion, Accelerade has ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes attempting to break record for most miles run on a hamster wheel in 24 hours. You can view the event live today Accelerade’s website.

Personally, I think riding a 24 hour mountain bike race gets monotonous enough, riding the same lap over and over. I can’t even imagine how grueling (and incredibly boring) it must be to run indoors on a treadmil.

As for Accelerade, it’s a great product, though I’ve heard they’ve made it sweeter. It looks like they’re trying to go more mass-market with a pre-mixed drink and some gel shots to supplement the drink powder. 

Accelerade has been based on a 4:1 carb to protein ratio, the same ratio top coaches and nutritionists recommend for recovery. The little bit of protein aids muscles in the uptake of carbs to replace spent glycogen as well as the uptake of water.

For longer races, I end up abandoning sweeter drinks for Hammer products Sustained Energy and Perpetuem. As the hours roll on, it gets harder and harder to stomach really sweet drinks.

UPDATE 6/25/07: Karnazes finished just under a marathon distance shy of the world record, but that takes nothing away from him. The guy is an amazing athlete. He also raised over $21,000 for ‘Athletes for a Cure’ a prostrate cancer foundation.