The Running Event (TRE) Nutrition Recap

The Running Event (TRE) is an annual conference and trade show that brings together running brands, retailers, media, and professionals in the running space. This is my third year attending as a sports dietitian, and I was able to visit over 40 sports nutrition companies, ask questions, learn about their brand, try their products, and get a glimpse into new products and see where running nutrition products are headed in 2026. 

As a sports dietitian, I am constantly observing our nutrition landscape as runners. My goal is to find products that actually support our performance, recovery, and provide options to support the many different nutrition preferences of runners. 

Unlike the shoe industry that can create new foams, plates, and shoe tech yearly, nutrition is not quite so sexy. We are working with three macronutrients – fat, protein, and carbs. We can’t create new ones. But, I love to see companies continuing to follow performance nutrition trends from the latest research and adjust their products to give runners what we are looking for to support our training.

Each year, I take away a few trends that new products fall into. And, this recap will walk you through these trends, products I discovered or learned more about, and how these might fit into your performance nutrition plan. 

Caffeine is one of the most well researched, effective, and legal performance enhancers for runners. Many of us choose to consume caffeine pre-run to help us wake up, empty our GI tract, and increase focus. But, caffeine can do so much more than this for overall running performance. 

Caffeine can reduce perceived effort and fight off fatigue. Caffeine blocks a neurotransmitter in our brain that signals tiredness, which can translate for runners into being able to hold onto race pace longer in races. Caffeine has also been shown to improve endurance performance by allowing us to maintain faster paces for longer. It can also improve mental tenacity, focus, and grit in the later miles. Caffeine also decreases our perception of pain, which is advantageous in the later miles of a race when it gets hard to hold on mentally and physically. 

Research shows that we need 3 – 5 mg caffeine per kilogram of body weight just before and/or during our race. I found that many sports nutrition companies are increasing the amount of caffeine that are in their nutrition products to help runners meet these amounts.

First up was Noogs Sour Energy Chews. I met the Noogs team last year at TRE and quickly fell in love with their sour chews, that their cofounder is also a dietitian, and that one bag of chews packs 38 g carbs and 300 mg sodium. This year, they added two new flavors to their line up that contain 100 mg caffeine for bag. For those who don’t know, caffeine is a very bitter substance and is not easy to mask that at high amounts. But, Noogs nailed with their Poolside Pop and Strawberry Lemonade flavors. 

Honeystinger chews are doing something similar. Currently, their Stingerita Lime caffeinated chews have 50 mg caffeine per bag but in 2026 they have a new Berry Blast chew coming out that packs 100 mg caffeine in just five chews. 

As someone who travels a lot and cannot always handle gross hotel coffee makers (does anyone else worry what’s growing inside of these between the layers of plastic?!), I often head out for runs under-caffeinated. Stumbling upon Dry Brew, a company that makes coffee chews allowed me to try these pre-run while at TRE, and I was impressed. They make two different caffeine ‘strengths.’ The OG Coffee Chew which has 65 mg caffeine. And, the Double Shot 100 mg caffeine. One thing that stood out to me about this company was their curiosity into my thoughts on the ingredients in their product and their willingness to make changes to meet the wants, needs, and demands of runners. And, I am always willing to nerd out of product creation, ingredients, and ingredient trends. 

No one would be shocked if I reviewed all the new daily electrolyte brands popping up. But what intrigues me more are the new options that make it easier for us to consume adequate sodium during our runs.

Sodium plays a key role in supporting our running performance, especially for heavier and salty sweaters. Sodium supports fluid absorption, helping us hydrate faster. It also allows us to maintain performance in longer, hotter runs. It can help decrease GI issues during and after runs as well. Not to mention, it’s imperative to replace the sodium we lose through sweating. If we can replace some of this while running, it reduces the burden post-run and can speed up recovery.

A massive win of a new product from 2025 is RNWY Salty Carbs. This contains 30 g carbs and 700 mg sodium per serving. And, you can stack this and double up for two servings per bottle, if needed. It comes in Raspberry Lemonade, Melon, and Unflavored. 

Another option would be a higher sodium gel, like Carbs Fuel Salted, which contains 450 mg sodium + 50 g carbs per gel.

Skratch Labs came out with a new product this year, Skratch Electrolyte Booster. This booster can be added to any Skratch product to add 400 mg of sodium per scoop. For heavy, salty sweaters, being able to add 1 – 2 scoops into your bottle on top of your favorite sports drink can be a game-changer for performance.

Over the last few years, extensive research has been conducted to determine how many grams of carbs per hour we can actually tolerate, absorb, and utilize for energy while running. We used to believe that 30 – 60 g carbs per hour was appropriate. Now, we know that many runners are pushing to 90 – 120 g carbs per hour and improving performance. As new research emerges on these topics, we have seen sports nutrition companies respond with high-carbohydrate products to help runners meet these demands. Many different companies have higher carbohydrate products, but here are a few that jumped out to me from TRE. 

Precision Carb & Electrolyte drink mix has 60 g carbs and 1000 mg sodium. Adding this to your handheld and sipping it for 1 – 2 hours on top of your gel routine could make a huge difference in the grams of carbs you consume per hour on race day.

Tailwind High Carb Fuel packs 90 g carbs into one bottle and comes in ginger lime & lemonade flavors. Some of my runners will use this to fuel the first hour or so of their race, then switch to gels. 

Amacx Turbo Gel packs 40 g carbs and 200 mg sodium and comes in citrus & cola lime flavors. Higher-carb gels like these let you continue to fuel every 25 – 30 minutes while consuming significantly more carbs per hour. Amacx also has delicious Turbo Fruit Chews, as another option.

SIS Beta Fuel + Electrolytes also contains 40 g carbs and 200 mg sodium, allowing you to push your total grams of carbs per hour up with fewer gels to carry. 

With the help of retailers like The Feed, we have easy access to sports nutrition products from other countries. Three leading nutrition companies from other countries stood out to me at TRE.

SIS is from the UK and has some fun products like Rego clear whey protein and Beta + Electrolytes, and a strong interest and presence in the research space. I applaud this company for all they contribute towards research to further our understanding of sports nutrition. 

Naak is a Canadian brand that offers more trail-running nutrition options, including bars, waffles, and drinks with protein and fat. But, they have a new, higher-sodium gel for road running launching in 2026.

Amacx is a brand from the Netherlands, and I appreciate that they produce gels with 30 g and 40 g carbs so athletes can easily stack to 60, 80, 90, or 120 g carbs per hour with either product. They also have some fun nougat energy bars that taste delicious. 

Comment below on what products you are most excited to try!