I am looking for a different way to fuel myself during a race and training. I have tried gels and can not get past the texture and throwing up. On my longer treadmill runs i have actually ate a few cookies and had good success. I am a picky eater so what else is out there? My first race of the season is a few weeks out and I don’t really have a good fueling method.
try dates…and not the dried ones! Have you tried the Bloks or any forms of them?
The texture of gels used to bother me too. You could try Honey Stinger gels? For some reason the taste and texture don’t bother me on those. I’ve just had to force them down and now GUs don’t bother me. I’m picky as well though. I can only stand GU or Honey Stinger brand gels.
Honey Stinger waflles, honey stinger chews, gu chomps, fruit leather and a drink with more calories like Carbo Rocket 333 are alternatives to GU that have worked for me.
Have you tried mixing the gems in a flask with a little water or putting them in your drink/aero bottle to change the consistency?
Ever try Fig Newtons, boiled in lots of salt small red potatoes, bananas, small sandwiches? Those worked for the sixty or so years of endurance sports before the advent of Goo, processed calories and super fluids. Those are real foods and are good for you too. The salty potatoes in a baggie are super easy to digest , taste pretty good, and are cheap.
Someone gave me a donut hole at mile 8 of a half marathon this weekend, that was great. You should stock up on donut holes.
Seriously though, there are a lot of options. My current go to are all of the Stinger products. I love the waffles but they don’t really lend themselves to being eaten on the run, however their chews have the best (read: most like candy) texture to me.
If you do try the waffles, I would recommend maybe breaking it up into quarters and placing it in something easily accessible rather than the package it comes in.
Do you ever mix your gels in with your sports drink? You lose all of the gross texture and get all of the fuel.
x2 (x3?) on Honey Stinger Waffles. Love those things, though as others have stated they are not as convenient to consume. I like the idea of cutting them up into quarter pieces ahead of time.
X2 on the stinger products. The honey shots are pretty clean and dont have the gel textures. Tastes like honey cause it is honey water and B vitamins.
Dates are also great. You can puree them and mix with water to make it to down and digest easier.
Shot Blocks–the crack cocaine of energy goop. You have been warned.
Gummi bears, similar to chews, but super cheap. Rice Crispy treats. You can get some serious calories in a bottle with maltodextrin + little flavor. Also, Coke and Red Bull.
I eat a lot of gummies in training, since that is my favorite candy. I love the bloks and the cola powerbar chews, but they don’t have shit on Haribo happy cola, peaches or tropifruiti. The local Czech gummi bears “jojo” are fricken great too. For drink i buy bottles of fruit “soda” syrup and mix my own and add some salt depending on length and temperature. This is so much cheaper then wasting money on “sport nutrition” sugar+salt for training. Race nutrition i have figured out well for distances up to a half and i stock up on Infinit every year at the sale and use it for the week leading to the race but i know my body likes it. I also eat lots of the 100 calorie quaker granola bars or Kudos bars in the states. I get them at costco. Here in Europe i like the “corny” bars.
If you can eat cookies while running, maybe try BonkBreakers. They taste fantastic. I love them when riding, but probably couldn’t take something that dense when running. It isn’t really any denser than a cookie though.
Powerbar Energy Blasts are also a good alternative (all of the brands make something similar), but again, best for riding and maybe inconvenient or difficult to digest while running.
EFS gel is very calorically dense and I have found that you can water it down considerably and still get a lot of calories out of a flask. If you can stand the taste, maybe experiment with that and see if you can get it to a good balance of consistency and calories. I have used this method for the run portion of HIM races in the past with good success (just held onto the flask while running).
Try honey… Local Apieries typically sell it in bulk. I buy it by the gallon, $30… Flavors vary by season… I put it in flasks and eat it straight. Cheap, natural, easy, no trash left behind… Whats not to love?
Have you tried Hammer Perpetuem? I have had issue in the past with trying to handle gels in races so this is what I’m trying now. So far in training it seems to be working out.
Can get all your nutrition in a liquid form and no artificial preservatives either.
What’s wrong with cookies? If they work for you, use them. Why waste the money on something more fancy? I use regular food as much as possible.
What’s wrong with cookies? If they work for you, use them. Why waste the money on something more fancy? I use regular food as much as possible.
x2 use cookies if they work. And try different varieties as well. I prefer Fig Newtons as they are moist, and don’t melt in my pocket. But seriously they aren’t much worse than many of the bars and gels.
Also I have had success with adding an scoop of maltodextrin to my Gatorade which doubles the calories and doesn’t do much to affect the taste. I also use fruit leather in training as it is much cheaper than gels.