Sundays are my long run days!
The other day I scored an AWESOME deal on fuel! The idea with runners fuel is that your muscles can only store a certain amount of carbohydrates at one time. Enough energy for around 75 minutes of running at peek performance before the body starts having to source energy through less available sources.. the result is that if you run more then 75 minutes at a time you will often find you hit a bit of a slump. Fuel comes in loads of different gels, jellies and sweets and is normally comprised of very simple carbohydrates that are supposed to be easy on your stomach (important when you body is focusing on keeping your legs moving, not your digestive system!). In general for my long runs I don't often use fuel, I just tough it out. Since I am not in training for any sort of racing and gel is expensive It doesn't matter to me too much how much I run, and I would rather save the calories for an after run treat! When I found this Vooma Energy gel in Home Bargains the other day for like 40 pence each I couldn't resist giving it a try! I must admit I was quite wary, my stomach is incredibly sensitive (I can't eat within 6 hours of a run without having terrible cramps) and the flavour sounded quite artificial. But I have tried shock blocks before (a jelly energy option) without too much trouble so I thought I would give it a try! thus begins my energy gel tale. I set my speed on the treadmill up a bit and started on my 14k. My plan was to wait until 60 minutes in and then start slowly sipping away at the gel. I figured it would give me something to look forward to and still give my body time to refuel before the 75 minute mark. The smell when I tore open the pack was not great. a bit like chemical laden ice cream syrup. but surely something that is basically pure sugar couldn't taste bad right? Well the good news is that it didn't taste so bad... a bit like coffee syrup with the texture of honey. but the way it coated the inside of my mouth made the whole experience incredibly bizarre. perhaps this is the case with all energy gels but I couldn't get over how weird my mouth felt! I took another squeeze and then washed it down with plenty of water. "not bad" I thought to myself as I continued to run.. My stomach seemed to cope so 5 minutes later i went to suck on some more. Now the packed is designed quite a lot like a ketchup packet, you tear off the corner and suck out the contents. unfortunately this packed design has the tear off portion on a higher up corner of the packet, it makes perfect sense if you are looking at it, the packet forms a bit of a funnel towards the hole. unfortunately in my mouth it felt totally weird and I ended up putting in the wrong corner of the packet... you can imagine the results when I squeezed... my gel packet turned into a volcano all over my face, my arms and the treadmill. needless to say I was mortified. Things just went from bad to worse, my stomach could not cope with the gel, even spread out over the course of 20 minutes, at 13k I had to call it quits. To it's credit, I did improve on my 13k time by a minute which is quite a lot! I did feel a bit of a boost, but I don't know if it was from the embarrassment, the distraction of trying to wipe off all the gel, or if it was because of the fuel. Perhaps for someone with a stomach less wussy then mine this stuff would be great! but for me I am afraid it will be retired to the back of my cupboard for another day when I am feeling more brave! If you have tried fuel before have you found any you like in particular? I would love to give another type a try at some point!
If you want more info on runners fuel and how to use it properly please check out the following links!
http://www.active.com/nutrition/articles/how-to-fuel-on-a-run
http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/how-eat-during-long-runs
The other day I scored an AWESOME deal on fuel! The idea with runners fuel is that your muscles can only store a certain amount of carbohydrates at one time. Enough energy for around 75 minutes of running at peek performance before the body starts having to source energy through less available sources.. the result is that if you run more then 75 minutes at a time you will often find you hit a bit of a slump. Fuel comes in loads of different gels, jellies and sweets and is normally comprised of very simple carbohydrates that are supposed to be easy on your stomach (important when you body is focusing on keeping your legs moving, not your digestive system!). In general for my long runs I don't often use fuel, I just tough it out. Since I am not in training for any sort of racing and gel is expensive It doesn't matter to me too much how much I run, and I would rather save the calories for an after run treat! When I found this Vooma Energy gel in Home Bargains the other day for like 40 pence each I couldn't resist giving it a try! I must admit I was quite wary, my stomach is incredibly sensitive (I can't eat within 6 hours of a run without having terrible cramps) and the flavour sounded quite artificial. But I have tried shock blocks before (a jelly energy option) without too much trouble so I thought I would give it a try! thus begins my energy gel tale. I set my speed on the treadmill up a bit and started on my 14k. My plan was to wait until 60 minutes in and then start slowly sipping away at the gel. I figured it would give me something to look forward to and still give my body time to refuel before the 75 minute mark. The smell when I tore open the pack was not great. a bit like chemical laden ice cream syrup. but surely something that is basically pure sugar couldn't taste bad right? Well the good news is that it didn't taste so bad... a bit like coffee syrup with the texture of honey. but the way it coated the inside of my mouth made the whole experience incredibly bizarre. perhaps this is the case with all energy gels but I couldn't get over how weird my mouth felt! I took another squeeze and then washed it down with plenty of water. "not bad" I thought to myself as I continued to run.. My stomach seemed to cope so 5 minutes later i went to suck on some more. Now the packed is designed quite a lot like a ketchup packet, you tear off the corner and suck out the contents. unfortunately this packed design has the tear off portion on a higher up corner of the packet, it makes perfect sense if you are looking at it, the packet forms a bit of a funnel towards the hole. unfortunately in my mouth it felt totally weird and I ended up putting in the wrong corner of the packet... you can imagine the results when I squeezed... my gel packet turned into a volcano all over my face, my arms and the treadmill. needless to say I was mortified. Things just went from bad to worse, my stomach could not cope with the gel, even spread out over the course of 20 minutes, at 13k I had to call it quits. To it's credit, I did improve on my 13k time by a minute which is quite a lot! I did feel a bit of a boost, but I don't know if it was from the embarrassment, the distraction of trying to wipe off all the gel, or if it was because of the fuel. Perhaps for someone with a stomach less wussy then mine this stuff would be great! but for me I am afraid it will be retired to the back of my cupboard for another day when I am feeling more brave! If you have tried fuel before have you found any you like in particular? I would love to give another type a try at some point!
If you want more info on runners fuel and how to use it properly please check out the following links!
http://www.active.com/nutrition/articles/how-to-fuel-on-a-run
http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/how-eat-during-long-runs