On runs more than an hour or two, it is necessary for runners to refuel. The idea of eating while exercising is enough to turn most people's stomachs. I've tried bananas, jelly beans, fruit snacks, dates and Lara Bars as refueling foods. Once I was describing to my daughter how I'd need to eat a little something every five miles or so on a run of 13 miles plus. She said, "I'd love to have snack time; I guess I'd want to run six miles so I could run five and then have a snack!" Not quite how it works, but I used her enthusiasm for snack time to reshape my thinking from, "Oh ick, can I stomach this," to "Hurray for snack time!" There are a number of commercial products made for fitness enthusiasts. Probably the most popular one is Gu. Since Stephanie is training for a marathon and will need to seek out some good fueling options, I thought I'd share this article I saw in Runner's World. I had no idea there were so many flavors. A couple of years ago, both of my brothers-in-law, Stephanie and I were all training for marathons. At Christmas time, I bought the brothers-in-law Gu samplers so they could try lots of flavors and decide which they'd like to use for their marathons. In the spirit of Merry Christmas To Me, I got one for myself, too. For the rest of the winter and into the spring, I'd blindly dip my hand into the box and pull out the number of Gu's I thought I'd need plus one, just in case. I'd stick them in my coat pocket and each snack time was a total surprise. I always thought that the fruit flavors sounded most appealing, so it was interesting that some of my favorites turned out to be Vanilla Bean, Peanut Butter and Salted Caramel. I ended up getting a good buy on a whole box of Peanut Butter...too much of a good thing. From reading the article, I saw that Totally Naked was not a popular flavor. That sounds like licking a pot of Vaseline. Yuck! I am currently working on Week 2 of my training plan. So far, so good. While my runs are not as fast as I'd like them to be, I'm steady and getting those quicker paces done. This Saturday will be a good test with two faster miles inside a 10 mile run. Hopefully the weather cooperates. Feel free to share your long run fueling strategies in the Comments. What is your favorite flavor of Gu, or what would you like to see them add as a flavor? Enjoy the run, and the snacks! Happy running--Missee
1 Comment
Sandie
2/2/2018 05:28:05 pm
I don’t think I will need yucky gu at the stomp.
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AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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