Do not sell yourself short, I have picked up quite a few tips from you over the years.
If you decide you are crazy enough to want to log 130 miles of WALKING in a month, Mandy is the one to help!
Dave
Refurbished Hip
I recommend having a psychotic dog that never tires to drag you through those miles.
Running is dumb.
Gatorade and gels should have the same effect. Maybe you'd do better on gatorade alone? I'd use it myself if I could remember to buy it. I rarely do gels in training, but it does happen, 2 or 3 times per training cycle. I only need one pack per LR. I try to stick to lighter flavors, such as lemon and vanilla. Although if I were stuck with something else offered during a race, I'd take it. My stomach doesn't care what brand, what flavor or what the consistency is like. Hey, I can eat cold baked beans right out of the can. I'm like a rat, I'll eat anything.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
I eat cold food every night. lol
I have gone through about 6 flavors of GU and most of them are just plain gawd awful (to me that anyway). I really like the peanut butter flavor (love it in fact) and the salted caramel is good too, but that is after a run. When I am actually running nothing appeals to me.
I am a weirdo I know, it's okay you can say it.
Hey, I can eat cold baked beans right out of the can.
That's the best way to eat them!!
Maybe try switching it up and exploring a different brand.
I don't care for the GU brand of gels. Something has always seemed a little off with the flavor.
Hammer gels are really tasty and have a good consistency to them. Huckleberry is pretty tasty.
Clif Shot razz are the ones I consume the most.
I've also recently tried VFuel gels and their peach cobbler flavor was pretty close to the real thing. The Maple Bacon flavor not so much.
Trail and Ultra Running User Group
The only problem I see with Gatorade is 20oz of G is 120 calories, close to one gel. I don't think I can drink that much through 4-5 miles.
Damaris
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As per McMillan, I have been doing my long runs without gels or carbs of any kind before or during my long runs (well...all runs). I'll start taking them late in my training just to get my timing and stomach ready.
Powerbar gels are much thinner than anything else I've taken. They're watery and go down pretty smoothly.
I like Clif Shots. They ho down much more easily than Gu, IME.
+1. My chiro recommended Cliff Shots so I tried some, and have had them the last year for 2 marathons. The other stuff I tried didn't agree with me.
That sounds like G2, the reduced calorie version. IRRC, regular Gatorade has bout the same calories as soda, so about 250 for 20 oz.