I experimented with a Clif Shot today (Read 883 times)

My god it was disgusting! Due to a tight work schedule, my runs on Tuesday usually always suck b/c I don't have enough time to eat,digest enough,stretch, run. I always get a bad stitch, and I always feel like an elephant. So I decided instead of eating a little something when I woke up, I would make just one cup of coffee and suck on a Clif Shot while walking the dogs right before I went for run. To see if there was any energy improvement and less stitches. Well, stitch thing went ok I guess. Just had a teeny one that went away pretty quickly. As for more energy, mile #1 was the usual. Mile 2 I still didn't feel like I could get going much faster, but after 2.5, I DID feel like I could pick up the pace a little. I did that for the last 0. 5 and felt great afterwards. So in a nutshell, I guess my plan did have some benefit. My run was overall a good one, as opposed to an overall bad one. Maybe I will try this again next week- but I definitely need another flavor - Mango killed me! I thought I was really gonna puke it all back up. But I got 2 free samples as some swag so I want to use them up first.

I prefer Gu.

Chewy Candy works for me in the morning =) But definitely coffee contributed to something

I also had another thought while running the other day. Most people on here say that they don' t really need any food prior to running in the a.m., that dinner from the night before is still enough fuel when they wake up. However,for me, I go to bed just after eating a small breakfast (night shift). Usually just a cup of oatmeal, a yogurt cup, or maybe just a piece of fruit. Combine that with not running until about 10 hours later, and its certainly not enough to even get me out the door without a fight. A coffee IV drip would probably be the best solution to all this. But since I can't do that, I think I'll stick with experimenting a little more with quicker digestable items. Or the other solution would be NOT to run on Tuesdays, but then that leaves me without running from Monday- Wednesday. Thus, cramming all my mileage in Thurs-Sun. And I ususally don't run on sundays anyway. That would clearly be too much for my body to handle Sigh! This is so much more complicated than I care for

How about Carnation instant breakfast? It probably wouldn't slosh any more than coffee. Maybe Ensure might give you more energy. I figure if that Karnazes (sp?) guy can run while eating an entire pizza, I can keep a Cliff bar contained. TC

I prefer GU, the coffee flavored one is good. The chocolate tastes like straight hot fudge sauce, yuck. I run on a piece of whole wheat toast and almond butter. Sometimes it is a yogurt, but always coffee. I agree about the IV. I tried the energy jellybeans which I liked but it's really hard to chew and run. I only use that stuff on more than 10 though.

I just feel like i need something a little more than a mini bagel or something. I just dont have time to digest that before i need to go out. I'll buy a few things of GU though, just to see.

I find a packet of instant oatmeal works well (when I eat before I run, which isn't every day). Also, count me in as a Gu is better than Clif person.

IF you don't like the taste of the Clif Shots, try another brand. I personally like the Carb Boom--the cinnamon apple one is my fave.

I'll second the cinnamon-apple Carb-BOOM! It's like cheap apple pie filling. Yum.