Runners (or cyclists): Jelly Beans vs. Gu

cyclerjenn · May 2012

My hubby is a marathon runner and he swears by chia seeds soaked in water overnight. It makes a gel that has both carbs and protein in it.

Thanks I will need to try this. My doctor changed my diet last night so I need to stick to high protein snacks while exercising and leave out the carbs.

VMarkV · May 2012

Any kind of candy will work. Jeff Galloway recommends plain sugar cubes. If you are concerned with electrolyte then you can just drink it instead of plain water.

You could actually use Molasses too since it's loaded with electrolytes. You simply add molasses to white sugar (making brown sugar) and then form them into cubes. Molasses is also very hygroscopic like honey - good for keeping in water/hydration.

arc918 · May 2012

All this stuff is about personal preference. When it come to this type of stuff, we are each study with a sample size of one.

The different brands & flavors of gels all have different tastes and textures. I happen to find Clif way too thick and generally don't care for the taste of GU. When I go on my long run tomorrow, I will have margarita flavor Clif Bloks as well as peanut butter GU. I like the variety between the two.

I love eating jelly beans, but I found the sports beans to be too sugary for my tastes while running.

I've also been known to eat tootsie rolls and gummy bears.

cgd67 · May 2012

GU vanilla bean

Microfiber_wechange · May 2012

This thread has reminded me it's time to go out jogging again

millionsofpeaches · May 2012

Jelly Belly makes Sport Beans... They are really good.

I despise GU's -- The consistency makes me want to yack.

NUUN is a tablet that you pop in with your water... It is an electrolyte tab and tastes great.

roadrunner32 · May 2012

For my long runs I use fig rolls, Zym tablets and glucose sweets

http://www.britishsweets.com.au/shopmastery_pop.php?code=I00010&name=Oatfield+Glucose+Fruits+(170g)&brand=OATFIELD&cat3=BOILED+SWEETS&reduced=0

Azdak · May 2012

This thread reminds me of a story from my first marathon.

It was the 1980 Columbus Banc One Marathon. I trained with a running group and several of us were doing the marathon so we ran together at the start of the race. One guy in our group--Danny- was an atypical runner. He was not fat, but he was about 5'8", 180lbs and built like a fireplug. He was at least 10 years older than the rest of us and had a physical, blue-collar job. His 10K time was 5-6 min slower than mine, but he had a dogged determination and never stopped on a run, no matter how bad he felt.

We ran together for the first 1/2 of the marathon. At about 11 miles, Danny started complaining that the pace was too fast for him. He went on and on to the point where I was both annoyed and also felt bad that maybe I was ruining his race. I was feeling really comfortable, so, at 13 miles, I started running faster. While I felt fantastic for the next 5-6 miles, I was undertrained and it started to catch up with me. By 20 miles, I was struggling and by 24 Miles, I was walking.

As I staggered in the last 2 mi, Danny came roaring past. As usual, his face was beet-red, and he appeared to be on the edge of a heart attack. He yelled at me to run with him, but I was unable to do so. I finished a few minutes later and I mentioned that it looked like the pace WASN'T that fast after all, given his finish. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a plastic blag full of sugar-covered jelly beans. He said that he always carried them when running marathons--he started sucking on them around mile 16-17 and said it gave him extra energy to finish the race strongly.

He then thanked me for helping him set a marathon PR and walked away.
I think I flipped him the bird behind his back.

CarsonRuns · May 2012

I don't like to chew while I am running, so the gels work better for me. That being said, you don't really need them for anything under 90 minutes. Your body should have enough fuel stored for that time period. With THAT being said, I think it's better to train without supplemental nutrition and use it on race day. Train the body to use it's own fuel stores as efficiently as possible and then supplement that on race day when you really need it.

I hate when people say that you don't need them under 90 minutes. Everyone is different, and I can say, as a smallish girl in a calorie deficit, I absolutely cannot run for 90 minutes without Gu. I can do an hour. That is all. My body simply doesn't have enough stored energy to go past that and I can feel the energy depletion and I've ended up stranded a few times because people kept saying it's all psychological so I kept trying. I can run a half marathon, I'm not an amazing runner, but I was doing a 13 mile run weekly for a while. I tried carb loading the night before, the day before, the day of, and I cannot run more than 60 minutes without supplemental energy.

I bought my last box of Gu from Amazon and they had mistakenly posted a box for the price of a unit ($1.36), so including S&H my box was like $6. It made my day

Hate? That's pretty strong.

My comments are based on scientific research that states that the normal glycogen load will provide about 90 minutes of fuel. If you are eating a carbohydrate deficient diet, then you very well may use up your glycogen in an hour. This really has nothing to do with the size of the individual. It's not about training your body to go beyond a certain point. You can't train you car to go another 100 miles after it hits empty, just like you can't train your body to run on empty.

In your case, with your carbo loading attempts, two days before would probably have been better. I'd also contend that it could be a combination of fitness and fuel. The faster you run, the faster the body burns up that fuel too and has to use fat reserves which it can't burn as efficiently

You can also hyper load glycogen, and with proper pacing, the body is capable of running a marathon on stored glycogen.

Science, not just someone spouting off here.

michellekicks · May 2012

I use Honey Stinger Organic energy chews on my long runs of over 1 hour. I like to train to eat on the run so that on race day I can eat on the run. I can feel the energy burst a few minutes after eating one. I start early in my run, though, with 1 every 20 minutes or so for the first hour and then one every 10-15 minutes after that. Basically I go through a pack of 10 on a 90-120 minute run. It's 160 calories in total and they're all organic. No, I don't sell them. I just like them more than anything else I've tried.

http://shop.honeystinger.com/categories/Organic-Energy-Chews/

tenunderfour · May 2012

For long runs (2 hours or longer) I eat Clif bars and jelly beans. I usually have a bite of a bar or a few jellies every 6 miles or so if I know I'm going 12+. I can't stand Gu or sports beans.

zoom2 · May 2012

I use GU...but I dont use anything if its under an hour. Im addicted to the PB ones! On my last half...I did a gell..a clif bar and about 20 pretzel m & ms. I ran really well

Wow, that is a LOT of heavy food for a half...I would have been pukin' on more than the Gu. On my last half I just did sports drink...nothing more. I don't know many runners who can tolerate much more than gels during race effort.

Mabohlale · May 2012

The chia gel ratio is 1 part chia seeds to 9 parts water. 1 T of chia seed has 2 g of protein and 6 g carbs. My hubby has tried Gu and sport chews on other distance runs in the past; but the chia gel really gave him the endurance that he was looking for; not just the quick blast. It's a complete protein (like quinoa). He mixes it in small zip loc bags and puts a few little baggies in the pouch from his number on his club jersey. Then when he needs a boost he just pulls one out, rips the corner of the bag open and sucks the gel down.

Runners (or cyclists): Jelly Beans vs. Gu

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