Join me as I travel around the country to fulfill my goal of running a marathon or half marathon in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Race Fuel

I haven't tried too many of the different race fuel options that exist, but since I'm training for my first marathon I figured that grabbing some random bar/Gu/chew at a mile 20 pit stop might not be the best idea. Soooo...I bought an assortment and tried some out. On a 14-miler last weekend I squeezed some strawberry flavored Gu into my mouth and almost barfed.  I can't even fathom why so many runners are in love with that stuff. The texture is seriously gross. My friend Lindsey is a big fan of sport beans, which from what I can tell are Jelly Beans in a new package, so I think I'll try those out.
What do you prefer to eat during long runs?
In other food news, I ran and did a short weight-lifting session this morning before work, plus it's Friday so I figured I could treat myself to pizza for dinner. Somehow my dillusional mind convinced me that if I load up my pizza with a ton of veggies it will just negate the negative aspects of the dough and cheese. This is correct, no? Well, regardless it was delicious and I ate every bite of it in one sitting.

Feta Cheese, Olive, Spinach, Yellow Squash, and Green Pepper Pizza. Yummm!
 P.S. - Today is my mom's birthday...so big shout out to her :) I think I'll do a 17 mile training run in her honor. I hope she's sitting by the pool sipping margaritas and thinkin' of me while I'm out there (don't worry - she lives in Florida). Love ya Ma!

Mama Webb


4 comments:

EricG said...

Sam, I remember the first time I ate Gu and I had the same reaction. I did eventually get over that but I also switched to hammer gel. A good way to get the calories without the gag is to mix it into your water bottle. I will mix two gels (200 calories), usually a fruit flavor into a bottle, just adds a little flavor. The other thing I love is to mix hammer's perpetuem (orange vanilla) into a water bottle and add a vanilla gel (That is 370 calories in one bottle). Tastes like a creamscicle. Very good idea to practice your nutrition now not in the race. Good luck. Peace EricG

Puddles of Run said...

When I was training for Disney I tried lots of different fuels too. GU made my stomache sick and I figured the Power Bar one would be the same, but it worked for me! I've also heard of people who had packed a little PB and J sandwhich and cut it in 4's and eaten that. I haven't tried it... but since you are experimenting it might be worth a shot!

Samantha said...

Thanks for the tips! I'll have to try mixing with water...and a little PB&J snack doesn't sound bad at all! I did try the cliff shotblocks this weekend and although I wasn't in love they were much, much better than the Gu.

Unknown said...

I like regular gummi bears as fuel. Also, Blackberry Gu or Vanilla/Orange Gu. I found this new Gu like stuff, Chocolate #9 that is all natural and quite good too. Good luck on your training runs.
I've run a bunch of halfs in Oregon when you are ready to come out here!