Fuel for the Road

The amount of money I spent last year on "exercise nutrition" is ridiculous.  Gels.  Clif bars.  Hornet juice.  Gatorade.  At $1 a pop for most of these (and that's when you buy in bulk on the internet.....) a long run costs me $5-7 in Gu and Gatorade, and a long ride can be $10-15.

And let's be honest - most of it tastes like....  well, not very good.  

At about mile 80 of the Ironman, I reached the point where any packet of gel made me want to vomit.  I couldn't stomach Powerade anymore.  All I wanted was real food,  which they didn't have in the ride, so I ended up not fueling properly and getting severely dehydrated.  I survived the marathon on chicken broth and potato chips, and had an IV in my arm minutes after crossing the finish.

I couldn't even look at Gu for months without feeling sick.  To this day I can't even smell blueberry pomegranate, which they served on the course.

Since then I have discovered that real food not only tastes a lot better, it also is radically less expensive.  I still use Gatorade for the electrolytes, but I've stopped with the rest of it for the most part. My favorite long ride snacks at the moment -  

1.  Jelly beans

2.  Gum drops

3.  My own trail mix made of Teddy Grahams, almonds, and dried cranberries.

4.  Candy corn (I pretty much fueled all my October long runs with these.)

5.  7-11 Slurpees

For added electrolytes I will sometimes pop Saltstick tablets with caffeine - they help me if I ever have cramping.  

Someone recently told me about a new gel made with just fruit, sugar cane syrup, and chia seeds.  I looked online and they are $50 a box, so I tried it out on my own tonight.  Here is what I used-

1.5 T of Chia Seed (105 calories)

4 T of Jam (100 calories - use the kind without corn syrup.)

1 T hot water

I put the chia seeds in the blender (dry) and puréed it for 90 seconds.  Then I added the hot water and let it sit for a couple of minutes.  Then add the jam and purée again for another 90 seconds. 

I'm not sure what the texture is of the gel out on the market, but this wasn't quite as smooth as Gu - you could still feel the chia - but I like that.  It was still pretty smooth compared to the chia and almond mike I often have for breakfast.   It tasted a lot better than Gu in my humble opinion.

This made two servings (about 100 calories each) as it was just an experiment.  Now... if I can find my gel flask.....