After my last ultra, I wanted to make some adjustments to my gearing choices. My 10 litre bag was full to the brim with food, water and clothes and weighed close to 7kg! I saw others in the race with nothing more than a camelbak. "Where is their food? " I thought, plodding along with my heavy pack whilst they trotted off into the distance.
I was a great believer in proper food over manufactured supplements. I'd rather have some jaffa cakes and chocolate raisins any day of the week, but enough of these for a 50 miler, going on 12 hours, was what filled my bag to bursting point and ultimately ruined my race.
I did some research and came to the conclusion they must be using gels! So I thought before my next ultra I would try survivng solely on gels for food in long training runs. One an hour, 12 gels, is a lot less space than 12 hours worth of jaffa cakes!
Gu seem to have a very good name in the energy gel industry, so I went for them. I am a fan of coffee, and the Espresso Love were the cheapest, so I went for a box of them. I was hoping they weren't cheap because they were horrible!I have used them in training for a few weeks now and I am pleasantly surprised. I love the taste, they haven't felt sickly sweet at all yet, I think the bitterness of the coffee helps, as I've heard complaints of other being too sweet!
As for performance, I didnt notice any improvements from eating normal food, which is good. I wasn't left feeling hungry on one gel per hour, and I could maintain my usual pace for the usual time.
My only criticism is how thick they are. In cold weather, you basically have to chew them. Best to take with a little water and mix it in your mouth into a paste!
I feel confident that I would be able to survive for upwards of 5 hours on these things, I feel like I would want a little real food for a 12 hour run, but for the majority of the time, these will be all i will carry.
You can buy a pack here GU Energy Gel, 24-Pack Espresso Love
