Blah, blah, blah… boring! Science, shmience. Take a gander through Google and see what comes up for “glycogen” – very interesting stuff! You see what happens when I get sidelined from my running? You get to read nonsense like this. Sorry! But leave a comment… it’ll make you feel better.
I’m actually a huge proponent of fueling the body for any level of endurance activity lasting 90 minutes or more. From personal experience, I know that my body needs the fuel during lengthy runs that require some hill work. However, I take in a reasonable nutritional diet that’s consistent with the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan, so I know my glycogen reserves are there – I’ve powered out a good number of 15K runs without any energy gel supplements – this is something to be expected given the dietary intake is consistently sound and absent of any metabolic disorder. The point is, if you’re planning on putting yourself on track with a training regimen, and it involves endurance building, it’ll be a worthwhile effort to look at supplementing your glycogen reserves during the activity itself. Carbohydrate loading aside, I’m talking about forestalling glycogen debt for as long as possible during the endurance activity itself. If you’ve ever experienced “hitting the Wall” or what cyclists refer to as “bonking” then you’ll never forget that feeling. Extreme fatigue, loss of energy, and a near shut-down of any willingness to push on. It really sucks. But you get the idea and you know what? So much has been written about this topic that I’m going to just simply jump into what I wanted to say in the first place…
What’s your favorite energy supplement? Can you tell I'm a gel freak? It's sort of an acquired taste I suppose. It's not exactly something I would spread on a peanut butter sandwich, but the thought has sure crossed my mind - so now you know I'm over the edge! It's not pictured above, but I also like Hammer gels by Hammer Nutrition. You don't see any there because I used them all already! But my backup is the crowd favorite, GU (Tri-Berry ...so hard to resist!), and my recent find - Clif Stawberry and Clif Chocolate. Yikes! Delectable delight in a 1.2 oz package. I know - you're totally filled with disgust. Hey, it's not for everyone, but for me I can't seem to get enough of them.
Say, here's something that's rarely addressed: Caffeine - many of these gels have caffeine added to them and some, like GU Strawberry & Banana and Clif Chocolate are clearly marked "NO Caffeine" - but "why?" you ask. After inquiring with fellow gel-junkies, the answer appeared to hover around "rate of absorption" into the body - according to The Journal of Applied Physiology (2008), caffeine serves as a positive catalyst in conjunction with carbohydrate consumption... I mean, let's face it, those gel packs - they're just a pack of sticky carbs (yummy for the tummy!) - meaning that the glycogen is replenished much more quickly during the endurance activity. So what's with the NO caffeine gels? Hey, not everyone wants the caffeine, or needs it. Why do they make decaf coffee? (Personally, I think that's a crime, but that's just me.)
If you decide to experiment and pick up some energy gels one day, just make sure to check the expiration date on those things. I noticed the Hammer Nutrition gels have a shorter shelf life while the others have a little over a year. It shouldn't matter much, with the exception of that greedy gel thief who bought out ALL of the remaining Clif Strawberry and Clif Vanilla flavors from Sport Chalet the other day! (Scoff!) Ehh, it's okay, I didn't like the Clif Vanilla flavor anyway. But I sure hope he/she grabbed a bunch of early expiration date packages!
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