MORE FUEL, CAPTAIN!!

My half marathon is next weekend, and in anticipation, I’ve been trying all sorts of different kinds of fuels to get me through it. In reality, I probably don’t NEED fuel as much as I would in a Marathon, but when I was running my 10 miler, I found that at about mile 7 or 8 I felt like I needed a bit of extra sugar, or SOMETHING!

I’ve found, for me, that I should eat about 30 minutes before the race starts, if I don’t, it’s cramp city. Race morning breakfast is usually a plain bagel with peanut butter and lots of water. Here are some mini reviews of some of the race fuel that’s out there!

Kind Bars are super yummy…but full of lots of little pieces such as dried fruits and nuts…plus they are pretty chewy. Not idea for consumption WHILE running, but not a bad natural snack to eat a little while before. My Favorites are the Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew and the the Dark Chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt!

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CLIF SHOT Gel is probably the fuel that I’ve tried most, and if I time it right, it’s not too bad…however if I don’t. Cramp attack! For this reason, I don’t think this would be a good mid-run choice for me. Plus, the only flavor I’ve had that I can halfway stomach is the Razz favor… All the others just taste like sweet goop. This one is at least a little juicy.
The only other Gel I tried was the Hammer gels…But I got it in a race bag and ate it after the race, so all I can tell you about that is that the Tropical Fruit Flavor was eatable.

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I just tried the CLIF SHOT BLOKS for the first time at my last race. I timed it too late and got really terrible stomach cramps right before mile 2. I had the Black Cherry and while it caused me physical pain…they were really good. The consistency is quite gooey. (Think a really tough fruit snack.) I liked eating them as a quick source of sugar in every day life…but I don’t know if I would trust them mid-race. I could easily imagine myself choking on them while trying to chew them. But lots of runners do use them, so I guess it just depends on your preference.

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The easy winner for me through all of these are Bonk Breakers! They are the official fuel of the US Cycling team and the IRONMAN races. Basically, they are a granola bar. You can get them in two different sizes. The normal bar, that comes in LOTS of different interesting sounding flavors (I’m very curious about the almond cherry chunk!), or you can get the bites, which are little granola nuggets. They come in 4 flavors (so far..) and I really like the Blueberry Oat but I have one more flavor to try before I make any official statement! I think I’m going to end up carrying a couple of these with me when I run next weekend. I don’t know if I’ll even need them, but I’ll be happy to know that I have them if I do!

Have you tried any of these?
Are there any that you would recommend?
Have you had to fuel during a half?