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(i totally thought i posted this yesterday; whoops!)
so another new thing that i have been toying around with now that i'm training for a half marathon is fuel. sports chews and bars weren't really something i needed for shorter distances like 5ks and 10ks (though i never denied a granola bar post race!). however, i've been warned many times that if i plan to fuel during my half marathon, i want to test it out beforehand to make sure it sits well with my stomach.
these warning always got me a little nervous; i'm very picky about textures and flavors. right away, i knew the gels weren't for me, since even the thought of the thick goo makes me gag. however, the sports chews sounded like a nice alternative to try out, and even bars seemed doable to have right before the race.
and so, the big taste test of 2014 began. you guys, i tried a lot of different products, merely for taste. silly right? but it seems worth it to me to make sure i have something that i'm going to be okay eating a 8 miles in, when eating is the last thing i want to be doing. i did end up getting some favorites out of it, which i'll save for a later post. but today, i'm going to share what ended up being no-nos in my book.
gu chomps watermelon. i love artificial watermelon flavors for most of my candies, so i figured i
would at least like it for my sports chew. wrong. it was so gross to me. they were also really big and hard to chew, which was annoying. also, the package was so friggin' hard to open, i couldn't imagine having to deal with it mid-race.
final verdict? 1/5
honey stinger fruit smoothie. i was hoping these would kind of taste like fruit snacks. instead, they tasted kind of vomit-y individually, and were only half edible when mixed together (like a fruit smoothie, i guess?) however, they were a lot softer to chew than the gu chomps and easy to open, so i'll give them that.
final verdict? 2/5
jelly belly sport beans assorted. okay, so these weren't horrible taste wise. they were kind of like, really grainy jelly beans. there was only one flavor i didn't like, but i know that jelly belly also sells single flavor packs. these probably would have been my go-to, if i didn't end up finding something i liked even more.
final verdict? 4/5
of course, i may just be overly sensitive to flavors, so you should try out what works for you (if your budget allows; this was an expensive taste test!) of course, i'm going to boast about my favorite fuels later on, but now you know how i got to that decision.
are any of these you fuel of choice? am i being to harsh?
