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so last week i talked about fuel chews i didn't like and ended up not choosing as my fuel to train with. so today i'm going to talk about stuff i do like!
i was so set on using chews during my half marathon, so in addition to trying the three i talked about in my previous post, i also grabbed some clif shot bloks in black cherry...yeah, it was a lot of chews. i wasn't crazy about the flavor of the black cherry, but my boyfriend had grabbed a strawberry flavor to try for himself, and we swapped bloks, and i really liked the strawberry!
strawberry clif shot bloks. having found a chew that was not only tasty, but highly recommended in the sports community, i was set! i used them during a long run and felt great stomach wise, so i definitely was excited thinking i found my race fuel. plus, i did some research on them, and they have enough calories per pack to only need to carry two during a half at the pace i'm planning on going! win.
final verdict? 5/5
i was so happy and set on my fuel. however, last thursday, i was at the bar celebrating the end of the school year when i began talking with a student from a class i ta and learned she is a professional running coach! we began talking about training and fueling and i told her i was using shot bloks. and then she frowned. she asked me if i had used gels and i said no, and she recommended that i at least try them, as the composition of gels make it to where they are absorbed in your body much quicker than chews. i told her about my worries of the texture of gels, and she recommended honey stinger gels, which tend to be smoother.
vanilla honey stinger. so, i got a vanilla honey stinger gel. i originally wanted the acai pomegranate, but it was sold out, which i took as a good sign. honestly, it wasn't bad! it wasn't as thick as i was expecting, and seemed easy to eat while running. i could see how some might not like the texture, but it was definitely something i could deal with. i also felt instant energy, which i liked. i decided to ditch the shot bloks, despite the fact i'll need to carry three of these to get me through the race.
final verdict? 5/5
so these are my two race fuels of choice. i'm going to be using honey stinger gels, but i recommend shot bloks if somebody really can't down the gels.
