One of my big goals for 2024 is to run a half marathon and a full marathon. I did complete a half marathon in 2023, but the one I am planning for 2024 will be my first chipped and timed race, so I am equal parts very nervous for it and also very excited to possibly do my best time yet. I am currently about 2 weeks into my training and so am back experimenting with some different gels.
Now I have tried gels before and for me, they work pretty well. I know however that some runners (or any athletes really) can have a bit of an issue with the gels so that’s why experimenting while training is so important. When you get to race day, you need to be 100% confident that everything you are using works well for you and you have a solid plan about how you will approach the race, and gels are no exception.
Now I am tried this gel during a 13km easy run. I was going at a slower pace than I would usually run at, but that did mean I was on my feet for a longer time than I probably would be had I just been running without following a plan. I therefore took this gel at around 7km, roughly just over half way and after I had been running for about 45 minutes. For my previous half marathon, I took a gel after every 10km, so roughly every hour or so and in honesty I think that was too low. It meant that when I got to about 18km, my legs felt like concrete, and those final 3km were pretty rough. So this time I am trying to have them more frequently.
Another note I feel is necessary to make, is that while these gels are helpful during my runs (or at least I am assuming they are as they do appear to get me to the finish line!) I don’t overly enjoy them. These gels are designed to help with athletic performance, not to be some sort of culinary experience, so whilst I feel that the flavour options out there do help make them a little bit more enjoyable, these aren’t meant to be a snack in any other situation. These are designed to keep your body fuelled in the easiest, most efficient manner. So whilst helpful on long runs, I would never reach for these if I fancied a snack during my work day. I also admit that the whole texture does take some getting used to so…just something to be aware of if you are also thinking about using gels during your training.
Now this pack isn’t very big (40g according to the front) which actually worked well as I could finish the whole packet in about 3 or 4 mouthfuls. Others I have tried have been around 70g and took me about half a km just to get through it. The gel did actually taste of orange too which was surprising. It did give me a momentary boost to my mood (it’s currently very dark and very rainy here in England so my training runs are a test in mental endurance more than my physical endurance) and also woke me up a bit with the tang of it.
Now I personally find gels to be just that little bit too thick. This High 5 one was more watery than others I have tried, but still felt quite sticky in my mouth and made me spend about another half a km licking it off the roof of my mouth, like peanut butter. Now this run was one of those runs where I very much welcomed the distraction from the actual running – some runs do be like that I’m afraid – but I feel on race day it could be way too distracting from the actual ambiance of the entire day. One trick I have found is to have a little sip of water after every mouthful of gel. I find this helps to not only make the gel go down a bit easier, it also stops it from sticking to your mouth. I did also find that the water helped to leave quite a nice orange after taste which again was very welcome on a pretty monotonous run.
Now I got this within a special bundle pack. It was meant for cyclists but I don’t think this made any difference to the packets. I believe you can buy an individual pack of the gel for about £1-£2 depending on where you shop, which seems expensive to me. But then I know that is because it is considered a ‘specialist supplement’ so that does somewhat explain the mark up. However you can easily buy bulk boxes of these for about £5-£20, again depending on how big a bundle you want. For my half marathon, I think I’m likely to need about 6 of these (just to be on the safe side) so it is obviously far more cost effective for me to bulk by these. As well as to help with all of the gels I will need for my longer runs whilst I work out the best timings. Buying in bulk obviously makes these far more affordable and luckily they last for so long that any left overs I have will just be used for my marathon training later on this year.
Taylor Talks Vegan 