Latest / Find Your Edge: Training, Nutrition + Longevity for Endurance Athletes / Energy Gels: What They Are, How They Work, and How to Choose the Right One Ep 145
Transcript
- 0:37Coach Carlie: Alright, hey friends, welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast.
- 0:40Coach Carlie: And today is a deep dive into everyone's favorite workout treat.
- 0:46Coach Carlie: And that being gels, so I am here with my trusty dietetic intern, Emily Q.
- 0:53Coach Carlie: So thanks again for preparing this presentation.
- 0:56Coach Carlie: And you know, nothing like a deep dive into gels.
- 0:59Coach Carlie: Would you agree?
- 1:00Coach Carlie: Of course.
- 1:01Coach Carlie: Um I feel like everyone has such different experiences with them.
- 1:05Coach Carlie: So I completely agree.
- 1:08Coach Carlie: And I think that that is uh a great segue into what the heck are gels?
- 1:13Coach Carlie: Should I have them?
- 1:14Coach Carlie: Should I not?
- 1:15Coach Carlie: So, Emily, jump in, give us the things.
- 1:20Coach Carlie: Why should we do a gel?
- 1:22Coach Carlie: What are they?
- 1:23Coach Carlie: And uh and take it from there.
- 1:25SPEAKER_00: All right.
- 1:25SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks for having me, Chris.
- 1:27SPEAKER_00: Um, if you have been doing endurance sports for a while, you've probably seen, heard, or used gels before.
- 1:35SPEAKER_00: They're pretty much little packets of quick carbs, quick energy that you're supposed to take, like either right before or during a like a long run or ride or just heart like long effort in general, usually over 90 minutes.
- 1:51SPEAKER_00: And they can just be a lot of people don't really like the sensation of eating while they run.
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: So if if it's not like an ultra event or anything, a lot of people rely on these during their races.
- 2:02Coach Carlie: Yeah, absolutely.
- 2:03Coach Carlie: Cool.
- 2:04Coach Carlie: So just like you said, it is a convenient source of quick energy.
- 2:09Coach Carlie: And like we were talking before we started, there's so many of these gels, which like kind of blows my mind because it's like, how many iterations of small amounts of sugar can you have?
- 2:21Coach Carlie: And clearly a lot.
- 2:24Coach Carlie: A lot, a lot.
- 2:26Coach Carlie: So you have a picture, and we don't have any connections to these brands.
- 2:29Coach Carlie: This is just for your education to so that you know that there are so many different things on the market.
- 2:35Coach Carlie: And in our fueling hydration boot camp, we have a massive list of all of them.
- 2:39Coach Carlie: We're up to almost 200 different products.
- 2:43Coach Carlie: And that's just, I feel like that's like barely scratching the surface.
- 2:46Coach Carlie: It's it's not, it's more than scratching the surface.
- 2:48Coach Carlie: But here there's edge, there's goo, there's morton, there's precision fuel.
- 2:55Coach Carlie: I don't even know what the other two, victis, maybe, and uh I'm gonna do Amex.
- 3:02SPEAKER_00: I hadn't heard of those two either when I put this picture on the case.
- 3:04Coach Carlie: They're big in the cycling world, but you know, I in my head I say it to myself, but I don't actually say it out loud.
- 3:11Coach Carlie: So apologies if I just, you know, murdered the name of that.
- 3:14Coach Carlie: But uh honestly, it doesn't matter what you choose or if you choose these.
- 3:18Coach Carlie: So give us a little bit more info on these gels, Emily.
- 3:22SPEAKER_00: All right.
- 3:22SPEAKER_00: So one of my favorite things to tell people is to buy them in the single serve packets because a lot of times they're sold in bulk in like big boxes.
- 3:33SPEAKER_00: And while that if you know what you like and want to save money that way, that's great.
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: But especially if you're just you're new to gels or you're looking to expand your gel variety, you really want to just try them one at a time because it's not gonna be good if you buy a whole box and realize that that gel doesn't work for you.
- 3:52SPEAKER_00: So a few ways you can do that is to go to uh thefeed.com again, not sponsored, but it's a great resource to try all kinds of different fueling sources.
- 4:03SPEAKER_00: And your also your local running store can also provide a lot of these gels in the single cert.
- 4:09SPEAKER_00: You can just buy them one at a time.
- 4:11Coach Carlie: Yes.
- 4:12Coach Carlie: And shout out to our partners, Inside Out Sports.
- 4:15Coach Carlie: They are local and they're also online, and they've got a great selection of different items, as well as Bull City Running.
- 4:25Coach Carlie: I just think they have like the best nutrition wall and it's it's beautifully arranged in both of their stores.
- 4:31Coach Carlie: They're located in, they have two locations in Durham.
- 4:34Coach Carlie: You just walk in and I feel like I'm like walking into like the Mecca of gels.
- 4:39Coach Carlie: So highly recommend if you want to literally put your hands on something and you don't want to necessarily shop online, those are two good places to check out some gels.
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 4:50SPEAKER_00: I really love going to the running stores to try them out too, because then you can really get a feel for the size of the packet and like the cons you can feel the consistency of the gel a little bit, whether you prefer the thicker ones or the runnier ones.
- 5:03SPEAKER_00: It just gives you more of a it's it's the same thing as like shopping for clothes in person versus online, you know?
- 5:09Coach Carlie: Yeah, you can touch it, you can, you know, you can squish it, and then you can have a conversation with the folks behind the counter.
- 5:17Coach Carlie: And they're generally always like super passionate and they have an opinion on gels, and at the end of the day, that's what matters is so knowledgeable your opinion and you know, finding what works best for you.
- 5:29Coach Carlie: So yeah.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: Speaking of finding what works best for you, if if you're new to gels and trying a variety, it's really good to try them out in like your long runs and your workouts and just like simulating how it might affect you during a hard effort like a race.
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: So that's like my one one of my biggest tips is to just experiment.
- 5:49Coach Carlie: Yes, totally.
- 5:51Coach Carlie: And I do want to emphasize that just because you're an endurance athlete or identify as one does not mean that you have to consume gels.
- 6:00Coach Carlie: They are surely a convenient package that is easily carried alongside with you in, you know, a shirt, a sports bra on the bike, however you're gonna actually physically carry it, it's a surely a convenient option for carbs.
- 6:14Coach Carlie: There are a million other ways that you can get carbohydrates, but this just happens to be, you know, a super easy way to do it.
- 6:22Coach Carlie: So you've got another tip here for us, Emily.
- 6:25SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
- 6:26SPEAKER_00: I would say usually if you're doing some sort of race event, they're like if it's long enough, they're probably going to offer some gels on the course, usually in like the later miles.
- 6:37SPEAKER_00: So if you can look up what kind of gels that they're going to offer.
- 6:42SPEAKER_00: I know in races that I've done before, I'm a runner.
- 6:45SPEAKER_00: So I I've done a lot of half marathons, a full marathon, and like they would usually offer goo, the that's the brand that they would offer at their aid stations.
- 6:56SPEAKER_00: So a great way, if you don't know where to start, is to check what kind of gel your course offers and practice with that because in case you run into a bit of a sticky situation and you're later in the level of the case.
- 7:08SPEAKER_00: I see what you did there.
- 7:09SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
- 7:10SPEAKER_00: If you if you run into any issues later in your race, then you can grab a gel from the aid station and you won't be worried because you've it's tried and true.
- 7:21SPEAKER_00: You've done it before, you've practiced with it.
- 7:23Coach Carlie: Yes, that's just or if you find you don't like it and you're gonna carry something yourself, then you know, that could also be.
- 7:29SPEAKER_00: That's valuable info too.
- 7:31Coach Carlie: Right.
- 7:32Coach Carlie: Absolutely.
- 7:33Coach Carlie: Because it again, just a reminder, at the end of the day, they're all pretty much iterations of the same thing.
- 7:38Coach Carlie: Right.
- 7:39Coach Carlie: So and we get deeper into like different types of carbohydrates and our fueling and hydration boot camp.
- 7:44Coach Carlie: So that's coming up soon.
- 7:46Coach Carlie: But we give you some examples.
- 7:47Coach Carlie: So, Emily, start off with probably the OG on the market, honestly.
- 7:52Coach Carlie: I don't know that for sure.
- 7:53Coach Carlie: I might be making that up.
- 7:54Coach Carlie: That might be fake news friends.
- 7:55Coach Carlie: But yeah, tell us about goo.
- 7:57SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so goo, everybody, this is probably the most recognizable gel, I'd say.
- 8:03SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go ahead and talk about like the primary like nutrition facts that we're interested in for each of these gels.
- 8:11SPEAKER_00: You'll find that as we go through them all, they're very, very similar, at least when you break them down to the basics.
- 8:18SPEAKER_00: But let's talk first about the goo.
- 8:21SPEAKER_00: Like the on the left is their like most basic common like form.
- 8:25SPEAKER_00: I the just the regular energy gel.
- 8:28SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 8:28SPEAKER_00: In one little packet, there's 100 calories, 23 grams of carbs, a little bit of caffeine, a little bit of sodium, but not much, not really much of either.
- 8:37Coach Carlie: And that's not necessarily the standard.
- 8:39Coach Carlie: This one's but that you chose specifically.
- 8:41Coach Carlie: This is the jet blackberry with caffeine, and it says it on the label.
- 8:44Coach Carlie: So that's true.
- 8:45Coach Carlie: If you don't want caffeine, then obviously choose the one that doesn't have caffeine on the label.
- 8:52Coach Carlie: But yeah, but you know, then you see what you're getting.
- 8:55Coach Carlie: It's it's 1.1 ounces by weight, right?
- 8:57Coach Carlie: So you know that it's one ounce, you guys.
- 9:00Coach Carlie: It's one ounce.
- 9:01Coach Carlie: It's not right.
- 9:02Coach Carlie: So like it's easy to yeah, to stick in a shorts pocket or put on your bike or whatever.
- 9:09Coach Carlie: But I like how Emily has broken it down here because again, at the end of the day, it's calories.
- 9:13Coach Carlie: And then some companies add in, like goo here, adds in some caffeine.
- 9:20Coach Carlie: And then you have another gel as a representation of how the variations exist.
- 9:27SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so this one is is also from goo, but they call it their like Roctane Ultra Endurance energy gel.
- 9:36SPEAKER_00: And from what I can see on the package, the only like real difference to the the one on the left is that it has a little bit more sodium.
- 9:44SPEAKER_00: But again, in the in the grand scheme of things, if you're doing a long race, it's not like that much more sodium.
- 9:49SPEAKER_00: That's that's really it.
- 9:51SPEAKER_00: And it it boasts on the package some more um amino acids.
- 9:55SPEAKER_00: But I put that note up there on the top of the slide that like extra amino acids aren't really necessarily helpful because when you're in that race, you're you're looking for carbs, you're looking for quick energy.
- 10:07SPEAKER_00: Your body does not really prefer to burn protein for energy unless it like really needs to.
- 10:12SPEAKER_00: So as long as you have that steady stream of carbs and your body is also utilizing fat stores for energy, the amino acids really don't matter here.
- 10:21SPEAKER_00: So that could just be a marketing tactic.
- 10:24Coach Carlie: Yes.
- 10:24Coach Carlie: So they they are branched chain amino acids, which are some of the few ones that can actually be used from the muscle.
- 10:30Coach Carlie: But is it gonna buy you that much additional energy?
- 10:36Coach Carlie: And also, no, it is more expensive.
- 10:39Coach Carlie: It is.
- 10:39Coach Carlie: If you care, but again, if you're like I only use rock taint, knock yourself out.
- 10:44Coach Carlie: Like I'm here for it.
- 10:45SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know?
- 10:46SPEAKER_00: So we can see that uh for the goo gels, the carb source they like to use is uh multidextrin and fructose primarily.
- 10:54Coach Carlie: Cool, yeah.
- 10:55Coach Carlie: So there are all different types of sugar sources.
- 10:59Coach Carlie: We're not gonna go into deep into that in here, but we go deeper into that in their fueling and hydration boot camp.
- 11:05Coach Carlie: What is the purpose of each and how does it serve your performance?
- 11:10Coach Carlie: So for the purposes of this, let's get into another brand because so many people are like, oh, I don't know what maltodextrin is, and then fructose is also, you know, I'm scared of that, or I don't know what you guys are thinking, but we're here to educate.
- 11:24Coach Carlie: So some people are like, I want to go with a natural brand.
- 11:28Coach Carlie: So here we are.
- 11:29Coach Carlie: What do we have here, Emily?
- 11:31SPEAKER_00: Here we have honey stinger gels, and as you can see, the calorie and carb content very similar to the goose at baseline, but you can see here that the carb source they use instead is tapioca syrup and honey.
- 11:47SPEAKER_00: So if those ingredients seem more readable to you or just you know feel better for your GI tract, then you know, go for it.
- 11:57Coach Carlie: There you go.
- 11:58Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 11:59SPEAKER_00: And this is just uh like a basic version of the honey stinger versus the caffeinated version.
- 12:06SPEAKER_00: Yes, for sure.
- 12:07Coach Carlie: And I will have to say, because I've been fooled myself, is that if you can stomach a tablespoon of honey, you can stomach honey stinger energy gel.
- 12:20Coach Carlie: I mean, that's pretty much what you're doing, is just like a big spoonful of sugar.
- 12:27Coach Carlie: Right.
- 12:27Coach Carlie: Like Mary Poppins or something.
- 12:30Coach Carlie: Anyway, okay, so now we're gonna get into a quote-unquote newer verse.
- 12:35Coach Carlie: I mean, Morton's not that much newer on the market, but it is newer than something like goo.
- 12:42Coach Carlie: And they were sort of integral in releasing this hydro gel.
- 12:48Coach Carlie: But yeah, tell us about Morton.
- 12:50SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've actually never personally tried Morton because one thing you know is like it's so weird.
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: That is what I've heard.
- 12:57SPEAKER_00: The tech the texture can be a little off-putting and they're just really expensive.
- 13:00SPEAKER_00: They're like five gel.
- 13:03SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 13:04SPEAKER_00: So definitely.
- 13:05SPEAKER_00: I've never personally tried them, but one of one thing that they really like to advertise is that they're like easy on the stomach.
- 13:11SPEAKER_00: There's so people who have trouble digesting maybe goose or just experience a lot of GI distress with some other gels, a lot of them find success with mortin.
- 13:20SPEAKER_00: And one reason for that you could maybe see is that their carb source is glucose and fructose.
- 13:26SPEAKER_00: So, like really basic building blocks of, you know, carbs.
- 13:29SPEAKER_00: So your body doesn't really monosaccharides.
- 13:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 13:32SPEAKER_00: You don't really have to do much to break them down at all.
- 13:35Coach Carlie: I I've got some videos that I compiled last year when I was training for Xtera Worlds, and I went through this gel tasting, and uh, we compiled them all.
- 13:45Coach Carlie: So that's coming soon.
- 13:47Coach Carlie: To uh in fact, I'll probably put it with a blog on this one.
- 13:51Coach Carlie: And you can see me literally like no, I don't hide any facial expressions, but I try a gel, I try this for you, and it is a very unique consistency.
- 14:04Coach Carlie: So, but some people swear by it, and good on them.
- 14:07Coach Carlie: Again, if it works and people like it, and you know, great, perfect.
- 14:12SPEAKER_00: And all right, so it's cool that they come in, it's cool that they come in this like bigger size too.
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: If you need if you find that like the the small 100 calorie, like approximately 25 grams of carbs pack is not doing it for you, there's a big there's like a bigger one with just a little bit more.
- 14:28SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 14:29Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 14:30Coach Carlie: And seeing that, you know, a good place to start is 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour if you've never fueled before.
- 14:37Coach Carlie: But if you are more mature in your fueling strategy, then you can get upwards of, you know, 90, sometimes 100, and you know, people are even pushing it beyond that, then yeah, the 25 gram is just gonna scratch the surface.
- 14:51Coach Carlie: So something to try with with bigger options.
- 14:54Coach Carlie: Okay, I love how you put this other brand in here because it is also unique.
- 14:57Coach Carlie: You got it, you got a couple of good ones in here.
- 14:59Coach Carlie: So what you got here?
- 15:01SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the huma ones are also another gel that's advertised as having like more natural ingredients, you could say.
- 15:08SPEAKER_00: As you can see, the carb source here is mostly like fruit pureees, brown rice syrup, juice concentrate.
- 15:15SPEAKER_00: These all have all the Huma gels are like fruity flavored, if that means anything to you.
- 15:21SPEAKER_00: I personally I use Huma's.
- 15:23SPEAKER_00: I like them.
- 15:24SPEAKER_00: I like the they're they're made of chia seeds, actually.
- 15:27SPEAKER_00: So like they have a really unique texture, which I like.
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: It might not be everyone's cup of tea.
- 15:33Coach Carlie: Yes, not my cup of tea friends.
- 15:35Coach Carlie: I'm all for some chia seeds, but not while I'm exercising.
- 15:38Coach Carlie: So, but it works for Emily, so great, right?
- 15:41SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and right here they have their like more basic version, I guess.
- 15:46SPEAKER_00: And then uh the Huma Plus looks like it just has more sodium for electrolytes.
- 15:52Coach Carlie: Yes, it says double electrolytes is what it touts on the container, what it touts on the package.
- 16:00Coach Carlie: And if you guys have heard me talk before, and if you've been part of our fueling hydration boot camp, you know that I'm kind of a stickler when it comes to electrolytes.
- 16:10Coach Carlie: It you know, sodium 240 versus 105, like that's that's not that big of a deal.
- 16:15Coach Carlie: But as we start getting into the bigger numbers and as you start getting into bigger events, then electrolytes are key that are aligned with your sweat.
- 16:29Coach Carlie: So I've seen all across the spectrum of folks who are like, I'm pushing my electrolytes so hardcore, and then they feel terrible.
- 16:38Coach Carlie: And then people on the other end who I they forget their electrolytes completely, but not knowing what your actual sweat content is, it's kind of like, well, I think it's good, you know.
- 16:50Coach Carlie: So it's kind of like a one shoe size fits all.
- 16:54Coach Carlie: That's not, you know, some people are wide, some people have longer feet, some people, you know, like some people have a smaller hill cup.
- 16:59Coach Carlie: It's the same thing with electrolytes.
- 17:01Coach Carlie: So with this kind of thing, probably gonna be safe and easy to take.
- 17:07Coach Carlie: But as you graduate to longer and longer distance events, as it gets hotter and hotter, I think it is important to understand your sodium needs.
- 17:14Coach Carlie: And then know.
- 17:15Coach Carlie: Do you want to buy the plus or do you need to just buy the regular?
- 17:19SPEAKER_00: Right, because the plus is always more expensive.
- 17:21Coach Carlie: Yeah, but plus is always more expensive.
- 17:23Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 17:24Coach Carlie: All right, you got another good option here.
- 17:27Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 17:27SPEAKER_00: So we have here the cyst gels.
- 17:29SPEAKER_00: I've never used these.
- 17:30SPEAKER_00: I think that stands for science in sport.
- 17:32Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 17:33SPEAKER_00: Um, and the main sell with these ones is that at least the uh these two on the left or the one on all the way on the left here is they they say it's isotonic, which means that you don't have to, like most of these other gels, they recommend that you take water, a few sips of water with them.
- 17:48SPEAKER_00: But sis says that you don't have to drink water with their isotonic gel.
- 17:54SPEAKER_00: So if that factors into convenience for you, then that's something to think about.
- 18:00SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 18:00Coach Carlie: And these and these are, you can see these are two ounces, two fluid ounces versus like the goo was one ounce.
- 18:08Coach Carlie: So you're at least getting an additional ounce, which is two tablespoons for anybody who wants to, you know, or like a shot of water, basically, that they have added to it.
- 18:20Coach Carlie: Which, if that's, you know, if you want to take your gel and you want to take your gel and you don't want to wait until an aid station, this might be the option for you.
- 18:29SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 18:29SPEAKER_00: And then the one in the middle just has more electrolytes, though it's not really that much.
- 18:36SPEAKER_00: Like you can see that the this middle one has a hundred milligrams of sodium.
- 18:40SPEAKER_00: That's like the plus electrolytes version, but like the basic Huma we just saw already had a hundred.
- 18:46SPEAKER_00: So these things like read the labels if that's something you're you're you're concerned about because marketing can do a lot for you.
- 18:57Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 18:57Coach Carlie: And again, at the end of the day, I think of these as a convenient carbohydrate source.
- 19:01Coach Carlie: So you may not want the electrolytes or you may want the electrolytes.
- 19:05Coach Carlie: I also find it interesting that their carb source is is single.
- 19:08Coach Carlie: They have a single carb source.
- 19:10Coach Carlie: So just maltodextrin.
- 19:11Coach Carlie: We see more specifically that two sorts, the two sources of carbohydrates are better absorbed, particularly when it uh when you add in fructose, but it gets a little bit deeper into that.
- 19:23Coach Carlie: Like I said, we go deeper into that in our fueling nitration boot camp.
- 19:25Coach Carlie: But again, it's an option, right?
- 19:28SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 19:28SPEAKER_00: And the one on the right, which is the their, it's called the beta fuel gel.
- 19:33SPEAKER_00: This, as you can see from the numbers, it's just got about almost almost double the amount of calories and carbs from the other two.
- 19:41SPEAKER_00: And this one does have that fructose to help absorb because it just has more carbs.
- 19:47Coach Carlie: Yeah, yeah.
- 19:48Coach Carlie: So, and they show this one to 0.8 multixtrin to fructose ratio.
- 19:54Coach Carlie: Again, not to be covered here, but we go deeper into that in the fueling and hydration boot camp.
- 19:58Coach Carlie: Doesn't matter, does it not?
- 20:00Coach Carlie: Um, and the human body is complicated, Emily.
- 20:06Coach Carlie: It is so much so.
- 20:08Coach Carlie: And I know that you didn't consult me on this, but this happens to be this next one happens to be my, I'm air quoting here, favorite gel.
- 20:17Coach Carlie: Um, because I can't exactly say that gels are my favorite.
- 20:21Coach Carlie: Like, you know, if somebody's like, you want a brownie, I'd be like, yes, please.
- 20:25Coach Carlie: They would be like, you want a carbs fuel?
- 20:28Coach Carlie: No, I'm good.
- 20:31Coach Carlie: So please don't eat your gels for any reason other than during exercise for the love of all things only.
- 20:38SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 20:38SPEAKER_00: I might have I've I've honestly I would prefer to eat candy at that point.
- 20:43SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 20:43SPEAKER_00: I'm I have a huge sweet tooth, but yeah.
- 20:46SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
- 20:47SPEAKER_00: That's a great carb source.
- 20:49Coach Carlie: And it can be great intra fueling.
- 20:50SPEAKER_00: Anyway, yeah.
- 20:51Coach Carlie: Yes.
- 20:51SPEAKER_00: Okay, tell us about carbs, carbs fuel.
- 20:54SPEAKER_00: So um, Chris, I think I know one of the like one of the reasons you like the carbs fuel is that they don't really taste like much.
- 21:00SPEAKER_00: They're not like trying to be flavored.
- 21:02SPEAKER_00: No, and they pack in a lot of carbs, like the name would suggest.
- 21:06SPEAKER_00: These are bigger packets, they each have 200 calories and 50 grams of carbs, and that's pretty much double what all the other ones that we've looked at before had.
- 21:17SPEAKER_00: So if you're sure if you're packing in for a long race, these can be helpful.
- 21:23SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 21:23Coach Carlie: And the other thing I like about these is they're much more affordable.
- 21:28Coach Carlie: Because gels can be expensive.
- 21:31Coach Carlie: So uh they they really hit the mark in terms of being affordable and being, you know, easy to carry.
- 21:39Coach Carlie: And yes, you're right.
- 21:40Coach Carlie: I generally don't like a lot of flavor in what I'm doing for exercise.
- 21:45Coach Carlie: So it meets the mark for me.
- 21:48Coach Carlie: And you can see by weight this that carbs tool, that 50 grams of carbs.
- 21:52Coach Carlie: Remember the 25, 24, 23 grams of carbs for a goo was I think 1.1 ounces.
- 21:58Coach Carlie: This is 1.86 ounces.
- 21:59Coach Carlie: So yes, they are bigger, is heavier.
- 22:02Coach Carlie: And then if you add in this, their their plus version, which is with 450 milligrams of sodium, now we're talking that's 2.68.
- 22:11Coach Carlie: So we've gone, we've gone up a little bit in terms of size.
- 22:16SPEAKER_00: Oh, that that caffeine on the right one is supposed to say 100, because that's the that's the caffeinated version.
- 22:23SPEAKER_00: It should say 100 milligrams of caffeine.
- 22:25Coach Carlie: Oh, yeah, you're right.
- 22:26Coach Carlie: Type of, it's okay.
- 22:28Coach Carlie: It's all good.
- 22:29Coach Carlie: Yeah, so 200 calories, 50 grams of carbs, 100 milligrams of caffeine.
- 22:33Coach Carlie: So 100 milligrams of caffeine is the equivalent of, you know, pretty good cup of coffee.
- 22:38Coach Carlie: Coffee.
- 22:39Coach Carlie: So know what you're getting into when it comes to caffeine.
- 22:42Coach Carlie: We also like to look at genetics and determine whether caffeine is a good source for you, is a good option for you in creating your personalized hydration plan.
- 22:51Coach Carlie: So again, something that we go deeper into in the fueling hydration boot camp.
- 22:55Coach Carlie: All right, so tell us the things.
- 22:57Coach Carlie: What do we got to wrap it all up?
- 22:59SPEAKER_00: Just to cover some of what we went through today, we know that gels are portable sources of quick energy during long endurance events.
- 23:05SPEAKER_00: You don't have to solely rely on them, but they are just an option that some people love, some people don't.
- 23:12SPEAKER_00: No matter what type of fuel you you take with you, starting fueling early and fueling regularly during a race can really help prevent you that feeling of hitting the wall that people like to talk about.
- 23:24SPEAKER_00: Um, because then your body doesn't have to deplete its like stored energy in the form of glycogen as fast.
- 23:32SPEAKER_00: So that's why we say that no matter what you use in a long race, you definitely want to be fueling during it.
- 23:38Coach Carlie: Yep.
- 23:39SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 23:40SPEAKER_00: As as you can see, there's a lot of brands and types.
- 23:44SPEAKER_00: So you just try a bunch and see what works best for you.
- 23:47Coach Carlie: Yeah.
- 23:48Coach Carlie: I I totally agree.
- 23:50Coach Carlie: And it's kind of making me giggle because you have on this slide here, you have the untapped, which I tried, which is right, is like mate, is like maple syrup.
- 24:00Coach Carlie: And I don't know what I was thinking on the label.
- 24:02Coach Carlie: I was like, oh, it's made, it's raspberry.
- 24:03Coach Carlie: So I was like thinking in my head it's gonna be more gel consistent.
- 24:07Coach Carlie: It was literal maple syrup, it was maple syrup in a container, and I had to down it, and I really wished I had pancakes at the time.
- 24:14Coach Carlie: And I was like, I don't know what I was thinking to think that this was anything other than maple syrup.
- 24:19Coach Carlie: So I don't know.
- 24:20Coach Carlie: I get I get fooled too.
- 24:22Coach Carlie: So you guys are gonna have to check out the video that I did of me trying all of these different gels and just giving my you know honest review on what worked for me and what I ended up landing on, which was of course the carbs fuel, and uh they're not paying me a cent for this.
- 24:38Coach Carlie: But at the end of the day, you guys gotta find what works best for you and the consistency.
- 24:44Coach Carlie: I just want to hammer that home, Emily, because if you take one little tiny sip of your gel in a race that you have never tried before and you're like, that's disgusting, then you have you're gonna dig yourself into a hole because you're like, I'm not gonna finish that, then defeats the purpose.
- 25:03Coach Carlie: Now you are putting yourself at risk of running out of juice.
- 25:08SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you don't you don't really want to try anything new on race day just in case.
- 25:13SPEAKER_00: No.
- 25:13SPEAKER_00: So really use those long runs to practice.
- 25:17Coach Carlie: Yes.
- 25:17Coach Carlie: So if you need support putting together your personalized fueling and hydration plan, this is what we do in our fueling and hydration boot camp.
- 25:25Coach Carlie: We go through all of the different types of carbs, we go through all the different types of gels, products, sports drinks, and help you based on your specific sweat science to create a plan that works for you not only for one race, but for multiple races.
- 25:40Coach Carlie: And a little bonus coming up this season, we are in the process of developing an app.
- 25:45Coach Carlie: So anybody who is in this most recent or the next version of our fueling and hydration boot camp will get free access to our beta app.
- 25:55Coach Carlie: So you guys gotta come try it.
- 25:57Coach Carlie: It's gonna make everything so much easier.
- 25:59Coach Carlie: I promise it's gonna be amazing.
- 26:01Coach Carlie: And then you will be able to use the app to predict based on your data, how much hydration and fueling you're actually gonna need for your event.
- 26:11Coach Carlie: So it's gonna be really cool.
- 26:12Coach Carlie: So the enduranceedge.com forward slash fueling boot camp.
- 26:16Coach Carlie: Emily, this was so fun.
- 26:18Coach Carlie: I love talking about carbs.
- 26:19Coach Carlie: Me too, me too.
- 26:20Coach Carlie: There's gummy bears.
- 26:22SPEAKER_00: This was this is a lot of fun to research for and just talk about because it's so it's so different for everybody.
- 26:28SPEAKER_00: And I feel like everyone always has questions about it.
- 26:31SPEAKER_00: And it's been quite a journey, I'm sure, for you, but also for me in like figuring out what gels work best in all the things.
- 26:39Coach Carlie: So yes.
- 26:40Coach Carlie: Yes, absolutely.
- 26:42Coach Carlie: So fun.
- 26:43Coach Carlie: Cool.
- 26:43Coach Carlie: All right, Emily.
- 26:44Coach Carlie: Thanks, and we look forward to your next educational topic that you're gonna teach us about.
- 26:50Coach Carlie: Thanks, Chris.
- 26:50Coach Carlie: I'm looking forward to it too.