Fuel for endurance runners
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 1:08 pmI was in the hills last week with my daughter who is training for the Kepler. (Ultra race in New Zealand), and we were discussing food. Many ultra races are not supported, meaning there are no, or minimal aid stations, and the runner must carry their own food. Inevitably this leads to gels. Real food have problems eating whilst continuing to run, if there is no one to hand it to you. Even a banana needs peeling and the skin repacked into ones bag.
My daughter, who hates gels, has come up with a brilliant solution, at least for runners, not sure if it will work for cyclists. Baby food!
This comes in potion sized packets with a tube on top. Simply remove the cap, suck the insides and you are done. Replace cap and you have a clean packet to re-stow, all of which can be done on the move. The baby food has no additives (unlike gels which are often additive soup!) and consists of real food, like banana, blueberry and quinoa. No salt, or sugar, this is baby food! Obviously not all are vegan but there are plenty of dairy and meat free choices. Calories are written on the back making it easy to calculate intake (no. of calories per hour running..)
This is baby food, so has been puréed....I.e. processed,like a smoothie, but we are talking digestible food for ultra runners here!
I think the problem for cyclists would be removing the cap whilst cycling? I don’t bike...
My daughter, who hates gels, has come up with a brilliant solution, at least for runners, not sure if it will work for cyclists. Baby food!
This comes in potion sized packets with a tube on top. Simply remove the cap, suck the insides and you are done. Replace cap and you have a clean packet to re-stow, all of which can be done on the move. The baby food has no additives (unlike gels which are often additive soup!) and consists of real food, like banana, blueberry and quinoa. No salt, or sugar, this is baby food! Obviously not all are vegan but there are plenty of dairy and meat free choices. Calories are written on the back making it easy to calculate intake (no. of calories per hour running..)
This is baby food, so has been puréed....I.e. processed,like a smoothie, but we are talking digestible food for ultra runners here!
I think the problem for cyclists would be removing the cap whilst cycling? I don’t bike...