Fuelling long runs- help please!

[Jellybunny98]

Hoping for some advice! I have been a runner for quite awhile now, have done halfs & marathons, and always used a specific gel- the only one I ever found that I actually liked the taste of and didn’t make me feel sick, felt like it worked etc. I’m now getting back to longer distances after my second baby and this gel simply doesn’t exist anymore it has been discontinued!

Can anyone recommend a good gel they use? Or if you don’t use gels, what do you use instead?

I have so far tried (and didn’t like)

• Maurten gel- texture was okay but the lack of flavour I just didn’t like.
• SiS Go- got a pack to try but didn’t enjoy any of the flavours, they all felt really sickly sweet to me. Could tolerate if it was just one gel but training for marathon/ultra distance I definitely couldn’t have multiple.
• Someone recommended taking food instead of gels specifically a banana, this actually work and I was happy with that but it’s quite bulky to have in my running vest and not sure I could fit two into my running vest, or eat two😂

Any ideas welcome!

Depending on how long your long runs are, I like to just take stuff like jelly babies or Nerd clusters. 5 jelly babies is about 25g of carbs, or a 40g pack of Nerd clusters is about 35g of carbs.

Gels make me feel quite gross while taking them whereas eating sweets is something I can do any time!

Which ones were they?

I find thr High 5 Aqua ones easier than some of the others, less gloopy.

The Kendal Mint ones have been successful for a friend who has a fragile stomach, but I haven't tried them yet.

Can you tell us what you liked about the flavour, consistency, etc of your old gels?

I have found this with lots of gels, I don’t know if its the texture, taste, the feel or a combo but they just don’t seem to work great for me! I’ve used Haribo’s on some runs, I tend to just take a little bag of Haribo’s & water on anything sort of 8-13 miles, I eat before I run and I’ve always find that fine. I wonder if that would be an okay strategy for 13+?

It was a “strawberry blast” flavoured one from Start fitness and it tasted exactly like a red slush, wasn’t too thick or gloopy and never had any issues!

I’ll try the High 5 Aqua ones! Do you have a favourite flavour you would recommend?

I like bloks best. Also take flapjack

I never got on well with any gels either and just used to take a handful of jelly babies on long runs or the cherry SIS chews. I found the gels mostly too sickly and thick/gloopy.
i can’t run anymore due to injury, will do a short one on a gym treadmill to warm up now but there have been a tirade of products that have arrived since I stopped so fingers crossed you can find something you don’t mind.

Yes! The flavour I loved, tasted almost exactly like a red slush and the consistency I would say wasn’t really very “gel” like but more of a thicker water, sort of like a lucozade sport, a bit syrupy but not thick like lots of gels seem to be.

I was looking at the SIS chews, would you say they are sort of like chewing gum texture?

I hate gels, so I tried Kendal mint cake and found this worked well for me. You can get them in smaller packs that are easy to carry.

I really like Precision Fuel. Their gels have quite a neutral taste. Their chews are good too - a bit like Turkish delight.

I just take a small block of Kendal mint cake these days. Everything else tastes weird or has an unpleasant texture to me.

Flapjack in your pocket or a couple of Kit-Kats. Carbs the night before.

No they were more like a solid jelly gummy sweet, a bit like a wine gum but not as good 😂

I can't cope with gels, messy and unpleasant to consume.

Decathlon do some fruit jellies that I really like, more fruit content than sweets but very tasty - you might like the strawberry one. They also do almond and honey blocks which are delicious but I basically slice up a block of marzipan and put it in a bag for the same result much cheaper! You could look at tailwind for nutrition you have in your water.

And finally if like me you start craving something savoury to offset the sweet, you can get salted roast giant corn in health food shops like grape tree, which taste like tortilla chips but don't smash so easily!

Marzipan is actually genius, I love marzipan!

Amazing thank you all so much for the suggestions!! I’ll be stocking up to try everything over my next few weeks of long runs😂

I’m a fan of real food but gel-wise I use High5 Aqua (berry) or KMC. What helps me is the KMC ISO mix drink, it has carbs and electrolytes and comes in lemon or raspberry flavours.

Food-wise I like flapjack or Kendal mint cake. Sometimes savoury works better, salt and vinegar fish & chips hit the spot for me recently!

I’m a fan of Styrkr, really enjoy all there products

I love the Torq gels but they're quite sweet and come in dessert style flavours so they might not be for you!

Lucozade do have a gel, which has 30g carbs and tastes a lot like actual lucozade. I tried one and liked it, but I can't remember whether I got it from Boots or Superdrug. It wasn't expensive.

There is a great website called X Miles where you can buy individual gels so you can try loads of different ones and see what works for you. They also do delivery to InPost lockers if that's easier as you can collect it from your local locker. And if you have any questions they have great customer service!

I like the voom bars. I have quite a dicky tummy when I'm running but those are always good

I have run marathons but at the moment im enjoying halfs and find the training is more manageable (and you don't need as much fuel!)
I take haribos....but actually when running i find it quite difficult to eat them, even jelly babies seem too much effort (once DH bought wine gums because there were no jelly babies available - they were a total disaster!! 🤣)

My favourite gels - if you did want to investigate any other gels - are torq (specifically black cherry yoghurt or rhubarb and custard) they do loads of flavours, and possibly a flavourless one ....and do a variety pack

I have https://veloforte.com/products

they work really well and have good flavours - lemon and mint is probably my favourite but I think all are okay

Dextro energy tabs are less disgusting, as they're a sort of chalky consistency but I've never found I needed anything on long training runs where the pace is easy. I'd use gels when actually racing a marathon though, but could only tolerate the SiS ones that you don't like.

I mostly do trail running/jeffing and not terribly fast, so I find I do need something as I'm on my feet for so much longer than faster runners. I tend to take flapjack bites and ready salted hula hoops for later in the run. Sometimes a small carton of apple juice for a halfway top up.