This morning I set out to challenge one of the distance sports debates for myself.
The old question over if sports ‘carbo gels’ are effective or merely an expensive myth that has many of us in a frenzy. Over the past couple of months, I have been weaning myself off of the gels after speaking with numerous world champion runners and coaches of these champions who insist that although they are happy to take the big sponsor dollars dished out by these manufacturers, they don’t actively use any of these products while they are competing. This also led me to question extensively why it is that we seem to need these products in the modern world when in fact many people were running (much faster on average) over the marathon distance up until the 1980s when Professor Tim Noakes of ‘The Lore of Running’ fame invented them along with renowned ultra distance athlete and Comrades King, Bruce Fordyce.
My intent was to go the full 42KM distance over a very hilly road course at a decent enough clip without having to reach for the gels. I must be honest in saying that I did pack two of them for the trip as I did not want to get myself into a situation whereby I would be left hanging and bonking from not having anything in me. I also took the trusty Nathan handheld along so that I would have some easy access to water. In addition I decided to try something that a friend swears by – little salt packets from Maccas.
Happy to report that I made it through the full distance with only having the water and reaching for one salt packet at about 30KM in.
This experiment has proven to me that with a little more resilience and perhaps some more long runs to learn to ultilise my fat stores more effectively, I will be able to completely wean myself off of the gels for the marathon distance.
Running together (while reducing reliance on chemicals) – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller
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