Talk to me about gu

[venice2007]

I've never used gu but think I should start. Inhaveca half in 3 weeks and wanted to test them out but only have a couple long runs left. When should I test to make sure they don't upset my stomach? Any run? Only my long runs? Do they upset your stomach? Any other fuel better?
I normally use pb packets but thought I should switch!
Thanks!

[lb2006]

If you are going to try something new, better start now! I prefer hammer gels (although love the peanut butter gu) - and shot bloks are pretty good, more like gummies. I would use one tomorrow on your long run to see how you feel.

I find consuming mine over a duration, instead of sucking it down, helps with stomach issues. Make sure you have water!!

[venice2007]

Oct 3, 2013 7:38:12 GMT -5 lb2006 said:

If you are going to try something new, better start now! I prefer hammer gels (although love the peanut butter gu) - and shot bloks are pretty good, more like gummies. I would use one tomorrow on your long run to see how you feel.

I find consuming mine over a duration, instead of sucking it down, helps with stomach issues. Make sure you have water!!

Thanks. I have an 2-3 for sat and an 8 for Sunday. Ill try it on my 8 miler. Good idea to take it in slow. Ill do that.
I carry water so ill have that and Gatorade with me
I got pb gu and a berry gu
Hope they are ok on my stomach
Thanks

[aurademystere]

Oct 3, 2013 7:38:12 GMT -5 lb2006 said:

If you are going to try something new, better start now! I prefer hammer gels (although love the peanut butter gu) - and shot bloks are pretty good, more like gummies. I would use one tomorrow on your long run to see how you feel.

I find consuming mine over a duration, instead of sucking it down, helps with stomach issues. Make sure you have water!!

Yes, start experimenting now. Gu makes me gag. It's a texture thing, so I prefer shot blocks. Definitely make sure you drink water with the Gu and not Gatorade to avoid stomach upset.

[libbygrl109]

If you want to try something new, start now. I've been using them on my long runs over 7 miles, and I've only used chews. I've been experimenting with the ones that come in my Stridebox, and so far have liked the Gatorade and Pro Bar brands. Pro Bar seems to last a bit longer for me. I tried Gu blocks, too, but they upset my stomach.

So excited that you'll be able to run your half!

[venice2007]

Oct 3, 2013 7:43:03 GMT -5 aurademystere said:

Oct 3, 2013 7:38:12 GMT -5 lb2006 said:

If you are going to try something new, better start now! I prefer hammer gels (although love the peanut butter gu) - and shot bloks are pretty good, more like gummies. I would use one tomorrow on your long run to see how you feel.

I find consuming mine over a duration, instead of sucking it down, helps with stomach issues. Make sure you have water!!

Yes, start experimenting now. Gu makes me gag. It's a texture thing, so I prefer shot blocks. Definitely make sure you drink water with the Gu and not Gatorade to avoid stomach upset.

Thanks. Ill try the gu and get shot blocks if the gu isn't good. Ill take with water. Thanks for the tip

[venice2007]

Oct 3, 2013 7:44:08 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

If you want to try something new, start now. I've been using them on my long runs over 7 miles, and I've only used chews. I've been experimenting with the ones that come in my Stridebox, and so far have liked the Gatorade and Pro Bar brands. Pro Bar seems to last a bit longer for me. I tried Gu blocks, too, but they upset my stomach.

So excited that you'll be able to run your half!

Thanks
Me too. It'll be a slow half but I'm gonna try it. I could cry I'm so happy to be back. Hope I finish it!!!!!

:-)

[ebeth]

if you're already drinking gatorade you probably don't need the gu.

[venice2007]

Oct 3, 2013 7:45:06 GMT -5 ebeth said:

if you're already drinking gatorade you probably don't need the gu.

Oh ok. Wasn't sure if I needed both. Ill have my water belt on me with 2 waters 2 Gatorades. Is that enough? After dnf'ing my last half due to dehydration I'm worried about everything now.
Thanks

[libbygrl109]

Oct 3, 2013 7:46:26 GMT -5 venice2007 said:

Oct 3, 2013 7:45:06 GMT -5 ebeth said:

if you're already drinking gatorade you probably don't need the gu.

Oh ok. Wasn't sure if I needed both. Ill have my water belt on me with 2 waters 2 Gatorades. Is that enough? After dnf'ing my last half due to dehydration I'm worried about everything now.
Thanks

I carry both on my belt, along with chews. I take the chews with water after about 4 miles, then alternate that with gatorade every 1.5mi or so. Gatorade seems to just give me an extra lift. Experiment and see what works best.

[libbygrl109]

Oct 3, 2013 7:45:03 GMT -5 venice2007 said:

Oct 3, 2013 7:44:08 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

If you want to try something new, start now. I've been using them on my long runs over 7 miles, and I've only used chews. I've been experimenting with the ones that come in my Stridebox, and so far have liked the Gatorade and Pro Bar brands. Pro Bar seems to last a bit longer for me. I tried Gu blocks, too, but they upset my stomach.

So excited that you'll be able to run your half!

Thanks
Me too. It'll be a slow half but I'm gonna try it. I could cry I'm so happy to be back. Hope I finish it!!!!!

:-)

I'm sure you will, and still do it faster than me!

[venice2007]

Oct 3, 2013 7:51:38 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

Oct 3, 2013 7:45:03 GMT -5 venice2007 said:

Thanks
Me too. It'll be a slow half but I'm gonna try it. I could cry I'm so happy to be back. Hope I finish it!!!!!

:-)

I'm sure you will, and still do it faster than me!

:-)

Thanks :-)

[venice2007]

Oct 3, 2013 7:50:44 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

Oct 3, 2013 7:46:26 GMT -5 venice2007 said:

Oh ok. Wasn't sure if I needed both. Ill have my water belt on me with 2 waters 2 Gatorades. Is that enough? After dnf'ing my last half due to dehydration I'm worried about everything now.
Thanks

I carry both on my belt, along with chews. I take the chews with water after about 4 miles, then alternate that with gatorade every 1.5mi or so. Gatorade seems to just give me an extra lift. Experiment and see what works best.

I feel like carrying everything just in case lol I know I eat over doing it this time but its my first half since the dnf and no idea how it'll go. Lol lol

Thanks

[Susie]

I probably would not mix GU and Gatorade. It might also give you a false read on whether Gu works for you. It might work for you w/ water but not Gatorade or vice versa. Definitely start trying things out now. Your 8 miler is a good time. If you run out of runs to try things and you need to try more, I can get a more or less decent read on how nutrition sits w/ me on a 5-6 miler. I just eat it near the beginning even though I don't need it, just to see how I do w/ it.

I don't do well w/ Gu or any of the sweet Shot Block type gummies. They're too sweet, and my stomach turns sour. Hammer gel is my go-to.

[venice2007]

Oct 3, 2013 7:57:28 GMT -5 Susie said:

I probably would not mix GU and Gatorade. It might also give you a false read on whether Gu works for you. It might work for you w/ water but not Gatorade or vice versa. Definitely start trying things out now. Your 8 miler is a good time. If you run out of runs to try things and you need to try more, I can get a more or less decent read on how nutrition sits w/ me on a 5-6 miler. I just eat it near the beginning even though I don't need it, just to see how I do w/ it.

I don't do well w/ Gu or any of the sweet Shot Block type gummies. They're too sweet, and my stomach turns sour. Hammer gel is my go-to.

Great thanks! Ill try it out Sunday

[gt7301b]

Ditto the mixing gu and gatorade, if I mix the two it is bad news. If you are going to try gu only try one flavor at a time, my stomach can't take some flavors.

[chw57]

Salted caramel gu is my favorite thing ever

[ebeth]

Oct 3, 2013 7:46:26 GMT -5 venice2007 said:

Oct 3, 2013 7:45:06 GMT -5 ebeth said:

if you're already drinking gatorade you probably don't need the gu.

Oh ok. Wasn't sure if I needed both. Ill have my water belt on me with 2 waters 2 Gatorades. Is that enough? After dnf'ing my last half due to dehydration I'm worried about everything now.
Thanks

how many ounces of gatorade is that? 20? will there be gatorade on the course?

20 oz of gatorade would be enough for me during a half.

my main point is that gatorade and gu do the same thing.  you don't need to take both.  if the gatorade only is working for you I wouldn't worry about trying to force it with the gu.

[venice2007]

Oct 3, 2013 8:03:55 GMT -5 ebeth said:

Oct 3, 2013 7:46:26 GMT -5 venice2007 said:

Oh ok. Wasn't sure if I needed both. Ill have my water belt on me with 2 waters 2 Gatorades. Is that enough? After dnf'ing my last half due to dehydration I'm worried about everything now.
Thanks

how many ounces of gatorade is that? 20? will there be gatorade on the course?

20 oz of gatorade would be enough for me during a half.

my main point is that gatorade and gu do the same thing.  you don't need to take both.  if the gatorade only is working for you I wouldn't worry about trying to force it with the gu.

Yes Gatorade has worked for me in the past. I had none in the half I dnf'ed and the course only had it once early on

Hmmmmmmm maybe ill do just the Gatorade then as that's always worked. I worried I needed more but I carry Gatorade and water with me now.
2 7 oz waters
2 7 oz Gatorades

Is that good? The course will have some too!

[taratru]

I agree with ebeth. I think fueling too much can be just as detrimental as not enough.

[kams]

Since you've trained without it, I wouldn't add it now.

[venice2007]

So Gatorade and water is enough?
Awesome thanks everyone!
Must be peak half training time... Lol my grocery run

[pamela]

28 oz would not be enough fluid for me, but it's hard to judge how the cool weather will feel if it ever shows. I used 16oz Gatorade +20oz water on my 9.5 mile yesterday. Plus 5 shot blocks. I only had 20oz fluid (water/Gatorade mix) + shot blocks with me last week and dnf.

[blndsnbrdr]

I can't drink gatorade when running (but love powerade, too bad they never sponsor races) and I absolutely hate the consistency of gels. My solution - putting the gel into a handheld, adding water and drinking it like its a sports drink. Its easy to do on the go and has worked well for me. Just a random bit of input in case the idea of actually eating the gel makes you want to vomit (me...).

I've tried HoneyStingers, ClifShots and Gu - they all kind of do the same thing for me and I'm yet to have stomach issues with them. I stick to fruity flavors with caffeine - if I'm going to consume that grossness it better keep me awake!

Good luck experimenting!

[G22]

I normally dislike Gu but used it during my marathon and managed to force/wash it down with water twice during the race. I hate the consistency of it. They passed out choco-cherry and raspberry. I took the lesser of the 2 evils, raspberry. lol

I don't typically train with it, and I don't have an issue with new things affecting my stomach so I used it for the race. I do occasionally use the G2 block chews. I do like the way they taste but don't always notice a difference in my runs that I use them.

[foundmylazybum]

Some gu's have caffeine in them. At about 2 hours of exercise, I've heard several times from other runners (and had happen to me)--an effect of basically kind of zoning out and losing focus. This can result in a performance loss in terms of slowing down.

The caffeine jolt in some of the gu's can help push you through that lag.


Just something to note because Gatorade doesn't have caffeine in it.

[venice2007]

Thanks everyone.
For my 9 miles today I had one gu with 3 waters in my belt and one water with nuun.
The gu was fine. Actually tasted great--pb flavor.
I took it at mile 4 and slowly ingested it with water. Worked great!!! For my half ill carry 2-3 Gus, water, nuun and use water/Gatorade on the course as needed as it'll be very hot here
Thanks!!!!!!

[osulori]

I totally understand your concerns with your prior DNF due to dehydration, just remember to take stuff as you feel the need to but don't take in too much-it could really upset your stomach. I generally do watered down Gatorade OR Shot Bloks during a long run (or at least, I did when I ran long enough to warrant one or the other...one day I'll do that again! ;D) instead of both options. Glad to hear the PB Gu worked out for you! I don't use Gu often but I've liked the chocolate flavor, it reminds me of eating cake icing. Yum