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Have Your Carbs and Eat Them Too.

If you read my carbs white paper a couple months ago (if you didn’t, I highly recommend it), you’ll remember I talked about some of the “new carbs” that have hugely changed the way we fuel for endurance sports over the last 3-5 years. I’ve been getting a lot of follow up questions about what/how to get that many carbs in. 

 

First: You need to experiment. Not everything works for every person. There are lots of different textures, flavors, and delivery systems. You need to TRY a bunch of these to find out what works for your head, your taste, and your gut. I highly recommend just going to The Feed (not a sponsor, just an easy place to get ‘em), and loading up a cart with a bunch of the stuff recommended below. Try ‘em all, and order more of what you like.

 

Second: Depending on how long your event is, or what your mode is, you may need to mix up your sources. The primary sources I recommend are fluids, gels, and chews. Some people can do long events on just gels, some can’t. Some events make it easiest to just do fluids, some don’t. Again, you need to experiment with not only what you like at the beginning of a workout or event, but also what you like at the end of a workout or event, and ALSO the logistics around carrying what you like. 

 

SO, here are my current recommendations. I’m sure there are plenty of other good products out there, these are just the ones I have experience with, either personally or through athletes. 



Gels: —-NOTE: There are lots of gels out there still that are “old carbs” and will not play well with the other stuff on this list, and are likely to hurt your digestion in the amounts you need to fuel!—-

  • Precision. They make 30g, 90g, and even 300g gels. And they also make the 30g gels with caffeine. These things are awesome, and my personal favorite way to fuel. 
  • Maurten. Not everyone’s favorite texture, and a bit pricier, but I’m not sure a single brand has supported as many world records as Maurten. Are they good enough to justify the price? I’m not sure, but they work really well if you like them! Annoyingly they also use calories instead of carbs to number them, so a 160 bar has 40g of CHO. 
  • SIS. These are allllll over the pro cycling peloton, very solid science and proven effectiveness. 
  • Neversecond. Not my favorite personal texture, but many athletes I’ve had love these. (Note that I’m not sure you can get them on the Feed anymore.)
  • CarbFuel. I haven’t tried these yet, but essentially these guys were founded by a pro cyclist who thought gels shouldn’t cast a bajillion dollars (looking at you, MAurten), and so set out to make something more affordable. 





Chews: —-NOTE: There are lots of chews out there still that are “old carbs” and will not play well with the other stuff on this list, and are likely to hurt your digestion in the amounts you need to fuel!—-

  • Precision. I’m not really a chews guy, so I actually haven’t had these, but I’ve had many athletes use them successfully. 
  • SIS. Again, not really a chews guy, but ditto to the Precision chews. 



Fluids: —-NOTE: There are lots of fluids out there still that are “old carbs” and will not play well with the other stuff on this list, and are likely to hurt your digestion in the amounts you need to fuel!—-

—-Second NOTE: Most of these are NOT electrolyte drinks. You will need to handle your sodium separately from these high carbohydrate drinks. —–




Questions? Hit me up.