Like others, I do fuel on runs over 90 minutes.
For those, I eat every 5 miles (about every 45-50 minutes).
Right now, I use Welch's fruit snacks. They're always in my house and they have about the same carbs as Sport Beans (that I used to use).
But I'm not sure they're enough for me.
I am thinking of going back to sport beans on the next training cycle. I'm also considering the caffeine sport beans. Not sure if those will have an adverse effect on me or not, as I don't consume a lot of caffeine regularly (I don't drink coffee or pop).
Remember that the sports beans have electrolytes, which your Welch product won’t have. Sports beans are more than just jelly beans.
Try the caffeine product out in training.
So if anyone wants to add caffeine to their repetoire to do it step wise in training and not immediately jump to a high dose level. Caffeine, heat, and other elements in running can make for a dangerous mix (low blood pressure, core temp control, etc.)
YES.
I love clif 3x sodium margarita flavor bloks, but I craved something different a few years back (what turned out to be the last light side Half). Bought cherry flavor. Ate them at...beyond the halfway mark in the run (and I’m slow so I’d been out for awhile and it was hot hot). Everything else was done normally for a hot long run.
Thought I was going to have a heart attack.
I didn’t realize they had caffeine (so there was no placebo effect), and my heart started racing (and I have always ALWAYS had a high HR even when in fabulous shape, so if i go higher it’s frightening), I got dizzy, it was awful. I had to walk more than intended. My hands were shaking badly. It was very very uncomfortable.
Test them out during training. That’s hard, because there aren’t THAT many long runs when training, especially for a Half. But ya gotta do it. You don’t want to be surprised.
My brother, who takes nothing for even a half, destroyed a PR for a Full by taking an untried gel on the course while also not taking in enough water with it. Had some severe distress that slowed him down. And he’s been running long distances consistently since the mid 90s and abound have known better.