Day 7

Tuesday’s run: rained out. But, never fear, our coach had rainy day lesson plans (yes, he used to be a PE teacher). He went into details about our training schedules, nutrition and rest days (since we had one yesterday).

I also learned that I’m an idiot. OK, I knew I was, but I just got further proof of this fact. I thought all of the energy gels were generically called “goos.” Wrong. They are called “energy gels” or just “gels.” There is a brand, GU, pronounced “goo” (which I thought was pronounced “gee-you”). So, excuse me for being an idiot. And, just ignore most of this post (but, even if I’m an idiot, I still think “Goo review” makes a better title than “Gel review”).

Besides me being an idiot, I learned that rest days are good (and help prevent injury), we’re adding speed work to our training in September, and we’ll need to start fuelling ourselves (with energy gels, sport beans or something else I don’t know of yet) during our longer runs.

Goo review

I vowed to never have another PowerBar product after my first experience.

Many years ago to promote their brand, PowerBar gave away bars at a football game. We didn’t eat them right away; my brother and I saved our PowerBars for a day when we wanted super powers. When we decided we were ready to blaze around our neighborhood at lightning speed on our bikes, we ate them. And, they were nasty. They tasted like sawdust and glue (and the consistency was the same). After gagging them down, we really didn’t even have the super powers we expected. After that experience, I swore I would never eat another PowerBar product. I’ll show you, PowerBar!

Now, almost 20 years later, I broke that rule. I tried their energy gel or goo (as I think they’re more popularly known). And, their goo isn’t nearly as nasty as those first PowerBars. But, I didn’t love it either. Although this is my first goo experience, so they all could be kind of icky … I’m not sure.

I tried the strawberry banana flavor, and it did taste like strawberry banana. I think the texture is more of the issue. Runny, sticky, clear gel, kind of like snot (I realize this is extremely disgusting, but it’s the best descriptor).

As for its effect, I’m not sure. I felt pretty good at the beginning of my run. Then, about 2.5 miles in, I starting feeling a little nauseous. I’m not sure if it was the goo’s fault. I didn’t have much in my stomach, which could have been the problem.

I have five other goos to try, so I’ll give them another shot ... even that pesky PowerBar brand.