Everything You Need To Know About Gels

Summary of an article from triathlete.com

Personally, I had a hard time finding a gel that was effective to my body.  Nothing seemed to work, other than GU brand gels. Every person responds differently, so definitely try out different brands until you find one that gets your body to respond positively (as opposed to running into the woods).

How They Work

Most of us know that our energy comes from fat and carbs.   Unfortunately, fat burns to slow, thus the body relies on carbs.  The problem with that is our body stores a limited amount of carbs in our muscles.  Gels are used to replace the carbs we burn off.  However, keep in mind that not all the carbs from gels make it into the muscles.

“Simply speaking, energy gels are designed to replenish carbohydrate stores that are depleted when running. Sounds like energy gels are a savior, right? Unfortunately, energy gels don’t provide a simple one-to-one replacement (something you won’t read on the label of your favorite gel) because the glycogen we ingest from gels doesn’t always make its way to the working muscles. So why use them?” Source

Why Use Them?

Carbs are stored in both your muscles and your blood.  On race day, you need the carbs in your muscles.  To get to your muscles, you need to digest the gel and work its way through the intestinal wall and then absorbed by the muscle.  This isn’t a quick process.

What gels can do quickly is increase your mental sharpness, which relies on your blood glucose.  As your muscles starts to absorb more blood glucose, your brain get’s less.  Thus you get that ‘hazy’ feeling during a run.  A gel can act quickly to replenish this blood glucose and get your mental focus back.  You may feel more energized, but gels won’t stop the ‘bonk’ in your legs.

When Should You Take Them?

“…energy gels help replenish the glycogen and calories you’re burning when racing hard. However, they aren’t very efficient or a simple one-to-one replacement, so timing and frequency are critical factors to avoiding the bonk.” Source

Timing is something each person needs to work on individually.  For some, they can feel it immediately, while others it takes a few minutes.  It all depends on how your stomach reacts to the gels.

“This variation in absorption rate has to do with how well your stomach reacts to the gel. When running hard, your body often diverts blood away from the digestive track to help your legs continue to move forward (your body naturally conserves resources). Sometimes, however, your body shuts the stomach down completely while other times it just slows down. This is why it isn’t uncommon to see runners throw up fluids or gels right after ingesting them late in the race.” Source

The article recommends taking the gels early in a race, exactly when depends on how your body reacts to gels during training.  So practice.

How Often Should You Take Them?

As mentioned earlier, you body may shut down your stomach, thus you do not want to overload your digestive system with gels.  It is suggested that you wait 45-60 minutes before taking another gel.

“The other aspect to keep in mind is that your digestive track is trainable like most every other part of your body. So, if you eat gels in training, particularly if you do it at set intervals that correlate to when you will take them during the race, your body will learn to keep the digestive track running and you will digest the gel more readily. This is why it’s critical you practice your exact fueling strategy as often as possible in training.” Source

Important Advice

If you find your stomach having a hard time digesting gels, only take a portion of a gel in short intervals.  A suggestion is 1/4 of the gel, then wait a bit for you stomach to digest this before consuming the next 1/4.

ALWAYS take water with your gel.  This will speed up the digestion of the gel.  NEVER use a sports drink with your gel.  This could load your stomach with over 60 grams of simple sugars, which could cause you to go running into the woods.