Jelly Babies

[tinyman]

On a serious note will have to try and cut sweets down, any less sugary alternatives you guys have found? I usually take bananas, jelly babies and a mars bar on long runs.

Marmite Cereal Bars

[Welsh Harrier]

Yep another vote for chocolate raisins and also chocolate peanuts.

I just keep on experimenting and never really stick with one thing though.

Mars bars are supposed to be medium GI, I used to swear by them, but have shied away from them recently, they may make a return soon...

They were giving away Mars Bars at the Youth Hostel halfway round the Peris Horseshoe when I did it a few years ago - I scoffed a pile of them - big mistake as it got me going up Snowdon but I totally bonked at that point - something to do with a blood sugar rebound effect. I think a ham sandwich might have been a better idea.

[wheezing donkey]

Performance enhancing drug of choice with the Bowland Vets team are boiled fresh baby salad potatoes - plenty of slow release starches without the diabetes inducing sugar spikes that disappear as quickly as they appear. And not too heavy to carry!

[Welsh Harrier]

Performance enhancing drug of choice with the Bowland Vets team are boiled fresh baby salad potatoes - plenty of slow release starches without the diabetes inducing sugar spikes that disappear as quickly as they appear. And not too heavy to carry!

Sounds good WD - just gettingour first new pots out of the ground this week!

[Welsh Harrier]

Well this post has been sitting for a few days - saw some big boxes of Jelly Babies on offer today for half price - I should have made a shrewd investment!

[MartinW]

Performance enhancing drug of choice with the Bowland Vets team are boiled fresh baby salad potatoes - plenty of slow release starches without the diabetes inducing sugar spikes that disappear as quickly as they appear. And not too heavy to carry!

I've been considering spuds, mashed if I could think of a handy way of eating them, but before I go and make myself ill by a surfeit of spuds (a la Eddie Izzard!), I wouldn't mind the benefit of your experience in judging how many to eat per hour, and whether you take just spuds or also have other courses ?

[Alexandra]

Performance enhancing drug of choice with the Bowland Vets team are boiled fresh baby salad potatoes - plenty of slow release starches without the diabetes inducing sugar spikes that disappear as quickly as they appear. And not too heavy to carry!

Counter-intuitively, plain boiled white potatoes are very high on the glycaemic index, and so more likely to induce energy spikes than eg apples! (Cooking potatoes in fat lowers their GI. Mashing raises it.) I haven't tried this, but how about sweet potatoes, which are lower GI and more nutritious, as well as tastier in my opinion? I cut them into convenient slices and microwave.

[IanDarkpeak]

I've used new pots boiled with mint then given a good coating of salt and butter. scrummy

also Coop have squirms ar half price at the moment

[Rudolph Hooker]

Yes, dates, but do they go down alright while actually running? Hard to run with one's teeth stuck together.

This is less of a problem if you leave your teeth in the car, like I do!

[wheezing donkey]

I've been considering spuds, mashed if I could think of a handy way of eating them, but before I go and make myself ill by a surfeit of spuds (a la Eddie Izzard!), I wouldn't mind the benefit of your experience in judging how many to eat per hour, and whether you take just spuds or also have other courses ?

Martin, being a "plodder" (rather than a racer) I go out on AL championship races to support our vets team. I usually take a couple of dozen new potatoes with me ( none much bigger than a golf ball ) and the lads will take 2 or 3 each. Maybe the following anecdote will be helpful;
At Wasdale 2005 ( exceptionally hot, very high rate of attrition ) one of our regular "Lakeland Classics" contenders went through Beck Head looking quite weary, he took water but refused the potatoes. About 10 minutes later one of our mid-pack brigade struggled up to Beck Head, his movement was barely discernable. He ate a potatoe, took 2 "for later" and drank a good slug of water. He overtook the regular "LC" contender in Calf Cove, shouting "Ian's drugs have just kicked in", to many stares of bewilderment, and continued to have a stormer to the finish.
Anyone who is prepared to eat his main course, is offered one of nature's energy bars for pudding - a banana
Ian.
P.S. I can't claim the boiled potato idea to be my own; Mo Laney used it to good effect when at the peak of her marathon career.
PPS. Attempting to eat 'mash' in a race will be messy - or 'heavy' if you are thinking of tupperware and spoon. A thin plastic bag is ample for boiled pots.