How often do you gu?

[cowboy]

I try to gu about every hour or so, but sometimes I'll go longer. For you runners, do you have a set time or distance that you gu, or do you just gu when you start to feel tired?

[BigPiney]

I think you are better off if you do it on a set time. But I never run long enough to actually justify bringing something along. If I was going to go for a long run I would try and take something after 45 minutes and then every 30 to 45 after that. Of course this requires having water or some beverage, which you should probalby have if you are going that long.

[I.J. Reilly]

I try to gu about every hour or so, but sometimes I'll go longer. For you runners, do you have a set time or distance that you gu, or do you just gu when you start to feel tired?

I only ever gu when I'm feeling really, really sick.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

Every 5 miles.

On the topic of GU, some people say that eating one with Gatorade is too much sugar and will make you nauseous. I've never had that problem, though I will usually eat them with water.

[SteelBlue]

I only use gu if I'm going longer than an hour. I take the first one at 45 minutes (I rarely actually want it that early but 45 minutes may actually be a little late). I take one every 40-45 minutes after that. Since my longest run ever was an lsd 20 miles I've only needed 3 once.

[Pheidippides]

Every 5 miles.

On the topic of GU, some people say that eating one with Gatorade is too much sugar and will make you nauseous. I've never had that problem, though I will usually eat them with water.

The nutrition book I am reading says that it's too much carbohydrate for optimal absorption and suggests you either do GU with water, or just gatorade. On runs longer than six miles, I run with the Gatorade endurance formula stuff, which I prefer to the regular, in two bottles and water in the other two. I'll pop the Clif bloks (my choice) every six miles or so. I prefer the ones with caffeine on longer runs. I need something in the heat and humidity in which I run (thankfully, I am not in Houston - humidity was 93%!!!!!!!) and, while I'm still tinkering with my running nutrition routine, this has improved my performance.

[LiveCoug]

I have no idea what gu is, but it scares me.

[BigPiney]

The nutrition book I am reading says that it's too much carbohydrate for optimal absorption and suggests you either do GU with water, or just gatorade. On runs longer than six miles, I run with the Gatorade endurance formula stuff, which I prefer to the regular, in two bottles and water in the other two. I'll pop the Clif bloks (my choice) every six miles or so. I prefer the ones with caffeine on longer runs. I need something in the heat and humidity in which I run (thankfully, I am not in Houston - humidity was 93%!!!!!!!) and, while I'm still tinkering with my running nutrition routine, this has improved my performance.

Caffeine also improves endurance, so you got that going for you with those.

Talking to some tri pros, they said that when they compete they will dilute the Gatorade if that is all there is, cause it is just too much for their body to handle when you are pushing it.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

I only use gu if I'm going longer than an hour.

Same here. I only mess with carrying stuff around on my weekend lsd runs. And towards the end, eating a GU makes me gag.

The nutrition book I am reading says that it's too much carbohydrate for optimal absorption and suggests you either do GU with water, or just gatorade.

That's pretty much what I had heard. I think GU mixed with water essentially becomes Gatorade in your system.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

I have no idea what gu is, but it scares me.

[Pheidippides]

Caffeine also improves endurance, so you got that going for you with those.

That's precisely why I use them. However, based on my reading, the effect is much smaller for those people who use caffeine regularly. It was the final thing that got me over the hump in quitting Diet Coke (I don't drink soda at all now). It is a diuretic, though, so I have to make sure that I am properly hydrated.

This nutrition book I've been reading has opened my eyes to a lot of things. I'm not sure that it is the gospel truth on everything, but it has at least given me some idea of the science. Forgot the name of the book (something generic, like "Nutrition for Runners" but the author is Matt Fitzgerald and it is published with or by Runner's World.

EDIT: I have a close friend who is a tri pro (half and full Iron). He swears by peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

[Sea Chicken]

Sometimes when I'm doing a 20-miler, I'll cut up a Power Bar and eat it along the way. I'll chew on a chunk of it every five miles or so.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

It is a diuretic, though, so I have to make sure that I am properly hydrated.

Some recent studies have challenged that. I read a study a year or two back in which people given caffeine and people given plain ol' water showed essentially zero difference in urine volume. I'll see if I can find a link.

[Pheidippides]

Some recent studies have challenged that. I read a study a year or two back in which people given caffeine and people given plain ol' water showed essentially zero difference in urine volume. I'll see if I can find a link.

Hey, that's a bonus if true! I know I have to pee a lot when I drink diet Coke, but there are plenty of other things to get filtered out that could account for that.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

Here's a NYT article about it:

"Investigations comparing caffeine with water or placebo seldom found a statistical difference in urine volume, the author wrote. “In the 10 studies reviewed, consumption of a caffeinated beverage resulted in 0 to 84 percent retention of the initial volume ingested, whereas consumption of water resulted in 0 to 81 percent retention.”


"Another study, in the same journal in 2005, involved scientists following 59 active adults over 11 days while controlling their caffeine intake. They were given caffeine in capsule form on some days and on other days were given a placebo. Researchers found no significant differences in levels of excreted electrolytes or urine volume."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/he...on/04real.html

http://advance.uconn.edu/2002/020722/02072207.htm