Runner Chow Review: GU Espresso Love

While I've never been an athlete, I've been around them most of my life.  One of my best friends through college and beyond (and I should point out that this person is not, in fact, Ben, the co-author of this blog, who believes all performance supplements to be witchcraft and devilry) is a skilled amateur cyclist, and he was frequently imbibing packets, tinctures, potions, and philters to either prepare for a workout, improve performance during a workout, or recover from a workout.  It was through him that I first heard about GU, the popular energy gel.  Of course, this was through the tale of him staying up all night partying, and then eating five GU packets on the way to class in the morning to stay awake.  My next experience was when I worked in an office of marathon runners and triathletes, where 90% of the small talk was about shoes, toenails falling off.... and GU.

When I started running six years ago, I told myself that I would never run a distance that required me to subject myself to any sort of viscous fluid or cutely named power snack.  I have been able to stick to my guns, thus far; for the sake of transparency, I experimented with Clif Bloks a few years ago when I got some for free at a race, to see if they would help make my early morning runs slightly more tolerable.  Since most of my runs are right away in the morning, they're on an empty stomach, and it's a struggle.  And while I recall they helped, i never got around to purchasing them.

The Ragnar is a different animal, and I've accepted that I might need an extra boost of SCIENCE FOOD to keep me going between legs.  In addition, i've broken my original rule, and will be training up to 10K and possibly beyond.  I discovered this weekend that at about the 3.5 mile mark, my body just says "TRAVIS NEEDS FOOD BADLY" and wants to lay down.  As such, I figured it would be in my best interest to try out a few common energy snacks and document them in a section of the blog i'll call "RUNNER CHOW REVIEW".

First up is the amusingly named GU Espresso Love.  It contains 100 calories of amino acids, sodium, and most importantly, SWEET DELICIOUS CAFFEINE, about half a cup of coffee worth.  For my own curiosity, I emptied the pouch onto a spoon before eating it, as I was curious as to the consistency and color.  It's a light brown, semi translucent thick syrup as opposed to the smooth gel I was expecting; more like malt syrup, which makes sense, as I imagine this is really just malt syrup with additional flavors and vitamins (you know, their is a whole comparison I could make to a section of Slaughterhouse Five but that seems beyond the scope of this blog, and also inappropriate).  As for the taste... it's candy.  Like, I want this on top of ice cream.  It's overpoweringly sweet and delicious.  Unlike regular syrup, though, that initial hit seems to go away, and what's left is the slight taste of not coffee, as much as something coffee flavored.

As for the actual workout benefits, the truth is morning runs suck.  However, having a little bit of instant energy and some caffeine definitely helped, as I normally don't even fully wake up until after the first mile, and wind up being a little dizzy at around mile 3 in the mornings.  I felt more alert and didn't have any weird dizziness at all. 

Final Review: 8 ravenous wolves out of 10; I'll bring some of these along for the Ragnar.