Runners and endurance athletes need to refuel during endurance training and racing and the most popular ‘go to’ food group is power gels. Since there really isn’t anything magical about the ingredients in the power gels on the market I decided to try some homemade gel recipes and test them out on my long marathon training runs.  I was pleasantly surprised with the results, they were easy to make, I knew exactly what I was putting into my body and they worked providing instant and sustained energy levels!



E3 Energy Gel 

4.8 oz (.6 cup) of Organic Brown Rice Syrup

3.2 oz  (.4 cup) Organic Honey

1 tsp of sea salt

Optional Ingredients

Instant Coffee (for caffeine)

Green Tea Powder (antioxidant source)

Natural flavor extracts of your choice

 

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a squeeze container. Another option is to pour into individual food safe plastic zip lock plastic bags and freeze until the night before a race or training run.


Why it works

The brown rice syrup consists of a combination of 50% complex carbohydrates and 50% maltose.  The maltose can be broken down (into glucose) in our bodies quickly providing initial energy needed in endurance sports and the complex carbohydrates provide the sustained energy. The honey is a rich source of fructose that provides a more gradually released energy.  The salt provides the electrolytes (sodium). So the combination of brown rice syrup and honey provide the 3 essential forms of energy for the endurance athlete, immediate energy (from glucose), gradually released energy (from fructose) and sustained energy (from complex carbohydrates).

Give it a try and let us know your thoughts.

Happy running!