Life is an ultramarathon

I've noticed a few peanut butter cravings after long runs recently.

In terms of energy-to-weight ratio, it would make a lot of sense. Indeed, all commercial gels are based on carbohydrates, which provide 4 KCal/gram. This ratio is fairly constant across the main carbohydrate sources: glucose, fructose, maltodextrin, or potato starch. The only difference is the speed at which the energy is assimilated by the body. So the final energy-to-weight ratio of a gel depends mostly on the amount of other ingredients (mainly water) added to the carbohydrate base. The highest ratio I've found during my tests was 3.75 KCal/gram in the Honey Stinger, thanks to the little bees drying out their product with their wings. Conversely, this means that a SiS Go Gel with a poor ratio of 1.3 KCal/gram is probably composed by 2/3 of water and 1/3 of maltodextrin.

Peanut butter packs 6 KCal/gram, because of its high fat content. Typical composition includes 50% fat (9 KCal/gram), 25% proteins (4 KCal/gram like carbohydrates) and 20% carbohydrates. Peanut butter also contains salt, which might be beneficial during long/hot runs. Because protein and fat are slower to digest than carbs, that might be a suitable option for multi-days runs.

We're still far from the 9 KCal/gram you would get by stuffing your bag with lard or olive oil, but that's a step forward .

Ultra energy content

When in Nice for the marathon, I bought a few energy gels to complete my comparison: mX3 extreme, Scientec Nutrition Over Blast and Overstim.s (Energix, Antioxydant, Coup de fouet, Red Tonic).

The main difference as compared to the typical British ones is that they all sell in similar, smaller pouches. Their weights vary between 25 and 27 grams only, when the ubiquitous PowerGel and SiS Go Gel weigh 41 and 67 grams respectively. Not only these gels are lighter than any other I've tested before, but all of them are also much more expensive per calorie. The mX3 Extreme gel sets a new minimum with a ratio of only 37.56 KCal/£, way under the already overpriced SiS Smart Gel at 55 KCal/£. During the long runs when the sweet food becomes unbearable, the Overstim.s Energix range features a savoury peanut flavour, which is a great idea. Unfortunately, the gel texture is so thick that it took me a lot of effort to down it (think about "drinking" peanut butter through a 2mm-large hole). I'm not sure how people do normally deal with that, but I found them absolutely unusable in practice.

Overstim.s also produces the "Red Tonic Sprint Air" gel with mint and eucalyptus. The fresh and intense taste is supposed to boost you when you're out of breath. It's definitely strong, now whether that would actually make any difference...

On the content side, it looks like French runners like funky add-ons. Aside the typical vitamins A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, C, E, PP and caffeine, some of them include the following ingredients: royal jelly, propolis, chloropyll, gingseng, kola, crataegus, cinchona, meadowsweet, angelica, ginger and fenugreek. Not sure what all of those are good for, but they must justify the price...

Ultra not impressed by French gels

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to be a scientific comparison between energy gels. It is compilation of nutrition facts about most of the energy gels commonly available in the UK and France, complemented by a subjective comment on their taste and texture. Please feel free to comment on it.

• Update 18/10/2008: corrected Honey Stinger weight, added Hammer.
• Update 14/12/2009: added Over Blast, Overstim.s and mX3.
• Update 12/01/2010: added Carboshotz.

I've tried to buy most of the gels I could find in shops or online. The most common in UK shops are PowerGel, High5 and SiS GO, but when you look carefully around, there are quite a few of them: I've ended up with nearly 3kg of running treats! The idea was to taste them for real and not only to report their composition in a table.
However, there are a couple of other gels I haven't tested: GU gel (the one all Americans are talking about, but can't find a UK retailer), EAS energy gel (looks more designed for body builders), Cyto gel (sold only by 24 pack), Clif Shot Energy Gel (can't find a UK retailer), Fireball, Cytomax Gulp'n Gel. Also, I didn't try the full range from High 5, assuming they must be fairly similar. High 5 IsoGel Plus has extra caffeine (35mg) and High 5 IsoGel X'treme is designed to "boost energy, focus and agression", although the official website is very evasive on the actual content.

I will probably update this page later on if I can get hold of other products.


Weight

Most gels provide about 100KCal in 40g. Some are provided in bigger resealable pouches intended for several usages to pack up to 300KCal. The gels with the most important level of sugar will contain less water and therefore have a higher energy-to-weight (E/W) ratio. Pure sugar Honey Stinger reach an amazing 3.24 KCal/g, whether largely water-diluted maltodextrin-based SiS GO gels only pack 1.3 KCal/g!

Table 1: energy and weight

Gel	Weight	Energy	E / W
	(g)	(Kcal)	(Kcal/g)
SiS GO Gel	67	87	1.3
SiS Smart1 Gel	67	88	1.31
High5 IsoGel	38	92	2.42
High5 EnergyGel (Plus)	38	92	2.42
Torq	45	114	2.53
Carboshotz	45	117	2.6
Squeezy Gel	25	65	2.6
PowerGel	41	109	2.66
Carb BOOM Gel	41	110	2.68
Isostar Actifood	90	187	2.08
Lucozade Carbo Gel	45	123	2.73
mX3 extreme	25	74	2.96
Scientec Nutrition Over Blast	25	74	2.96
Overstim.s (Energix / Antioxidant)	27	80	2.96
Aptonia Energy Gel	70	208	2.97
Maxim Gel	100	300	3
Overstim.s (Coup de fouet / Red Tonic)	25	81	3.24
Honey Stinger Gel	32	120	3.75

Carboyhdrate type

They are basically 3 kinds of gels available, hence the 3 groups in the comparison tables. The ones mostly based on maltodextrin (a carbohydrate that isn't sweet, derived from partial hydrolyse of starch), the ones based on glucose syrup (which are extremely sweet) and the ones combining maltodextrin and glucose/fructose. Some researchers suggest that a ratio 2:1 maltodextrin:fructose/glucose (ie. 33% sugar) is optimal. However, most of those are linked somehow to a brand, so it's tricky to get a fair opinion.

Isotonic

Isotonic gels can be consumed without extra water. This can be an advantage, but for most people water is usually needed anyway during a race anyway! I think it's becoming increasingly trendy to say that sport food is isotonic, and I expect most gels to be isotonic in a couple of years.

Caffeine

Some gels include 25 to 90mg of caffeine. As for comparison, the caffeine amount in coffee varies between 40mg (regular espresso) and 300mg (Star***** biggest brew). It's always been controversial whether caffeine is beneficial to long distance running. On one hand it's a psychological and metabolism booster, on the other hand it's a diuretic, it increases the blood pressure and might lead to digestive problems.

Table 2: composition

Gel	Carbohydrates	Sugar	Isotonic	Caffeine
		(% carb.)
SiS GO Gel	maltodextrin	0	YES
SiS Smart1 Gel	maltodextrin	0	YES	50
High5 IsoGel	maltodextrin, glucose	30	YES
High5 EnergyGel (Plus)	maltodextrin, glucose, (fructose)	30 or 46		(30)
Torq	maltodextrin, fructose	33		(89)
Carboshotz	Corn syrup solids	19		(80)
Squeezy Gel	maltodextrin, fructose	?
PowerGel	maltodextrin, fructose	38		(25, 50)
Carb BOOM Gel	maltodextrin, fructose	11		(50)
Isostar Actifood	glucose syrup	?
Lucozade Carbo Gel	glucose syrup	15
mX3 extreme	glucose syrup, fructose	68
Scientec Nutrition Over Blast	glucose, (maltodextrin)	?		30
Overstim.s (Energix / Antioxidant)	glucose syrup, (maltodextrin)	35 or 45
Aptonia Energy Gel	glucose syrup, (maltodextrin 5%)	58
Maxim Gel	glucose syrup	69
Overstim.s (Coup de fouet / Red Tonic)	glucose syrup	76
Honey Stinger Gel	honey (pure sugar)	100		(32)

* caffeine weight in brackets means that only some of the flavours do contain caffeine.

Cost

Price are hard to compare. If buy bulk you'll obviously pay less. I originally wanted to buy them all by the unit to compare their prices that way. As some gels are only sold in bulk, I eventually had to mix things up a bit. There is a wide range of prices, but on the whole, they are generally fairly expensive for a mix of water, sugar and minerals. Many websites propose recipes to make your own gels for a fraction of the price.

Table 3: cost

Gel	Price	By	E / P
	(£)		(Kcal/£)
SiS GO Gel	0.9	10	96.67
SiS Smart1 Gel	1.6	1	55
High5 IsoGel	1	2	92
High5 EnergyGel (Plus)	0.79	1	116.46
Torq	1.25	8	91.2
Carboshotz	1	1	117
Squeezy Gel	0.92	12	70.65
PowerGel	1.2	5	90.83
Carb BOOM Gel	1	5	110
Isostar Actifood	1.95	1	95.9
Lucozade Carbo Gel	1.1	1	111.82
mX3 extreme	1.97	1	37.56
Scientec Nutrition Over Blast	1.6	25	46.25
Overstim.s (Energix / Antioxidant)	1.73	10	46.24
Aptonia Energy Gel	1.45	1	143.45
Maxim Gel	1.39	1	215.83
Overstim.s (Coup de fouet / Red Tonic)	1.87	10	43.32
Honey Stinger Gel	1.17	6	102.56

Sweetness and stickiness

These aspects may not seem of the highest importance, but they do matter. After running for a while, especially if the weather is warm, the stomach can easily get upset. And at that point the last thing you might want is a sweet and sticky gel. On the other hand, a strong sweet taste sometimes feels good when flirting with hypoglycemia. In any case, please remember that taste is personal. This is only to give you an overall idea and you must try them by yourself to make your choice.
Note that the percentage of sugar, although strongly related, is not necessarily proportional to the apparent sweetness. This is due to the use of various kinds of sugar (glucose, fructose), as well as other flavourings and acidity regulators. For example, I found the Carb BOOM gels very similar to the PowerGel, although they have only 11% sugar against 38% for the latter. Also, the Honey Stinger, despite being composed of 100% sugar, surprisingly doesn't taste too badly sweet.

Table 4: personal appreciation

Gel	Flavour	Sweetness	Stickiness	Personal mark
SiS GO Gel	Subtle	not sweet	fluid	*****
SiS Smart1 Gel	Subtle	not sweet	fluid	****
High5 IsoGel	Too strong	sweet	fluid	*
High5 EnergyGel (Plus)	Good (choc.) / too strong (citrus)	sweet	fluid	** / ****
Torq	Very good (cherry)	very sweet	sticky	****
Carboshotz	Good	a bit sweet	a bit sticky	****
Squeezy Gel	Good	sweet	sticky	***
PowerGel	OK	sweet	sticky	***
Carb BOOM Gel	OK	very sweet	sticky	***
Isostar Actifood	Good (fruit bits)	sweet	sticky	****
Lucozade Carbo Gel	OK	very sweet	very sticky	**
mX3 extreme	OK	sweet	sticky	**
Scientec Nutrition Over Blast	OK	sweet	sticky	***
Overstim.s (Energix / Antioxidant)	Good	sweet	very thick	*
Aptonia Energy Gel	OK	painfully sweet	very sticky	*
Maxim Gel	OK	very sweet	sticky	**
Overstim.s (Coup de fouet / Red Tonic)	Good (CF) / Too strong (RT)	sweet	thick	**
Honey Stinger Gel	Good	very sweet	very sticky	*****

Conclusion

My final choice is a combo of SiS GO gel and Honey Stinger; the former to be used continuously, as they're easy to swallow and digest even in absence of water; the latter as punctual boosters or hypoglycemia killers. And obviously a couple of spare Crème de marrons for the mental.

Notes:

• Surprisingly, High 5 EnergyGel composition varies quite a lot depending on the flavour.
• No official weight is provided for SiS gels, they're measured by volume (ie. 60ml). I've weighted them myself for homogeneous comparison. I suppose the reason for that may either be that they consider them as liquid or that they want to hide their low energy-to-weight ratio.
• Update 22/12/2008: Trail Goat at iRunFar posted today a similar test of his own, but more oriented towards the US market. You might want to have a look.

You can also browse the whole comparison table at a glance online or download the OpenDocument spreadsheet. These include a bit more information and links to official websites.

Ultra energy.

Nutrition is obviously very important in ultrarunning... Reading here and there about what you need to eat and what to avoid while training is quite a mission though: you can find everything and its opposite, except maybe about carbohydrates loading ... That's why I decided to eat a lot of everything, rather than focussing on pasta and cheese as in the past... I've already increased my red meat and fish intake, as well as fruits and vegetables (having a vegetarian girlfrieng might have helped). In order to be more consistent about fruits and vegetables, I then decided to subscribe to Abels & Cole. They deliver a weekly basket of fresh fruits and vegetables on your doorstep. Of course, it's all organic, mostly from UK and Europe and not air-freighted. I've got the first one yesterday, we'll see if it improves my diet.

Ultraveg.

As detailed in an earlier post, I found out that the Crème de Marrons (chestnut spread) is one of my favourite running fuel. Unfortunately, I can't find it anymore in small pouches. They now sell them online (*), but apparently they don't ship abroad. That's annoying... Does anyone know where to find these in London or online?

Ultra embarrassing.

(*) for 0.73€ each = £0.50 - half price compared to Partridges...

Update (14/04/2007):
They're available again at Partridges ! I mean they were available, as I bought all 12 of them At £1.10 each now, that's more than twice as much as in France ...

Update (18/04/2007):
They're definitively not available anymore at Partridges. I must have bought their whole stock at once

Today I was glad to find the excellent old fashion Clément Faugier's crème de marrons (chestnut spread) at Partridges. They don't have the new soft packaging version, only the tins and the tubes, but the latter are perfect for me. They're slightly sticky and rather sweet (although less than the PowerGels) but I feel like I'm going to take some with me at the UTMB, because I hope that pleasure will help to eat and digest properly .

Following last post, hereafter a short comparison table:

	Price (£)	Energy (KCal)	Weight (g)	Energy/Weight (KCal/g)
Crême de marrons	1	200	80	2.5
SiS Go gel	1	90	67	1.3
PowerGel	1.25	110	40	2.75

Edit (06/08/2008): updated weight and ratio for SiS GO gel: 25g was the weight of carbs, not the overall weight (67g).

Ultra yummy.