Call this the great experiment. I made some chia gel. It tasted better than anticipated, and fueled me through today's 10k on base (not the brightest idea to run a 10k two days before a marathon, but it's also not the brightest idea to run an ultra as your final long run. I think by now I've established I'm more stubborn than anything else).
Frankly, it tasted pretty amazing mid-run. I'm always amused at how running makes some things taste better (Cheetos! Chia gel! Gu!) while others taste sooooo much worse (bananas... those damn tempting bananas! Or guaranteed vomit bullets, as I call them).
I plan on bringing a packet or two of it on Saturday. to go with my normal gels. My hope is that the chia will work its magic and help me avoid the massive blood sugar roller coaster of doom that I usually encounter about 16 miles in.
The "recipe" for those interested (adapted from several I found online)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking SODA
1/2 cup fruit preserves*
1/2 hydrated chia seeds
Combine in a pan and slowly bring to a rolling boil for 2 minutes. Let cool, store in fridge until needed. (I'm guessing it should be used within 3 days.... not sure on the shelf life of this. Mine will all be used or thrown out by Saturday night since I'm not a fan of giving myself food poisoning.)
After it cooled, I spooned some into a 2" x 3.5" bag- the kind you can find in the jewelry making supplies at a craft store. I washed them out and tested them for leakage first.
*I used homemade fruit preserves, so I know that they already had some plain (simple) sugar in them to go along with the fructose, so they in theory have a good mix of super simple and slightly more complex sugars.
These sound pretty easy to make and I'm sure they are much cheaper to make instead of buy.
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