There are tons of items out there for runners to use to get some extra energy during the race, before the race or to recover after the race. When I started out running I never wanted to e
at anything before my run, I couldn’t eat anything during my run, so I would only take in food once I was done running. Now for a 5K that is not a problem, but I started to run longer and longer distances. I was training for my first marathon and the longest distance I had ran was a half marathon. I would run that distance without eating before or during the race and would finish in about an hour and forty-five minutes.
That’s a big effort to run on an empty stomach and without refuelling along the way, but not uncommon. There are a lot of runners who don’t refuel during a half marathon and when your body is used to that it is probably no problem.
But now the distances were getting longer and still I didn’t want to take in any food. I did start to drink more during the races when they offered power drinks so that I would get some electrolytes during the races, but these were shorter distances during my training for the marathon.
Now the marathon is a beast of another breed, it is not just longer so you’ll be running twice as long. You’re body is out on a run for so long that it goes past a point where you will need to refuel or you will be hurting your body, which can manifest in just some discomfort, but could also cause you to collapse and shut down and you won’t be able to finish your race. So refuelling is a very important part of your running, specially for the longer distances.
During my first marathon I didn’t bring anything to refuel, I drank a lot of water and power drinks at the drink stations and thought I was doing fine until I just ran out of energy.
Around 20 miles I just felt drained, it just hit me and I got really discouraged. I had never had this before on my run and I felt I needed something to give me a little boost. I had just passed a stop where they handed out pieces of bananas, but I didn’t take any. I was feeling fine then and a past experience with eating banana during a race kept me from taking one. But now I wished I did take one, my pace was getting slower, my mood was getting darker. I was moving forward, but it was costing me everything I had physically and mentally. My mind was working against me by telling me I wasn’t going to make it, but then I saw a group of people at a table ahead on the course, they were handing out something. Just the thought of there being something there that I could use to energise kept me going forward. I got to the group that was cheering and handing out small packets of candy, they gave me a couple and probably read on my face that I needed it and filled my hands with some more.
They were handing out Jelly Belly Sport Beans in small baggies that I couldn’t rip open fast enough. I ripped the package open and stuffed a whole bunch of beans in my mouth. They were the most amazing things I have ever tasted, this is not exaggerated, in combination of being completely drained of energy, not having eaten anything and having been running for over 3 hours, these Sport Beans tasted so intensely good, the feeling of eating them alone gave me a boost to go on and this is without even having swallowed any of them yet.
Now I’m sure if I ate a banana, a sports gel or a candy bar, they would have all tasted amazing at that point, but I had Sport Beans and the fact that they came at the exact perfect time for me in the race gave me this perfect feeling of being ready to take on those last miles and finish my first marathon with some extra effort. Two miles on in the race I got my second wind and picked up the pace a little bit again. Crossing that finish line was like nothing I can describe here, if you’ve run a marathon before you will understand what I mean and otherwise it’s probably hard to imagine, but the emotional mix of feelings that came over me was amazing. And if I didn’t have those Sport Beans at the moment I got them I really think I would have had a hard time getting to that finish, if I would have made it at all.
Since my first marathon I’ve been using Jelly Belly Sport Beans for my longer runs and I’ve taken them with me for every marathon that I’ve run since. Like I said, there are a lot of things out there to refuel during your race, but the Sport Beans really do the job for me. And it might be a mental thing too, but when I take the Sport Beans during my marathon it takes me back to that first time I tasted them, how amazing that was and the energy that I got from that and that thought alone gives me that boost I need during my race.
Jelly Beans come in different flavours and have Carbohydrates to fuel your body during intense activity. Electrolytes (sodium and potassium) which you need for maintaining your fluid balance. Vitamins B1, B2 & B3 to help you burn carbohydrates and fat and Vitamin C to protect muscles and cells against oxidative damage.
Some packs also contain Caffeine to give you that extra kick during your race.
If you’d like to try some Jelly Belly Sport Beans you can find them by clicking Here.
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