To start off, let’s make it clear that I hate gels. HATE. My last two marathons (in November and January) have had me nearly barfing them back up EVERY 45 minutes of EVERY single run – true story.  So when I received a wonderful treat of race fuel in the mail thanks to the Canada Running Series Toronto Yonge Street 10K and Power Bar Canada, my first thought was who could I pass these along to? But as I am beginning to pick up my mileage, having this box on my counter made it a very easy decision as to what to fuel with on Saturday during my 90 minute Tribe run. And guess what, to my very pleasant on route surprise, my package of PowerBar® Performance Blends isn’t actually a gel, or even close to it – it’s applesauce and guess what else I LOVE APPLESAUCE.

The Details:
PowerBar® Performance Blends are a before and during activity fuel source that should be eaten 30minutes prior to activity and then throughout as per your training plan (for me, every 45minutes). It is a gluten- free fruit-based blend “formulated with PowerBar’s C2MAX, a 2:1 glucose to fructose blend found to deliver 20-50% more energy to muscles than glucose alone” which according to PowerBar, can help improve endurance performance by 8%. The Performance Blends contain no artificial flavouring and they’re a “good source” of vitamin C.

My Experience:
The individual packages of the PowerBar Performance Blends are huge – it has a giant knob on the end and makes it challenging to fit more than two into a pouch. When my 45 minute watch chime went off I dreaded how my body was going to respond. I filled my mouth with water unscrewed the cap and squeezed preparing to down it all in one quick swallow. The fact that this wasn’t a gel but was actually applesauce was the most amazing run discovery. I immediately ate more and then thought about how I could take some in my lunch to work the next week. If I hadn’t eaten it all that large but handy screw cap would’ve allowed me to save some for my next walk break, but since it was totally delicious I ate it all.

An Area to Grow:
As I wrote above the individual packaging is huge for on route fuel. For my long marathon training runs I would need to bring along at least 6 of these and there is no way they would all fit into my current fuel belt pouches. That being said, they are delicious and very easy to swallow – so for that reason alone, I will figure out a way to make them work!

Conclusion:
If you are an endurance athlete who has challenges fueling mid event, I highly suggest you check these out. You can buy them online in two different flavours or from your local running store.