This past Sunday I was out on my long run (this week that meant run 50 min, walk 5 min, run 40 min, walk 5 min, run 20 min) and I mistakenly thought I had found the secret to keeping my energy bar in a chewable state...let me explain.
For my past three long runs, I have carried Gatorade and some sort of energy bar, I tried carrying the energy bar in the front pouch of my fuel belt, result...frozen bar. I tried carrying the energy bar in my jacket pocket, result...frozen bar. In both cases I was able to gnaw away at the bar, break a piece off and thaw it in my mouth until I could actually chew it.
This past weekend, I tried cutting the energy bar into little pieces with the idea that if the pieces froze, it would be easier to pop one in my mouth, thaw it and chew on....yeah, that was until all the pieces froze together...same problem as previous weeks, only this time it was one huge clump that I couldn't gnaw on. My workaround, hold the frozen clump, which at this point looked exactly like what many of the dogs have been depositing on sidewalks and which much to my chagrin their owners are not picking up, but I digress...I managed to thaw out the clumps and was able to keep my energy up so no bonking.
I should confess, I don't actually have any inner pockets on any of the layers of my winter running gear, a clear faux pas in hindsight. I'm thinking maybe I can MacGyver some sort of pouch on a string to wear around my neck on one of my inner layers and that should keep the energy bar in a chewable state...
Any thoughts from those of you with winter running (and feeding) experience?
Brent, you could try those gel packs. As they start out liquid, they have a higher likelihood of staying liquid.
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