This is a fantastic product. I'm relatively new to long distance running (my long runs are only 10k) and this is the first gel product I've used, but it did not disappoint.
It's hard to credit my gains solely to this, so I will give a wrap-up of my experience and let you decide. The first time I ran 10k, I had a time of 55:25 (I know that's slow, but I'm a bigger guy). The second time I tried it, there were a few differences: I wore running shorts (the first time I wore basketball shorts) and I had a fuel belt equipped with a 20oz water bottle and two Strawberry Banana PowerBar Power Gel Packets; temperature and environment were similar during both runs. Anyway, I popped these gel packs at around the 20 minute and 40 minute mark and my time dropped to 52:21! I don't know about you, but I think an improvement of over 3 minutes is fantastic... Especially if you consider that is nearly 30 seconds per mile.
Okay, so I know the shorts (they were quite a bit lighter and didn't get soaked with sweat) and liquid helped quite a bit, as well as my muscles being a little more broken in from the first time I tried 10k, but the biggest thing I noticed was my consistency. My third mile on my first run was a horrific 9:37 and way off the rest of my mile times. During my second run, each mile ranged from around 8:17 (my 5th mile) to 8:37 (my first mile); I think the fact that my mile times improved as my run went on also illustrates the effectiveness of this product. I track my time and distance with a Garmin Forerunner 205 (another fantastic product).
Anyway, I highly suggest this product if you are new to long distance running or a veteran that competes. If you dont' want to commit to an entire box, I bought a couple of individual packets at REI for $1.25 a piece just to see if I noticed an improvement. Compared to the other reviews, I don't think this is hard to swallow at all. If you spray a little water in your mouth before consuming the packet, it goes down even easier. My one and only con would be that it is kind of sticky, so if you get any on your hands it's quite annoying; small price to pay in my eyes.
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