Half marathon distance and up, I get a heavy cramping feeling low in the stomach roughly 20 minutes after the second gel, and it stays for the rest of the run. Tried three different brands, one caffeinated and two not. I take them with a couple of mouthfuls of water. Training around 60km a week, no issues with food otherwise. Is there a fix or am I a chews and real food person?
If it persists after you fix the dilution, it is worth a conversation with a sports dietitian rather than more brand roulette. Some people genuinely do not tolerate fructose well and that is a solvable problem with the right advice.
There is nothing wrong with real food for training runs. I use dried figs and salted potatoes on anything over two hours and gels only on race day. Just do not experiment on race morning.
Train the gut deliberately. Take the same fuel on easy runs at low intensity for a few weeks, then move it into harder efforts. Absorption capacity is trainable and most people only ever test it under race stress, which is the worst possible condition.
Worth adding that caffeine and sugar alcohols in some products also cause this. Read the label for sorbitol or maltitol, which are surprisingly common in chews.
Try a drink mix instead and skip solids entirely. Getting the carbohydrate in dilute form across the whole run rather than in two spikes suits some stomachs far better, mine included.
@flakey_test · 2w ago · 3 replies
Two mouthfuls of water is almost certainly the problem. A standard gel is a very concentrated sugar solution and it needs a real dilution to leave your stomach, otherwise it sits there pulling water into the gut, which is exactly the heavy cramping feeling you are describing. The rule of thumb I was given is 150 to 200ml of plain water per gel, and drinking it over a minute or two rather than a gulp. Also check the carbohydrate type: gels with a glucose and fructose blend absorb through two pathways and are much easier on most people than glucose-only ones once you are taking more than one an hour.
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@pannier_pat · last wk.
I carry a 500ml flask for a two hour run, so I have been rationing it. Sounds like I need to carry more water rather than fewer gels.
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@burr_check_bea · last wk.
Or run a loop that passes a tap or your car. I do a 5km loop from home on long run days for exactly this reason and it removed the whole problem.
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