These last few weeks before the marathon are key not only for building up your mileage, but also for practising with things you might want to use to get you round on the day. I am mainly talking about nutrition, although there may also be clothing, pouches/carriers, and mental tricks to consider rehearsing with. Some runners choose to use energy bars, gels or sweets and it is essential to try your chosen energy-booster first on a training run, as they can have different effects on different people, and a stomach disagreement is the last surprise you want in the actual marathon.
I hate the taste and texture of gels and prefer not to eat anything solid on a long run, and I only use sports drinks if it is hot and I’m sweating more than usual, so I assumed I wouldn’t use any nutrition products. But I have a secret weapon, discovered by chance from some free samples that a friend gave me, and now part of my race plan; The secret is Sport Beans- jelly bean sweets that are the perfect size for popping in your mouth for a quick burst of flavour and energy.
This diary post isn’t meant to sound like an advertisement (although if anyone from Jelly Belly is reading this, my favourite flavour is Lemon and Lime…) but I have so enjoyed the beans that they were the main thing I thought about on my training run this week and naturally when I came to write this post I wanted to share the idea with everyone. You see I have discovered that after 14 miles, using a couple of beans as a reward for every two miles completed helps the time pass and gives a tiny boost to spur me on to the finish. A couple of beans may not sound like much, but the beans are larger than normal jelly beans and flavoursome enough that just one fills your mouth with satisfying sweetness. When I used them in my last marathon I handed them out to the friends I was running with and one of them declared a single bean “the best thing I’ve ever tasted!”. Admittedly almost anything tastes good at mile 19, but still, that was quite impressive.
These magic beans come in small bags that are ideal for carrying on a run, but I’m sure the same effect could be achieved by decanting a handful of jelly babies or simillar, the only extra benefit I can see from the specially-designed Sports Beans being the token vitamins B &C they contain, which makes you feel better about eating glorified sugar lumps. For me, I think the key thing is getting a psychological perk from eating something that is actually enjoyable rather than a nutrition product that makes my stomach curdle.
Sports beans? this is the first time I’ve heard of such energy foods.