Any ultra runner will say they have probably experimented with all different types of nutrition until they find “the one” that just works for them. For myself, I have literally tried everything in terms of nutrition. When I started ultra running, I realized that I have an extremely sensitive stomach, and also a very difficult palette to please especially as the kms tick onwards.
I have stomach distress very easily, and find that I don’t really do well with most gels. To top that off I don’t like the texture of many gels so that removes a lot of the nutrition out there right away. My nutritionist suggested that I try an all natural diet while racing, so just eating natural foods, bananas, pickles, and things like that all while maintaining a somewhat low carb diet to help ease some of the stomach distress. This seemed to be working fine, until it wasn’t. I needed something more, I needed more energy, I needed a bit more carbs, I needed easy to eat food that wasn’t going to hurt. The further I ran the more fuel I needed to sustain what I was doing, and eating an all natural diet of bananas and pickles just wasn’t going to do it.
I discovered Xact bars, one day while walking around in the Running Free store. It wasn’t a gel, and it was a small bar that packed 25 grams of carbs. What made these different was that they were more natural than the highly processed gels. The bars are made from real fruit sugars, as well as pulp, so ultimately it was in line with my natural foods diet, and it added a bit more substance to what I was already taking. I grabbed a few flavours, including maple, apple, orange, and strawberry, all which were caffeine free.
The first time I tried them was on a 25km run, I was immediately struck by the texture and the ease of eating them. The taste was delicious, like a gummy candy, but not as chewy.
That first run with Xact energy bars was over three years ago and I haven’t looked back. They have been my go to fuel for so many runs, and races. The good thing about them is that I don’t find I get taste fatigue with them, and they aren’t hard to take in even 50-60km into a race when you really don’t feel like anything in your mouth.
I actually find I quite look forward to having them, because they are such a nice treat. I follow a low carb diet still, and am relatively sugar free, so when it comes to these Xact energy bars I find they really just hit the spot on those long runs. I still fuel with all natural foods, bananas, pickles, and potatoes. However, I find that when I’m close to running out of energy stores at around 50-60km into a race, those bars really are the added bit of fuel I need to get me through.
I really appreciate the variety of flavours as well, however my very favourite is the strawberry one, it just reminds me so much of gummy candies and my childhood.
