Maurten Gel

We all know that nutrition is the fourth discipline of a triathlon. Without this, forget about having a good race or training session.

During my last six years, I have been in search of the gel that has the following attributes –

1. Cannot be too sweet. Being too sweet tends to increase the need for water to wash it down. too much water equals sloshing in the tummy.

2. Should not be too gooey or sticky. Somehow, being too gooey or sticky makes it difficult to swallow, especially when you are on the run.

3. Does not burn the throat which a lot of gels tend to do

4. Faster absorption into the body. This is important as you do not want to wait too long and hit the wall before the gel takes effect.

5. Comes in packaging that is easy to rip off. Don’t want to fiddle too much on the bike or run and then spill it all over your hands.

6. The most important for me is not giving me any GI Stress. That is a taboo word that every athlete tries to avoid at all costs!

I have so far tried SIS, Hammer, GU, Cliff, High5, Stinger and PowerGel. High5 used to work well for me but the energy effect does not last long and it is quite sweet.

It was during one of my indoor training session, while I was seeing a YouTube video on a documentary on Eloid Kipchoge, I noticed during one of his races, he was having gel and the camera zoomed in on it to reveal the Maurten brand. That was the start of my major research.

It was during this research and scouring the internet that I realised Jan Frodeno uses these gels too. And it was at that time that they were introducing it to the market. There was very little marketing done then and even now, it is all based on word-of-mouth push for the brand.

I decided to purchase a pack to try them, and I have never looked back.

After trying it, I honestly suspect that they may have some “banned” substance in the gel! It is so effective and so good. I just do not know if I should keep it as my secret weapon or share it with everyone.

One caveat though, gels are very individual. I am not professing that this gel better than the rest. You need to try it to see if it fits you. But for me, it was like finding the fountain of youth.

For the more technically savvy athlete, here are the nutrition numbers.

Ingredients

1. Water
2. Glucose
3. Fructose
4. Calcium Carbonate
5. Gluconic Acid
6. Sodium Alginate

For every 100g

1. Energy – 250KCAL
2. Carbo – 62.5g
3. Glucose/Fructose – 62.5g
4. Salt – 137.5mg

All products were purchased and none were sponsored