By Kait Reed, Muir Energy
As a plant based endurance athlete, I am very conscious of what I put into my body—especially during long training runs and races. I always opt for real, whole foods-such as bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, nuts, etc.) to maximize performance, feel my best, and most importantly….avoid any stomach issues!--and I only learned this after several bad experiences with different gels, gus, and bars. (There’s nothing more frustrating than to run off course several times throughout a race to use the restroom due to discomfort some nutrition product caused you that was supposed to help fuel your run, not hurt your run.)
After a bad experience (and having to drop out of the race) during a 50k in 2014, I told myself that I would never, ever, ever eat anything out of a package to fuel my runs or trust any athlete nutrition company again. And from that moment on I began making my own fuel—smooshing bananas and sweet potatoes and trying to suck them out of plastic baggies, crafting all sorts of granola, nut butter bar recipes, trying to get the consistency of chia gels just right, and….you get the point. It was time consuming, at times frustrating, and didn’t always taste the best but it worked, so that’s what I continued to do for several years.
In 2017, I attended a group run in Birdrock where Muir Energy just happened to be demoing their product. “Just try it” they said. “It’ll be good” they said. “It’s real, whole foods” they said. “It won’t give you any stomach issues” they said. “We’re not like anybody else” they said. And my response was “Thanks, but no thanks. You guys are all the same, I make my own fuel, and I will never fuel any of my runs or races from anything that comes from a package again.” Thank goodness for the persistent rep! She got me to give in and try it and to my surprise….it worked, it tasted good, and it did for me exactly what I needed it to out on the trails.
I can honestly say that using Muir Energy is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for my nutrition as an endurance athlete—no more burps, no more upset stomach, and no more of the bad kind of runs while out on the trails. Muir Energy does work, it does taste, good, it is real whole foods, and they’re not like everybody else.
I WAS skeptical, but I’m not anymore and neither should you! Give it a try….it’ll work…..I promise ;)
