Beyond General Fitness: Weight Training: Callus and Hand Care.

Ok so I know that this might be an odd subject, but with weightlifting and bouldering we all develop calluses.  It is inevitable with repetitive motions on things that are purposely textured to increase grip.  It is a natural skin response as almost a defense mechanism. 

As you can see from my hand I have circled the calluses that I have developed over the past year of weight training and three months of bouldering.  Now if cared for the calluses will not really bother training in any way shape or form.

If not taken care of you can tear the callus off and cause bleeding and scabbing as you can see from my hands above.  This was before I started caring for my hands correctly.  This put a big damper on my weightlifting for about a week or two.  The reason that calluses rips is because when you are doing a workout with either a bar or climbing grips your calluses are slightly raised above the skin around it.  This gives the object something to grab a hold of.  The callus with then in best case peal off and in worse case rip.

Now in order to keep your calluses from tearing you have to do two fairly simple things.  Keep your hands somewhat hydrated and shaving the calluses down.  Now those two things sound complicated and odd together, but they can be done very simply.

Hand Hydration:  Simply use some sort of lotion or ointment once a day will keep you hands hydrated.

Shaving the Calluses:  It sounds terrible, but women get the dead skin removed all the time during pedicures.  It doesn't even have to be that complicated.
This brush is called a Pumice stone brush and it is linked to the left of my blog.  After your shower everyday rub the stone side across your calluses.  It will cause skin pealing over your calluses, but the pealing is keeping your calluses in check.  Since I started to use a similar brush as the one posted I have yet to have a callus rip to the point of bleeding or scabbing.  That isn't to say I have not had one peal off, but no ripping and no stopping my training. 

Even though these things might seem odd or different or for some readers unmanly.  It isn't as this is just simply a tool to keep training at max volume and preventing any set backs. 


Remember my Mud Gear Code AVERAGEJOE for 5% off @ https://mudgear.com/collections/discount-eligible.
Also RockTape for your KT tape needs @ https://shop.rocktape.com/?rfsn=537256.6bbe1

Beyond General Fitness: Running: Recovery Test Part 1

Well after reading several articles about long distance recovery strategies I decided to do the research myself.  I found that Epsom Salt and Ice baths both work fairly well, but the studies that talked about Compression gear aiding recovery didn't have me convinced.  It seemed anecdotal at best.  So instead of doing more research I just decided to test it myself. 

The test will be as follows.
Run 1:  7 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  No assisted recovery
Run 2:  8 mile trail run on packed dirt and mud.  No assisted recovery
Run 3:  9 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  Compression socks applied post run only.
Run 4:  10 mile trail run on packed dirt and mud.  Compression socks applied post run only.
Run 5:  11 mile road run on pavement or concrete.  Epsom Salt bath post run.
Run 6:  12 mile road run on packed dirt and mud.  Epsom Salt bath post run.

As planned after my last two long runs I have done nothing except Ibuprofen and playing with my children.  I tend to take Ibuprofen for general aches and pains anyway.  So after my 7 mile road run I was sore more of that day and the day after, but by the end of the week I was fine.  7 miles isn't the longest run I had ever done, but it certainly was the second longest. 

Today however was my 8 mile trail run.  This is now the longest run I have ever done and I am feeling it already.  I have stuck with the experiment and will not use compression or Epsom Salt bath or anything for recovery.  I hope that it is the same as last time and in just a few short days I was ready for my next run, but we shall see.

The next runs will test compression gear and a known recovery aid in order to compare if compression is better then nothing, but is it better then a known recovery assisting plan.

I know that as far as science goes a test group of a single person isn't the most accurate test, but it is worth putting it to the test.  I believe I am a perfect tester for this as I am running incrementally longer runs and I have never ran these distances before in my life.  This should be a good test as my muscles should be more sore and fatigued then others that might have been runner for years. 

I am dreading the next few days after todays run of 8+ miles and 2k ascent, but I will be interested to know how next week will go.

My OCR Schedule for 2017

As through my blog posts I have mentioned several times I am training for a half marathon distance Obstacle Course Race.  Now I am going to post which races I will be attending and what my goals are for the races.

As you can see from my schedule I am going to be doing all three distances in the Spartan Race.  I will be collecting my first ever Spartan Trifecta (doing all three distances in a calendar year). 

My first Race is the longest and thus the one I am currently training for the Beast.  The Beast is the half marathon distance race that has 30-35 obstacles through out the race.  The race is in Montana at Glacial National Park.  I anticipate that there could possibly still be snow at this race, but time will tell.  I will have a complete write up of the race with loads of pictures.

My second race is the middle distance that has 24-29 obstacles in it.  This is actually going to be a televised event as Monterey Super is on the Spartan American Championship Series.  This race could be hot as it is in June just south of the San Francisco Bay area.  The fact that it is a televised race, could make it a little more interesting as there might be more fan fair with it.

To finish off my Trifecta I will be once again running my hometown Portland Sprint.  This is the shortest race and only has 20-23 obstacles, but last year they had 25.  I hope that the crew I will be running with improve over the  year and we will finish better then our last years time. 

My final OCR race of the year is called a Stadium Sprint that is being held at San Francisco Giants stadium AT&T park.  These races are short distance and are extremely fast paced races.  This will also be my first race running alone and I will also be running Elite.  Running Elite means that I will be running with the professional racers and I could in fact win money for coming in the top 3.  I have no delusions of grandeur that I will in fact do anything like a podium finish, but it will be the first race that I will be able to run at my own pace.

This year will be an adventure no matter what.  I never thought I would even consider running a half marathon distance in any way shape or form, but here I am signed up and thinking about my 2018 season before my 2017 season has even technically started.

Beyond General Fitness: Running: My Adventure In Heart Rate Training. Speed Test 1

I have been doing a lot of listening and reading on running websites and podcasts.  There seems to be a common theme in training for runners and OCR athletes and that is Heart Rate Training (HRT). 


Now I have been wearing a fitness watch since Christmas 2015.  It all started with a Fitbit Charge HR that my wife got us.  It has a heart rate monitor and I wore it through every workout from getting it to causing it to explode in summer of 2016 (It wasn't under water for that long). 









After I finished my final Fitness Journey Goal of completing the Portland Spartan Sprint my wife bought me a new watch.  The TomTom Spark has a Bluetooth music connection so I didn't have to take my phone with me if I didn't want too.  I love it, but it also has a heart rate monitor built in. 







Now with both watches I didn't give the heart rate zones a second glance because I didn't think they held any weight in the slightest.  I also knew that to monitor the rate of your heart through your Radial artery is probably very inaccurate.  Then the more I heard about the HRT the more I trouble ignoring the zones my watch provided. 

Now how does one go about figuring out their training zones? 

Well there are a lot of ways, but the most simple way is to take 220 and subtract your age.  This method does have some inherent error in it, but it is a good starting method.  I am going to use myself as example.  As I am nearly 36 I'll use that, so 220 - 36 is 184.  Now 184 bpm should be my maximum heart rate and we can now figure out the zones from that number.  The zones are historically 90-100%, 80-90%, 70-80%, 60-70% and 50-60%.  Now if you take 90% of 184 you get 165.6 so lets round up to 166 bpm so there is the highest zone or zone 5 166 bpm to 184 bpm.  The next zone is 147.2 to 128.8 so lets round to 147 and 129. 


I could figure the rest of the zones for myself, but TomTom has already done it for me, but now you know how it works.  You can see that the numbers aren't 100% exact, but pretty darn close.

Now for the training method.  For long distance runners it is touted to be best to train in zone 3.  This is the aerobic training zone that you burn more calories and elevate your endurance and cardiovascular fitness. 

In order to stay in zone 3 many runners will actually have to slow down.  I find this to be very difficult as I feel like I am going to slow to be doing any good.  Now this could be the fact that I was use to training in zone 4 instead of zone 3 up until this point.  It could also be that the 220 - my age isn't all that accurate for me. 

Although it doesn't feel like much I am continuing to attempt to train in zone 3 for another month.  This is simply an experiment on myself to see if this works for me.   



However based on my most recent two speed tests I must admit the numbers look promising.  As I said in my workout post that the heart rate training theory very well might hold water.

The run on the left was my most recent run and the run on the right was nearly two months before when I wasn't heart rate training. 



Now this could simply be just a matter of I'm in better shape now then I was two months ago, but it does look promising as I shaved nearly 30 seconds of my mile pace, but also didn't feel totally wasted.

To Be Continued

Beyond General Fitness: Weight Training: Looking Leaner With Out Bulking?

Ok so I know that some people don't want to bulk up and look like a body builder i.e. they don't want to look like the guy below.
















They want to look lean, but not bulky.  i.e. they might want to look like this.



In the olden days and now the incorrect thinking is that the difference between the two is that the male above lifts heavy weights at low reps and the woman is lifting low weights at high reps.  That information is incorrect thinking now.  Muscle is muscle and lowering your weight and upping your reps only lengthens your workout.  Now some people don't mind having longer workouts, but for most people time is a commodity and you don't want to workout any longer then needed.


Now what the difference between the two is that yes one has more muscle, but they also have a different levels of fat covering the muscle.  What needs to happen for most people is that they need to increase muscle mass and decrease fat or Recomposition.

Muscle growth is best at a caloric surplus, but at a surplus there is a chance you could be gaining muscle and fat.  So the goal is to eat enough calories that you build muscle without having the scale move at all.  As you get stronger and go up in lifting numbers you are building muscle, but if the scale isn't going up as well then you are gaining muscle. 

So for people that don't want to "Bulk" you need to really change your way of thinking.  You still want to increase muscle mass, but you want to remove the fat that covers your muscles.  Keep calories at maintenance, lift weights and keep your cardio up.  In order to keep your muscle mass up and lower fat will get you the lean look that you are going for.

Beyond General Fitness: Weight Training: The Plan and Training (DUP)

Now that the set up is done you can set up your training plan and progression.  There always needs to be a time frame in which to do the plan.  After your training plan has been completed you should do a week of de-load and then a week of testing your 1RM again to check for progression.  I am going to set up a simple plan that is on a four week training session 1 week de-load and 1 week testing session.

Now lets plan your days accordingly.

Monday – Squat, bench, deadlift
Tuesday – Off
Wednesday – Squat, bench, deadlift
Thursday – Off
Friday – Squat, bench, deadlift
Saturday – Accessory session
Sunday – Off

Now, we need rep ranges.

Lets do something like this Power, Strength and Hypertrophy.

So your three days could be –

Power – 6 sets of 3 at 70% 1RM
Strength – 5 sets of 5 at 80% 1RM
Hypertrophy – 4 sets of 8 at 70% 1RM

Now lets take this a step further, your week would now look something like –

Monday – Power squat, strength bench, hypertrophy deadlift
Tuesday – Off
Wednesday – Strength squat, hypertrophy bench, power deadlift
Thursday – Off
Friday – Hypertrophy squat, power bench, strength deadlift
Saturday – Accessory session
Sunday – Off

Then to go week by week we will next have you up the weight every week.  I am going to use basic example still so lets go with Bench Press with a 1RM of 250 lbs.

Week 1

Monday – 200lbs for 5 sets of 5

Wednesday – 175 lbs for 4 sets of 8

Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3 (Focus here is on form/ power/ explosiveness.)

Week 2

Monday – 205lbs for 5 sets of 5

Wednesday – 180 lbs for 4 sets of 8

Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3 *

Week 3

Monday – 210lbs for 5 sets of 5

Wednesday – 185 lbs for 4 sets of 8

Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3 *

Week 4

Monday – 215lbs for 5 sets of 5

Wednesday – 190 lbs for 4 sets of 8

Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3 *

Week 5 De-load

Monday – 170lbs for 3 sets of 3

Wednesday – 165lbs for 2 sets of 5

Friday – 160lbs for 2 sets of 3

Week 6 Test for 1RM again

Finally if you are reading this I haven't talked about an accessory session.  What I mean an accessory session would be something like:

Pull-ups 5 sets of 6-8 reps

Military Press 5 sets of 6-8 reps

Bent Over Rows 4 sets of 10-12 reps

Dumbbell Curls 4 sets of 10-12 reps

Calf Raises 4 sets of 10-12 reps

This is of course only an example and you can google DUP and find other examples of how to do a set up.  This example and the information I found most useful was from jmaxfitness.

Beyond General Fitness: Weight Training: Training Set Up (DUP).

So if you have read my last post and you have decided that you want to a bulk building phase then there are a few things that you need to do before you start a cycle.  The training method that I am going to talk about is the latest training info called DUP or Daily Undulating Periodization.  Before starting this you need to choose which lifts you are going to train have a baseline of you 1RM or One Rep Max or some people call this a PR or Personal Record.

First you will need to decide the exercises that you want to train and keep track of.  Most athletes choose Bench Press, Back Squats and Dead Lift as these are the most simple lifts.  These lifts are also the main lifts in most Power Lifting Competitions.



There are also Olympic lifts that can be picked as well.  Those are the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk.



Of course these lifts are only just a starting point.  You could do others as well.

Now that you have your lifts you need to have a baseline with which to measure progress with.  What that means is that you need to find your 1RM.  In order to do that you might need to have multiple training sessions in order to find your true 1RM.  It is best to only test one lift a day and make sure for most lifts when doing 1RM you should have a spotter to help you out. 

Now that you have the basics set up, i.e. what lifts and 1RM in those lifts, you will need to make a schedule and plan.  We will go over that in the next post.

Images from Crossfittyler and allthingsgym

Beyond General Fitness: Weight Training: Diet and Planning

Now that you have picked weather you are going to be building bulk muscle or lean muscle now you need to feed your muscles with what they need to grow.

Now you can build muscle while in a calorie deficit, but it is a long slow process.  The reason is that muscle needs to recover after you have worked them and that needs calories.  Now you also don't have to be in a calorie surplus as well i.e. you don't have to gain weight to build muscle.  Even eating maintenance calories will allow your muscles to recover and build back stronger and or bigger.

Now what kind of things do you need to eat in order to build muscle?  Well muscle needs protein in order to build back bigger and stronger.  Usually for Men they should be eating around 180 grams of Protein to build muscle and for Women 150 grams of Protein. 

The rest of your calories should be divided how ever you want between Carbs and Fats.  Normally people eat more carbs and keep the fats low, but there are diets out there that prioritize fats over carbs.  I am not on one of those diets so I don't know much about them.  If someone were to ask questions to me about them I would be more then willing to do some research for them.


Now that you have your diet it is time to make a plan.  There are terms out there like Macro cycle, Micro cycle and such, but this all boils down to time.  If you find a plan that you like you need to give it at least two months before seeing results.  In the beginning of weight training you will see large improvements in your strength, but that will slow down over time.  Don't get discouraged as it takes a long time to build muscle. 

You can find all sorts of plans out on the internet and I'm sure anyone can find something that will work for them.  I personally like to take all the thought out of planning my workout routines so that is why I do p90x from Beach Body.  That is me, but if someone wants something else I'll be happy to do some digging and find a routine or schedule for them.

Beyond General Fitness: Weight Training: Beginning

Now that you as an athlete have chosen to work on a lifting routine there are some decisions that need to be made.

First do you want muscle size or just strength?  Men usually want size while women usually want lean.  They both build muscle just depends on the look that you want.   Also you can gain size for a bit and then lean out later after getting the size that you want.  If you are looking to gain bulk or muscle size you want to life heavy weights for around 8 to 10 reps.  If you are looking to gain lean muscle then you want to do lighter weight for 10 to 15 reps.  Upon additional research the lined out statement is in fact incorrect.  Muscle is muscle and doing more reps at lower weight will in fact build muscle the same just take longer to do it.  For the sake of building muscle and doing it in a timely matter it is best to lift weights that are heavy in a 8 - 12 range so that the last 2 reps are difficult.  I will go into this more in a different post.

Second do you like going to a gym or do you want to work out at home?  Going to a gym you have to learn the machines or procedures, but they have personal that can help you out with that stuff.  At home you have the luxury of doing your own thing with it having to worry about what others think.   The only problem is that if you have problems or are unsure how to do something you don't have much help. 

With working out at the gym they provide all equipment that you might require, but at home you won't have nearly as many options.   A home gym might have limited space and supplies.  

With home gyms you can choose between weights or bands and not have to have as much equipment.

There are also home workout routines that you can find online that will help building muscle.  I'll attempt a few random exercise routines here in another post, but these are just examples.  If you want something more you can use apps like Stronglifts 5x5 or look on you tube for free videos.  There is also Beach Body that has a lot of workouts that work for some people.  I'm sure that there are even more then I could ever possibly list, but with just a little looking I'm sure you can find something that works for you. 

When you have finished with the above the next thing we will talk about is diet. 

Images from Coucoujolie and Mens fitness 

Beyond General Fitness: Running: Cross Trainning.

Running works the legs so I don't have to worry about doing any other leg exercise right?  That is what I use to think and I know others have thought that as well, but we couldn't have been more wrong.  This post I'll talk about why cross training is important and how if you don't you could actually cause yourself injury. 


Running works several muscles in the legs.  This work causes those muscles to break down and you body will repair them stronger then when they started.  This is great new for people who want to build muscle to fill in the area's that they lost weight in it helps with saggy skin.  I used to think that with running I didn't have to do any other leg workouts because running works my legs muscles.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

As you can see from the picture running actually only works about half of the legs.  Now this doesn't include running up hills, but on flat surfaces.  Running up hills does work more muscles, but the majority of the work stays in the back half of the leg. 

Now if all you do is run, then you can and will build up a muscular imbalance in your legs.  That means that the back of you legs are much stronger then the front.  Having an imbalance of any sort in the body will cause problems.  Problems of coarse can and will lead to injury.

So the way to solve this imbalance of muscular strength is by cross training your other leg muscles and even doing some core or AB work will aid you running ability.

So lets lay out some cross training exercises that can help work the muscles that running doesn't work. 

Cycling:  Road or mountain biking will work some of the muscles that running works, but much less because it is a different mechanic to pedal a bike. 


As you can see from this picture the muscles used are a lot more focused on the front of the left, the backside and even a little in the hip flexor.  The hamstring and calf is still worked while riding, but not nearly as much as with running. 

Since cycling is also generally an aerobic exercise athletes wouldn't have to work to much about losing or not working on their endurance while still working different muscles to keep the imbalance at bay. 












Weight Training:  With weight training athletes are able to focus train muscles in order to build up the muscles that running doesn't use while taking a running break.  The benefit of weight training is that workouts can range from body weight exercises all the way up to going to the gym to do squats in a large rack.  Just a few exercises that you can do at home listed below.


Wall Sit:  As you can see from the picture to the left a wall sit can be done just about anywhere with zero equipment.

The exercise works all the muscles in the legs.  Generally speaking it is best to do wall sits for a prescribed amount of time like 30 seconds.  Then a small break before going down again for another round.  Doing this rotation three to four times will work the muscles nicely. 

Of course doing only one extra workout wont be enough to keep the imbalance at bay so I'll have a few other pictures below.
































Now these are only a few lifts that can be done at home.  There are plenty of other things that can be done in gyms that will work the muscles that need to be worked in order to keep the imbalance at bay.  It is very important to supplement these additional exercises into a running workout routine in order to keep your muscles balanced and the keep from injuring the body.

In the end it is important to keep a well balanced body.  Focusing to much on a single workout can and will cause injury.  While running is a great way to get exercise it needs to be supplemented with these other exercises.


Pictures from dreamstime, pintrest, Amazonnaws and rippednfit.

Beyond General Fitness: Running: Common Injuries.

Well I hate to talk about injuries, but unfortunately they are part of life.  Learning what the common injuries of runners is paramount so that you know what to look for when you are running to know when something might be creeping up on you. 

Runner's Knee:  It's more technical name is Patellogemoral Pain Syndrome.  More then just runners get this problem, because it involves the knee cap (Patella) and the big thigh bone (Femur).  


Most common signs and symptoms are pain around or behind the knee cap, pain while bending the knee, swelling of the knee and knee cap, tenderness around the knee, worsening pain while walking down hill or stairs and an audible pop or click feeling in the knee.

There are many different reasons and often times the cause is never really known.  The most common causes is overuse, trauma, running form, foot problems and misalignment. 

While a couple of the causes should be obvious there are two that you would only find out if you go to a doctor and or get medical imaging that would show the problem. 

There are multiple ways to treat runner's knee and the easiest is the wait and see treatment.  Some runners knee will go away on it's own.  If the pain starts to increase or get worse however that is not a sign that it will go away.

The next is the age old adage of RICE.  Rest the knee by keeping in straight and stay off it if you can.  Ice the knee every few hours for twenty to thirty minutes.  Increase patellar stability by wrapping the knee with an Ace bandage or by wearing a knee brace.  Elevation is the last letter.  Keep the knee elevated as much as possible to reduce swelling.  The final thing that can help is ample use of anti-inflammatory over the counter drugs, but those have there own problems as well.

Plantar Fasciitis:  Heel pain is another common malady in runners.  This is cause by the irritation of the Plantar Fascia that runs from the base of the heel to the base of you toes (Metatarsal heads). 


The heel will usually hurt worse in the morning or at the beginning of a run, but will feel better after your feet are warmed up.  It might also return at the end of the run and when you are bare feet.

Another symptom is pain in the heel or arch after spending all day on your feet, but the most tell tail sign is if the first step as soon as you get out of bed in the morning hurts.  If it does you have Plantar Fasciitis. 

There are a few ways of treating plantar fasciitis and one of the first ones is by using an orthotic shoe insert.  You will usually need a ridged insert and not a gel foam insert.  Another thing that you can do is taping the arch of the foot to limit stress on the fascia. 

If you have found that certain shoes cause the problem, then either limit those and similar shoes or stop using those types of shoes entirely.  You can help fasciitis by stretching the calves and foot.  While stretching the foot alone can causes reduction of symptoms together with a calf stretch can reduce pain.  Stretching along with icing the foot can also cause relief.

Finally there is a night splint that your doctor can prescribe that you wear at night while you are sleeping. 


ITBS:  IT Band Syndrome can cause pain in the outside of the hip, knee, and hamstring area.  The pain usually starts in the middle of or just after a run.  The pain usually subsides after some rest, but if you run the same distance or longer it will return.  If ignored the pain will become more frequent and come earlier in the run.  ITBS can be called Runner's Knee as well so you need to make sure which problem you might actually have.


As you can see from the picture the IT band has its fibrous tendrils in and around a lot of muscles.  Which is why ITBS can cause a lot of different area's to hurt when it is aggravated. 

The cause is basically unknown and is simply given to different body mechanics or basically how we are born.  It could be caused by over pronating of the foot or the opposite even.  There are to many variables to test. 

Treatment is just like with the prior two maladies and that is resting the leg by taking a few days off from running.  Ice the area for twenty minutes every few hours and elevating the leg.  Anti-inflammatory drugs can help as well as this is another inflammation problem.

I personally have had a lot of success from doing several yoga stretches to stretch the muscles connected to the IT band.  Also foam rolling has relived my own IT problems.  Using a foam roller is currently under increased scrutiny at the moment, but as I said it has relived my own issues.




Those are the most common problems that runners have.  Now just because those are the most common that doesn't mean they are the only problems that people can have.  There are plenty more problems that are out their from shin splints to toe problems.  As those problems are less common I didn't cover them today. 

I hope these helps someone out there and as always I am free and more then willing to help.  Alsop ictures from various websites like patient.info,  bodyheal.com and ASMWellness.com

Beyond General Fitness: Running: Nutrition and Long Distence Running.

In this post I'm going to talk about nutrition before and during some of the long runs.  It is important to note that when getting ready to run an event it is important to not try something new.  You shouldn't wear new equipment and you shouldn't eat a new food while running anything longer then a 5k. 

Well after a lot of research and some trial and error on my part I know that for myself that any training run over four miles I need to take some sort of nutrition and water with me.  I don't really need the water, but if you are going to be eating some of the carb dense food that runners have with them it is best to take it with water to help absorption.  I run with a hydration pack from a company called Osprey.  I have run with Camelbak before and it wasn't nearly as comfortable and the Osprey.


That is the pack I run with.  It has a lot of pockets for different nutrition and even has a holder for my phone.  Now there are a lot of different packs, water bottles and water belts out there I suggest finding something that works for you. 

Now that we have water taken into account next it to find some nutrition that works for you.  They range from gels to gummies and even little waffles.  The place to find these are most outdoor or running stores.  Places like REI, Dick's and your local running stores.  The makers are all brands that anyone in the fitness industry will have heard of before and even some brands that aren't normally fitness oriented.  Brands like Cliff, Power bar and even Jelly Belly are to name a few.  There are other's that aren't nearly as well known, but I suggest going out and buying a few different brands and see which ones you like. 

Now before a long run you should eat something that is high in carbs, but low in fiber.  You don't want to have to stop for a bathroom break during the run.  Things like oatmeal, bagel or even cereal are great things to eat before a long run or event.

I have personally tried several different things as race food and I'm going to talk about them below.

Gu Gel Shots:  These are 100 calories of basically sugar.  The first time tasting one the texture was fairly off putting, but it could have been the flavor or salted caramel.  I have since tried the Kiwi Strawberry and Fudge.  Both of the later tasted fine, but again the texture is different. 

Gu Chews:  These are also 100 calories of sugar, but they are in a gummy chew form.  The texture was not as off putting as the Gel's.  The flavors that I have tried so far are quite tasty, but the only problem was that after 6+ miles the act of chewing felt daunting.  Also the gummies got stuck in my teeth so I had to pick them while running. Multiple flavors

Cliff Blocks:  These are a lot like the Gu Chews except they are 100 calories per serving and there are two servings in a stick.  In the end the taste and texture are the same as the chews, even down to getting stuck in my teeth.  It was nice that when I did an 8 mile run I only had to take these one nutrition instead of two of something else.  Multiple flavors

Jelly Belly Sports Beans:  These things were amazing to eat.  Just like their candy cousins only high calorie and caffeinated.  These were also difficult to chew while on the run, but the tastes almost made up for it.  They are also 100 calories, but have caffeine in them as well, for a pick me up.  Multiple flavors.

Honey Stinger Energy Waffle:  These things are delicious as well.  They are more calories (110) and take some effort to eat.  They didn't seem to get stuck in my teeth as much as the blocks and chews.  They do seem to break up in the package during a run so you don't get the full circle and have to try and dump the last bits in your mouth while running.  Multiple flavors.

There are more that I haven't tried yet as I am only just barely starting my training prep for a half marathon distance OCR, but as I try more I'll update this post with more info.  Also it is probably best to bring a variety with you on because if you eat to many of a certain type of energy food it could cause diarrhea.