Real food during races and training?

I take a 1/2 pb&j sandwich and banana with me on my long rides...I do use gels at times as well but I prefer the taste of real food...for running I'll munch on oreos mid way through a long run...both give me something to look forward too...i don't have the same longing for a gel as I do a good Oreo :-) serves as carbs and motivation.

Particularly for the bike, real food is definitely doable. I've taken PBJ, pretzel sticks, bananas (short ones!), almonds, and snitched my dad's fig newtons when I was out of other bike food. All went down well. I don't tend to cope as well with eating on the run. I think on a few long trail runs I've had orange slices or bananas. One former training partner who was an ultra-runner could run all day on chocolate chip cookies--they made me puke!  There are plenty of recipes online for making your own healthy energy bars. In a race situation, you might want to pack an emergency gel or two just in case-- In my HIM, I ended up with bike grease all over my hands and no way to wipe it without ruining a tri-suit, and started getting grease in my mouth when I tried to eat my (already unwrapped and cut up) energy bars. Yuck! I could imagine a similar yucky situation after an emergency toilet stop, or a minor bike crash. Thanks goodness I also had two gels on board.

Drink-wise, I don't know. You could use fruit juices or sweet tea for energy if you tolerate them well, but I wouldn't want to get into the chemistry of mixing my own electrolyte drinks. I'll leave that to the experts.

On the bike I have used dates and almonds. The combination seems to work well.

i have a hard time eating on the run, so I stick with sports drinks for that.

The disadvantage would be carrying it - ziplock baggies, bento box, pockets - it could get complicated/messy but definitely do-able. I used to make my own granola/energy bars for half iron distance races. The last time I did it, I had pre-opened the zip lock baggie in my Bento box, and it rained. So they got soaked, and fell apart in a horrible mushy mess. 

I've heard of folks doing PB sandwiches like you mention, uncrustables, fig newtons, boiled/salted potatoes, boiled sweet potatoes, bananas, string cheese. There is a recipe floating around from professional Tour riders for a "rice cake" of some kind - made with real rice.

I agree and don't want to do the gel thing either. I've been experimenting recently. Fig newtons work ok for me. I also crushed up some graham crackers and used honey to hold it together and ate that during a run. I read on here awhile ago that raisins are good too. I also did a handful of Frosted Mini Wheats (not sure I'd do it again...kind of processed, which is what I'm trying to get away from). 

When considering real food to eat, I don't want that phlegmy mouth feeling afterwards. 

I'm interested to hear other ideas!

All good ideas above.  I would avoid high fiber foods (like the whole grain bread) because fiber is going to be tough for you to digest during a workout.

Thank you, everyone. You've given me a lot of things to think about. I know when I've run with fig newtons, they end up being pretty crumby -- not that clean to eat.

I also hadn't thought about my hands getting dirty, which they could on the bike, and maybe even on the run.

I was also wondering if the whole grain could cause intestinal/digestive issues.

I'll keep experimenting.

Thought I'd give an update. I've been reading and found a good website that had some suggestions as well as the carbs gained from particular kinds of food. Wish I could find it again for you guys.

For me, honey is pretty easy to digest (and delicious). I brought a small bottle of green tea sweetened with honey and ate raisins. Worked well. It wasn't a very long run, but it worked ok. Might be on to something with the dried fruit...

Next I'm going to try chasing graham crackers with the green tea/honey thing. 

- Joel

I liked the green tea/honey idea for runs/rides. It's one of my go-to drinks during the day, but I hadn't thought about it for training.

For long runs/rides I take a 17 oz can of coconut water and blend in a tbsp of coconut oil and hemp. It's a good mix of carbs protein and fat, and goes down pretty easy.

I also use Vega gels. They are about the closest thing to "real food" I have found that are still in gel form.

Good luck!

x2  My favorite cookbook out there right now.

Found this homemade gel recipe recently. I tried it one time and found that it was easy on the stomach and easy to get down. I still need to experiment more before it gets my full endorsement, though. I wasn't crazy about the taste, but I jazzed it up with some honey instead of agave nectar and it made it better. The recipe in the quantities shown  makes a lot. I found that in the quantities shown, I could make 4 decent sized gels.

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/thrive-energy-gel-recipe/

Also, that website has been inspiring me lately. If you haven't already checked it out, it's worth it! Good luck!

- Joel

Experiment for sure.  Personally I have found that eating any type of solid food causes GI distress for me while running.  I can't even eat within less than two hours of a run.  A bike, I'm a okay.  My tummy can only handle sports drink with low acid and mild sugar content when bouncing up and down while running.

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