Pages

Tuesday, January 18

The bee that hath honey in her mouth hath a sting in her tail.

"A study at the University of Memphis Exercise and Sports Nutrition Laboratory in the USA found that honey may be one of the most effective forms of carbohydrate to ingest just prior to exercise since it's easily digested and releases energy at a steady rate. Another study at the same university revealed that the sweet stuff significantly improved the time-trial performances of cyclists and significantly increased their power output.
Try it eat honey five minutes before a run for a steady supply of energy, or during races longer than 10K for a performance-boosting carb hit."
My original plan was to try some honey on my oatmeal or yogurt in the morning but I kept forgetting to try it. A few days ago I remembered to try this minutes before heading out the door for a run. So I thought I will just take a spoonful of it right now, what can it hurt. I got a regular size teaspoon out of the silverware drawer and filled it to the edges with honey. I had bought some locally grown honey that had been sitting in my pantry. First let me just say do not try this at home. I about gaged as the thick honey seemed to expand in my mouth. After a few moments of telling myself that I paid far too much money for this honey to spit it out I managed to choke it down. Not sure how I was going to react to this sugar boost I did the next wise thing and immediately headed out the door for a run. I will tell you I did feel more energy, I'm not sure if it wasn't from the rush of trying not to heav-up the honey or if I'm the perfect candidate for those drug test where they give some of the participants a placebo but I was thinking hmmmm this really has given me a boost. I felt good through the whole run, so interesting test.

I would love to know if you use honey or have tried it and what you thought?

The above title is a quote by John Lyly

5 comments:

Kim said...

I do eat honey...in oatmeal, greek yogurt, and on toast with peanut butter. I have not had any intenionally right before a run, but I will try it and see if I have more energy.

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

I'm pretty sure I've had honey on my toast pre-run and I've used Honey Stinger gels or chews, too, which are good. Honey is delicious! In fact, I had some today in my tea.

Unknown said...

There is just something SWEET about honey...I even love honey soap(but not on my oatmeal). I keep hearing different opinions about it's benefits but I still love it. Have you ever tried the Zingers instead of GU or gels for a long run or race?
Great comment on family and over reaching that you left on my blog. That is really more important than over reaching in any other area of your life. Thanks for that reminder and for taking it to a deeper level!

Happy Feet 26.2 said...

I haven't tried it for pre-run energy, but I do use honey often. I mix equal parts of oatmeal and yogurt, then add honey, raisins, cinnamon, cocoa, 1/2 banana, blueberries. I LOVE IT. Also, honey and peanut butter on Thomas bagel thins. YUM!

Kate said...

i'm all about trying something new - especially in the form of energy for running! have honey on hand - will try! i'm sure i'll gag too but it's worth a try!!