Homemade Running Gel: Scientifically-proven Mixture

Gels, essential as they may be, are one of the most overpriced running products available.

Aye, they’re “scientifically engineered” and all that. But when you boil it down, they’re just sugar, salt, water and some optional extras (such as caffeine, amino acids, and so on).

That’s literally it.

With all that in mind, instead of dropping £100 on a bunch of gels, I decided to make my own.

So, how do you make a gel?

You basically just take the ingredients, and mix them together. That’s it.

Why have I chosen those ingredients?

Though I’ve said that sugar is the main ingredient in gels, I’m not actually using any “sugar.” Gels are generally made with a specific composition of sugars: a 1:2 ratio of fructose/glucose.

The reason for that ratio relates to how your body absorbs sugar.

The body can absorb a certain amount of fructose and a certain amount of glucose in a given period of time: about 30g fructose and 60g glucose per hour.

It absorbs these sugars through separate channels, so you can simultaneously absorb both types of sugar and get the energy boost from both.

Regular table sugar is just sucrose, which is 1:1 fructose/glucose. That means that you’d be able to consume a maximum of about 60g of table sugar in an hour. That’s 30g of fructose and 30g of glucose.

If you add more glucose to the mix, that will increase the amount of sugar available for the body to consume to 90g. Your body will have access to 30g extra sugar per hour.

So instead of table sugar, I’ve opted for a mix of maltodextrin (which is pure glucose) and honey (which is about 40% fructose and 30% glucose, which gives it a ratio close to 1.2:1).

You could use glucose powder/syrup instead of maltodextrin. You could also use regular table sugar instead of honey (though the ratios will be a little different). I just used honey for the flavour.

I’ve aimed for about 250mg of sodium (table salt) per serving, which is roughly the same as commercial gels.

The amount of water used is personal preference: you could add more water to give the gel a more desirable texture.

The optional extras:

• Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) help to reduce muscle breakdown during the run. I’m always completely broken at the end of the race, and I’d like to avoid that situation in my next race.
• Caffeine is essentially a free performance enhancing drug. I’d be crazy to not add it.

Home-made Running Gel Recipe

Servings: 8. Each provides ~22g carbs and ~90kcal.

Ingredients

1. Maltodextrin: 72g
2. Natural Honey: 112g
3. Water: 80ml (adjust for desired gel consistency)
4. Salt: 2g (2000mg sodium, about 3/8 teaspoon)
5. BCAAs (optional): 2-4g (about 1 teaspoon)
6. Caffeine Tablets (optional): 2 tablets, 100mg each (literally just crushed up and mixed in)

Method

• Add everything except the water together in a bowl and whisk.
• Add water bit-by-bit and whisk.
• Stop once you get the desired consistency.
• Add to a reusable pouch (like the one in my photos).