The other day I went for a run and wanted to try a new nutrition product, Gu Chomps. A friend of mine that’s sponsored by Gu had told me that I needed to give them a fair shake, and another buddy had given me a package of these to try.

Since I’ve never had them before, it seemed like a good idea during one of my long runs.

Here’s my video review where I go through my experience with them:

According to the packaging, Gu Chomps are a wonder food.

* They have Amino Acids for added focus, rippin’ energy, and speedy recovery.
* They have Vitamin C + E, those mighty antioxidantts that combat tissue breakdown.
* They have sodium and potassium to restore electrolyte balance.
* They have an exclusive blend of complex and simple carbohydrates.

So on the back of the package it says that this packet will fuel between 1½ to 2 hours of activity if you hydrate along the way. Each packet is 60 grams and comes with about 8 of the chomps inside of it, which is 2 servings. Altogether that comes to about 90 calories, with 100mg of sodium, 80mg of potassium and 46 total carbohydrates. (That’s for both servings. Not just for one.)

My run took me about a 2 hours and 40 minutes, so I definitely got my 1½ to 2 hours of energy out of it. I didn’t have any trouble whatsoever. They gave me plenty of energy. I drank a little bit over a liter of water throughout the course of the run, and probably about 2 liters of water total between during the run and right afterwards.

I felt pretty good the entire way. They tasted all right. This was the Orange (no caffeine) flavor so taste-wise, I thought they were fine.

Chewiness-wise, they were okay when I was taking one at a time. At one point I took 2 of them and that was just a little bit too much. So if you do try them, I’d recommend only having 1 chomp at a time as you’re running. Just take one every once in a while and you’ll be fine.

One of the things that I really didn’t like about them was that there’s no real easy way to get into the package. As you can kind of see in the video above I wound up having to bite it open. I had sweaty hands and there’s no notch at the top or bottom to make it easy to tear open, and I wasn’t able to get it open using the flap on the back.

That can be pretty easily gotten around just by cutting it before you start your run or race, but I didn’t notice that before the run and all in all it would be a little better if there was an easier way to get into it by default.

Whether I would use these again, I’m not really sure. I think for the amount of benefit that they’ve given me, I don’t know if I could justify the price when there’s much cheaper alternatives available. But I didn’t have any problems with them, so if I saw these along the edge of a race course I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to grab a package.

Have you tried the Gu Chomps before? If so, what did you think? And if you haven’t tried them, then what’s your preferred alternative, if you have one? Leave a comment below and let me know.

by Blaine Moore on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 Run to Win