I must admit that I am a bit biased when it comes to GU. My wife got me onto the GU Chocolate Outrage Gel a year or so ago and it has been great. I thought I would branch out and try other GU products to be more well rounded! In the end I have tried GU Roctane (wow…what a kick!), GU Gels, GU Chews, and GU Electrolyte Brew.
I am not going to go into the science behind GU or what is found in each as that can be found on the Running Free website. I will pass on my personal experience. This is what I found:
Gu Roctane Gel
This product seems to work like regular GU products, but gives you more energy. It could help that there is 2X the caffeine (and I haven’t had a coffee in my life0. I now have a sense of what I have been missing on the caffeine side! If you want to stay away from caffeine, there are many GU products without, so just read the label. My favourite Roctane flavour was Blueberry Pomegranate. I also tried Vanilla Orange but wasn’t a big fan of the flavour. The Vanilla Orange seemed to upset my stomach as well. I am not sure if it was due to the GU or something else, but the Vanilla Orange was the only thing different I did that run. The other flavour of Roctane is Pineapple which I didn’t even try as I don’t like pineapple anything.
GU Energy Gel
As mentioned previously, GU Chocolate Outrage gel is one of my favourite gels. I have tried other flavours like Jet Blackberry and Vanilla Bean but keep going back to Chocolate Outrage. Why try to fix something that isn’t broken? GU seems to have one of the most options for flavours of gel products. Other flavours include: Mint Chocolate, Mandarin Orange, Espresso Love, Just Plain, Lemon Sublime, Orange Burst, Tri-Berry, and Stawberry Banana. If you can’t find a GU Gel you like the taste of, then you are going to miss out on a great product. For long runs I have a GU gels every 45 minutes to an hour. That way I don’t go through as many. For races, I have one 15 minutes prior, then every 45 minutes after that. When you consider the long expiration date for these products and the fact that you will likely use a couple on every long slow distance run you do, it makes sense to purchase the GU Gel Case of 24 for $51.99.One thing about GU Gel (and all other gels for that matter) you need to be careful of is the outside temperature. Too cold and they are very thick. Some people may have a problem with that. I suggest washing it down with water as the package recommends. Another suggestion in the winter would be to mix the GU with water and make a drink out of it. The Chocolate Outrage with water on a cold day tastes like chocolate ilk! On warm days, the gels can be very runny. On a coupe of runs I didn’t slow down enough and got GU gel all over my hands. Not wanting to litter, I usually fold up the empty GU gel packs and put them in my hydration belt. If you haven’t done a good job getting all of the GU out, then be prepared to have a sticky belt.
GU Chomps Energy Chews
I found this product to be a bit bulky for me. To get the equivalent amount of GU with the Chomps, you need quite a lot of Chomps which takes up more room. One packet will fuel 1.5 to 2 hours of activity. On warm days they do still get sticky, but not runny like GU Gels do. Nothing a quick lick of your fingers can’t fix. They are very easy to eat but they do get stuck in your teeth if you aren’t careful. On cold days, the GU chews also get harder but I just leave them in my mouth a bit before I start chomping away at them.
GU Brew
There are two types of GU Brew product so make sure you read the label when you are picking one up. There is GU Electrolyte Brew which you take during exercise, and there is GU Recovery which is, as you would guess, for recovery after exercise. I tried all flavours of GU electrolyte Brew and must 
say I liked them all! You can get individual packs which you mix easily with 21 oz of water or the larger containers which would be enough for 35 servings. GU Electrolyte Brew products seem to taste great and are very simple with “no gimmicky additives”. As mentioned in their description their formula gives you what you need but is “easy on your stomach and will keep you focused on reaching your goals in training and racing”. I have only tried a couple of GU Recovery so can’t really comment on those.
In summary, there are a lot of products out on the market. It is best to try things and find out what works for you. For me, I would start with the various GU products and if you find something that works, stick with it! Mmmmmmmm…Chocolate Outrage!
