I broke a cardinal racing rule over the weekend during the Baltimore 10 Miler. I tried a totally new fueling routine on race day.

Not that long ago Gatorade sent me their new G Series Fit line to test and I had been saving it for race morning.

The new line comes with three parts: Pre-workout "bites", a sports drink to use during workouts and a recovery smoothie for when you finish.


G Series Fit line

I've been drinking Gatorade since I was a little kid playing basketball, softball, soccer and the handful of other team sports I grew up playing, so I was really excited to try the new G Series Fit line.

The new line is aimed the every day person who works out and needs fuel and hydration, but doesn't need quite the amount of replenishment that an endurance or professional athlete needs.

As a result, the G Series Fit line is lower in calories than regular Gatorade.

Before:

(All screenshots from Gatorade's website)

Since I was staying in a hotel the night before the race, I didn't have access to my usual PBJ, so I munched on some of the pre-workout bites instead. I wasn't sure what to expect of the pistachio cranberry flavor. It seemed like an odd combination to me, but actually tasted pretty good. Plus the bites were small enough to throw in my car and eat on the ride to the start line.

During:


During races I almost always carry regular Gatorade in my water bottle. I usually stick to the basic flavors: lemon-line and orange, so I was a little leery of the fruitier acai berry flavor. I also wasn't sure if a lower-calorie sports drink would cut it during a 10 mile race.

It turns out the fruity flavor of the G Fit line wasn't all that bad, though I do still prefer the original Gatorade flavors. And I never felt like I ran out of energy during the race. I followed my usual plan of taking water and regular Gatorade at water stops and supplementing with my supply in between. It worked well for me. I certainly never bonked or hit the wall.

After:


The smoothie you're supposed to drink after you workout, but by the time I finished the race, met up with my friends and my mom and got back to the hotel, I was ravenously hungry and knew I needed some solid food. I plan to use the smoothie after one of my upcoming long runs and I'll let you know what I think of it then. The smoothie is actually the part of the line I'm most excited to test out because I always struggle with good post-run fuel options. I have a hard time finding something that sits well in my upset stomach and usually end up waiting hours to eat something after a work out.

Have you tried Gatorade's new line? What do you think of it?