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Back in the early days of triathlons, “PowerBar” was the name for sports nutrition just as Gatorade was the name for sports drinks. With the popularity explosion of endurance sports in the 90’s, new players entered sports nutrition and raised the level of quality by leaps and bounds. The new companies started out small with a customer first mentality while PowerBar acted like a big corporation treating customers like consumers. For whatever reason, PowerBar decided to bring out some new products that people like and try a comeback.
When I received a package from PowerBar to try, I wondered how I was going to try the products. I remembered the old nutrition paste product that I would stick to my bike for a triathlon.
I decided to go all in with PowerBar for a 20-mile run. I took a picture of my three gel packs, energy blast pack and lone energy bar. It is a bit more calories than I usually consume in a 3-4 hour run but it is always good to practice consuming calories for long distance days.
After running for about an hour, I started munching on the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip energy bar. I had no problems digesting the bar and it tasted good. It is always easier to eat something that tastes good. I think the bar is designed for people who are not running and eating. I had some problems with breathing while running and eating a product that breaks apart.
When I ran for about two hours, I tried a couple Strawberry Banana Energy Blast chews. These things were extraordinarily good. I’ve tried many chews that left me on the side of the road miserably ill. These things tasted good, went down and stayed down.
I tried a Raspberry Cream gel a little while after the chew. I usually choke down gels and hope they don’t make me sick. The PowerBar gels are thin, tasty and go down really well. I really liked the taste of the Raspberry cream. I kept mooching the chews to help with the boredom of a long run.
Near the 3-hour mark, I had the vanilla flavored gel. It tasted good and went down as easily as the raspberry cream. About 20 minutes later, I had the double latte. The latte flavor did not sit well with me but my run was almost over so I was not worried. My total for the day was a 3:30 run while consuming all of the calories I carried with me. I was tired at the end of the run but I felt nutritionally sound.
The PowerBar comeback is complete. They came back in a big way with great products. I have a lot of nutritional products to choose from. The product that I grab first, are the ones I like the most. After my PowerBar trial run, I always grabbed the PowerBar stuff first until it was gone. The PowerBar turn around is an amazing surprise.
