Energy Product Trial #3 - Honey Stinger Waffle

Date:  8/18/12
Start Time:  5:50 AM 
Start Temperature:  56 degrees F 
Sleep beforehand: ~ 7 hours 
Food beforehand: half english muffin with honey 
Drink beforehand: cup of coffee 

End Time:  7:45 AM 
End Temp: 62 degrees F 
Total Distance: 12.1 miles 
Average Pace: 9:06 min/mile

Product Stats:  
Serving Size: 1 ounce (entire package) 
Calories:  160 
Good Stuff:  
 - Sodium: 55mg 
 - Carbs: 21g 
 - Fiber: 1g 
 - Sugars: 14g 

The rundown:  

Okay, confession time ... I'm doing this post a week after the run, so it's not exactly fresh in my mind.  I DO remember that it was my longest "long" run ever, and I remember quite a bit about the product.  I don't remember much about what I saw, encountered, or other extenuating factors, but I remember that the weather was pretty much ideal.  

On the product: 

First, as you can see by the picture, the Honey Zinger is a very strange shape.  It's package is a flat, 3x3 inch bag with a circular wafer inside.  I had to fold the package in half TWICE to make it fit into my running shorts, and even then the corners of the package poked me painfully in the leg!  I had to cut the corners off the package with a pair of scissors just to spare my legs.  Also, because of the number of times I had to fold it, when I opened the package the "waffle" was broken into several pieces.  I actually dropped a small piece of it as I tried to open the package.  

The "waffle" was chewy and tasted like honey, like the package suggests.  It was sort of dry, which was kind of hard to stomach mid-run with no water stations (which wouldn't be a problem during races).  I was skeptical at first on the possible usefulness of the product, since it has less sodium than many of the other products and no vitamins or potassium.  However, I found that the waffle filled me up pleasantly without feeling like a rock in my stomach.  And, actually, I discovered that the energy from the Honey Stinger stuck around for almost my entire run, which might be chocked up to the additional calories it provides.  

Overall Rating:  7.5/10 

I wanted to rate it higher, simply because I was impressed that the energy delivery.  But the dagger-like package, the fact that I actually had to modify it to carry it with me (and it was still awkwardly crammed into my pocket) knocked it down a few notices.  This is one I definitely will try again, and I'll try to figure out a more convenient way to carry it.  

The Skinny: 

PROS: 
 - Pretty good taste 
 - Additional calories
 - Energy that really delivers 

CONS: 
 - Most awkward package of any trial so far 
 - Less sodium, no potassium 
 - I dropped part of it while running because I had to break it to fit it into my pocket :( 

Final analysis:  Definitely going to try this again.  The energy was too good to pass up.