While doing any kind of extended strenuous exercise, you need to keep calories coming in as you burn them off. If you dont, you're going to "bonk", "hit the wall", or in plain English... run out of energy. That being said, the average person can put forth a pretty high effort before needing to refuel (glycogen versus fat for energy, but that's another post to itself) ... hydration is another story completely however . You have to stay hydrated otherwise your body stops being able to function properly as a whole and you get into REAL trouble.
If you need to have calories coming in, does it really matter what state they're in?
Well besides having texture differences for variety's sake, I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wants to eat everything through a straw. Aside from a texture point of view, how your body deals with calories differs from eating and drinking. If you end up drinking finish this thought (finish this thought)
Energy and calories from drinking hydration mixes tends to be more quickly absorbed, but is also quicker to be used. Whereas the energy taken from solids foods is more slowly released over time. Think of a cherry bomb versus a sparkler if you need a visual representation. Liquids are quick but not long lasting, solids are a little slower to react, but will last much longer. There are also factors to take into account such as gastric emptying rate. Which is the rate at that the food or fluids that you've taken in empty out of your stomach and enter your small intestine where it all gets absorbed.
If I need calories in order not to bonk, why don't I just make super dense drink mixes?
Why don't you just take twelve scoops of Gatorade in one water bottle and just slam that back? Well depending on how easy something is to take in and absorb the better. The higher the caloric density, the harder your body has to work at it. So your small intestine has to take moisture out of your body in order to help process those calories. Which means you're going to dehydrate so you can hydrate. Seems a little counter intuitive doesn't it? Besides that, if you're dehydrated to begin with and then become more dehydrated you could be setting yourself up for some gastrointestinal fun.
That my dear reader is exactly what you DON'T want to be dealing with on a long distance run or cycle.
TL:DR! - yes it really does matter if you eat or drink your calories on the road.
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