When I started endurance training in 2019, I ran into a problem I didn’t expect.
Every endurance fuel I tried was packed with lab-made ingredients and chemicals I couldn’t pronounce.
At the same time, I was intentionally removing ultra-processed food from my daily diet.
The contradiction was obvious.
I ate real food all day, then switched to artificial sugar and additives the moment I put on a bib.
That didn’t make sense.
The Problem With “Convenient” Endurance Fuel
Most endurance nutrition is designed around one thing: convenience.
That convenience usually comes at a cost:
synthetic carbohydrates
artificial flavoring
long ingredient lists
minimal electrolytes
If I wanted something easy to carry, I had to choke down gels that read like a chemistry exam.
If I wanted real food, I had to get creative.
The Ridiculous Phase (Everyone Goes Through This)
Like most endurance athletes trying to “fuel clean,” I improvised:
smashing bananas into my jersey pockets
stuffing dates into ziplock bags that slapped my thighs with every stride
sneaking the family honey bear out for trail runs
It worked. Sort of.
But it introduced a new problem.
Why Real Food Alone Doesn’t Work for Endurance
Real food has one major limitation for endurance athletes.
It contains almost no sodium.
Sodium is the primary electrolyte lost through sweat and the most important one to replace during long efforts.
That’s when the real issue clicked.
Clean calories without electrolytes are like fueling your car with premium gas and forgetting the engine oil.
Technically clean.
Functionally useless.
What Clean Endurance Fuel Actually Needs
At that point, the question became simple:
What is the cleanest carbohydrate in nature that actually works during endurance training?
The answer was obvious.
Maple syrup.
It’s:
naturally occurring
easily digestible
glucose + fructose in an ideal ratio
something humans have used for centuries
The missing piece was sodium.
So I added the amount endurance athletes actually need.
A Simpler Approach to Endurance Fuel
Once those two pieces came together, everything else fell into place.
Clean calories. Real sodium. Nothing unnecessary.
No stickiness. No ziplock bags. No artificial junk.
I tested it everywhere:
Ironman races
100-mile ultras
early-morning trainer rides
short runs squeezed into family life
The result was always the same.
It worked.
Why Maple Boost Exists
Maple Boost didn’t start as a business idea.
It started as the simplest solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist.
Eventually, athletes I coached started asking for it.
So I made more.
Today, Maple Boost is a clean endurance fuel for athletes who care about:
performance
digestion
ingredient quality
and simplicity
If you’re training long and want fuel that makes sense, you can learn more here:
This entire product exists because one athlete got tired of carrying bananas.
And if you want to see how this plays out in real training (short sessions, long days, and race prep) I break it down here:
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