Important Information

This early-stage “Signal Phase” study asks whether the same runner responds differently to SAP Good Energy, a processed energy gel, and no energy gels during the run during comparable types of real-world training sessions. Outcomes include participant-reported energy, digestive comfort, nausea or urgency, and perceived effort; available Strava measures such as pace, heart rate, distance, and duration; and glucose information captured through Lingo CGM.

Each participant serves as their own comparison across the three fueling conditions. The study is conducted during normal training and is not blinded. The study does not assign a week-by-week training plan or prescribe run duration, pace, route, or interval structure. Participants choose among the remaining study fueling conditions when an eligible easy run, speed/quality session, or long run is already part of their normal training plan.

Because participants choose when and in what order to complete conditions, differences in route, weather, sleep, prior food, hydration, training status, expectations, workout characteristics, session order, and personal fuel choice may affect results. The study can identify patterns but cannot by itself prove that a fueling condition caused an outcome.

This study is hosted on Efforia under the Minimal Risk Citizen Science Umbrella Protocol. Matthew Amsden is the Principal Investigator, and Dr. Viral Patel serves as Sub-Investigator with safety and adverse-event oversight. Conor and James are the study authors and helped design the fueling comparison and participant guidance.

SAP25 Maple Syrup Energy Gel is a consumer endurance fuel containing organic Class A maple syrup and Himalayan salt, with approximately 25 grams of carbohydrate per serving. Review the package label before use and do not use it if you are allergic or sensitive to an ingredient.

For the alternative-gel condition, you will use a processed energy gel of your choice. Use the same brand and serving size throughout the study whenever practical, review its label, and follow the study task instructions.

For the No Gels condition: No Gels runs are not fasted runs. Eat your normal meals. Do not consume energy gels during the run. Safety comes first: take fuel or stop if needed, and report what happened. This condition does not restrict pre-run fueling or other foods and drinks.

Lingo by Abbott is an over-the-counter CGM biosensor applied to the back of the upper arm and used with the Lingo app. Two biosensors are supplied: one for each of two 14-day phases. The phases may be consecutive or separated by a break of up to 14 days within the six-week active period. Each biosensor estimates glucose in interstitial fluid and may differ from blood glucose, especially when glucose is changing quickly. Lingo is a wellness tool and should not be used to diagnose a condition or make medication or emergency-treatment decisions.

If you join, you will be asked to:

• Provide participant information and describe your goals and expectations.
• Connect an existing Strava account or create one, complete a short test activity if needed, and authorize Efforia to receive available study-run data.
• Download the Lingo app and use the two supplied biosensors according to the manufacturer’s instructions: activate the first for a 14-day phase, then activate the second immediately afterward or after a break of up to 14 days, within the six-week active period. Confirm that glucose information is displaying during each monitoring period.
• Continue your ordinary endurance-training plan. Efforia does not prescribe how long, how fast, where, or on what day you must run.
• Designate 18 runs from your normal training as study runs: six easy runs, six speed/quality sessions, and six long runs.
• Within each workout type, complete two runs with SAP Good Energy, two with the same alternative gel whenever practical, and two with no energy gels during the run.
• Choose the order of the remaining fueling conditions in a way that fits your normal training. When practical, mix the conditions throughout the study rather than completing all runs from one condition consecutively.
• Follow the fueling instructions shown in the Efforia task for the condition you select.
• Record each study run in Strava. Confirm that the appropriate Lingo biosensor is active for every study run. You do not need to make a Strava activity public.
• After each run, answer the effort question and complete the approximately 3-minute After Run Assessment immediately or within 24 hours. Questions cover energy, digestive comfort, urgency, nausea, effort, and protocol deviations.
• When practical, keep pre-run meals, hydration, and other relevant habits reasonably comparable across similar study runs, without changing your normal training solely for the study.
• Report rescue fueling, changed workouts, illness, unusual weather, device failure, side effects, and other deviations honestly.
• Seek any needed medical care first and then report a side effect, concerning symptom, or injury to Efforia.

The study does not require a fixed number of research-prescribed running hours because the runs come from your normal training. Setup, questionnaires, and after-run assessments are expected to add approximately 1–2 hours total. Your actual time may vary.

Stop the session and seek urgent medical care for chest pain, fainting, severe shortness of breath, confusion, signs of heat stroke, severe weakness, a serious fall or injury, trouble breathing, swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, or another possible emergency. In the United States, call 911. Contact Efforia only after obtaining necessary care.

Do not join if you are under 18 or cannot provide informed consent; are not currently able to complete your normal endurance training safely; have been advised to avoid endurance exercise, concentrated carbohydrate intake, or wearable glucose sensors; have diabetes treated with insulin or another significant glucose-regulation disorder; have a history of severe hypoglycemia; take medicine that could make the fueling conditions unsafe; have a known allergy to a study-fuel ingredient; are pregnant or recently postpartum without clinician clearance; are acutely ill; or have an unstable medical condition.

Speak with a qualified healthcare professional who knows your history before joining if you have heart, blood-pressure, breathing, kidney, electrolyte, gastrointestinal, metabolic, or musculoskeletal concerns; a history of fainting, heat illness, dehydration, exercise-associated hyponatremia, serious food allergy, or eating disorder; take glucose-lowering medicines, corticosteroids, or other medicines that alter glucose or exercise tolerance; have a bleeding disorder, impaired healing, immune suppression, significant skin disease, or adhesive sensitivity; or have any uncertainty about whether the protocol is appropriate for you.

Efforia cannot medically clear you for endurance exercise or determine whether a fuel or CGM is appropriate for you. Do not change prescribed treatment or delay needed medical care for this study.

You may learn how SAP, an alternative gel, and no energy gels during the run are associated with your own energy, digestive comfort, effort, running metrics, and glucose response. This information may help you ask better questions or make more informed training choices, but it is not diagnostic or medical advice. You may receive no useful information, experience no improvement, or perform or feel worse under a condition. No personal benefit is promised. De-identified data may contribute to knowledge about real-world endurance fueling and help guide future research.

Your main alternative is not to participate. You may continue your normal training and fueling plan, use commercially available fuel or fitness tools outside the study, or consult a coach, sports dietitian, or healthcare professional. Similar consumer products may be purchased outside the study. You do not need to join the study to receive medical care.

You will pay $65 to participate. The study record identifies this amount as covering included products, materials, and supplies. You will not receive wages or payment for your time. You may also be responsible for a compatible smartphone or wearable, internet or mobile-data charges, your chosen alternative gel if it is not supplied, ordinary running equipment, and any medical care you seek.

Efforia receives transaction revenue related to products or services included in protocols hosted on its platform, and the study concerns a product associated with its authors. These interests may create potential financial conflicts. Results should be interpreted in light of these interests and the exploratory, unblinded, real-world design.

Seek local, in-person medical care immediately if needed. Efforia cannot provide emergency care, diagnosis, or treatment. After receiving necessary care, report the problem, side effect, or study-related injury to help@efforia.com so the study team can evaluate whether action is needed to protect participants.

Efforia does not offer financial compensation for study-related injury and does not commit to provide free medical care or pay medical expenses resulting from participation. You are not giving up any legal rights by agreeing to participate.

Efforia may collect account and contact information, shipping information, demographic and health questionnaire responses, goals and expectations, task completion, fueling condition and use, self-reported symptoms and effort, safety reports, and available Strava and Lingo data. From Strava, Efforia collects available non-geographic exercise measures relevant to the study, such as activity date and time, duration, distance, pace or speed, heart rate, and related performance metrics. Efforia does not collect route maps, GPS coordinates, or other geographic location data from Strava for this study. From Lingo, Efforia collects continuous glucose readings and related timestamps during the first and second 14-day CGM phases.

You do not need to make Strava activities public, but connecting the service authorizes the transfer of available study data to Efforia. Strava, Abbott/Lingo, mobile operating-system providers, and other services may separately collect and retain information under their own terms and privacy policies. Efforia does not control information those third parties hold independently.

Efforia uses administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect your information. Directly identifying information is not made available to ordinary site staff for this study. Authorized Efforia personnel and service providers may access information when needed to operate the platform, fulfill or ship products, provide support, address safety concerns, or comply with law. The Efforia Institutional Review Board, regulators, auditors, and other authorized oversight bodies may review study records. Absolute confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.

Your name and other direct identifiers will not be included in publications or public presentations without your permission. De-identified or aggregated information may be used to generate personal results, analyze and report this study, evaluate the products and protocol, and support future research. Review the Efforia Privacy Policy and the privacy notices for Strava and Lingo.

You may receive study notifications by email, SMS, or push notification according to your communication settings. Protect your phone, wearable, account credentials, and linked services.

Your participation is voluntary. Refusing to participate will not affect your usual healthcare or involve a penalty or loss of benefits to which you are entitled. If you join, you may stop a run, stop using a study product or device, disconnect a linked service, or leave the study at any time and for any reason.

To leave, go to your Efforia Profile, select Your Protocols, and choose Leave, or contact help@efforia.com. Refunds, if any, follow the applicable Efforia return policy; shipped or used products may not be refundable.

If you withdraw, no new study information will be collected from you except information needed for safety, legal, or administrative reasons. Information already collected may still be retained and used to protect research integrity and as permitted by this consent and applicable law. Disconnecting Strava or Lingo from Efforia does not necessarily delete data already transferred or data held independently by those services.

The study team may end your participation for safety concerns, failure to follow procedures, study closure, product or device availability, or other administrative or scientific reasons.

If new information becomes available that may affect the study’s risks or benefits or your willingness to continue, you will be notified so you can decide whether to remain. You may receive personalized outcome reports and overall findings when available. Reports are informational, may contain measurement error, are not medical diagnoses, and should not replace advice from a qualified healthcare professional.

For questions about study tasks, products, devices, side effects, withdrawal, or technical support, contact help@efforia.com.

This study is reviewed under the Efforia Institutional Review Board. For questions about your rights as a research participant, concerns or complaints about the study, or to speak with someone outside the study team, contact ethics@efforia.com.

If California law applies to you, you have the right to:

• Be informed of the nature and purpose of the experiment.
• Receive an explanation of the procedures, expected duration, reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts, and expected benefits.
• Receive an explanation of appropriate alternatives that might be advantageous.
• Be informed of available medical treatment, if any, should complications arise.
• Ask questions about the study and receive answers.
• Withdraw consent and discontinue participation at any time without prejudice.
• Receive a copy of this consent form.
• Decide whether to participate without coercion or undue influence.

By accepting this consent, you confirm that you have read and understood the information above; have had the opportunity to ask questions; are voluntarily choosing to participate; believe you can safely complete the study activities within your normal endurance training; authorize Efforia to collect, use, and share study information as described; understand that you may withdraw at any time; and are not giving up any legal rights.

If you do not agree, do not accept this form or participate in the study.