I think this depends on a few factors -- how does your body react to caffeine? And, what's the distance?

For me, in a sprint, I'll go:
- 1x caffeinated (20mg) gel about 15-20 minutes before my wave's start
- 1x non-caffeinated gel in T1 (and none on the bike)
- 1x highly caffeinated gel (40mg) grabbed in T2 and consumed on the run if I feel that I need it.


In longer distances like a 70.3, I'll go heavier on the caffeinated gels during the run but much less so during the bike (going for more bars instead).

Nutrition in a sprint? Everyone told me that it wasn't really needed. I was just taking a cliff block 5-10 min before the start (I love the caffeine ones). Then I had NUUN energy in my BTA bottle to give me a bit more hydration and caffeine. Overall, I've always been a pretty high caffeine intake person. 4-5 cups of coffee a day minimum.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/23685202

Unless you are hyper-sensitive to caffeine, I really don't think 20mg, or 40mg, taken apart or all at once, would have any noticeable effects whatsoever.
Keep in mind, one small cup of coffee typically has upwards of 100mg of caffeine, and most of us don't notice much from that either.
And as the other person pointed out, you shouldn't need any nutrition during a sprint!! :)

Depends when you want to poop!

But yeah, unless it’s one of the high caffeine gels you aren’t going to notice much of a kick.

I'm pretty sensitive to caffeine - so yeah, it makes a big difference. I'll back down to only one cup of coffee a day for two weeks before most races.

On not needing it... I guess that depends on how fast you go :-P! This last one was UC Davis - h2ofun beat me easily there but I wasn't in the back by any means :-)!

Are you sure about these values? I didn't know they actually made caffeine gels with this little caffeine in!

In the UK the options from most manufacturers are typically ~75 mg for a standard caffeine gel or ~150 mg for a super-strength one!

Most sports science studies into the ergogenic effects of caffeine are looking at doses around 5 mg kg-1 body weight; no offence, but I suspect any perceived benefit that you're getting from such a small dose is likely a placebo.

Here's an interesting piece on caffeine timing during endurance races; obviously Ironman is an extreme example of this but there's some other interesting datapoints in there. There's a few other interesting caffeine articles on that site as well.

http://www.mysportscience.com/single-post/2016/08/02/Timing-of-caffeine-intake-in-long-races


It's my understanding that the ergogenic benefits of caffeine in sport aren't really the same as what you consciously experience when you have one as a pick me up in the office; it not just a case of bumping up your focus and drive during that sporting activity (although that may be a secondary benefit) and suddenly you can put out 10 more Watts or improve your run pace 10 seconds per km because your brain is a bit more on point!

The performance benefit in endurance sports comes from it's more basic biochemical effects on the body and primarily the its vasodilation effects that improves bloodflow to muscles; the dose-dependent range for these effects seems to be somewhat different to more immediately noticeable cognitive effects.

You have to test your nutrition during training, race simulations and during races.

For 70.3 and greater, I pour a caffeinated gel into my morning pre-race coffee and another caffeinated gel into my pre-race oatmeal.

I'll continue to use caffeinated gels throughout the bike and run, while using non-caffeinated gels here and there.

I find that I do just fine. Some people do more, while others do less. You simply have to test, test and test.

I'm using GU gels - which come in a variety of caffeine strengths. Those numbers are off the front of their packaging.

Could be all placebo but I got into the habit of taking a powerbar gel double latte gel with 50 mg of caffeine about 15-20 minutes before i get off the bike in an Olympic. I have no idea why I chose that time to take it but I started doing that 10-12 years ago and it doesn't upset my system.

All the timing is going to come down to how your body reacts which you'll have to fine tune by racing and when you feel like you might need a little extra kick (even if it is a placebo). I personally would not be able to tolerate that many gels but my nutrition needs in an Oly mostly boil down to how I have been fueling up to race day.