How much do you consume during a race, at what point, and in what form? Thanks.
What type of race and what distance?
Other than the morning cup of lube I will hit the coke as early and as often as I can on the run in HIM distance and above. Nothing after the morning cup for shorter.
I was thinking Olympic and 70.3. The gels I use (Roctane) have 35mg and I usually take 1 pre-swim, 1 mid-bike and 1 early on the run (maybe). But I’m wondering if more caffeine might help, especially for 70.3. I have a coke on my long rides (50+ miles) and it seems to help me feel better, and I guess perform better. They say caffeine is the only legal, proven performance enhancer…as far as supplements go.
Also, I don’t drink coffee everyday but when I do I usually consume large amounts. I seem to have a relatively high “tolerance” for caffeine. I imagine this is also a consideration.
35mg is not much at all. You can always try increasing the amounts in training. No use polling others because we all differe in our sensitivity to caffeine. Some people consume 10 X that much BEFORE the race and more during the race. Others would be bouncing off the walls.
How much do you consume during a race, at what point, and in what form? Thanks.
200 caffeine pill 3 hours before
25 gel 15 before the swim
100mg-200mg on the bike with infinit
25 gel before the run
Thats for an olympic
Recent article from USAT regarding post workout caffeine…
“During recovery from the other trial, caffeine was added to the sports drink, providing 8 mg per kilogram of body weight over the four hour period.”
“Consume food and fluids that provide 1g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight immediately after training. Repeat this amount in one hour and incorporate these guidelines into subsequent meals and snacks.”
that is a LOT of caffeine, it would be interesting to see if the lack of sleep that night and subsequent poor quality workouts the following days would counteract the increase in glycogen.
Not to be alarmist, but I’ve personally reduced the amount of caffeine I take in before and during a race. A while ago, runnersworld ran the following under their ‘Ask the Sports Doc’ column. This was written by Dr. Lewis Maharam, med director for the Rock & Roll series. (I know, not everybody buys into Runnersworld)
Over the past several years, consumption of caffeine has taken off, especially among younger people. Whereas we once got caffeine mainly from our morning coffee, today we have espresso shots in that coffee, caffeine-loaded drinks like Red Bull and RockStar, even caffeine-laced energy gels. And at least one study has shown that 200 mg of caffeine (equivalent to two cups of coffee) decreases coronary blood flow while marathoning. Could high doses of caffeine be enough to set off a fatal arrhythmia?
Link to the whole thing here… http://runningdoctor.runnersworld.com/2009/10/09/how-can-i-prevent-my-own-sudden-death-while-running/
Anyways, I have some other risk factors so this was sufficient enough warning for me. I limit to < 100 mg.
How much do you consume during a race, at what point, and in what form? Thanks.
Be careful with caffeine use.
I had a friend participate in a and IOC sponsored caffeine study about 15 years ago. At the time, the caffeine limit was about equal to 12 cups coffee, but after the test, I heard it was lowered to about 6 cups.
Check the WADA list for quantity as while it’s not banned, I believe it is a controlled (ie limited) substance. You might also want to check up on the inter-web re the overall effects of caffeine to find out what you might be getting yourself in for.
Then in training, trial various doses and see what works best for you, while still racing “clean”
Me? at IM, I take de-fizzed Coke on the run. Sure it gets me through the race, but as I don’t take much caffeine regularly, even in my totally exhausted post race condition, I have a hard time getting to sleep and staying asleep. Soooo, practice and beware.
Dont drink Coffee, so have two no-doz caffeine tablets (200mg) 30mins before start and a caffinated Gu gel (20 or 40mg cant remember), then have another two tablets on the run (if it is a HIM).
Love the stuff and would NEVER race without it