10/20/08
Caffeine and Racing - Friend or Foe?
We’ve all felt that jittery, anxious feeling after drinking a strong shot (or two) of espresso. Your heart rate revs up, your senses seem a bit sharper, and you’re feeling slightly wired. But does this feeling of increased awareness actually benefit us when it comes to racing?
Category: Your Body
Posted by: ryan
Caffeine and Racing……..Friend or Foe??
By Dr. Ryan Iverach, ironguides Sports Medicine Consultant
We’ve all felt that jittery, anxious feeling after drinking a strong shot (or two) of espresso. Your heart rate revs up, your senses seem a bit sharper, and you’re feeling slightly wired. But does this feeling of increased awareness actually benefit us when it comes to racing?
Caffeine is the most commonly consumed drug in the world. It’s inexpensive, medically safe, socially acceptable, readily accessible, and legal. Its affects include, stimulating receptors in the central nervous system and metabolic receptors in skeletal muscle (causing glycogen sparing). Based on available science, it appears a minimum of 5mg of caffeine per kilogram of body mass is needed to produce a performance enhancing effect.
Caffeine has many positive effects on exercise. This is why it used to be a banned substance (no longer is). The primary advantages of taking caffeine are heightened awareness, increased anxiety (this translates to increased excitement and increased drive, or it gets you “ready to race”), and a decreased perception of fatigue. Some will argue that there is also a physiological decrease in fatigue.
Although anecdotal evidence suggests caffeine is a dehydrating agent, studies have seldom found caffeine to cause any more urine production than drinking water alone. If you’re really worried about this effect, then limit your use of caffeine to events that will be over within a couple of hours, so dehydration won’t be as much of a factor. Most studies show that there is a net water gain from drinking coffee.
As an example, the caffeine in an 8 ounce cup of coffee may cause what you perceive as increased urine output, but you are probably only excreting about 6 ounces of urine. So, net 2 ounces of fluid retention. If this is within an hour before a big race, you’ll perceive it as, “I have to pee!” Try the same thing with the same amount of water on the same timing, and you’ll be dancing the same jig outside of the port-a-potty, or using the bushes in a similar manner. Activity that exceeds 75% VO2 max will negate these effects as your body starts to shut down urine production at these levels of exertion.
For longer distances, keep in mind that continual supplementation with caffeine throughout the day probably isn’t necessary, as studies have not shown a difference between ingesting caffeine prior to an effort and re-dosing between efforts. Caffeine stays in our bodies and has an effect for 5-8 hours, so stopping at Starbucks in the middle of an Ironman for a non-fat-double-shot-pick-me-up with light whip cream is most likely a waste of time (and money!!).
If you’re going to use caffeine as a race aid, you should practice with it like any other supplement. Stick with the same brand, the same amount, and the same timing for racing and long training sessions. Remember that caffeine levels tend to peak an hour after ingestion, so it would be a good idea to down your favorite beverage a minimum of 75 minutes before the gun goes off.
If you are truly a slave to the bean, then your tolerance to caffeine may be higher than most. Try abstaining from all caffeine (or at least weaning yourself off a bit) for 4-5 days prior to a big race. If you don’t suffer from caffeine withdrawal headaches (a very real symptom of caffeine withdrawal), this will desensitize your system to the drug, creating a heightened response on race day so you get the most buzz for your starbuck. Drink Up!!
By Dr. Ryan Iverach, ironguides Sports Medicine Consultant
We’ve all felt that jittery, anxious feeling after drinking a strong shot (or two) of espresso. Your heart rate revs up, your senses seem a bit sharper, and you’re feeling slightly wired. But does this feeling of increased awareness actually benefit us when it comes to racing?
Caffeine is the most commonly consumed drug in the world. It’s inexpensive, medically safe, socially acceptable, readily accessible, and legal. Its affects include, stimulating receptors in the central nervous system and metabolic receptors in skeletal muscle (causing glycogen sparing). Based on available science, it appears a minimum of 5mg of caffeine per kilogram of body mass is needed to produce a performance enhancing effect.
Caffeine has many positive effects on exercise. This is why it used to be a banned substance (no longer is). The primary advantages of taking caffeine are heightened awareness, increased anxiety (this translates to increased excitement and increased drive, or it gets you “ready to race”), and a decreased perception of fatigue. Some will argue that there is also a physiological decrease in fatigue.
Although anecdotal evidence suggests caffeine is a dehydrating agent, studies have seldom found caffeine to cause any more urine production than drinking water alone. If you’re really worried about this effect, then limit your use of caffeine to events that will be over within a couple of hours, so dehydration won’t be as much of a factor. Most studies show that there is a net water gain from drinking coffee.
As an example, the caffeine in an 8 ounce cup of coffee may cause what you perceive as increased urine output, but you are probably only excreting about 6 ounces of urine. So, net 2 ounces of fluid retention. If this is within an hour before a big race, you’ll perceive it as, “I have to pee!” Try the same thing with the same amount of water on the same timing, and you’ll be dancing the same jig outside of the port-a-potty, or using the bushes in a similar manner. Activity that exceeds 75% VO2 max will negate these effects as your body starts to shut down urine production at these levels of exertion.
For longer distances, keep in mind that continual supplementation with caffeine throughout the day probably isn’t necessary, as studies have not shown a difference between ingesting caffeine prior to an effort and re-dosing between efforts. Caffeine stays in our bodies and has an effect for 5-8 hours, so stopping at Starbucks in the middle of an Ironman for a non-fat-double-shot-pick-me-up with light whip cream is most likely a waste of time (and money!!).
If you’re going to use caffeine as a race aid, you should practice with it like any other supplement. Stick with the same brand, the same amount, and the same timing for racing and long training sessions. Remember that caffeine levels tend to peak an hour after ingestion, so it would be a good idea to down your favorite beverage a minimum of 75 minutes before the gun goes off.
If you are truly a slave to the bean, then your tolerance to caffeine may be higher than most. Try abstaining from all caffeine (or at least weaning yourself off a bit) for 4-5 days prior to a big race. If you don’t suffer from caffeine withdrawal headaches (a very real symptom of caffeine withdrawal), this will desensitize your system to the drug, creating a heightened response on race day so you get the most buzz for your starbuck. Drink Up!!