How much caffeine on race day?

Valerina4

Hey Team

 

I know there is a nutrition forum but I am not sure I was posting on it correctly, so I am posting my question here:

How much caffeine is too much caffeine?

 i was filling out my nutrition plan (the spreadsheet attahced in part 3 of the nutriotion portion of the wiki)

and it is adding up all the caffeine I have in the spreadsheet. It sure does seem like a lot?

is there a recommended amount for IM?

I do love caffeine but I am sure there comes a point where my stomach starts to disagree with this love. lol ( : 

 

Val 

Coach Rich

Hey Val,

I don't have a scientific answer for you, but intuitively I would think it's a function of your personal tolerance and figuring out what works best for you in training. As you know, people have a wide range of experience with caffiene, from buckets of (me) to not so much.

I'm going to move this to the Race Execution forum where more will see it.

Al Truscott

It's probably not a good idea to exceed your typical daily intake of caffeine on race day, not counting any cola you drink in the last 1.5 hours of the run. Excessive intake over your usual daily dose can play havoc with your hydration status as the day goes on, as well as messing up central nervous function. These downsides outweigh the potential benefit from improved fat store mobilization.

Robert Sabo

Al, can you be more specific? I take zero caffeine on a daily basis except for rare gels during training and a bunch of gels and cola on race day. The cola has been fine and I don't think I've had any problems. Would yawning during the IM run be a sign of caffeine crash?

Al Truscott

My caffeine intake amounts to one diet Coke daily. I have twice used caffeine pills ... 220 mg or something ... In races, each time to disastrous effect. In an HIM, i blew up after 11 miles of running; in an IM, i got very dehydrated and dropped out after ten miles in the run. The major effects of caffeine which impact performance IMO are stimulation of the ascending reticular activating system, enhancement of fatty acid mobilization, increase in epinephrine withh effects on HR and BP, inhibition of ADH (increasing risk of dehydration).

For the caffeine naive individual, this *sounds* good - increased alertness, increase in epinephrine, increase in ability t o burn fat - but I discovered that in doses daily coffee drinkers would see as a baseline, I just got blown away.

Caffeine is a PED, but using more than you are accustomed to before and in the earlier stages of a race may give you unwanted side effects. Like many aspects of racing Iron distances, its slmost impossible to get a clear picture of something's impact when we train a max of 6-7 hours for a 10-12 hour race. What works for a six hour training session may not hold up well if extended 4-6 hours more.

Peter Greagg

There is a fair bit of evidence that caffeine assists athletic performance. The recommended doses are 1.5 mg per pound to 4 mg per pound of body weight. Given that the recommendations are a range of doses, the response to caffeine is an individual thing. So if you choose to use it, you need to work out what your optimal dose is — ie more isn't better. If you receive a good boost in performance from, say, 200 mg of caffeine, then 400 mg isn't going to give you more of a boost — in fact it is likely to hinder your performance.

It appears that the amount of assistance from caffeine taken during a race etc is more if you don't use it much in the lead up to that race.
I race around 150 pounds and in a HIM or IM I take 240 mg of caffeine over the duration of the race. I have it in my custom Infinit drink. I find it particularly useful around hour 4 on the IM bike, which is when I start my caffeine intake. By halfway through the run, I have finished taking my 240 mg of caffeine.

Coach P has commented in the past that he has had more success with caffeine during races if he uses drinks and gels, rather than tablets. I assume with tablets the impact is quite sudden, and potentially could lead to GI distress.

Like Al T, I usually only have 1 diet coke per day (about 45 mg of caffeine), but sometimes I may have a coffee as well.
However, in the lead up to my A race, I don't have any caffeine at all for 2 weeks.

The important thing is to practice what you are going to do in a race, so hopefully there are no unpleasant surprises.

jaleslie

I consume a crapload of caffeine every day, as I never get enough sleep and am not a "morning person" and need it to wake up (perhaps if I got more sleep I'd be "morning person"!).  I routinely consume 2 cups of coffee, and 4-6 sodas with caffeine every day....and the ones with lots of caffeine (mountain dew, dr. pepper).  While I have read recommendation/articles from smart people suggesting weaning off of caffeine for 2-4-6 weeks before an A race is the best strategy (maximizes the effect of caffeine on race day) that is just not gonna work for me if I want to remain employed and married!  

I consumed a mountain dew and one 1X caff gel before swim start.  Then I used 1 1X caff gel/hr on the bike.  I then used 1 1X caff gel every 4-5 miles on the run, switching to 2X caff gels about mile 18.  I took a few cups of coke in the last 8 miles of the run, but went back to perform due to some hand tingling that I assumed was electrolyte imbalance.  The coke tasted soooooo good, but I didn't like what was happening to my hands.  This was NOT caffeine overdose though.  I did not feel jittery or have any tachycardia and also didn't have any trouble falling asleep after the race!  

I think this question depends entirely on your personal level of usual caffeine intake.  If you're like me or Coach Rich (who I think drinks Starbucks by the gallon), you'll have a very different need than a caffeine-naive athlete.  The most important thing is to do what you have practiced in your RR....do not try something new on race day.  Granted, the last 18mi of the marathon are new territory!

That is probably totally worthless isn't it!

 

Peter Noyes

For reference I drink 3 cups of coffee daily. In my Ironman I had 1 cup of coffee in the morning, and then 380mg of caffeine during the race. I had 6 salt tabs with caffeine for 180mg, and then 4 double latte gels on the run for 200mg more. I also had coke at the end. I never felt jittery or had any negative consequences, but 380mg is also pretty close to my normal daily intake. I did one of my race rehearsals with much less caffeine and I swear I felt more sluggish.

@Al Maybe having 30-50mg per hour rather than a jolt of 220mg in one go makes a difference?

Al Truscott

Posted By Peter Noyes on 22 Jul 2014 12:23 PM


@Al Maybe having 30-50mg per hour rather than a jolt of 220mg in one go makes a difference?

Absolutely… I have no trouble with an occasional gel with caffeine, nor with the Cola in the last 1.5-2 hours (a can of Coke is about 35 mg?).