Coach wants me to drink coffee before race

What a bunch of "Nancy's" you folks are. A high school kid is having problems with low energy and low blood pressure. This effects his racing performance at 3200 meters. This guy's coach tells him to drink a cup of coffee because he thinks it might help him, and you Nancy's cry "unethical" and "cheater". Are you serious? Do you realize what you are doing? Equating a cup of coffee with some illegal banned drug. There is no comparison and you are out of line. I know several people who down a cup of Joe before their morning run. And I do the same sometimes. So lets lay off this coach because he is only trying to help his athlete. FYI, coffee is healthy for you in moderation and medical research is finding out more and more about the positive effects of coffee.

Are there any other perfectly legal (in both the sense of the law and the track governing bodies) that you also decry as unethical? Carbing up for a marathon is fine, but follow that oatmeal with a cup of coffee and you are unethical? The ability to run long is enhanced by the carbs, why don't you consider them a "shortcut"? I understand that lines must be drawn, that is why we have sports governing bodies.

You come off as a prudish (and illogical) ninny with this rant about coffee being unethical.

Jack says:

"I still thinks its unethical. To me it's still a magic pill, a shortcut, and the performance enhancing effects are well documented. One of the reasons caffeine was removed from the WADA list is because it would be impractical to enforce the restriction (since caffeine is everywhere - soda, coffee, chocolate). That makes sense if you're a large body attempting to regulate a large number of athletes.

But for myself, I can regulate what goes into my body. I'm not going to ingest a magic drug. I think it's against the spirit of the sport, and therefore to me it is unethical."

My response to Jack:

C'mon dude, get off of your high horse. Because it helps you, it should not be consumed? Give me a break. Because they help you, I suppose those pre-race spaghetti dinners should be banned. After all, your performance might be enhanced by the carbo-loading.

Let the kid try the coffee. He has been advised by many in this forum to try it before workouts first, then depending on the results, try it before a race. It may help him, it may not.

Good grief! It isn't like we're recommending he shoot up with steroids.

Everyone has their little pre-race rituals that they think are beneficial. Coffee is part of that for some. Maybe it will be for this particular HS runner.

random a hole wrote:

Are there any other perfectly legal (in both the sense of the law and the track governing bodies) that you also decry as unethical? Carbing up for a marathon is fine, but follow that oatmeal with a cup of coffee and you are unethical? The ability to run long is enhanced by the carbs, why don't you consider them a "shortcut"? I understand that lines must be drawn, that is why we have sports governing bodies.

You come off as a prudish (and illogical) ninny with this rant about coffee being unethical.

Nothing else is coming to mind that I decry as unethical. Anything related to training, nutrition, gear, altitude I think is fair game. Oh wait, I guess I do have some reservations about the guy with the mechanical legs who runs for South Africa - Oscar Pistorius? I think that's a slippery slope, because as they continue improving the technology of the legs, maybe he will start running 43-44 seconds in the 400, not due to a fitness improvement, simply due to better technology. Hell, maybe he'll run 39 seconds some day. It's great that the guy gets to compete when he was born with no legs, but come on. It's just a different race, have him go up against other amputees using the same legs, not able-bodied guys.

It's the shortcut that I decry.

But I'm just an anonymous message board poster, if everyone else is happy with coffee, then go for it. According to the rules it's not cheating, as I've acknowledged. I happen to think they've missed the mark on that particular rule, as I've argued, but my opinion is just my opinion

I don't think I'm prudish in any other ways - alcohol, pot.

cmon dude wrote:

Because it helps you, it should not be consumed?

Caffeine is a toxic chemical, that can be fatal to mammals.

The only reason people don't die immediately is because of size vs dose.

Check it out, caffeine hardens arteries, causes arrhythmia, wears out the adrenals, tosses thyroid hormones out of whack, and wears out the nerves. Coffee is also addicting. There is plenty of info about people who get violent headaches when they try to give up a coffee addiction.

The coach is an asshole, and should not be around children.

Here is my question for all of you - if all the other illegal drugs were suddenly made legal, would that make them OK?

If you say yes, fine, I see where you're coming from. Someone has to set the rules, and the WADA has done that. If WADA someday says EPO is allowed, then you would go for it. If rules = ethics for you, great. I believe this is Wejo's position. It's legal, so he's doing it.

If you say no, you would not try EPO or blood doping or steroids or anything else even if they were legal, then you are starting to see my point of view. I think there is a spirit to the sport that is about training your ass off, doing the little things, but never injecting or ingesting anything to give you a boost that you couldn't otherwise attain.

Just my opinion. No high horse, just how I feel.

dude- drink a cup or two of coffee and see how you like it. caffeine is not some huge ethical or performance enhancing drug....it's a drink made from the coffee bean that tastes good to me and millions of others. it's a beverage usually served hot, but is also great chilled; it's best if you LIKE coffee then you will drink it for the pleasure of drinking it. I would guess 99.2% of those who drink it, drink it because they like to drink it. these same people also probably enjoy the little lift in energy, focus, and wake-up that it gives them. if you are looking for some short-cut or 'soft' performance enhancer then maybe you should just do the strides. if you try it and like the overall effect of it (taste, coffee buzz, aroma) then you just may find yourself a 'coffee drinker'. now quit being an over-shletered, over analytical puss. damn.

oh yeah...it can make you shit (which is good before a race)- but all coffee drinkers know this.

It is a cup of coffee. Everyone is making a big deal out of a cup of coffee. Everyone is trying to get into ethical arguements and "spirit of the sport" and who knows what all over a cup of coffee. Why drag EPO, blood doping and steroids into this? It is a cup of coffee.

My advice to the original poster: Try a cup of coffee before a workout. (Many others also recommended the same thing.) See how you feel. Let us know what the results.

We are not "coffee pushers"......hey kid, try this.....the first cup is free, come back for more, we'll talk later......don't tell people about this.......

Caffeine has been shown to improve performances from 100m all the way up to the marathon, so it's worth giving it a try if you're comfortable with it. Just keep in mind that since caffeine is a diuretic and can dehydrate you, you might want to drink a few extra cups of water along with the coffee. If the race is in very hot weather, coffee might dehydrate you too much for it to be effective or safe.

This is all assuming that having coffee does magically make you faster, and while for some people it may help, its not like you can just drink a cup and go out and run out of your mind fast. I have a team mate that never drinks coffee, but if he were to tonite I doubt he'll instantly run a 10-15 second 5K PR.

Caffeine has different effects on different people but theres no way you could prove to me that drinking coffee is a silver bullet to a faster time. I think thats where your 'unethical' argument is flawed, you're saying that coffee is like getting a secret cheat code in a video game that makes you run much faster than before.

cmon dude wrote:

My advice to the original poster: Try a cup of coffee before a workout. (Many others also recommended the same thing.) See how you feel. Let us know what the results.

We are not "coffee pushers"......hey kid, try this.....the first cup is free, come back for more, we'll talk later......don't tell people about this.......

BS - you ARE a coffee pusher.

Because of your addiction, you are trying to get kids addicted to it too.

There is a big difference between drinking coffee yourself, and trying to push kids into drinking it too.

The argument that "coffee works" is stupid. First of all it does not "work." Training works. Eating healthy works. All caffeine would work for is wearing out your body. Look at Shorter now, he's not much of a runner any more.

J.R. wrote:

"Look at Shorter now, he's not much of a runner any more."

Ooooh, you made your point, Shorter is not much of a runner any more. OMG, he's 62 years old, of course he is not like he used to be.

I really hope the young runner tries the coffee. And, I hope he gives us some feedback one way or another. He may choose not to try coffee, and I hope he lets us know that, too. As pointed out by another poster, he was correct in questioning it. I personally see nothing wrong with it.

why is it ok to drink coke before a race, but not coffee?

J.R. wrote:

Caffeine is a toxic chemical, that can be fatal to mammals.

The only reason people don't die immediately is because of size vs dose.

Water can also be fatal in large doses. Most substances will fall into this category.

jack says wrote:

I don't think I'm prudish in any other ways - alcohol, pot.

Apologies for the prude comment. Just curious as to what is your opinion on pot being a banned substance? This is one where it is illegal yet clearly (for running) can't be considered a performance enhancer. Would you consider it's use by a runner to be ethical yet illegal? We might agree on this one.

random a hole wrote:

Water can also be fatal in large doses. Most substances will fall into this category.

That is not so.

Water is not toxic. 80% of the body is water.

Caffeine is toxic in very small amounts. You would not take large amounts of caffeine and survive.

this is the silliest argument i have seen on lets run, come on guys. I am tired before races sometimes, yawning on the line. Coffee wakes me up a bit and makes me feel ready to run. Its not some kind of super drug that changes people. This kid will not be beggin in the street to get his fix of coffee. Really? Fire the coach for suggesting something that might help his athlete... stupid

On another note would you call a coach suggesting his athletes take a multi vitamin, or iron supplements, a slimeball who should not be around kids?

'random a hole' has some interesting things to say, especially about Jack and Jack's 'pot" comment.

I have a yes-no question for Jack, no explaining, just yes or no

Jack, have you ever smoked pot?

If you ask me that question, I will answer no. For the record, I am 55 years old. But excuuuuuuuuse me, I drink coffee before I run.

Oh, yes. You have discovered the great secret. I was a 23 minute 5K runner and by drinking coffee before a race I ran in the low 13's.

I now chew coffee beans (crunchy!!!). I hope to get in the 12's during the summer.