Sex Before A Race

I don't think you'll have any problems...no opportunities.

The only way I see it being problematic is if you are in a relay race and your hand is sore from the night before and you drop the baton.

I've heard sex/jerking off increases testosterone in women (good) and decreases it in men (bad). So check between your legs.

Goulet wrote:

your hand is sore from the night before

Don't knock masturbation. At least its sex with someone I love.

I had the worst race I've ever had the day after. So I wouldn't recommend it. It could have just been that I was training right through this race, but I was training through a race the following week and didn't feel even close to that crappy. So I refuse to have sex or masturbate the night before a race now.

I can't remember ever feeling that horrible in a race too. The second the gun went off my legs felt like I had just finished a tough anaerobic workout.

Adhere to the 48 hour rule...

njmatt wrote:

The second the gun went off my legs felt like I had just finished a tough anaerobic workout.

Well what kind of sex were you having, anyway? Crazy monkey sex or hardcore bondage is certainly going to be tougher on your system than normal sex. Staying up late to do the deed probably didn't help you any either. Personally, I've never had any problems.

S

I am talking bout straight up normal sex... last year the night before a race i wasn't able to sleep so i pounded one off and the next day ran 1:50 so I know masturbation doesn't effect it. But I wonder could I have ran 1:49 had I not spanked the monkey?

For men, it may not be beneficial, but in my experience it isn't harmful either if it's just once and before sleeping. I can attest that 4 times in a night, throughout the night, is very very detrimental.

it reduces stress and anxiety and will help you sleep better. definitely will make your race day easier

Some of my best races came from almost sleepless nights and after having sex that night before. I highly recommend it, especially if it's a BIG race, it will help to clear your head.

Try Practice first

For years I followed the 24 hour rule, (no sex, no jacking it) before a race. Anytime I broke the rule, I had a bad race, so I was pretty confident in it. This past december I had sex the morning of a 3k time trial and proceeded to run a 10 second PR off of little training since xc ended.

J Dub wrote:

Is sex the night a middle distance race a good idea? I am afraid to try it!!

Make sure to have your partner wear gloves. Canines can scratch you up pretty badly when the get in the moment.

Marty Liquori touched on this subject in his autobiography, which I read a long time ago. From what I recall, he said that when he had sex with his wife the morning of a race, he would only do 4 strides in his warm-up instead of 6. So I guess it didn't negatively affect his performance.

The book is called "On the Run: In Search of the Perfect Race" if you want to check it out.

J Dub wrote:

Is sex the night a middle distance race a good idea? I am afraid to try it!!

In my view, sex any time you can get it is a good idea. Night before? I say go for it.

You can have sex as long as you aren't awake all night or into weird S&M stuff getting beaten up.

This stuff falls into the idea that in order to succeed in running you must deprive yourself of things normal people enjoy. It's just not true.

You can be a successful runner and have sex, drink coke, eat pizza, heck you can ever down a few beers. You do not have to live the monastic lifestyle.

It will affect you if you want it to. It's all mental. Unless of course you are a straight up maniac...

It's not the sex that gets me, it is the hanging around smokey bars until 4am waiting for the night's table-scraps to finally notice me that really kills.