Morality of Caffeine before races/workouts

I think it all depends, are you a hipster? And is that guy you're trying to beat drinking coffee? But seriously good post! [quote]yo gabba gabba wrote:

Alright, OP here, lets say caffeine was suddenly banned by the NCAA but EPO suddenly became legal. Would all you guys now say EPO is fine but caffeine should not be taken?

yo gabba gabba wrote:

Alright, OP here, lets say caffeine was suddenly banned by the NCAA but EPO suddenly became legal. Would all you guys now say EPO is fine but caffeine should not be taken?

There is a reason this won't happen.

Honestly I think its an interesting question. I remember before the talk of caffeine became more popular in the press I learned about sodium bicarbonate in my exercise phys class. I remember telling my teammates and they were psyched to try it out. In the end nothing came of it, but I remember I felt weird about the idea of my team all starting to experiment with ingesting baking soda even though its legal, to get the edge over our competition. Why? Even if the substance isn’t on the banned list it’s the attitude that mimics drug use. The idea of the perfect dosage, taking it at the right time etc. just seems a bit off. Now that being said I just realized some of the gu’s I’ve taken during marathons have had caffeine or 2x caffeine. Then again during my last race which was a big PR the gu’s had none.

Personally I’ve found other things make a much bigger difference in running. I had my best race in college after only a few hours of sleep and dancing all night trying to get with a girl. Do I think the dancing helped my race? No, my legs were tired by the time I went to bed but being so relaxed and have a no worry attitude I think definitely did. I went into the race totally relaxed with no fear and had my best race ever.

In the end there seem to be two approaches to running. The super scientific approach e.g. Galen Rupp and then a much more relaxed carefree approach similar to what the Kenyan runners I’ve met exhibit. Many of them don’t know which day their next diamond league race with is on only 2 weeks out from the race. Their not worried if the have the perfect 10 day taper etc. Now does it always work out for them? No, but you gotta think when it does it’s a huge advantage going into a race relaxed, confident, and carefree. Not thinking if they took the right dosage of this or that.

I'd like to add my opinion that I do think this is a serious issue I've contemplated because I hardly ever drink coffee and it has a huge effect on me when I do. But as to whether it's a difference in kind or in degree relative to things like electrolytes, dark chocolate, etc., I don't know. Our body needs food, but we don't need caffeine or whatever the good thing in dark chocolate is. But that doesn't necessarily make it wrong. Personally I feel kind of weird about drinking a cup of coffee in order to run better. But I also feel weird about telling other people they shouldn't. And I like the argument that in any competition we simply agree to rules and then go at it. So I'm conclusionless, but I think it's a valid question.

What a stupid topic. If I drink my large cup of Starbucks (a Venti has 300mg of caffeine) an hour or two before a workout/race, I end up pissing more than I drank. This probably dehydrates me to a certain extent, not to mention that nasty taste in my mouth. If I have 2 shots of espresso (45mg caff. each), I feel sick, so what's the advantage?