Sex and Running/Competition

I feel like it would affect your mental toughness if you did it the night before a race

I did it the night before each of my Ironman races.

It's only an issue if you stay up late to have sex. I've had some terrible races after sex, but only because I was visiting someone and up until 2:00 before an 8:00 AM race.

Mohammed Ali was also famous for converting to Islam and changing his name. Maybe that would improve your racing too.

I like sex... wrote:

I find sex helps keep the wait down, like if I know I will get some later on I won't be eating a big dinner and feeling too full for later on.

^This. When I was on my college team and training for the 10k, I would try to lose about 3-5lbs. before conference or my peak race. Would plan to have sex with my girlfriend (now my wife) about every night which probably lowered my caloric intake at dinner by about 500cals. And all kidding aside, it helped lose those few lbs.

Derek Ibbotson ran sub 4 straight after having sex (with his wife)

That was back in 1950's when sub 4 was something

My hypothesis is that humans are genetically predisposed towards reproduction, and that pursuit of reproduction subconsciously motivates nearly everything we do. Sexual hunger builds until temporarily satiated, as does the motivation to satisfy it. Therefore, consciously defer sexual gratification to fuel subconscious motivation.

Olympians get it. These highly-motivated individuals abstain for long stretches of time to maintain focus and drive for arduous training, culminating in the post-competition bacchanalia that is the Olympic village.

Also, from a male's perspective, semen has evolved to give spermatozoa the best shot at reaching the egg. It is high in nutrients that rest of your body needs for training and recovery. It is possible to screw your way into anemia. I believe applause are in order if that's the scale of your game, but understand your priorities.

Conversely, if women ingest the semen on a regular basis they will be loading up on beneficial nutrients and anti-oxidants that are important for recovery.

pseudoscience wrote:

Also, from a male's perspective, semen has evolved to give spermatozoa the best shot at reaching the egg. It is high in nutrients that rest of your body needs for training and recovery. It is possible to screw your way into anemia. I believe applause are in order if that's the scale of your game, but understand your priorities.

Used to think that abstaining was the way to go, then I learned about how our bodies work and that having sex actually raises your T levels. Think about it.

Also, this book helped me a lot:

http://amzn.to/UbfnR0

It's not the sex the night before that hurts your athletic performance; it's the staying out til 2AM looking for it that hurts.

Why would knowing your going to have sex later prevent you from eating?

Honestly, when I was really running and I mean really training hard, sex was rarely on my mind. I'd normally be passed out by 10, so the only way I was getting laid was if it was a girl on the team who had the same priorities in mind.

The things we sacrifice....

Still eat, just not as much. Not to sound like a chick but I don't feel attractive being all bloated with a big food belly or getting a stomach cramp or even worse vomiting on the girl.

The exact quote: "Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in." True for runners too.

http://espn.go.com/classic/s/Stengelese.html

I ran my mile PR 12ish hours after sex and a good nights sleep.

It's not the sex the night before that hurts your athletic performance; it's the staying out til 2AM looking for it that hurts.[/quote

This is it.

My high school track and xc coach prohibited runners from having sex in season. And he could tell when someone did. Occasionally a good runner would be having a bad workout and he would say, "did you have sex?" And 99% of the time he was right.