I'm racing today at like 9PM and I want to have some caffeine beforehand otherwise I'll be kind of tired since I never run that late. But I also don't want to be up all night. So what's the optimal time for me to drink a cup of coffee so that it'll still be keeping me alert at 9PM but will mostly wear off by 11?
9:05pm
Sorry. I'd say about an hour before your race but as to whether it wears off it depends on your tolerance to caffeine.
Last time I did a caffeinated gel (100mg) half an hour before my race (8:00 PM) and was up until midnight. Also the gel made me really nauseous after my race. I'm thinking of just drinking coffee and making the caffeine content a little lower, but I don't want to undershoot and crash and burn at my race. I guess racing well is a higher priority than sleeping well tonight if I have to choose, but I'd rather not.
Don't go with the gel. I can understand why that made you feel sick.
I don't think you'll crash and burn if you don't have the coffee, but it might help a bit.
Personally I'd have it an hour before the race. I don't know if you really want to be drinking a coffee any nearer than that. If you have it hours and hours before it will wear off.
I just looked it up and the first link I read said peak time is 1 hour after ingestion.
Dude, caffeine is a vasoconstrictor. It will limit the amount of blood that will flow through your veins during exercise if you hit it up too close to race time. For optimal results, you should consume your caffeine 4 hours prior to race time. This will allow for the constriction to wear off while also allowing for the epinephrine boost provided by caffeine to kick in.
Short answer: 5pm caffeine.
I have to go to bed now, but good luck for your race!
It doesn't really matter what time you drink it, what matters is how much you drink. It sounds like you don't drink much caffeine normally, so I would drink some tea 90-120 minutes before the race, just enough to noticeably affect you. The combination of running the race and eating after will tire you back down.
So how did it go?
Gels dont agree with me at all. Get stomach issues during the race and not much gives me stomach issues.
I drink regular coffee (like any other day) before AM races.
I'll reveal my identity now (I didn't want anyone who knows me personally impacting my decision on this hahaha).
I had a cup of coffee with my breakfast-for-dinner at 6:30PM. Race ended up being at roughly 9:30PM and I had ample energy. Ran exactly the time I wanted (10:50 for the 3000).
Unfortunately I still couldn't sleep at night until I took a Tylenol PM (and now I feel like I have a horrible hangover, I hate that stuff), but I don't know how much of that was from caffeine and how much of it was from my brain being totally wired on racing and replaying everything in my head over and over again.
also I'm female since I feel the need to justify that time with my gender
Why are you making such a big deal about being up one night from caffeine. Obviously you chose to take it for your race. You seem very nitpicky. I doubt you really needed the caffeine in the first place. Was your race important btw or just for fun
Girlsss wrote:
Why are you making such a big deal about being up one night from caffeine. Obviously you chose to take it for your race. You seem very nitpicky. I doubt you really needed the caffeine in the first place. Was your race important btw or just for fun
I had to get up in the morning to run again. Don't want to feel too bad at work. Race was more important than that but if I could get the best of both worlds it'd be pretty nice.
Race was just an all-comers. I had a specific time in mind but no real external pressure. I don't really give a crap about external pressure though.
Glad it went OK and that you felt you had enough energy.
Maybe you should have something like a diet coke (40mg caffeine?) instead of the coffee (100m caffeine?) if it keeps you up all night though. That's not something you want to do on a regular basis.
V8 has this energy blend that is a little less than coffee but has fruit and vegetable juices added with B vitamins and niacin --just the right amount. It's really good too and not overly loaded like an energy drink.
Also, if you do take a tylenol PM, cut one pill in half and just take a 1/4 or 1/2 pill. That way it will calm you and wear off.
The half-life of caffeine in the bloodstream is 6 hours. The peak levels occur quite quickly. So taking the caffeine way early won't help and will still keep you up if you are sensitive to that. But then again, sleep can be over-rated in the young! Good Luck.