Do you consider intentionally using caffeine to improve your performance to be cheating? Does it depend on the type of consumption (coffee vs caffeine pills)? Do you think there’s a danger of slippery slope to other performance enhancing products or becoming mentally dependent on an aid for races?
How much do you think caffeine benefits a race?
What’s the best way to take caffeine? Rungum, coffee... ?
What has been your experience using caffeine if you have or if you know someone who has?
Morningjoe wrote:
What’s the best way to take caffeine? Rungum, coffee... ?
Definitely just straight black coffee
Per the WADA it is legal to use caffeine and the amount that is actually illegal in the past was a very large amount i.e. like 8+ cups of coffee. I drink coffee all the time and use caffeine for races. The shorter the distance the more effect it will have. I'd recommend 200mg before a race 5k and shorter and 100mg for 10k and up possibly (don't want to dehydrate yourself too much but if you hydrated properly shouldn't be a problem having more). If you aren't a big caffeine taker or coffee drinker or rarely have caffeine, I'd recommend only using it for races as you will see a more profound effect. My 2 cents on the topic.
INTRAVENOUS
If the rules don't prohibit it, it is not cheating. PED's are only cheating if they violate rules, not simply because they enhance performance. Steroids, EPO and any other PED's wouldn't be cheating if the they were an accepted part of the sport.
Don't Cheat Yourself wrote:
If the rules don't prohibit it, it is not cheating. PED's are only cheating if they violate rules, not simply because they enhance performance. Steroids, EPO and any other PED's wouldn't be cheating if the they were an accepted part of the sport.
I agree. If nothing that enhances performance was allowed, training would be banned too. I think unless there is to be a rule against it, using any sort of caffeine is fine.
Use your judgement. A cup of coffee in the AM before a race is ok. Taking caffeine pills might be a slippery slope to something else as you have suggested.
Caffeine drinks don't dehydrate you.
I don't consider it cheating. It is legal, and lots of people do it, and would consume it whether they run or not.
I wasn't a regular consumer of caffeine for most of my life, but at go through phases where I do drink coffee or black tea daily. When the brojos had an article maybe a decade ago making a strong case try for caffeine as a legal performance enhancer, I did consume it before races, bought caffeine-containing gels/Shot Bloks, and even a bottle of NoDoze. It never gave me a boost though, and usually made me feel and run worse than without caffeine.
It turns out I'm not alone. Outside magazine has an article out this week wrtten by Alex Hutchison telling about a study that showed 49% of study participants benefit a lot, 43% most of the rest get no effect, and 8%, probably including people like me, have performance adversely affected by caffeine.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2289531/caffeine-makes-some-people-faster-others-slower
Morningjoe wrote:
Do you consider intentionally using caffeine to improve your performance to be cheating? Does it depend on the type of consumption (coffee vs caffeine pills)? Do you think there’s a danger of slippery slope to other performance enhancing products or becoming mentally dependent on an aid for races?
How much do you think caffeine benefits a race?
What’s the best way to take caffeine? Rungum, coffee... ?
What has been your experience using caffeine if you have or if you know someone who has?
The rules allow for its usage, but if you are being very strict then one might consider it doping IF it works (see below). But by that token carb loading and taking water or a sport drink during a race would be doping since they enhance performance.
I rarely use caffeine whether before a race or in daily life so I have no personal feel for caffeine. There is ample evidence that moderate doses can help in some people. Then there is a genetic component where caffeine might actually make you slower.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2289531/caffeine-makes-some-people-faster-others-slowerzzzz wrote:
I don't consider it cheating. It is legal, and lots of people do it, and would consume it whether they run or not.
I wasn't a regular consumer of caffeine for most of my life, but at go through phases where I do drink coffee or black tea daily. When the brojos had an article maybe a decade ago making a strong case try for caffeine as a legal performance enhancer, I did consume it before races, bought caffeine-containing gels/Shot Bloks, and even a bottle of NoDoze. It never gave me a boost though, and usually made me feel and run worse than without caffeine.
It turns out I'm not alone. Outside magazine has an article out this week wrtten by Alex Hutchison telling about a study that showed 49% of study participants benefit a lot, 43% most of the rest get no effect, and 8%, probably including people like me, have performance adversely affected by caffeine.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2289531/caffeine-makes-some-people-faster-others-slower
The article doesn't tell us anything that we already don't know. Just like PEDs there are high-responders and low-responders and those in between. Nothing new there.
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-7-5zzzz wrote:
It is legal, and lots of people do it,
Every pro runner on the planet drinks caffeine in some form
otter wrote:
Use your judgement. A cup of coffee in the AM before a race is ok. Taking caffeine pills might be a slippery slope to something else as you have suggested.
Strange way of thinking. Disagree. Do vitamins or even gels lead to illegal substances too?
One caffeine pill when I wake up and one more pill ~45 mins before the race. 200mg each.
3-6mg per kg of body weight will give the best benefit.
otter wrote:
Use your judgement. A cup of coffee in the AM before a race is ok. Taking caffeine pills might be a slippery slope to something else as you have suggested.
I don't get the connection otter? What would be the difference between injesting coffee containing caffeine vs consuming caffeine pills? What about the caffeinated energy drinks that everyone is drinking 24/7 these days? I was at a race last fall where the parking lot, warm-up & startline areas were littered with empty cans of caffeinated energy drinks from the runners there.
otter wrote:
Use your judgement. A cup of coffee in the AM before a race is ok. Taking caffeine pills might be a slippery slope to something else as you have suggested.
I disagree. I discovered caffeine helped my running by accident the first time I had a coffee-ish beverage and had a great practice shortly thereafter. I started drinking coffee before workouts knowing it would help. I had tired it before races but it just didn't settle well in my stomach. After a while, I discovered caffeine pills.
I generally just take 1 (200mg) only before races, otherwise I am just a coffee drinker. I noticed it certainly does seem to help me race, If nothing else, it helps me focus on pushing and getting more out of myself during the race.
It is not a banned substance in normal amounts, therefore there is nothing wrong with it, morally or otherwise. I've been using caffeine pills before races for years and have not went down 'a slippery slope' as some have suggested. I'm just smart enough to not leave time on the table.
Easily the best easily-available performance enhancer out there. Certainly isn't cheating. I'm also of the belief that unless you finish in the money or it's the Olympics, there is no such thing as cheating by ingesting any substance.
If I have a choice before a race of food or caffeine; caffeine will win every time:)
central_park_laps wrote:
One caffeine pill when I wake up and one more pill ~45 mins before the race. 200mg each.
3-6mg per kg of body weight will give the best benefit.
agreed. my method is:
latte or something just because I'm an addict in the morning:
45 minutes before the race: 200mg caffeine pill #1
30 minutes before the race: 200mg caffeine pill #2
YMMV
Old Slow Stiff wrote:
zzzz wrote:
It turns out I'm not alone. Outside magazine has an article out this week wrtten by Alex Hutchison telling about a study that showed 49% of study participants benefit a lot, 43% most of the rest get no effect, and 8%, probably including people like me, have performance adversely affected by caffeine.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2289531/caffeine-makes-some-people-faster-others-slowerThe article doesn't tell us anything that we already don't know. Just like PEDs there are high-responders and low-responders and those in between. Nothing new there.
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-7-5
Not quite everything Is in that article you link. I'm not a low responder, or between a high and low responder. I'm a negative/opposite responder. I get slower when I consume caffeine, like the 8% in the Outside article.
central_park_laps wrote:
One caffeine pill when I wake up and one more pill ~45 mins before the race. 200mg each.
3-6mg per kg of body weight will give the best benefit.
I too prefer pill form before a race- drink is too unreliable for dosage. Having the jitters at the line is horrible.