Skip to main content

Caffeine: Your Endurance Partner


Caffeine is originally obtained from coffee, which seemed to be discovered and put to use in Ethiopia in the 15th century. Coffee beans made their way around the globe through mysterious trade routes and a treasury of interesting stories. At this point, this super drug is commonly found in kitchens all around the world and enjoyed as a beverage by a large number of people. Caffeine was first extracted from coffee in 1819 and has opened up many possibilities by which it can be consumed. The cultural history is just amazing, but I wouldn’t attempt to explain the history for the sake of relevance.


What we are concerned about is how the contents of this bean is critical to the performance of professional and recreational endurance athletes. At first glance, knowing caffeine’s effect on the heart rate, one would assume that it would not be beneficial to begin a long run with your heart racing before your feet get a chance to catch wind. However, this cannot be further from the truth.

Caffeine has been found in many studies to have an ergogenic effect for cardiovascular endurance. The term ‘ergogenic’ means it helps improve physical performance. It has proven to be very beneficial in endurance events, across the spectrum. This includes all forms of events. Caffeine reduces the time to completion of the event by increasing the average power output of the body. It is able to counteract the effects of adenosine and does the job better as the distance of the event increases. The benefits are about 3 percent, which can be very critical in the higher ranking runners.

The fact that anywhere between 3 and 6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight yields similar performance results is a relief to many athletes who don’t want to risk an upset stomach by drinking more than they are used to. 3 milligrams per kilogram of body weight adds up to 2 small cups of coffee, which is about a mug, for a person weighing 65 kilograms. Of course, this depends on the type of coffee, the concentration, and the method of brewing, amongst many other factors.

What is even fascinating is that this positive effect is present irrespective of the age, sex, or even the aerobic capacity of the athlete. Caffeine does not discriminate in handing out bonus points. As mentioned earlier, there is a range which offers similar improvements. Additionally, it is not sensitive to the timing of consumption relative to the event. Of course, to benefit from caffeine, you have to consume it before the event and not after. Since 5 hours as the half-life is pretty long, making sure the event falls within that window is probably all that needs to be considered.

This hack is something that every endurance athlete should know, as it almost feels like a hack. Coffee being totally natural is probably the easiest source, but there are plenty of supplement options available over the counter. What needs to be taken care of is the authenticity and reputation of the product. To avoid all the fuss, we would recommend sticking to just coffee.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Toe vs Heel strike: Injury Risk in Runners

When we observe runners, there are just so many variations in running technique and patterns. The length of the stride, body lean, amount of bending at each joint, the first point of foot contact and the arm swing are just a few of the places where we can notice the differences. Heel striking is one of the most criticised biomechanical variations in running. It is said that a heel to toe pattern impedes the forward motion of the runner and wastes more energy than landing on the forefoot. The first thing to get out of the way is that it’s not necessary that everyone who lands on their heel places it ahead of the body and that everyone who lands on the forefoot does so right under the body, which makes it invalid to connect the two factors. Forefoot Strike Technically there are three types of foot strike patterns: forefoot, rearfoot, and midfoot strike. The mechanics of the midfoot strike have more common features to the rearfoot strike and hence both of them will be considered under the...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Causes Muscle Cramps and How to Deal With Them?

Almost everyone involved in physical exercise has experienced muscle cramps at some point in time. It can be explained as a painful and involuntary muscle contraction that locks the joint in place. They occur mostly in longer muscles that span two or more joints. Once experienced, athletes may continue to cramp unless adequate rest is provided. There are many theories as to how muscle cramps occur and what can be the possible solutions to relieving them. They are sometimes inaccurately termed as heat cramps. Exercise-associated muscle cramps do not have a relation with body temperature and do not recover with an external cooling modality, like an ice pack. If the theories of muscle cramps do not interest you, skip to the last part where you can learn how to deal with muscle cramps. One of the oldest theories is based on dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that occurs during exercise. It states that sweating alters the chemical balance of the fluids present in the body, which affects...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can You Lose Weight Through Diet Alone?

There are people who believe that exercise alone can help you lose weight as long as you don’t ‘overeat’. This view is evident by the sheer number of people who purchase gym memberships specifically for weight loss. Whilst physical activity is beneficial, there are a myriad of risks involved when people follow the advice of gurus who aren’t educated about the anatomy and physiology of the human body. At the other end of the spectrum, there are believers in nutrition who could swear by its effectiveness in weight loss. It’s easy to blame a particular macro, be it fats or carbohydrates. It’s much harder to back that claim with evidence. Does that mean we leave everything to chance and do whatever we feel is right? Absolutely not. Looking at the basics of nutrition content, a low carbohydrate diet has been shown to help with maintaining a low energy uptake, which in turn will reduce your weight (As carbohydrates and sugars are well known to be empty calories). Although fat was given a bad...
Post a Comment
Read more