TRI TIP

Caffeine’s Highs and Lows

It seems that the sport of triathlon and coffee drinking have almost become synonymous. If you’ve ever wondered why, it’s because for many athletes, coffee is a delicious, relaxing and addictive beverage. Then, of course, its stimulant, caffeine, can be an effective performance enhancer to help with the demands of physical training and performance.

Up until 2004, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee had rules in place governing the maximum legal concentration of caffeine in athletes’ urine, but by the 2004 Athens Olympics those rules had been dropped. There remains no maximum legal caffeine limit for age-group triathletes.

Caffeine is a mild stimulant that affects multiple organ systems and is rapidly absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, reaching its highest level in the bloodstream within one to two hours of consumption.

Due to its popularity, caffeine is one of the most widely researched areas of sports performance. As expected, each study promotes the upsides of caffeine, but warns of the potential downsides.

In terms of benefits, caffeine increases fat metabolism, meaning it enhances the body’s use of fat as a fuel source, thereby conserving glycogen. This glycogen conservation, in turn, is key to reserving energy in races. Additionally, caffeine increases the number of fatty acids in the blood stream, which fractionally increases the speed at which your body can convert fat to usable energy.

Perhaps of equal importance, an abundance of research shows that caffeine often reduces an athlete’s perception of effort. In other words, it makes running, cycling or swimming feel slightly easier at any given pace. Coupled with this, caffeine has been found to increase the concentration of endorphins in the brain, the hormones that provide the “runner’s high.”

Not only does caffeine boost mental alertness, it improves mood and enhances the desire to tackle the challenges of the day including hard exercise sessions.

Caffeine enhances reaction time and improves neuromuscular co-ordination – the time it takes your brain to send a signal to your muscles to contract and relax. Especially pertinent to sprinters, it can also be beneficial to long distance athletes, too, as it allows leg muscles to fire fractionally faster and more forcefully, which means miniscule additions to running and pedalling efficiency.

In hot training environments, findings seem to concur that caffeine-fuelled athletes completed 15 to 25 per cent more work in hot weather than those who used either water or a traditional sports beverage. As mentioned, the athletes who used caffeine had a lower level of perceived exertion. Note: exercise caution here, as caffeine is a diuretic, too.

As for the post-ride coffee, there’s good news. Caffeine actually enhances recovery when used in conjunction with carbohydrates to rebuild glycogen stores.

But all studies are careful to note that excessive caffeine intake can cause increased heart rate, tremors and stomach upset. This can affect an athlete’s ability to remain in certain heart rate training zones, and it may mean planning a washroom stop before, or during, training. Too much can also cause insomnia, headaches, anxiety and irritability. Drinking more than six cups daily might cause “caffeinism,” with symptoms such as anxiety or agitation.

Caffeine acts as a diuretic, meaning that it causes your kidneys to flush extra sodium and water from the body through urine, and many are wary of possible dehydration issues it can cause, but this is a topic of some debate.

Much of the research agrees that a safe level of caffeine consumption is approximately 400 mg per day, or about four standard cups of coffee. Every caffeinated drink, gel and food have different amounts of caffeine, so check the label to see how much it contains. Other factors like your age, body mass and overall health can determine your tolerance to caffeine, too.

Those people who drink a lot of caffeinated coffee every day may need to drink more coffee to get the same effects. They may also become “dependent” on coffee to the point that they develop withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly stop drinking it, and four standard-sized cups may have little effect.

Non-coffee drinkers can ingest caffeine in a variety of ways, including tea, caffeinated sports nutrition products, soft drinks and caffeine pills. Be cautious when trying new forms of stimulants, as it can be easy to overdo it.

Regarding training sessions and races, the consensus is to ingest caffeine about 60 minutes prior to an event. For longer sessions and events, many athletes will benefit from consuming additional caffeine during the workout from drinks, gels or energy chews. This will help sustain the caffeine levels in the bloodstream in the later parts of the race.

Some data suggests that those planning on using caffeine to improve race-day performance should abstain from it for seven days before your event. This may be a daunting prospect for many triathletes, although it may be worth testing in training.

Of course, never do anything for the first time in a race. Make sure as part of your triathlon training you test and measure how much caffeine you use and what works best for you.

If you are a non-coffee drinker, no sweat. If you are intrigued, perhaps experiment in a long session with a bar or gel containing caffeine and see if you notice a measurable pick up or a feeling of reduction in perceived exertion.

If you are a regular coffee drinker, all the data points to the same conclusion that moderate intake is fine. For many, myself included, the feel-good factor of coffee is perhaps the overarching reason we enjoy it. Benefits aside, it helps me embrace a new day with vigour, and on occasion, later in the day, gives me time to pause, relax, and then infuse me with a gentle boost.