Fast, lean and full of caffeine
It all began when I was a youngster stealing sips from my mother’s cup. First it was a sip without her noticing and then before I knew it I was starting my day with a three-cup fix. Soon I was yearning for ice cream made with it.
For decades, caffeine and I have enjoyed a loving relationship, mostly through coffee.
When I need a little boost, there is my cup of Joe full of caffeine. On nights out, you can find me with a soda in hand. So it would make sense that this relationship would transcend my pre-work routine into my workouts.
Many runners swear by a cup of black coffee before a run because they say it gives them a boost and allows them to run faster for a longer amount of time. I can attest to this theory because, after a friend recommended it to me, I noticed that I was able to run without fatigue and now I’ve made it a regular part of my long runs.
According to research, drinking coffee or ingesting other forms of caffeine is said to improve a runner’s time by 10-15 percent. While this struck me as odd, I tested it during two Sunday afternoons. Sure enough, my times improved when I drank a cup of coffee 30 minutes prior to running, but it was closer to eight percent, not 10.
Caffeine is said to have three main advantages: it helps burn body fat as fuel instead of glycogen, it releases calcium stored in muscles which assists in an athlete’s endurance and speed, and it lowers the rate of perceived exertion, as stated in Bennett Alan Weinberg and Bonnie K. Bealer’s book, The World of Caffeine. On the down side, caffeine causes your stomach to produce more acid, thereby potentially leading to indigestion; it affects the quality and length of sleep time; and the biggest downfall, it makes urination occur more frequently.
While greats like ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes prefer coffee or caffeine before a workout, others remain skeptical. The International Olympic Committee, for example, listed it on its prohibited substances. (To be clear, the Olympic Committee banned excessive caffeine, with an equivalent of 500 milligrams of caffeine or more. In layman’s terms, that’s about five cups of coffee per day when “caffeine in moderation” is defined as three cups a day.)
Despite the cons, I write this as I enjoy my cup of Old City Coffee and prepare for another enjoyable run.
I’m more of a tennis player — but I do run a lot as part of my training, and have found that by drinking green tea, I get enormously energized for extended periods of time. It’s also a great antioxidant…
I need to have my “one-cup” of coffee before my morning runs also, I never knew it had this benefit … the only problem? You never seem to find good coffee on a race morning (in a strange town, usually in a hotel).. I like the marathons that have coffee available at the starting line ..