Caffeine on Race day?

You? No way.

 

This.

Many pre-workout/energy supplements include theanine for that reason.

 

I recently tried a new energy drink. Pure caffeine mixed with Viagra.

It's called PUSSY DESTROYER.

 

Let us know how that works out.

Did you get the van starter fixed Kris ?

 

Nope. Haven't found anybody down here willing to touch it. I snug the starter bolts up before each start, and pray.

 

Excellent input.

I may not be hydrating correctly. Last Sunday I rode the Motard and had a massive headache by 1:00. I think it was dehydration and deferring from my normal caffeine intake.

Physically I am about 10% away from the best shape of my life. I should peak just before Roebling in May. I am going to break every "personal best" I have ever done.

 

This.

I felt this way when I was racing like 10 classes a day. I loved the 90-100 degree days because I know I'm conditioned to handle it. When I saw other people suffering it just made me push harder because it doesn't affect me at all.

 

If you have "normal" caffeine intake, I'd definitely continue the same intake on race day. Caffeine is a dependency-forming substance and its withdrawal symptoms are no joke. Obv they're nothing like opiate or alcohol withdrawals; they're not going to kill you.. but my dad would get massive migraines if he didn't have his coffee by 8 or 9 am.

 

^^This - Your body is very adaptable, you just have to condition for what you want it to do.

 

It is funny how many people swear they are not addicted to caffeine, because they don't drink coffee and stuff, but they really are. They just don't know it.

In one of my nutrition classes in college the professor ran an experiment to prove it. He said everyone one of us was addicted to caffeine, we just didn't know it. And to prove it he put $20 in an envelope and said "if you will give me an honest run, no cheating, and go a full week without anything on this list, and then can come back and say you have slept fine, have no headaches, haven't been irritable, or had any other symptoms, you can have the $20".

The list was like....no soft drinks, tea, coffee, chocolate candy, candy bars or ice cream, breakfast cereals or granola bars with chocolate or chocolate chips, weight loss pills, energy drinks, pain relievers that have it like Excedrin, no cocoa/hot chocolate, coffee creamer (actually has caffeine in it also), brownies, chocolate syrup, chocolate yogurt or anything else that might be made with chocolate for a full week.

I figured I would be fine because I didn't drink coffee and hardly drank tea. I made it like 2 days and was struggling.

 

Correlation does not imply causation....

 

lol... that list in and off itself is not a "picture" of healthly habits. Most are chock full of sugar...
Excedrin as a caffeine delivery device is pretty good. Something like 90mg in a tablet same with the generic version at 1/3 the price.

 

I know. He was just making a point that most of the population is addicted to caffeine, they just don't know it. So he put that list out saying people cant eat any of that stuff if they want to stay true to the challenge.

Many people think "im not addicted to caffeine, I don't even drink coffee"...but yet they eat Snickers bars, drink cokes, etc.

 

Really? Were the words too big?

The little experiment your professor did was awful at best. Rattling off a small list of symptoms and saying "hey if any of these happens to you it means you're addicted to caffeine" is useless. Just because you experienced a symptom after discontinuing caffeine use (correlation) doesn't mean that one caused the other (causation).

What if in that same week someone was experiencing sleeplessness due to stress from their job/school/spouse? What if in the same week someone experienced a headache due to sickness or allergies acting up? What if they're irritable because they're facing potential layoffs at work?

What I'm getting at is that your professor ran an extremely shitty so-called "experiment"

 

But but.. All the pros drink monster and Red Bull and they're the fastest! So it MUST be helpful

 

I know. He was mostly just trying to make a point. He wasn't a damn theoretical scientist going after a Nobel prize or some shit.

He was mostly just trying to illustrate that almost everyone gets caffeine every day and most are addicted to it, they just don't know it.

 

Technically, its an observational study, not a manipulative experiment, and it appears it had no controls. Finally, neither experiments or studies ever "prove" anything.
Proof is for mathematics and courtrooms. Science whittles away at uncertainty via inference and the failure to disprove. I've pointed out this minor, albeit signficant issue over and over again, and it just seems too hard for people to get.

Carry on!

 

I'm not 100% up on the science of it, but sane amounts of caffeine aren't going to dehydrate you if you're still drinking water and/or gatorade.

Caffeine causes you to pee more often. That is how it 'dehydrates you.' Per the internet, you won't see truly negative effects until you're ingesting 4-5 cups of coffee. Even that, offset by additional water, won't cause an issue.

pre-hydrating DAYS in advance is silly. You're not going to retain that water in your system for any longer than it takes your body to process it and piss it out - so maybe 8-12 hours, if you don't drink a ton. Think about how long you can sleep without having to get up...

IF you're going to be extremely efficient about hydrating, you want to set an alarm for 2-3 hours before you actually intend to wake up. Take a leak, then down 16-20 oz. of water. You'll wake up with a good hydration level, and not be playing catch-up after your morning cup(s) of coffee.


What WOULD be interesting is to see if supplements like Creatine (which holds more water in your muscles) help you to stay hydrated longer.