Caffeine Makes the Runner Go Faster?

You get up early for the race. Your morning ritual includes a couple cups of coffee. The coffee wakes you up and gets you out the door, but do you ever wonder if those cups of coffee actually improve performance? A recent review of high-quality studies says yes.

The study:

The study was a review of several other studies. This usually leads to more reliable results since reviews consider more athletes than a single study. This review also weeded out less reliable studies from the analysis. This weeding-out also tends to produce a more reliable result. Only time-trial studies were considered-since most endurance races are effectively time-trials.

Ganio, MS, Klau, JF, Casa, DJ, Armstrong, LE, and Maresh, CM.
Effect of caffeine on sport-specific endurance performance:
a systematic review. J Strength Cond Res 23(1): 315–324,
2009

Bottom Line: The review found endurance athletes showed a 2.3% improvement when caffeine was ingested before the race. Interestingly, that figure jumped to 4.3% when caffeine was ingested before and during the race. The results were highly variable by individual, however.

Performance Points: 4% shaved off a 40 minute race is over 1.5 minutes. In a sixty minute race, that is nearly 2.5 minutes. Caffeine certainly has potential to make a big performance impact. Some will see worse results-some will see better.

Special Issues:

· NCAA and some other governing bodies have rules limiting caffeine ingestion. Athletes and coaches should be aware of these limits and act accordingly.
· The study recommended caffeine is most effective when athletes abstain at least seven days prior to the race.
· Athletes planning on using caffeine for performance purposes should experiment with usage during training since some individuals may respond negatively to caffeine.
· The researchers also noted many questions regarding the optimum use of caffeine as a performance enhancer remain unanswered.
· Most health professionals would discourage those not currently drinking caffeine from doing so purely for performance reasons. Caffeine may have various implications for health which each individual should evaluate and consider with medical input.