LONGBOTTOM: Not Just for Post-Ride Fueling Anymore!
Want to ride as hard, but suffer less? Then quaff a double/triple espresso an hour before you ride.
According to research recently published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, caffeine makes exercise less painful. Even better news for female Velo-ites is that le jolt-a-caf seems to more effective in women than in men.
THE SET-UP: 11 college-age women were put on cycling ergometers (LifeCycles) 3 times with 1-2 weeks between sessions. Each time they pedaled at a rigorous effort (about 65% of VO2 max) for 30 minutes, and each time 1 hour after ingesting a not-identified-to-them "magic potion"
THE DOSE: The first hit was a "moderate dose of caffeine", defined as 5mg per kilogram of body weight; the second was a "high dose of caffeine" (10mg per kg of body weight), and the third a placebo.
SO, JUST HOW MUCH CAFFEINE IS THAT: Well, figure a cup (8 oz) of brewed coffee contains between 60 and 100m of caffeine, a potent espresso in the neighborhood of 150-250mg. Now, we all know that a kilogram is 2.2 pounds. Soooooooooo, a 120-pound woman (there are some in the club somewhere. Right?) would weigh about 54 kg, hence a moderate caffeine dose would be (based on 5 mg per kg of body weight) about 270g, pretty serious stuff. Double that (540g) for a high dose.
YOUR BASIC MATH: The formula then is to divide your weight by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms, then multiply that number by either 5 or 10 to determine what is a moderate/heavy hit for you.
WHAT YOUR JOLT GETS YOU: The woman pedalers's perception of leg discomfort/pain was recorded every 5 minutes during exercise, along with power output and heart rate (to make sure they weren't cheating). "We said 65% of VO2 max, dammit, so PEDAL!". Leg pain was rated on a scale of 1-10 with 0 being no pain at all, and 10 being root-canal-in-the-legs excruciating. The average pain intensity scores for the 3 sessions were:
1.3 for the 5mg hit
1.6 for the 10mg dose
2.9 for the placebo
The difference between the effects of caffeine and placebo on pain perception was "significant and large", according to the researchers, who also added that "despite the different pain scores, there was no statistical difference between the effects of the two doses of caffeine": that is, the higher doses didn't really deliver a bigger bang for the buck in terms of pain relief.
So, probably more prudent to go for the 5mg dosage, whatever that is for you. If you're Big Johnny O, that's like a quart of high-octane espresso.
GENDER BIAS: Previous research has shown that caffeine has similar effects on men. They're just not as good, only about half the benefit women get. How come? "Reasons for this large sex difference is unclear," the researchers say. Okay, whatever. But it's still not fair.