Caffeine tablets - stomach cramp?

Herbsman

I normally have strong coffee before a race but it tastes rubbish out of a flask. Are caffeine tablets likely to cause stomach cramp? I have had them before with no problems but today I took some 10 mins before the start and not long after I got really bad stomach cramp. Couldn't bear to carry on racing after an hour. Probably would have been dropped anyway but still, annoying. Is it simply a case of drinking plenty of water with them (I only had a mouthful), or is there a certain amount of time that they should be taken before the start of the race (i.e. is 10 mins too close to the start)?

amaferanga

Did you pop the pills on an empty stomach? Did you drink plenty of water?

Muffintop

amaferanga wrote:

Did you pop the pills on an empty stomach? Did you drink plenty of water?

+1. I get cramps on caffine gel packs alone, I usually find eating a couple of baby boiled potatoes help.

Mx

ut_och_cykla

Caffine can cause all kinds of gut problems. I took three (300mg total) during a 260 km sportive and suffered no ill effects - until the next day ... urk ! But i don't tolerate normal filter coffee very well either and caffine tabs are definitley better than strong swedish coffee....

Herbsman

amaferanga wrote:

Did you pop the pills on an empty stomach? Did you drink plenty of water?

No, had my usual pre race breakfast 3h before race (2 scrambled egg on toast as usual) plus the usual pre race energy bar (half 90 mins before race and half 30mins before, just to stop me getting hungry). As per my post I only had a mouthful of water, enough to wash the three 50mg pills down. So thought it might be to do with not drinking enough water.

I had stomach cramp the next day as well during a 2h z3 ride and today during a 2h z2 ride. No caffeine pills this time. Driving me nuts!

alihisgreat

You can get energy drinks and gels with caffeine in - that'd be the route I'd go down.

Cookie91

Survive without caffeine? Perhaps your body is rather sensitive to it.
Mind me asking why are you taking caffeine supplements before a race, i assume that your not planning on falling asleep?

amaferanga

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

You can get energy drinks and gels with caffeine in - that'd be the route I'd go down.

Usually around 50mg per gel so if you're a regular coffee drinker you're unlikely to notice (>100mg in espresso and 100mg in one Pro Plus pill). It's just a means for the energy gel companies to relieve you of even more of your cash.

alihisgreat

amaferanga wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

You can get energy drinks and gels with caffeine in - that'd be the route I'd go down.

Usually around 50mg per gel so if you're a regular coffee drinker you're unlikely to notice (>100mg in espresso and 100mg in one Pro Plus pill). It's just a means for the energy gel companies to relieve you of even more of your cash.

Fair point - I'm not a massive coffee drinker and tend to save it for 'special' occasions when I need to get a proper caffeine buzz going.

Herbsman

Cookie91 wrote:

Survive without caffeine? Perhaps your body is rather sensitive to it.
Mind me asking why are you taking caffeine supplements before a race, i assume that your not planning on falling asleep?

Perhaps do some reading into the research on caffeine and endurance exercise...

trickydisco

I've experimented a bit with caffeine pills. I've found that for long endurance events (where you're mostly in zone 2) e.g kielder 100 it worked wonders but for short stuff, road races, crits, cyclocross it had a negative effect. My heart rate was always thru the roof and it didn't make me race well.

pianoman

You say it's more useful on long, slower rides? I've always found the reverse to be true - unless you're pushing to the max then an advanced drink with caffeine/guarana etc really isn't worth it. In fact, during a slow Coast to Coast ride a couple years ago I found myself wishing I had only water in one bottle as the sticky stuff and caffeine built up a bit too much and I think others found the same - I've never seen so many people stoppingfor a comfort break on any ride.

That's why I'm going to try the Torq range - so I can keep the drink nice and simple for general riding and just use their speciality products like the ribose for when I really need it like on race days. It really is possible for a drink to be that bit too good in certain situations :shock:

trickydisco

PianoMan wrote:

You say it's more useful on long, slower rides? I've always found the reverse to be true - unless you're pushing to the max then an advanced drink with caffeine/guarana etc really isn't worth it.

Well caffeine helps metabolise fat for energy. it also reduces the level of perceived exertion. I found on a cross race where you are 90 - 95% heart rate for the race it didn't help having my heart rate elevated with caffeine

ut_och_cykla

That's been my experience too - long slower rides (4-12 hours!)really benefit from caffiene intake after two or so hours. Fatty acids in the blood increase and become a good source of slower energy and my brain wakes up a bit too. Wouldn't bother if I was only riding for an hour or two though.

Cookie91

Herbsman wrote:

Cookie91 wrote:

Survive without caffeine? Perhaps your body is rather sensitive to it.
Mind me asking why are you taking caffeine supplements before a race, i assume that your not planning on falling asleep?

Perhaps do some reading into the research on caffeine and endurance exercise...

Im well aware of the effects, but is this necessary at our level of competition?
I mean surely a 10% increase in time to exhaustion is not worth it if you don't finish a race due to stomach problems? Seems you would of got a better result from not having caffeine in your last race.

Herbsman

Cookie91 wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

Cookie91 wrote:

Survive without caffeine? Perhaps your body is rather sensitive to it.
Mind me asking why are you taking caffeine supplements before a race, i assume that your not planning on falling asleep?

Perhaps do some reading into the research on caffeine and endurance exercise...

Im well aware of the effects, but is this necessary at our level of competition?
I mean surely a 10% increase in time to exhaustion is not worth it if you don't finish a race due to stomach problems? Seems you would have got a better result from not having caffeine in your last race.

Well, I don't see why I should have to justify a perfectly legal drug addiction to anyone, but:

- I drink coffee regularly. Not a lot of it, but 2-3 times a day. So if I didn't have some form of caffeine intake before a race, I'd probably suffer caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Caffeine withdrawal headache isn't nice, it hurts. Racing hurts enough, I don't need a headache to add to it.

- As I already mentioned, I've taken them before races (and mixed into a drink during races) in the past without any problems. I feel more mentally positive and 'switched on' during a hard ride when when I have had a couple of espressos, and hard efforts feel easier, so why should I deny myself the benefits?

- I don't know if it was the caffeine pills that caused the stomach cramp. It could have been the 1/2 energy bar eaten within 30 mins of the start (I normally have one an hour before but forgot).

As I already mentioned, I was on the verge of getting dropped anyway, but even if that wasn't the case it seems a bit silly to point out that I might have had a better result had I not taken the caffeine pills... do you not think that might have already crossed my mind? You have the same attitude as my doctor, who, rather than helping me ride my bike without getting excruciating back pain, told me to quit cycling.

Do you quit doing something if it goes wrong on one occasion? No, you try and find out why it went wrong and then if you find out, you use the information to try to stop it happening again in the future, hence me starting this thread...

Cookie91

Sorry I didn't mean to cause offence. Reading that back, I definately could of worded that better, and kept my own sarcasm to myself.

You're right you do not have to justify caffeine consumption, especially since cycling shares such cultures with coffee. Not to mention I thouroughly enjoy it myself.

Perhaps some geniune advice, I personally don't think that such marginal gains are worth the cramps though, and in future i would stay clear of the concentrated tablets myself or as others have said consume it with other stuff. Although If you are to try something new it's definately worth using it on a training rides first.

Sorry to be a pain in the backside.

Setarkos

After 3 hours depending on what you've eaten your stomach might be pretty empty already. Which can be good for a race - because your stomach takes up energy if it's working but also makes it much more sensitive.

Edit: Just read what you had for breakfast. The eggs should actually still be in there - but generally not really a breakfast that I'd recommend on race day unless you on a low-carb diet.
I normally have 1-2 bowls of muesli/porridge and 2 toasts with honey not more than 2 hours before the start.
Eggs are very healthy in general and a great breakfast when you do low-intensity endurance rides.

Herbsman

Cookie91 wrote:

Sorry I didn't mean to cause offence. Reading that back, I definitely could have worded that better, and kept my own sarcasm to myself.

You're right you do not have to justify caffeine consumption, especially since cycling shares such cultures with coffee. Not to mention I thouroughly enjoy it myself.

Perhaps some geniune advice, I personally don't think that such marginal gains are worth the cramps though, and in future i would stay clear of the concentrated tablets myself or as others have said consume it with other stuff. Although If you are to try something new it's definitely worth using it on a training rides first.

Sorry to be a pain in the backside.

No offence taken, honestly, no problem!

danlikesbikes

Herbsman wrote:

I normally have strong coffee before a race but it tastes rubbish out of a flask. Are caffeine tablets likely to cause stomach cramp? I have had them before with no problems but today I took some 10 mins before the start and not long after I got really bad stomach cramp. Couldn't bear to carry on racing after an hour. Probably would have been dropped anyway but still, annoying. Is it simply a case of drinking plenty of water with them (I only had a mouthful), or is there a certain amount of time that they should be taken before the start of the race (i.e. is 10 mins too close to the start)?

Personally don't like taking the tablets, but I have a small flask like this - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermos-Thermoc ... mall+flask and can get a double espresso & warm milk in and tastes pretty good coming out.

Used mine a few times last year when going away racing a few hours away where I wanted a caffeine hit and a lot cheaper than gels.

Herbsman

Right, this time, I necked the drugs while I was getting changed, and had some dissolved in my 2nd bottle too. No stomach cramp, seemed to do the trick.

Doing drugs for bottom-end-of-the-spectrum competition is sooooo cool. 8) Not.

However it's not exactly doping in the sense of trying to gain an advantage, just a case of bringing me up to my 'normal' caffeine levels.