If you know me you know that I absolutely love coffee! It all started in college- those late nights of studying, juggling softball and working made the hot brew a necessity. What started as a great way to stay awake grew into a three venti-a-day addiction! I was obsessed and kept the habit until just recently...
Recently, my boyfriend made me stop drinking coffee. Why you ask? Well, caffeine can have many positive affects on athletic performance, but it can also negatively affect hydration levels. In my case, I was often having about 4 cups of coffee before breakfast and it usually made up most of my liquid consumption for the day, which most likely dehydrated me to the point that any benefits of the caffeine were outweighed by the massive amounts I was drinking. You see, hydration is key for any athlete. Power output drastically decreases with dehydration (you can google countless studies that give exact numbers). With the amount of caffeine I was consuming in the coffee, it was likely decreasing my power output and therefore negatively affecting my performance. Of course the easy decision appears to be to decrease my coffee consumption, but as a self-proclaimed coffee addict, it's not so easy. Knowing this, my boyfriend told me no more coffee, and I've been off coffee- cold turkey- for over a month now.
So what I have I noticed over the month? I am definitely more hydrated and my power output has increased, but it can't all be directly correlated to cutting out coffee. I have been working hard on the new programs and getting everything in order to train hard, so there's multiple factors to consider as far as power output is concerned. I do miss coffee- I love the smell of it, the taste of it, the feeling of a nice cup first thing in the morning. As an elite athlete though, there's things you must sacrifice in order to get where you want to go, and until I can limit myself to one cup a day and maintain my hydration level, I guess the coffee is another sacrifice in the name of bobsled.
One day, I'll have my coffee and drink it too...
Recently, my boyfriend made me stop drinking coffee. Why you ask? Well, caffeine can have many positive affects on athletic performance, but it can also negatively affect hydration levels. In my case, I was often having about 4 cups of coffee before breakfast and it usually made up most of my liquid consumption for the day, which most likely dehydrated me to the point that any benefits of the caffeine were outweighed by the massive amounts I was drinking. You see, hydration is key for any athlete. Power output drastically decreases with dehydration (you can google countless studies that give exact numbers). With the amount of caffeine I was consuming in the coffee, it was likely decreasing my power output and therefore negatively affecting my performance. Of course the easy decision appears to be to decrease my coffee consumption, but as a self-proclaimed coffee addict, it's not so easy. Knowing this, my boyfriend told me no more coffee, and I've been off coffee- cold turkey- for over a month now.
So what I have I noticed over the month? I am definitely more hydrated and my power output has increased, but it can't all be directly correlated to cutting out coffee. I have been working hard on the new programs and getting everything in order to train hard, so there's multiple factors to consider as far as power output is concerned. I do miss coffee- I love the smell of it, the taste of it, the feeling of a nice cup first thing in the morning. As an elite athlete though, there's things you must sacrifice in order to get where you want to go, and until I can limit myself to one cup a day and maintain my hydration level, I guess the coffee is another sacrifice in the name of bobsled.
One day, I'll have my coffee and drink it too...
E - Have you considered decaf? I know it may have 1-2% the caffeine of regular coffee, but, at least you can enjoy the coffee flavor. :)
ReplyDeleteElana,
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I are an interracial couple who have been married for 15 years. We recently started a website called Interrace Today, to celebrate ethnic diversity and be an online journal of interracial and multicultural news.
We would like to ask you if you would consider being interviewed by e-mail for our website. Can you please let us know?
Our website is:
http://www.InterraceToday.com
E-mail is:
interracetoday (at symbol) gmail.com