Will caffeine in marathons kill you?

4 watchers

southcoastclaret Dec 2013 6:02am, 16 Dec 2013 210 posts	0 southcoastclaret Been doing an experiment with the kids at school on the effect of one 200ml (ish) drink of cola on resting pulse. Get pretty consistent results every time - on some it has very little effect, but quite a chunk (I would guess about 30-40%) it raises resting heart rate by between 10 to 15 beats per minute. Not saying this is necessarily going to be an issue when running (and I know there are a whole lot of limitations in our experimental method), but it is interesting, and quite a surprisingly large effect for such a small amount of caffeine (about 20-25mg). When I trialled it on myself with a cup of coffee (instant) and slice of chocolate cake my resting heart rate went from 54 to 69 bpm.
jono Dec 2013 6:57am, 16 Dec 2013 14,074 posts	0 jono in a totaly unscientific example a coffee before the Conwy Half has resulted in positive effects - I only have one before the half as I'm in Conwy hours before the start and have nothing to do - well other than sit on the quay side wall, looking at the water.
FenlandRunner Dec 2013 8:31am, 16 Dec 2013 2 posts	0 FenlandRunner Thanks Dvorak, I think the caffeine dose I take is 90mg? Also only drink decaf tea (by the pint) and rarely drink coffee.
Dvorak Dec 2013 11:02am, 16 Dec 2013 7,920 posts	0 Dvorak Though I would bump this for daytime attention - as I have my first coffee of the day.
Son of a Pronator Man Dec 2013 11:04am, 16 Dec 2013 7,639 posts	0 Son of a Pronator Man I think if you are run over by a truck carrying Nescafe, too much caffine is bad for you
Curly45 Dec 2013 11:08am, 16 Dec 2013 2,237 posts	0 Curly45 I'm one ahead if you Dvorak I suspect it is like many things, excess consumption is more risky. However, a person becomes used to the effects of caffeine so I would imagine the needed dose to cause an issue to be highly variable. Coffee is an excellent muscle relaxant so very useful for runners. I never use it in races though.
plodding hippo Dec 2013 11:09am, 16 Dec 2013 50,026 posts	0 plodding hippo 500ml coca cola is my marathon fuel and has been for about 200 of them I think I am still alive;)
Puddington Dec 2013 11:11am, 16 Dec 2013 49,490 posts	0 Puddington Same as Johnny. A caffeine gel at mile 20 ish. I'm several times dead now.
Puddington Dec 2013 11:12am, 16 Dec 2013 49,491 posts	0 Puddington I also drink about 2 litres of Diet Coke after a long run. Soooooo bored of dying.
DeeGee Dec 2013 12:27pm, 16 Dec 2013 15,089 posts	0 DeeGee I took tea and cola from every water station that offered it in Frankfurt. Died only a few times.