Thursday, January 8, 2009

Coffee before you run

So this evening I had a night of hill training with my running group...prior to the group hitting the pavement we had a guest speaker. This guest speaker had all sorts of degrees obtained, awards won, and even sounded as if he was a serious athlete...anywho he was speaking to us about eating right for training. I always believe all in moderation, and just work out harder if you want to eat more. However, alot of what he shared with us this evening was helpful....most I have heard before but it was nice to know the same rules apply. What stuck with me the most and I sort of perked up was when he started talking about the benefits of caffeine before training. I love a good cup of tea, tazo chai's to be exact, however I have never enjoyed coffee, I actually hate it!! I have also never really drank caffeine before a work out...but throughout my years of early mornings and yawns throughout the day I have always been envious of the cup of joe lovers out there. I would love to drink something that would make me alert and ready for anything! Ok so I am a bit off topic...so the guest speaker was saying that if you have a cup of coffee/caffeine 1/2 hour before you work out or go for a long run ,your body will burn your adipose fat (the fat that you don't want on your body) at a quicker rate (you must work out longer than 30 minutes for results) than if you didn't drink any caffeine. If you don't drink caffeine your body is burning off your glucose first, then something else, and then finally the fat you have stored. I was like...pardon me? Sooo over the next few weeks I am going to try and give it a-go and hopefully learn to enjoy coffee. He also mentioned that some people may have sensitive GI systems so this may not work and could get interesting! ha!
Ps. I know there are many myths and facts about the benefits of drinking coffee so I have included a link for anyone to read up on it: I just thought it was an interesting piece of advice.
Link: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/the-benefits-of-coffee
Pps. Steph and I have officially signed up for Chilly, ATB and Miss. Marathon....no turning back! Bring on the coffee ;)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hmmmmmm.....this sounds familiar.....didn't I tell you this about 12 year ago??!?!xoxxx