Do You Use Energy Drinks Before Meets?

[ClintonMagus]

Just curious - do any of you drink an energy drink before training or competing?

[IAmTheWalrus]

yup

[crayford]

nope

just honey, bananas, water and gatorade

[rainbowgirl28]

Energy drinks are banned from the HS I coach at. Our kids would be in trouble if they were caught having one at a track meet.

[tmcalan]

i use one of the 5 hour energy things, not at every meet but i think its more of a confidence booster than anything

[ClintonMagus]

So, what foods/non-energy drinks do you use before meets to provide the biggest energy boost without excessive sugar and caffeine?

[EIUvltr]

caffeine pills ftw

[rainbowgirl28]

So, what foods/non-energy drinks do you use before meets to provide the biggest energy boost without excessive sugar and caffeine?

I really liked Chocolate Peanut Butter Zone Perfect bars, they had the right balance that worked for me. I never did caffeine or energy drinks. Most of that is just psychological. If you're eating a good balanced diet, and eating enough, you should have ample energy to get through a pole vault competition.

[crayford]

So, what foods/non-energy drinks do you use before meets to provide the biggest energy boost without excessive sugar and caffeine?

Starches for dinner (pasta parties FTW!!) the night before, breakfast day of (low-sugar cereal), and lunch day of (with a bit of lean proteins), and, as I said before, bananas (30 mins or more before vaulting), honey (10 mins before vaulting), Gatorade (G2 "Perform" for anytime closer than 1 hour before vaulting), and water to even out the density of sugars in my blood/muscles.

I've found the bananas are the most important item, though. They have both natural sugars and electrolytes while providing my body with enough potassium for quick muscle function. I can go without the honey and Gatorade, BUT GIVE ME MY BANANAS!

[vault3rb0y]

If you drink energy drinks before a meet, i would suggest having very little and only right before beginning to vault. Caffiene dehydrates you, and if you drink an energy drink (sometimes with 3x as much as a cup of coffee) a couple hours before you vault, you will have a hard time fighting the diuretic effects with water. People like to say "if you drink a coffee, just drink two waters and it evens it out". Not so fast. Once you have caffiene, the caffiene slowly starts draining whatever fluid is already inside your cells into your bloodstream. Drinking waters after drinking coffee will increase the fluid levels in your bloodstream, but not in the cells of your muscles themselves so much.

So if you plan on drinking caffienated drinks before competition, make sure to start hydrating the night before, and keep a constant, slow flow of liquids in your system. Keep in mind that while your kidneys filter out water quite quickly, it takes a while for your cells to actually absorb the water you are drinking the night before. So slowly drinking 2 bottles of water will be more effective than chugging them. And i would NOT suggest any caffienated beverages on hot days that you plan on sweating a lot.

Also, different people are affected by caffiene more than others, but the diuretic effects will stay the same. So basically, if your tolerance is not very high, having 1 cup of coffee will give you just as much energy as 3 cups of coffee, while the only difference being the 3 cups makes you pee a lot more.

Basically, be careful and smart with caffiene. The only way I would suggest using it would be on a cool-weathered/indoor meet day, 5 min before warm-ups (after your initial warm up), in a low dosage (90-150mg is average for 1 cup of coffee), and only if you have tested the effects during a practice at some point. Remember that there is a point of diminished returns with caffiene, meaning that above 1-2 cups of coffee the negative effects cancel out the positive.

[vault3rb0y]

I've found the bananas are the most important item, though. They have both natural sugars and electrolytes while providing my body with enough potassium for quick muscle function. I can go without the honey and Gatorade, BUT GIVE ME MY BANANAS!

Wheres the "like" button?

Also worth noting on the quick muscle function, that if you DO plan on sweating a lot, make sure you keep your sodium and potassium levels rather high the night before and in the morning of competition. Sodium is easy to get, but potassium can be tougher. Bananas are the best!

[11kalnmitc]

i like to have a fruit yogurt in the morning with either a piece of fruit or a cereal bar (nature valley) i try to eat a big lunch to hold me over and have a small snack on the way to the meet. we don't usually vault till 6:30 -7:00 pm because of how many lower height vaulters we have, so me and my friend have to keep energized for a little while longer
never tried energy drinks though