Just started my taper.  I’ve heard that I should consider quitting caffeine during these weeks. I am quite the addict, so that will be no easy feat. Wondering what the benefits/cost are of my continuing with my habit , vs. quitting.  Would love to get your insight.

- Anonymous, ME

As chronic caffeine users we feel your pain in asking this question.  The fact that caffeine is one of the few ergogenic aids that’s been proven to be beneficial for endurance athletes can make your question even more confusing.  If it’s good for an endurance athlete and legal, why stop using it, right?  Well, while we love the effect caffeine has and can’t seem to live without our daily fix, there’s no question that foregoing our favorite drug during a taper will do a number of beneficial things:

• You’ll sleep longer and A LOT more deeply – especially initially.  This will further enhance your taper and allow you to better absorb all the work you’ve done to this point.
• You won’t artificially boost your workouts during the taper period.  You’ll actually be doing these final workouts at the level of fatigue you’re really feeling.  If you were to have a cup of coffee before these sessions, you could jack yourself up and have a harder workout than you would without the cup of joe, diet coke, and/or cup of tea.  Remember, nothing you do during this final couple of weeks before an SUP race will make a positive impact on your fitness other than getting rested!

• You’ll heighten your sensitivity to caffeine.  If you’re a regular user, you’ve probably dulled your sensitivity and it might take two to 6-cups of coffee to get the same effect that one cup gave you when you first started down the road to being wired.  Now, if you get off the c-train for a couple of weeks, you’ll actually get some impact from that cup of coffee in the morning

One word of warning:  we know how tough it can be to get off of caffeine so don’t try to implement it on a Monday if you want to keep your job and relationships in tact.  Friday is a good time to start so that you have the weekend to get through the first two days of head aches and extreme lethargy/fatigue.  Once you’re through this initial period of withdrawal, you’ll gradually return to a “normal” state of energy levels.  By the time race morning rolls around, you might just find yourself jacked up enough by your own adrenal glands and can wait ‘til the latter stages of the event  before turning to your first pick-me-up.

Roch and Huddle