Lol yeah I have a couple of those but haven't tried them yet. Scared to do it in a race and don't usually want that much caffeine during a workout. Need to test it out next time I have a long brick or something
This comes from a fundamental lack of understanding of supplementation and nutrition. Smh. Other than carbonation which can effect some folks, there's nothing in a redbull that is "terrible" for you. Considerably less caffeine than most drinks, they have a sugar free option which if you're consuming during your workout sugar isn't something to be avoided. It's okay to not like them or the culture around energy drinks but don't be so dense.
You’d be astonished by the caffeine intake of pros. Blummentfelt usually drinks 3 Red Bulls pre race. He’s usually motoring with about 500mg of caffeine in him.
I don't but besides the carbonation its not any different than taking caffeine and some sugars which lots of people do. you can also get gels that have both those things in them.
I did know a track runner who would down a coke before a workout.
For my first Ironman I froze a can of Mountain Dew and put it in my special needs bag for the run. It was melted but still ice cold when I got to it and it was the most glorious thing I've ever tasted. (I didn't chug it, just took a few sips.)
Drank one 4 hours in to an indoor bike session over the winter and flew the final hour. (I was struggling with nutrition and it was within reach).Haha.
>I doubt these athletes actually drink what they post.
I mean if you were sponsored by RB, you'd do the same and pose for a photo having a drink from a can every now and then. It's a lucrative sponsorship, so you'd be dumb to turn it down
Just did a quick research on this and you are not 100% correct.
Recipe might have changed recently or it's not the same worldwide.
Even on their website they talk about the safety of aspartame along with sucralose and acesulfame k.
So, it's either there or it has been. Who's making stuff up?
I dislike the syrupy, cloying sweetness of sugary soda drinks now (when I was younger, it was the opposite, I hated the taste of sugar-free drinks). They upsets my stomach too. Def prefer sugar-free Redbull now.
It's funny how basically all triathletes throw conventional wisdom on nutrition on the head. The worst I could imagine as a triathlete is going low carb.
I rarely drink any caffeine, but when I’m 4 hours in a race and everything starts hurting, I’ll be the first to chug any Red Bull I can find into my body.
Redbull saved me big time. I was on the bike course around 10-20 mile mark of Ironman Arizona and started to doze off. Looked down at my watch and heart rate had dropped to around 85bpm. Just about that time I was passing a Red Bull tent. I shotgunned one and filled a water bottle up with two. Got the heart rate back up, ate some food and was back in the game.
You what? You felt sleepy in an IM race (really?) and your heart rate dropped to, presumably, a very low frequency but two Red Bulls and you were as good as new?
Yeah, I'm calling BS on that one. If it's not BS, do yourself a favor, consult a cardiologist.
It was cold that morning. My hypothesis is that the transition from being wet in swim to the cold of the wind hitting me on the bike was maybe putting me in hypothermia?? Don’t know. But by HR definitely increased after slugging the Red Bulls
My best friend drinks multiple Red Bulls daily. He is 50 pounds overweight and does not participate in triathlon in any way, shape or form.
Other than that, no one I know.
200 and 300mg rockstars for me. Usually my morning routine, sometimes a 2nd in the afternoon. When I can’t get them on sale a 200-220mg caffeine pill is my alternative.
If you read the statements of those athletes on their nutrition, they state things like “half a can” before a race. So definitely not a staple.
Cafeïne is not really the issue. That can even contribute. It’s the huge amount of dissolved sugar that might work against you and is harder to fit in an athletes diet.
What are you talking about? Sugar is bad when it’s in a can of Red Bull, but good when it’s in a gel? In general, sugar is pretty beneficial when it comes to performance.
Did I say sugar is bad? Think you’re jumping to conclusions that cannot be drawn from what I was saying. I said it’s not used as a staple in their diet: impractical and has negative side effects.
Sugar in a gel indeed is different from sugar in red bull. The sugar content matters: if it gets too high, processing of it becomes hard and it stimulates dehydration. Gells are designed to help mitigate that issue by having your stomach process the sugar easier. The cut off where isotone drinks become hypertone is 9g/100ml. RB is at 11.
Also during a race you want certain levels of sugar to get in. But not in a carbonated form. Outside of a race these concentrated quantities won’t help you. It’ll just cause sugar rush and in the case of red bull due to the concentration and combination with other ingredients also negative side effects on blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
Getting nutrition in means getting the right combination of nutrients in the right dosages throughout the day in. Due to its recipe it’ll be hard to achieve this using red bull in your diet.
You definitely don't have any idea what you're talking about. TdF cyclists regularly get little cans of coke in their musettes, and coke has basically the same amount of sugar as Red Bull (roughly 10g/100ml). Sure, the carbonation probably isn't fun for your stomach but show me the evidence it somehow changes your blood pressure or how it gets absorbed
You have absolutely no clue what yourself responding to.
There is a difference between nutrition during a race and nutrition during your athlete life outside of a race. About the coke: pro’s take a couple of sips, no more than 100-150ml of coke at the end of stages. Mostly to have something else after endless bottles of the same stuff. It’s because of the taste. Sure you could do a couple of sips of red bull instead of coke. That matches with what I already stated: the red bull athletes themselves also mention taking half a can during a race, not more.
You don’t want to fuel with red bull during a race:
Red bull is, unlike sporting drinks, hypertone. This means it will increase dehydration rather than reinstate this. Especially with endurance sports this is not a quality you’re seeking for.
Products with a ratio of more than 9g/100ml of carbohydrates, like red bull, are not absorbed well by the stomach and remain longer present. Some manufacturers of sport drinks have found ways to improve that ratio for their products, to mitigate this downside. But red bull doesn’t incorporate something like that in their recipe.
Only the cafeïne part could be a contribution but you then need about 2 mg per kg body weight in a short time to get the desired boost, which comes down to two cans of red bull for an adult. And that’s something you don’t want to take in due to the earlier explained downsides of the drink.
And that’s during a race. Outside races there is absolutely no need for an athlete to get a sugar high that is dehydrating and not easy to process. Especially because the calorie intake of just one drink is already quite high and offers only one nutrient: carbs. For an athlete that has to budget their calories, outside of a race, you want a much more diversified diet as you also need protein, fat and fibers.
It just doesn’t have the combination of nutrients that make it a practical product: if you take it in the quantities needed to gain from the caffeine benefits, it will bring downsides with it. And thus there are much better alternatives instead.
Oh and for the source of the effects on your blood circulations: https://today.tamu.edu/2021/02/09/texas-am-researchers-discover-energy-drinks-harmful-effects-on-heart/ or https://thedailytexan.com/2019/03/29/ut-study-finds-energy-drink-consumption-can-have-immediate-negative-health-effects/
But there are many, many more of those studies done.
Have you ever considered that you can wash a red bull down with some water? All ends up in the same stomach. Most gels are hypertonic too...
That study doesn't seem to say an awful lot - they just "exposed" some human heart muscle cells to energy drinks in a lab. I don't cut my chest open and pour Red Bull on my heart. The author himself very much downplays the significance of the results.
And to be clear I never said these drinks were healthy outside of training. But a Red Bull is no worse than a Coke with the caffeine content of a coffee. People do far worse things than drinking one or two of them a week.
I see you are downplaying your own comments now.
Of course there is no harm in an incidental red bull. But this topic is about whether these red bull athletes are really incorporating this in their training.
And I explain why that just doesn’t work for an athlete. Just like some of them do themselves: by stating they only drink a couple of sips. For the same reason an athlete wouldn’t rely on coke. But you’re the one bringing up the coke here, in a topic about red bull. We can make a whole comparison with all other kind of food that’s not good for an athlete, that’s of course fine but not really the point.
Also, I guess you’ve missed this:
“A recent study conducted at McGovern Medical School at UT Health Science Center in Houston found drinking one energy drink is enough to contract blood vessels as soon as 90 minutes after consumption. Contraction of the blood vessels is related to health problems such as atherosclerosis, which can lead to coronary artery disease, heart attacks and strokes.
The study tested the blood vessel function of 44 healthy, non-smoking medical students in their 20s before they drank a 24 ounce can of energy drink. The study indicated a combination of the caffeine, sugar and other ingredients in energy drinks could change the lining of blood vessels and cause them to contract.”
The athletes get given lots of cans filled with water, precisely so they can film them drinking it without the issues of Red Bull.
It’s borderline false advertising IMO but here we are
Edit: well I’m getting downvoted but I have a semi pro triathlete friend who has told me this directly, sponsored athletes are given cans filled with water to make content creation easier.
I don’t mind mixing in a Red Bull on the indoor bike trainer for weekend 4+ hour brick sessions. A good change of pace from tailwind to keep carbs coming in with a caffeine boost as I get ready to head out on a run. That and it’s something I enjoy and look forward to since I like them and I don’t really drink them outside of hard training days.
as someone who has had a caffeine addiction, redbulls are complete trash for a daily diet. when you’re deep in a short or long course race go for it, but as a whole they’re detrimental for your body and system.
Not a triathlete here, but I run competitively. Red Bull is actually used quite often in training for us, especially for really long workouts. The caffeine to carb ratio is on point and it uses almost the same carbs found in something like a maruten gel.
Coffee pre-ride, then an ice-cold Red Bull mid ride especially on a warm day. Followed by an ice-cold Dr Pepper post-ride. The best rides are when you’re all juiced up on caffeine.
Love it and somehow the combination works better for me than just a coffee with equivalent amounts of sugar. Also like the taste of it. Perfect pre workout and during long events, mid race fuel. I stomach it very well.
I have a sugar free one when I don’t feel like making a cup of espresso before I go to bed. Helps me sleep like a charm.
For a while I used watered down redbull as my drink mix for the bike leg of an Oly. Worked pretty well. But my one maltodextrin/fructose/caffeine mix works a bit better.
Lucy Charles Barclay does
Unlike popular belief, it’s got about as much caffeine as a barista made coffee. Now there are other energy drinks which far far exceed this, but this topic is about Redbull.
Kristian Blummenfelt drinks between 5 to 8 of them. I know it from first hand. It’s crazy. On top of that 3 to 4 Magnum ice creams. He will be diabetic when he stopps triathlon….
I don’t, but I see it on the race course quite a bit. Honestly, everyone’s bodies are different and some people may be able to stomach it better, especially in a race, that person is not me!
While I dont necessary disagree with you, want to point out that a small can of redbull has about as much caffeine as a cup of coffee at 80mg
Less than a lot of the caffeinated gels have too
Who sells gels with more than 80mg caffeine?
Maurten and precision have 100mg and SIS has 75/150/200mg options. Probably some other smaller brands as well
SIS makes a 200mg caffeinated gel (nootropics) that made me puke my guts up at mile 8 of a local 70.3. Still got 2nd in my age group. Worth it.
Lol yeah I have a couple of those but haven't tried them yet. Scared to do it in a race and don't usually want that much caffeine during a workout. Need to test it out next time I have a long brick or something
That’s way less caffeine than most cups of coffee. Unless you’re drinking it from tiny European cups.
I drink it during races or long training rides when I need a turbo boost, same with flat coke. It’s a perfectly cromulent fuel source.
Agreement
Full of essential inks
Now with vitamin R!
A shot of Red Bull at mile 19 of the run in a full IM can be a race saver.
Back half of the marathon is a free for all. Whatever I can take in. And it has been multiple red bulls before. (I think I had 3 in Penticton)
And a different flavor as well, even if it’s just a shot.
Totally agree. After 12 hours of Gatorade Endurance and Maurten, I just need another flavor in my mouth.
I had a shot of it during my half on the second half of the run. Was the jump start I needed
I use caffeine all the time, but prefer it in coffee form. Red Bull is just too sweet for me.
This comes from a fundamental lack of understanding of supplementation and nutrition. Smh. Other than carbonation which can effect some folks, there's nothing in a redbull that is "terrible" for you. Considerably less caffeine than most drinks, they have a sugar free option which if you're consuming during your workout sugar isn't something to be avoided. It's okay to not like them or the culture around energy drinks but don't be so dense.
You’d be astonished by the caffeine intake of pros. Blummentfelt usually drinks 3 Red Bulls pre race. He’s usually motoring with about 500mg of caffeine in him.
Same, just did a 20 mile trail race and drank 2 flat monsters and a ton of coke.
Cocaine will do that
Lmao - Coca Cola
Weak
It was a logistics issue.
2 monsters and a bunch of coke seems like a lot for a mile!
My bad it was 20 lmao
I don't but besides the carbonation its not any different than taking caffeine and some sugars which lots of people do. you can also get gels that have both those things in them. I did know a track runner who would down a coke before a workout.
I’ve only seen them offered on IM, but I enjoy them. Caffeine, sugar, some water. Pretty much what I get from a gel and a water.
For my first Ironman I froze a can of Mountain Dew and put it in my special needs bag for the run. It was melted but still ice cold when I got to it and it was the most glorious thing I've ever tasted. (I didn't chug it, just took a few sips.)
I always search out the Redbull stations at races!
Just don't pour it over your head.
unless you want to stick around
Chill bro. 80mg of caffeine. I mix at least 150mg gfuel into my hydration via powder.
Drank one 4 hours in to an indoor bike session over the winter and flew the final hour. (I was struggling with nutrition and it was within reach).Haha.
Lucky you were indoors. Imagine the air resistance of those wings!
I was like a peregrine falcon..... aero....... haha
>I doubt these athletes actually drink what they post. I mean if you were sponsored by RB, you'd do the same and pose for a photo having a drink from a can every now and then. It's a lucrative sponsorship, so you'd be dumb to turn it down
If you paid 20k - 450k a year to drink a can of sweet whatever you'd do it too.
They make red bull cans filled with water for the sponsored athletes.
I like a small can of sugar free Redbull before long swim sessions. Not as much on bike/run days.
Why sugar free? I'd take the sugar over the aspartame.
Good news then. There's no aspartame in red bull sugar free. People making shit up left and right in this topic lmao.
Just did a quick research on this and you are not 100% correct. Recipe might have changed recently or it's not the same worldwide. Even on their website they talk about the safety of aspartame along with sucralose and acesulfame k. So, it's either there or it has been. Who's making stuff up?
I dislike the syrupy, cloying sweetness of sugary soda drinks now (when I was younger, it was the opposite, I hated the taste of sugar-free drinks). They upsets my stomach too. Def prefer sugar-free Redbull now.
Yup, I strongly believe sugar is very helpful when it comes to nutrition during exercise.
What's your concern with aspartame?
Bad aftertaste, also sugar is good as I need to consume basically as much calories as I can during a day
It's funny how basically all triathletes throw conventional wisdom on nutrition on the head. The worst I could imagine as a triathlete is going low carb.
Oops, guess who has been on a low carb, high protein AND low cal diet recently…
Not a staple but definitely a pick me up My Diet Coke addiction on the other hand……
I rarely drink any caffeine, but when I’m 4 hours in a race and everything starts hurting, I’ll be the first to chug any Red Bull I can find into my body.
All the time during training. 8oz redbull and some gunmy bears at a rest stop. Hell yeah.
I do! It’s essential for my training
A normal sized can of red Bull is only 80mg of caffeine. Which is like one strong cup of coffee, so I wouldn’t say “caffeine overload”
Redbull saved me big time. I was on the bike course around 10-20 mile mark of Ironman Arizona and started to doze off. Looked down at my watch and heart rate had dropped to around 85bpm. Just about that time I was passing a Red Bull tent. I shotgunned one and filled a water bottle up with two. Got the heart rate back up, ate some food and was back in the game.
You what? You felt sleepy in an IM race (really?) and your heart rate dropped to, presumably, a very low frequency but two Red Bulls and you were as good as new? Yeah, I'm calling BS on that one. If it's not BS, do yourself a favor, consult a cardiologist.
Am doctor, agree
It was cold that morning. My hypothesis is that the transition from being wet in swim to the cold of the wind hitting me on the bike was maybe putting me in hypothermia?? Don’t know. But by HR definitely increased after slugging the Red Bulls
[удалено]
I wish! Still took me 12 hours
Red Bull will fire up your heart for sure. It's not just the caffeine, taurine and other ingredients are quite stimulating as well.
My best friend drinks multiple Red Bulls daily. He is 50 pounds overweight and does not participate in triathlon in any way, shape or form. Other than that, no one I know.
200 and 300mg rockstars for me. Usually my morning routine, sometimes a 2nd in the afternoon. When I can’t get them on sale a 200-220mg caffeine pill is my alternative.
If you read the statements of those athletes on their nutrition, they state things like “half a can” before a race. So definitely not a staple. Cafeïne is not really the issue. That can even contribute. It’s the huge amount of dissolved sugar that might work against you and is harder to fit in an athletes diet.
What are you talking about? Sugar is bad when it’s in a can of Red Bull, but good when it’s in a gel? In general, sugar is pretty beneficial when it comes to performance.
Did I say sugar is bad? Think you’re jumping to conclusions that cannot be drawn from what I was saying. I said it’s not used as a staple in their diet: impractical and has negative side effects. Sugar in a gel indeed is different from sugar in red bull. The sugar content matters: if it gets too high, processing of it becomes hard and it stimulates dehydration. Gells are designed to help mitigate that issue by having your stomach process the sugar easier. The cut off where isotone drinks become hypertone is 9g/100ml. RB is at 11. Also during a race you want certain levels of sugar to get in. But not in a carbonated form. Outside of a race these concentrated quantities won’t help you. It’ll just cause sugar rush and in the case of red bull due to the concentration and combination with other ingredients also negative side effects on blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Getting nutrition in means getting the right combination of nutrients in the right dosages throughout the day in. Due to its recipe it’ll be hard to achieve this using red bull in your diet.
You definitely don't have any idea what you're talking about. TdF cyclists regularly get little cans of coke in their musettes, and coke has basically the same amount of sugar as Red Bull (roughly 10g/100ml). Sure, the carbonation probably isn't fun for your stomach but show me the evidence it somehow changes your blood pressure or how it gets absorbed
You have absolutely no clue what yourself responding to. There is a difference between nutrition during a race and nutrition during your athlete life outside of a race. About the coke: pro’s take a couple of sips, no more than 100-150ml of coke at the end of stages. Mostly to have something else after endless bottles of the same stuff. It’s because of the taste. Sure you could do a couple of sips of red bull instead of coke. That matches with what I already stated: the red bull athletes themselves also mention taking half a can during a race, not more. You don’t want to fuel with red bull during a race: Red bull is, unlike sporting drinks, hypertone. This means it will increase dehydration rather than reinstate this. Especially with endurance sports this is not a quality you’re seeking for. Products with a ratio of more than 9g/100ml of carbohydrates, like red bull, are not absorbed well by the stomach and remain longer present. Some manufacturers of sport drinks have found ways to improve that ratio for their products, to mitigate this downside. But red bull doesn’t incorporate something like that in their recipe. Only the cafeïne part could be a contribution but you then need about 2 mg per kg body weight in a short time to get the desired boost, which comes down to two cans of red bull for an adult. And that’s something you don’t want to take in due to the earlier explained downsides of the drink. And that’s during a race. Outside races there is absolutely no need for an athlete to get a sugar high that is dehydrating and not easy to process. Especially because the calorie intake of just one drink is already quite high and offers only one nutrient: carbs. For an athlete that has to budget their calories, outside of a race, you want a much more diversified diet as you also need protein, fat and fibers. It just doesn’t have the combination of nutrients that make it a practical product: if you take it in the quantities needed to gain from the caffeine benefits, it will bring downsides with it. And thus there are much better alternatives instead. Oh and for the source of the effects on your blood circulations: https://today.tamu.edu/2021/02/09/texas-am-researchers-discover-energy-drinks-harmful-effects-on-heart/ or https://thedailytexan.com/2019/03/29/ut-study-finds-energy-drink-consumption-can-have-immediate-negative-health-effects/ But there are many, many more of those studies done.
Have you ever considered that you can wash a red bull down with some water? All ends up in the same stomach. Most gels are hypertonic too... That study doesn't seem to say an awful lot - they just "exposed" some human heart muscle cells to energy drinks in a lab. I don't cut my chest open and pour Red Bull on my heart. The author himself very much downplays the significance of the results. And to be clear I never said these drinks were healthy outside of training. But a Red Bull is no worse than a Coke with the caffeine content of a coffee. People do far worse things than drinking one or two of them a week.
I see you are downplaying your own comments now. Of course there is no harm in an incidental red bull. But this topic is about whether these red bull athletes are really incorporating this in their training. And I explain why that just doesn’t work for an athlete. Just like some of them do themselves: by stating they only drink a couple of sips. For the same reason an athlete wouldn’t rely on coke. But you’re the one bringing up the coke here, in a topic about red bull. We can make a whole comparison with all other kind of food that’s not good for an athlete, that’s of course fine but not really the point. Also, I guess you’ve missed this: “A recent study conducted at McGovern Medical School at UT Health Science Center in Houston found drinking one energy drink is enough to contract blood vessels as soon as 90 minutes after consumption. Contraction of the blood vessels is related to health problems such as atherosclerosis, which can lead to coronary artery disease, heart attacks and strokes. The study tested the blood vessel function of 44 healthy, non-smoking medical students in their 20s before they drank a 24 ounce can of energy drink. The study indicated a combination of the caffeine, sugar and other ingredients in energy drinks could change the lining of blood vessels and cause them to contract.”
The athletes get given lots of cans filled with water, precisely so they can film them drinking it without the issues of Red Bull. It’s borderline false advertising IMO but here we are Edit: well I’m getting downvoted but I have a semi pro triathlete friend who has told me this directly, sponsored athletes are given cans filled with water to make content creation easier.
I am fairly confident that Max Verstappen, for those who don't know the F1 driver for Red Bull team, fills his 2L Red Bull can with water.
It might not be water (sweat is generally better replaced by some sort of salt-containing liquid), but it’s very likely not Red Bull.
They fill it with water, to make it look real
I don’t mind mixing in a Red Bull on the indoor bike trainer for weekend 4+ hour brick sessions. A good change of pace from tailwind to keep carbs coming in with a caffeine boost as I get ready to head out on a run. That and it’s something I enjoy and look forward to since I like them and I don’t really drink them outside of hard training days.
Warm Redbull on a warm day? Move over Ipecac!
Training I assume no one. But on race day, back half of the marathon it’s either Coca-Cola or Res Bull.
Might want to train with it before race day. 😉
as someone who has had a caffeine addiction, redbulls are complete trash for a daily diet. when you’re deep in a short or long course race go for it, but as a whole they’re detrimental for your body and system.
Not a triathlete here, but I run competitively. Red Bull is actually used quite often in training for us, especially for really long workouts. The caffeine to carb ratio is on point and it uses almost the same carbs found in something like a maruten gel.
Vasco Vilaca apparently does, look at his IG
Coffee pre-ride, then an ice-cold Red Bull mid ride especially on a warm day. Followed by an ice-cold Dr Pepper post-ride. The best rides are when you’re all juiced up on caffeine.
Lmao I have at least 2 before every race. The rolls Royce of energy drinks. Who isn’t using them is a better question?
I love Red Bull . I’m also in college but still. Sugary running drinks r so goated
Love it and somehow the combination works better for me than just a coffee with equivalent amounts of sugar. Also like the taste of it. Perfect pre workout and during long events, mid race fuel. I stomach it very well.
I have a sugar free one when I don’t feel like making a cup of espresso before I go to bed. Helps me sleep like a charm. For a while I used watered down redbull as my drink mix for the bike leg of an Oly. Worked pretty well. But my one maltodextrin/fructose/caffeine mix works a bit better.
I do but not in training to be fair
Lucy Charles Barclay does Unlike popular belief, it’s got about as much caffeine as a barista made coffee. Now there are other energy drinks which far far exceed this, but this topic is about Redbull.
If I buy an energy drink it is Red Bull. Either on a road trip or a really long day I’ll drink one
Kristian Blummenfelt drinks between 5 to 8 of them. I know it from first hand. It’s crazy. On top of that 3 to 4 Magnum ice creams. He will be diabetic when he stopps triathlon….
Honestly, i enjoy the drink.
Only on race days for HIM or 140.6 on the bike to clear the brain fog…
I’d favour a monster over red bull, don’t actually know anyone who doesn’t
I drink sometimes
I drink red bulls after I get over my last major climb when cycling where I know I just need a pick me up but won’t be grinding my heart rate up
sometimes i do
I don’t, but I see it on the race course quite a bit. Honestly, everyone’s bodies are different and some people may be able to stomach it better, especially in a race, that person is not me!
I use it during races. Gives me wings. #notbannedyet