For years, caffeine sat on the anti-doping list.

Today it’s in almost every runner’s kitchen.

So does it actually make you faster?

A 2023 meta-analysis pulled together 21 studies on caffeine and endurance running with 254 runners, from recreational to trained.

They found that in time trials, caffeine cut finishing times by about 0.7% on average.

That sounds tiny, right?

But on a 50-minute 10K, that’s roughly 20 seconds.

On a 4-hour marathon, it’s well over a minute and a half.

But it can backfire.

The results varied a lot, and that matches my own experience with runners.

Some get a clear lift, while others just get jitters and a nervous stomach and end up in the bathroom instead of at the finish line.

So how do you know which one you are?

Pick your next race specific session and take caffeine about an hour before you start.

The studies used 3 to 9 mg per kilo of bodyweight, so start at the low end, around 3 mg per kilo (about two cups of coffee for a 70 kg runner).

Notice not just how the session felt but also how you slept that night.

If it helps, save it for key sessions and race day, and if it doesn’t, you found out without ruining a race.

I myself skip it on training days because I simply get the worst sleep afterwards.

But I do use it on race days.

As with all supplements caffeine is just another tool, you got in your backpack.

Nicklas “Coffee addict” Rossner

P.S. Caffeine might buy you 0.7%. Training the thing that’s actually holding you back buys you a lot more. Fast Lane reads your data, finds your limiter and builds a personalized plan around it that adapts when life happens. Your first 14 days are free: https://fastlanerunner.com/​

P.P.S. Reference: Wang Z, Qiu B, Gao J, Del Coso J. Effects of Caffeine Intake on Endurance Running Performance and Time to Exhaustion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2023;15(1):148.

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