These 12 Science-Backed Run Supplements Will Shave Minutes Off Your Next Race

[00:00:00] Could one spoonful of the right supplement shave minutes off of your marathon time. Welcome to the world of science backed diet and supplements for runners where everything you can gulp, munch, or pop in your mouth matters. And this episode will unveil the legit research behind common and not so common performance boosters.

[00:00:20] You’ll learn what actually works, what’s hype, and how to build a fueling plan. That as you speeding and running past all those people. I think carb loading still means eating pizza and pasta every single night. Number one, caffeine. So that’s the thing. Category. Supplement. Time to do it. Five minutes, uh, one to two hours before the race.

[00:00:40] Monetary cost low to medium. What it does for distance runners, this stuff wakes you up and makes the miles feel less painful. By blocking that hard effort, feeling how to use it, pop a hundred to 200 milligrams from 30 to 60 minutes before a long race or event. Start low to see how you can handle it. I don’t handle caffeine nearly as well as most people, so I actually can really only do 50 to a hundred milligrams.

[00:01:03] I learned that the hard way. Some people might be able to do 300 milligrams. Why it’s important for distance runners. Contrary to popular belief, caffeine doesn’t actually give you energy. It sharpens focus and delays fatigue, so you can push harder when running on empty acute versus chronic use, it’s acute.

[00:01:18] The downsides jitters. If you take too much or you’re sensitive, like me, heart rate spikes. Don’t rely on heart rate data too much On race day, if you’re heavily caffeinated, you’ll see that your heart rate is hovering 10 to 20 BPMs higher than it should be. The general complexity, it’s pretty low. It’s pretty easy to do it.

[00:01:35] You just take it in different forms, best distances, 10 K to marathon. Other notes, so caffeine cycling, going off of it for a week to get a big boost on race day, and you take it race day after you haven’t taken it for a week that has been debunked. Just use your normal amount that you normally do and bump it up for race day.

[00:01:52] I’ll have some notes and research links on caffeine for endurance performance below in the show notes, or you could check out that free PDF and downloadable guide and training plan. Number six, hydration and electrolytes. This is obviously. Things that you consume now, liquid and electrolytes, which can be pills and also powders.

[00:02:12] Diet category, time to do it. It’s ongoing. It should just be all the time. As long as you’re training, you always need the stuff. Monetary costs low to medium depending on what you get. What it does for distance runners without proper hydration, your muscles are like a car with no oil. Expect to overheat and break down and with hydration is also electrolytes, proper electrolytes, so how to use it.

[00:02:32] Sip water with electrolytes before, during, and after long races, especially in hot conditions or as I like to do, I take a pill. The pills, they might take about extra 30 to 45 minutes for it to hit your stomach and then kind of disperse and dissolve into stomach. Whereas if you take it. Mixed into a powder form.

[00:02:49] So Gatorade’s fine, you know, or a sports drink, or if you just want electrolytes by themselves as a powder like, uh, element, element T is a big one. Everyone’s taking, um, or you just get them in your gel, et cetera. It doesn’t really matter how you get them. You could even just use table salt. Table salt. The problem is it doesn’t have the range of other electrolytes like potassium, magnesium, calcium, and a few others.

[00:03:09] Why it’s important for distance runners? I think anecdotally in the past there was this theory that it helped prevent cramps, but now it’s more. Your muscles are actually like involuntary firing. It’s not really cramping and electrolytes do help with it, but they don’t prevent them if you haven’t ran the distance.

[00:03:25] Electrolytes are more about helping keep your body cool and your muscles firing, so that’s hydration and electrolytes. I’m kind of lumping them all together. Acute versus chronic. This is gonna be chronic use, so you need to use this all the time. Downsides, potential over hydration. Too much water can flush out electrolytes, so you need to make sure your electrolyte balance.

[00:03:42] Is good with your water. You do not need to overdr. You should hydrate 24 to 48 hours before your main event and then sip to thirst a couple hours before. You should not be peeing clear right before the race, if you can. And during the race. I did that in my Ironman and that actually was one of the reasons why.

[00:04:00] I struggled in the run part of my Ironman, but we won’t get into that. It’s a story for another day. General complexity, I’d say medium because you need to figure out what your electrolyte and hydration kind of balance is, your sweat rate and all that, which takes a while. Best instances, I’d say getting the hydration right is for all but really half marathon, marathon ultras.

[00:04:18] The higher up you go, the longer you’re out on the road. So other notes. So I’ve got a cool little hack. You should stop drinking your liquids two hours before the race. To avoid having to go to the bathroom right before the race and during the race. Yes. You’d be like, two hours is too long. No, you’re absolutely fine.

[00:04:32] If you hydrated up the day or two before the race, you allot and all you need to do is just drink about one liter, which I think is a quat American. I’m American. I still don’t even know American say. Yeah, about one liter slash one quarter ish up to two hours before your race. Maybe a little bit less depending on how big you are.

[00:04:51] So then you will pee about two to three times before you race and you can sip to thirst in that two hours to race. Mark, you will not die of thirst during the race, I promise you. You can have water during the race, but you won’t be peeing out during the race. That’s the amazing thing, and you won’t have that.

[00:05:05] Imbalance of water and electrolytes. Alright, so this is a lot to take in. We’re only on number six coming up, and you’re probably like, yo, Darren, I just wanna get started on something, man. Don’t worry. I got you. I’ve created an easy to read table spreadsheet, PDF, with a checklist, a quick start guide, and mega bonus, an eight week.

[00:05:24] Don’t start your race. So fast, free, mental, mindful running training plan. Yes. Most of us suffer from starting either too fast or too slow, which is me. Uh, I always do the slow side of things. This training plan will hopefully fix that. All of this is free ’cause I love helping folks out in the world to scan the QR code right here.

[00:05:43] Click the link in the show notes. If you’re on your podcast player app listening to it or the video description below bonus, you’ll automatically get signed up for more deep dives like this into consistency habits and incremental self-improvement for all the smart self-coach runners out there. Uh, so it’s the email newsletter that you’ll get, and it comes about once a week.

[00:06:03] Let’s get back into it. Let’s get into number seven. Dial in your nutrition. So this is a big one because everyone is different. This is obviously diet. Now we’re going in out of behavioral into diet and these next few times to do it ongoing. ’cause you gotta eat ’cause you are a runner, you’re human.

[00:06:21] Monetary cost varies. Varies in a lot of places. So I’m not even gonna say it’s low to medium. I think you can be smart. And find some low to medium costs, but don’t skimp out on quality and quantity ’cause you will pay for it. What it does for distance runners, you’re not racing on willpower. Fuel is everything.

[00:06:38] And the types and the macros you get, the protein, the carbs, carb carbs, and even the fat. Uh, depending on if you believe in keto and you think keto iss the way, et cetera, et cetera, uh, I won’t say any too much about that. But keto, if you haven’t really done it for months on end, isn’t the best way, or low carb isn’t the best way to do a long distance event.

[00:06:57] Feel free to flame me in the comments if you disagree. Good nutrition keeps you from running out of gas. Point blank, how to use it. Eat balance meals. Again, carbs, protein for recovery, so carbs for energy, protein for recovery, and fats for long-term fuel. And it also transports vitamins around to your organs and through your blood, et cetera, and to your muscles.

[00:07:15] Why it’s important for distance runners hitting the ball. It just sucks. The right nutrition prevents that dreaded halfway crash. Uh, it’s obviously chronic, you need to use it all the time. Downsides, meal planning prep takes time and it can be a pain for some and it’s just easier. Just go to McDonald’s, Macca’s.

[00:07:31] If you live in Australia here and you just go, lemme just get the, you know, junk food crap or seven 11, whatever. And, um, that’s not the best quality. Sometimes it’s okay sometimes to get just the sugary, fatty, whatever, but it’s usually not in the long term. General complexity, I’m gonna say medium to high on this.

[00:07:46] ’cause food is, food is some serious business. Best distances is probably, I’d say half marathon was getting there. If you’re running fast half marathon, oh, sorry. If you’re running a longer half marathon, if you’re out there for two hours plus, uh, definitely marathon, definitely ultra. You can get away with a pretty average diet if you do a 10 K, 5K, 1500.

[00:08:04] You just gotta make sure you kind of just eat normal and you get your normal amount of carbs. You’re not trying to do some silly diet right before the race. So other notes, carbs are king. I’m gonna say that I don’t believe it. Scientists said it. Aim for simple carbs. White rice, white bread in the 48 hours before long races, the longer you race, try to get simple carbs in and you can stay away from the complex carbs and the fiber and the veggies and you can stay away from fats 48 hours before the race.

[00:08:28] And junk food. While it might be high in carbs like pizza, burgers, what do they, ’em? Hot chips here, potato chips, uh, french fries, et cetera. Even candy and all that. But even some candies are loaded with fats and oils. So if you want peak performance, I’d say stay away from the junk food as much as you can.

[00:08:46] 10 to 20% of your meals can be junk food, but the day or two before race, stay away from the junk food, please. Your stomach will. Thank you. Number eight, creatine. So now we’re getting into supplements. So we’re out of behavioral, we’re out of diet, we’re getting into supplements. Time to do it. It’s less than a minute.

[00:09:02] Daily monetary cost. I’m gonna say low because a bag of one kilo bag or what’s one kilo, a two pound bag of creatine is gonna cost you very little per serving, which I’ll get into the serving sizes. Very small compared to the other protein powders out there like whey protein and collagen and all the other protein.

[00:09:22] What it does for distance runners, it keeps your A TP, which is your energy currency, topped up at, uh, adin Tri Phosphate, and there’s different names for, but that’s actually what is the energy source and get your muscles to fire. It’s so that you don’t run outta gas halfway. And here’s a kind of quick sciencey run science little tidbit.

[00:09:40] Factoid is when you hit the wall. You actually aren’t producing a TP efficiently. While you might have the carbohydrate stores in, there’s actually a lot of reasons why you actually are not able to lift your foot as fast as you did. You know, back five, 10 miles ago, how to use it. Take three to five grams daily every day.

[00:10:01] It’s a long-term, Gabe, so keep at it. Uh, if you’re a bigger person, taller. You could do six to seven grams, uh, eight grams. Some people like to do a bit more. I’d say start low and slow. If you are a smaller. Skinnier person, um, women you might be okay with. Anywhere from two to four grams, depending on a lot of things.

[00:10:20] See how your stomach handle it. Please start low for the first week, one gram second week, uh, two grams, third week, three grams, and then get up to about, like I said, three to five grams. The downsides, a lot of people, they end up taking 10 grams right in the beginning, and then they feel bloated and they’re like, Cine doesn’t work.

[00:10:32] It blows me. You know, you gain some weight because the creatine makes you take on more water, so you do gain weight and people again feel bloated, but it’s not. It’s not actually what happens if you do it over time. It’s important for distance runners. People think it’s for weightlifters, but distance runners need a TP.

[00:10:46] Also, no energy again equals no forward motion. Creatine for brain health. Actually new studies over the last few years have shown that it actually helps cogniti ability. It makes you feel sharper, more crisp. Creatine just helps and there’s no downsides to taking it. All the time. Five grams all the time.

[00:11:02] You could miss a couple days here and there. You could take, you know, a week or two off, but try to take it as much as you can, especially around race time. So that’s chronic use. General complexity, very easy. Just get a five gram scooper so you don’t have to think about it. Best distance, I’d say all distances again, but definitely 5K to marathon.

[00:11:19] Anyone that does any activity, even people that are not active can benefit from creatine. Some. Other random notes and ideas. Powder I found is the easiest and cheapest. You can take the pill, but is it expensive? You gotta take a lot of them. It’s like six pills to get to the five grams of, uh, the amount, the recommended amount.

[00:11:37] And you, you only get like 50 or a hundred pills, so you go through ’em quite quickly. And like I said, they’re really, really expensive. It takes a few months to saturate, one to two months to really saturate in your system. You can do higher doses if you want more muscle gains in the off season, but expect.

[00:11:51] Extra water weight and you’ll just be higher on scale and you might have a little bit of pudge around your stomach. That’s fine. Alright, going into number nine, we are halfway through tart cherry juice. So this is an interesting one. This is not regular cherry juice. This is tart cherry juice. Two different things.

[00:12:09] This is a supplement, obviously takes less than a minute if you got it ready. Right in the little thing you got monetary cost medium. What it does for distance runners, anti-inflammatory hero, it is that reduces soreness and speeds up recovery, alright? How to use it. So it’s best to drink if you can. 30 to 60 mils or that’s one to two ounces of the concentrate.

[00:12:30] Try to get the concentrate tart cherry juice if you can. Um, I also take it in the pill form, so liquid or pill form is fine. I think the pill forms as easy as, I don’t have to put it in my fridge. I just make sure I take it, and you wanna do it right before your races, so you could do it a couple weeks before to really get that week before, especially to really make sure you get in the antioxidants, which I’ll get into what it actually does and get the recovery proper.

[00:12:54] Or if you do regular tart cherry juice, that’s obviously watered down. You can just do a normal serving, maybe a little bit more that week before. Why it’s important for distance runners helps you bounce back faster so you can stay consistent without feeling wrecked. True studies behind all of this stuff.

[00:13:09] It’s a part of war juice. This is the first part of war juice and it’s actually acute and chronic, so you can get immediate benefits from it. From higher recovery, but also over the long term, recovering the chronic long term, you actually get benefits. The downside to the sugar content, it is high in it, but if you don’t overdo it and you’re already training quite hard, it should be fine.

[00:13:30] That recovery week, you probably need to carb load carb blue, and I put it in parentheses, but you, it’s probably fine for that week. I wouldn’t stress about it. General complexity, I think it’s quite low. The best distance, half marathon to marathon, it gets the most from it, but. Anyone. These are so applicable to everyone, but anyone that does anything athletic will be better served by recovering as best as they can.

[00:13:50] Make sure it’s tart cherry juice. Again, not regular cherry juice because it doesn’t have as much antioxidants, it just has a lot of sugar. So tart cherry juice has way more antioxidants, um, like many more like multifold three to five XI think. I think, and again, it’s part of my award juice blend. So start six to seven days out before the race.

[00:14:07] I have war juice episode up here. You could go check that out. It’s a fun one. I’m gonna go through actually the second and third part of War Juice and you can put them together, make a little con concoction about six to seven days out. And let’s go to number 10. The second part of war juice, beet root juice, or beet juice.

[00:14:24] So this is a supplement I’m gonna put it under, even though it’s kind of part of diet, but let’s just call it a supplement. It takes less than a minute. Daily monetary cost. I’m gonna say medium because. It can get expensive. I’ve actually started taking the pill version of this. I used to take the Beat It one, um, make sure you shake it up and shaking it up.

[00:14:43] But it would be a little shot supplement and that was. Could get expensive. So I actually take a combination of both and I’ll do the beat it ’cause I know exactly what it is. It’s super high and beat reduced. I’ll do it about two to three days out from my race. What it does with distance runners, let’s get into the science of it.

[00:15:00] It boosts nitric oxide, which means more oxygen to muscles delaying that. Gassed out. I can’t go any more feeling. It actually just delays it even by a few minutes would be huge. That that a few minutes can get you a few minute best time, how to use it, drink it two to three hours before your. A race or the race that you’re trying to see to let it kick in.

[00:15:21] It does take that long. Why? It’s important for distance runners. It improves how efficiently your muscles use oxygen. It’s like flipping on like a turbo switch or nitrous oxide in a way because I mean it is nitric oxide, it boost it. So it is like nitrous oxide and the people that watch Fast and Furious, you know what I’m talking about with the nitric oxide, that that nos n os some of the downsides, uh, taste.

[00:15:40] Some people don’t like the taste it stains and you end up getting red colored pee or red colored poo, which is a big one. It happens usually after a hard training session or a hard race. When you’re dehydrated, that’s when everything is purple and dark red and it looks like blood and your, your pee or your poo.

[00:15:58] Um, but it is not, uh, hopefully is not. But uh, you know, definitely, you know, if you have any issues, go to a doctor, but if you’ve been taking be reduced, they’d be like, all right, it’s most likely be reduced. Another huge thing is that you need to avoid antibacterial toothpaste, which is pretty much all toothpaste unless you’re a little baby, 30 minutes before or after you take it because it kills the nitrates.

[00:16:19] So it even, even if you like, make sure that you like shoot it in the back and you brush your teeth. If you don’t have any toothpaste, go in the back of your throat. It might seat back. Just don’t even mess with it. It like they negate each other. So either wait to brush your teeth or brush your teeth and then wait.

[00:16:33] I’d say even closer to like 45 minutes. Sometimes if you can, general complexity, I’m gonna say medium ’cause getting the right beet root juice that has the right amount of nitric. Uh, nitric oxide is really, really hard to do because no one really knows the ripeness of the beat. So you just kind of just need to use a lot of it, and it gets a bit messy with exactly what it is, and then getting the high end one and all that.

[00:16:56] So that’s why I put general complexity in medium. Best distances. The shorter the bout the better. If you do three Ks or even one mile type stuff, it’s really beneficial or power lifters and all that. So short, fast stuff of a couple minutes, up to 5K, there has been studies showing that half marathon and marathon is benefit, but the longer.

[00:17:14] The actual event, the less you get, the benefits out of beet root juice and the nitric oxide, just the FY. I’ve got a whole bunch of science and data and more on beet root juice with that download that goes into detail with the spreadsheet and everything and the plan. Make sure you get that. So that’s right in the show notes below, or video description number 11, quadriceps mushrooms.

[00:17:36] Always wanna say quadricep mushrooms, but it’s not. This is a supplement. It takes less than a minute. This is the third part of the war juice. Monetary cost. It is medium to high. You can get some high quality ones in bulk if you want to get the dried ones, but I personally like the liquid and I’ll talk about which liquid, uh, you can get with that.

[00:17:56] Or you could do the pills, sell pills, powder, liquid. But I found that the liquid is the best. From my research in my studies, what it does for distance runners increases your body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently so you can keep going when others fade out. How to use it daily. Supplement for long-term benefits.

[00:18:12] ’cause it needs time to build up. It does take a few weeks to one to two months for this to build up. I used to think it took a week, but actually you need to be doing it minimum two to three weeks out. I’d say on the safe side, do four to six weeks out every day if you can. It doesn’t matter when you do it.

[00:18:27] Why it’s important for distance runners again, better oxygen use equals more miles less effort. You’re using your aerobic system longer during the race, before you tap into your anaerobic glycogen stores, which is way better ’cause that can go forever. Your aerobic system. Uh, chronic use, I’m gonna say chronic because I used to think it was acute.

[00:18:47] I learned that it actually needs to be, again, over time. Downsides. None really except potential allergic reactions. In rare case, it doesn’t taste like anything and the amount that you’re getting, it does not taste like anything. You’re not eating ground up mushrooms, I promise you like it. It tastes like pretty much like nothing.

[00:19:02] It’s just a powder and you drink, especially if you mix it in with the ward Juice. General complexity, I’m gonna say low and. It’s best for pretty much all distances between that golden 5K and marathon distance. And yes, there is a bunch of research and links and studies on this that I’ll link to. This is gonna be a huge one because I wanna make sure that you get the facts and that this is not some random WOOWOO type thing that’s gonna make you race fast.

[00:19:25] This is all science backed number 12, spirulina. So this is something that I go back and forth on, but I decided to put this in the list. It’s obviously a supplement. It takes less than one minute daily monetary cost medium. It’s not that bad. What it does for distance runners, it fights muscle fatigue with antioxidants and it helps your cell power plants.

[00:19:42] Mitochondria. Run better how to use it, add it to smoothies, or take pills daily. It’s not the best taste, but it’s worth it. The pills are easier I found than taking the actual powder. But do you, if you wanna have that green juice in there, why it’s important for distance runners, again, reduces oxidative stress and muscle fatigue.

[00:20:00] So this is more of a recovery thing, so you can handle high mileage and intensity without. Burning out in the long term. Um, again, this is a big recovery thing. That’s why it’s chronic use, downsides, taste. Some people don’t like it. It does flavor things with that kind of greenish, very spirulina type thing happening.

[00:20:18] Potential contamination you wanna buy from legit sources. General complexity is low. Best instances, that beautiful range of 5K to marathon. And again, powder is cheapest, but tastes the worst. Pill form is pricier, but it’s easier. Your choice, it’s getting to number 13. Beta alanine, beta ine. I think it’s Beta alanine.

[00:20:38] It’s a supplement, so the time to actually use it, it takes less than a minute. Daily, how long it takes is chronic. It does take four to eight weeks for beta alanine to actually kick in and work for athletes and runners. I thought it was a couple days. It actually is a a few weeks to a few months to really get it going, and it does need to saturate in your system to start buffering the lactate.

[00:21:02] There are some cases where people say it works very, very well. Other people are like, I don’t know difference. I actually saw this along with proper training that it worked really, really well. Monetary cost, low to medium. So we are getting more complex with these. I think beta alanine is actually quite complex.

[00:21:17] I’m gonna say it’s medium to high, and I’ll tell you why in a second. So what it does with distance runners, buffers, lactate, letting you push through tough efforts without the burning sensation, and that, oh my God, I’m gonna die. Your brain wants you to just stop running, feeling how to use it. Take three to six grams daily.

[00:21:33] Expect a harmless tingling feeling, which is parathesia. I said it right. Uh, I’ve talked about this in previous other episodes, which you can get that episode up here possibly or below. I’ve gone into detail on beta alanine, so I won’t go with a deep dive, but I. A huge downside again is parathesia, which can be intense for some.

[00:21:52] It actually causes a bit of anxiety for me, and I found the best way to negate that is by taking one to two grams per day for the first week, then taking two to three grams for the next week. And then what you can do if that doesn’t work. ’cause it actually still didn’t work for me. I ended up splitting it.

[00:22:10] So I do two grams in the morning, two grams in the afternoon, and then if I wanted to do six grams, I do two grams morning, two grams afternoon, two grams in the evening. It’s annoying. But if you just have it all set up for the day or even the week and you just go boop, right in the water, it doesn’t taste like anything I found.

[00:22:23] It’s actually quite simple. Once I do that. Um. Is it worth it? Again, general complexity. It’s like, ah, we don’t know. The studies are inconclusive for distance runners. I think anything can help. I found that it really helped me in my three K race that I did later, last year, a few months ago. I don’t know for the half marathon personally, but it does work for just general.

[00:22:44] Weightlifting. It does work for just general. Just if you do power movements, you do sprints, you do strides, you do fast workouts, it will work for that. For the race, it’s like, eh, it might help you train better, which could help you race better. So this is kind of in that like murky area. Again, best distances are 800 to the marathon, but I’d say 800 to 5K is the best distance.

[00:23:03] Number 14, we’re almost done. L Carnitine. Acetyl or acetyl. L Carnitine, L car, as they call it. It’s shortened. It is a supplement. Takes less than one minute daily. Monetary cost, it’s medium. It’s not that expensive. And what it does for distance runners, it helps turn your fat into usable fuel, keeping you going in longer races.

[00:23:21] How do you use it? L car, one to two grams daily. This actually takes three to four months to kick in. Some studies have shown two months, but I’ve heard as long as four months, and then you gotta. Sustain it. So it is a chronic thing you gotta keep using over and over again. Why it’s important for distance runners, steadier energy from fat, which is aerobic, which you want.

[00:23:40] It’ll save you from using glycogen, which is the carbohydrate sugar stores in those final miles, or at least lets you stay aerobic longer. In your racing, and it also boosts brain function, especially the L car. Acetyl helps brain function. Why not? Why not be a better human in your life? ’cause you’re not running all day long.

[00:23:57] Why not use this creatine and acetyl elk? Elk car does work very well for the brain. Downsize. There is GI discomfort. I’ve read. I have not experienced it. I’ve taken it in the powder. The pill form, and I’ve had no issues possible interference with thyroid hormones long term. So if you have any thyroid issues, please consult a physician if you want to use this or just don’t use it.

[00:24:18] You don’t have to use it. General complexity low. Because you just pop it. The powder or the pill form? Best Distance Marathon Ultra. I’m gonna say that I’m gonna put a half marathon in there, ’cause half marathon is very similar to Marathon as far as Energy Systems used, but half Marathon, marathon Ultra, because it’s just all aerobic.

[00:24:34] If you want more information on that, check the link in the show notes or the video description below. Number 15 CBD oil. Alright, we’ll get into the last two. It’s obviously a supplement. Less than one minute daily to take it. I’d say monetary cost, so you get into the medium to high, definitely if you want high quality CBD oil, medical grade type stuff.

[00:24:54] What it does for distance runners, it reduces inflammation. It helps muscle recovery, so you’re not too tired, too sore after those long, big days and weeks of training because you need to be able to recover from the hard work that you do. That’s what your body does. It actually breaks down and then it builds itself up and it’s usually trying to make itself better how to use it, use daily or post-race for recovery, post hard workouts.

[00:25:15] Start small to gauge the effects, and then you can kind of ramp up as you need to. Why? It’s important for distance runners. It can, from some accounts, help tame soreness, speed and recovery because it allows you to sleep better. That’s the big one. It allows you to kind of recover, chill out and get better.

[00:25:31] Higher quality sleep. That’s where CBD oil is kind of the magic in all that. Again, chronic use, I’d say you need to be using this. As much as you can. Definitely one to two weeks before the race Downsides, you can have potential interactions with medication Quality control is inconsistent, so use reputable high quality brands.

[00:25:50] I’ve had some like CBD mints and uh, like, you know, peppermints and taken it. I was like, this is just sugar. And I’ve taken some gummies and I was like, this is just sugar from one, one of the, uh, dispensaries out. And I was in LA and I was like, yeah, you need the oil. Another thing is that there’s legal.

[00:26:07] Issues with access, depending on your region. You are in the world, obviously a lot of places in the us, not everywhere in the US it’s legal. I think Canada, it’s legal. Uh, uk. I don’t know. I think it is legal in the uk. Here in Australia it is not, but you can get it medically and New Zealand. I don’t know.

[00:26:24] So I’m just trying to think. Europe, I don’t know. Check where you are. High quality oils are best gummies. I don’t think they have enough. C, B, D in them. You’re just eating sugar at that point, and again, it helps you get deeper, better, high quality sleep. It’s not a direct sleep aid though. It just allows you to get into better sleep and go to sleep faster.

[00:26:42] Stay in deep sleep better, which is high number 16 bicarb slash baking soda. Okay, we’re rounding it out. This is a supplement. This is an interesting one. This is one that I have been messing with. For a bit and I went from loving it to hating it, to loving it, and I’ll tell you why. Alright, so the time to do it is about five minutes pre-workout.

[00:27:02] So when to do it is another question I found to do it two to three hours before your main event, your main race or training session to really let it hit your stomach and then. Go into your bloodstream and then do its magical goodness. Monetary costs low to high depending on some factors. I’ll tell you why.

[00:27:20] What it does for distance runners, it buffers lactate so you don’t feel that burning fatigue so early in your body and your brain don’t wanna quit how to use it. So this is really, really, really key 0.2 to 0.3 grams per kilogram body weight about 60 to 90 minutes before, because I don’t want your Americans to mess this up.

[00:27:40] This is an American standards. It will be. Point zero nine one grams per pound to 0.136 grams per pound. And if you’re on ounces, that’s 0.0032 ounces per pound or 0.0048 ounces per pound. Yes, just use grams. Way easier. The, the difference between 0.2 and 0.3 is huge. Point two is for beginners. Point three is like you are going to the toilet.

[00:28:07] Multi times before your race and ruining your race, or even during you’re like, oh my God, I can’t handle this. And I had to deal with that. ’cause I went straight from 0.2 to 0.3 thinking I could handle it. And my body’s like, no, I can handle like 0.23 grams. Yes, it is. I’m measuring it on a scale like I’m a drug, uh, a drug dealer.

[00:28:23] It’s a acute use. So it, it is not a saturation thing. You have to use it right before. Like I said, two to three hours before your event, you can practice with it, but practicing isn’t gonna give you the gains. You gotta do this before. And there are legit studies that this stuff does work. Some downsides ’cause there’s many to this major GI stomach issues if you go overboard.

[00:28:44] And that overboard is, it’s like the range is is this much. So this much is perfect, this much is overboard can ruin your day. Like I was actually on the toilet multiple times. That day I was like, oh no, when I went too high, please. You need to start low and then testing your training and then you can slightly go up.

[00:29:01] But see if you even can handle it and then see what happens. I wouldn’t even stress ’cause it’s not worth ruining your whole day. I wouldn’t even stress trying to go too much higher. Best distance is 800 to 5K, so it’s up to 25 minutes effort. There is some AEC or anecdotal evidence that. People are seeing gains in the 10 k half marathon and full marathon, and that cyclist are doing time trials up to 60 minutes and seeing gains that hasn’t been proven via science yet, so I’m gonna be a bit skeptical of it.

[00:29:29] If you’re doing the shorter races. This is great. I do know of someone that does this for marathons and they think that it works, but because the reason why it doesn’t work is because you’re not actually producing as much lactate if you run a marathon. Correctly, or if you’re back of the pack marathoner, maybe the fast marathoners and half marathoners are seeing it ’cause they’re actually going so fast and so hard that they are producing lactate.

[00:29:54] But the slow marathoners actually aren’t producing enough lactate to where they’re gonna see a huge difference. Do as you will with that information. One other thing. There is a company that’s making this so that it actually is okay on your stomach and Morine Morton Morine is the company. I can’t access it here in Australia, and I have a feeling that a lot of people outside of America and UK and Canada can’t access it.

[00:30:15] So I’m pissed because they won’t sell me this one thing I. Here in Australia, but they sell all their other stuff, their gels and all the other things here in Australia. So I ended up making my own of this and I ended up making the Morton version because I was just doing the bicarb soda, um, which is, uh, baking soda.

[00:30:32] And I was doing that. I. By itself just in water. Horrendous. I was trying lemon juice, I was trying all these different things and then I realized I actually reverse engineered Morine Morton, however you wanna say it. I engineered their product and I actually figured out how to do that and I may do an episode in the future on that.

[00:30:50] So if you want that, if you want me to show you how to reverse engineer Morton’s, which is super expensive too. I think it’s like 15 us. Per serving, 15 or 20 US per serving or something, maybe even more. And I’m like, is it really worth it? So I ended up doing my own and it worked really, really well. And Morine Morine did something really cool where they buffered the bicarb soda.

[00:31:12] You buffering the bicarb soda so it doesn’t hit your stomach and mess it up more than that in the future. But I think this is kind of a game changer if you get it right. And I saw some crazy gains, but I also didn’t want my guts falling out two minutes before the race. Do as you will with it. You still here?

[00:31:28] You want more information? Okay. Watch the episode below to get the full ultimate Race Day. God. 17. Yes, 17. Tools, tactics, and tricks so that you can run your best time.