Starbuck's Run

I'm not proud of it but I regularly succumb to the overwhelming power of the products peddled by places like Starbucks. The word coffee "junkie," is probably a bit strong, but so is the cup of joe I enjoy every morning. Coffee "snob" is definitely more accurate. Leave the cheap, watered-down stuff for Denny's, I want only the high-rent stuff.

I bring this up because recently I've been obsessing about nutrition. What should I, and should I not, be putting in my body so that it's able to stay powered for 4-5 hours? Part of this obsession involves evaluating my current nutritional habits. Caffeine tops the list of my concerns. Conventional wisdom says that caffeine dehydrates the body and is thus bad for a sport where hydration is important. But is caffeine really detrimental to marathon training? Should I find an alternative morning beverage? Will Starbucks be able to continue their world domination without me constantly filling their coffers?

I started with the nutritional labels on the back of the food containers. I tried to figure out if I was getting the daily recommended allowance of Chromium in my diet but instead learned that I'm way short on the amount of Panthothenic acid. I felt like I needed the periodic table just to get through breakfast. This drove me nuts. Ironically, nuts seem to be the only thing I eat these days, along with plates of green leafy things, dried fruit stuff that sticks to my teeth all day, and tasteless bark-like breads and grains. I digress. I also took a trip down memory lane to 9th grade biology class and tried to focus on what the Christian Brothers taught me (besides how to stunt social growth by attending high school with nothing but God fearing, pimple-faced boys)

Admittedly, I had to go to the bullpen for a little assistance. While there are conflicting studies regarding the significant effect of caffeine on improving performance for runners, very little evidence exists suggesting that coffee is actually inhibiting my training. Caffeine has two main effects on my body. First it acts as a stimulus to the central nervous system, hence the nervous twitching so often seen by law students in the weeks before their Torts exam. Second, it increases the mobilization of free fatty acids (FFA) into the blood. Bare with me here. As I run, my muscles use both FFA's and glycogen (from carbohydrates) as fuel. While most people have plenty of fat available for energy, our bodies begin to first burn glycogen during heavy exercise. Caffeine essentially permits our bodies to increase the use of fat as fuel, which will spare the limited glycogen stores during endurance events. I sort of look at it as driving a car that can burn off an extra gallon of gas stored in the tank, without being gouged by the oil industry. Are you still with me? The science geek in me finds this interesting. The geek in me is also reassured by the fact that the fine people at Starbucks won't have to fret about taking over the world. I'm on board baby.....make that a grande Ethiopian blend.....no room for cream.