As a Coach I discovered that red wine is very important to distance runners in 5k events, but increasing in importance up to marathon. As a poodle from Sapporo I do not drink red wine, but do indulge in my local beer. Anyhow my opinions are backed by science as well as my own empirical observations as a coach:“High doses of a compound found naturally in grape skins and red wine can improve muscle endurance in mice, and the compound also keeps them slim, a new study shows.
The effects of resveratrol are so pronounced that endurance athletes may one day take it as a performance enhancer, experts speculate.
Johan Auwerx at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cell Biology in Illkirch, France, and colleagues placed mice on a high-fat diet. Half of those mice received daily amounts of up to 400 milligrams of resveratrol per kilogram of body weight. A person would have to drink about 100 glasses of wine in just one day to obtain a similar dose of resveratrol, Auwerx says.
After three weeks, the mice on the resveratrol supplements weighed only about 20% more than mice on a standard diet. But those on the high-fat diet that did not receive the supplement weighed 60% more than the control mice. The resveratrol also improved the rodents endurance in fitness tests, and seemed to have no toxic side effects.
Mice on the high-fat diet that also took resveratrol were able to run twice as far on a treadmill as those on the same diet but without the supplement, even after the animals' weight differences were taken into account.”
Coach Prince’s tips from working with my Master are:
· If using red wine for performance, drink the same heavy quantity every night, otherwise one risks the downside benefits of binge drinking.
· How much should the athlete drink. This depends on the weight, genetics, experience with alcohol. I have trailed my athlete between a half bottle and two bottles a day. His personal bests have been achieved on one bottle a day, including on day before race.
· If upping your uptake of red wine, always adhere to the 10% rule which is capping your increase by only 10% in any one week.
· The downside in this is that if one is training in the morning, or morning and evening as many elite athletes do, extreme care has to be taken. It takes 12 hours and extra sleep to recover from the red wine tonic. It requires runs to be performed at lunch and in the evenings if as assumed, one drinks in the evening.
Great posting
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