QOTD: Do any of you use beets (in any format-- beet juice, beet pills, beet shots, etc...) to enhance your aerobic capacity? DH sent me this article (
https://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-weight-loss/a20077395/beet-juice-shots-for-performance/and) as he swears by it...I find beets to be slightly "meh" in flavor but can tolerate it. Curious to know if anyone else has tried it?
I did beet shots for a bit. The start of that was here in my training journal in 2017 (
link). This was the summarized research that I used as a basis for giving it a try:
-Acute supplementation (one time) with beetroot juice may have an ergogenic effect on reducing VO2 at less than or equal to VO2max intensity, while improving the relationship between watts required and VO2 level, mechanisms that make it possible to enable increase time-to-exhaustion at less than or equal to VO2max intensity.
-In addition to improving efficiency and performance in various time trials or increasing time-to-exhaustion at submaximal intensities, chronic supplementation with beetroot juice may improve cardiorespiratory performance at the anaerobic threshold and VO2max intensities.
-Apparently, the effects of supplementation with beetroot juice might not have a positive interaction with caffeine supplementation, mitigating the effects of beetroot juice intake on cardiorespiratory performance, however, more work is needed to confirm the results of these investigations because the number of studies analyzing the effects of the combination of beetroot juice with other supplements, such as caffeine, is limited.
-Intake of beetroot juice should be initiated within 90 min before athletic effort, since the peak value of NO3 occurs within 2–3 h after ingestion. At least 6–8 mmol (400mg) of NO3 intake is required, which can be increased in athletes with a high level of training.
What's interesting to me is the research is based on two time frames: Acute (one time) and Chronic (6 days). The 6 day data seems to suggest additional benefits above and beyond the acute dosing. It does appear the benefits are about 1-2% in racing times.
For a 24 min 5k, that's 23:31-23:46 just by taking beet root supplementation. A 1:50 HM, would be a 1:47-1:48 by supplement. A 3:04 M, would be a 3:00:19-3:02:10 by supplement. So while, 1-2% seems small it might be just enough extra push to reach a goal (say a 3:04 marathoner's goal of a 2:59 marathon perhaps...)
The source that was tested continuously was from
http://beet-it.us/where-to-buy/
Effects of Beetroot Juice Supplementation on Cardiorespiratory Endurance in Athletes. A Systematic Review. Raul Dominguez
This is pharmacodynamic and dose response data based on a single dose.
Beetroot juice and exercise: pharmacodynamic and dose-response relationships. Lee J Wylie.
So this data shows that the timing of the dose matters as far as nitric oxide concentration goes (only this specifically as other gains like blood pressure and mitochondrial changes very well can be a cumulative effect). It shows that the peak of the beet root juice and cardiovascular/VO2max improvements occurs around 2.5-4 hours. If you take it as a night time dose and run in the morning (~12 hrs later), then there will be a small gain over water, but not much. The 24 hr timepoint shows that unless the dose is really high the effects of nitric oxide wear off after 24 hrs. It would be interesting to see pharmacodynamic dosing after a single dose and after 6 doses to see if there is indeed a cumulative effect.
Well the initial caffeine and beetroot juice research seems to imply they don't have an additive effect.
One or the other is sufficient in receiving similar benefits.
Another paper seemed to suggest that the time trial benefits is reduced for people with a higher VO2max. Other research contends a higher dose is necessary for those with a higher VO2max.
The really difficult part about the research out there is that everyone seems to be using various dose levels, or various timing on dosing. Based on the pharmacodynamics, it would appear that timing of the dose is critical as well as the amount taken to maximize the effects.
FYI, don't use mouthwash or chew gum when using Beet juice as it negates the effects.
This was my pre-race strategy from Lakefront 2017 when I used Beet-It (
link). It was, and still is, my PR, but my final conclusion on the Beet-It was "I felt as if the Beet-It didn't provide any extra benefits at the end of the day. It sure didn't make me feel any different. I didn't have any noticeable decrease in effort, HR, or relationship between them."