Caffeine

[Hidden Hippo]

Cup of tea in the morning before the journey to a comp to help me wake p (read navigate). Other than that, Jaffa Cakes are the staple food during competitions (other than lunch).

[acehero]

Originally Posted by sp220

I would love a shoot that sold porridge with a big dollop of golden syrup...

especially the ones that start early in the morning... and when its cold...

oh yes, that would be guuuuurd...

Porridge with golden syrup is the best way to serve it, anything else is just pfft

[bimble]

What I would love (and shows my Germanic roots) would be potato soup, with a sausage in it. Sitting down at lunchtime on a cold day with something nice and hot... lovely!!!

[MarkH]

Originally Posted by steve58

Caffeine, good or bad? Normally, ie at work or over the weekend, coffee (and I like it strong, although I rarely have more than 3 cups a day) doesn't bother me (contrary to what you would expect for a migraine sufferer). However at a couple of shoots over the last few months I have had a coffee during the day and it has unsettled me for a while.

What has other people's experience been?

What is the theory?

What do coaches advise?

I shot for 15 years and occasionally drank coffee near the end of the day to help concentration but rarely during the day. NO PROBLEMS

However I recently started again but now drink coffee during the day ( maybe 6+ mugs). This significantly affects my ability to shoot a relaxed shot in the evening (after the office). I now don't drink coffee on a shooting day and results are far more consistant.
It most noticable on the clicker, reducing the smooth draw through (almost a subconcious effort) to a snatched pull, effectively loosing the sensitivity I find I need for a consistant shot.

[Enure]

Originally Posted by Yorker

Chat to York about BUSA...

That'd be awesome especially as my blasted archers are a pain and made me put us in for the blasted 9:00am shoot, it ain't right i tell you!

No student is meant to be up that early, let alone doing archery!!

On a more on-topic note i personally don't drink tea or coffee but i have drank fizzy drinks like coke in the past which contain caffeine, as a juniour i tended not to think about that side of things too much and vividly remember it not having a particularly obvious effect overall but definetley being much more jumpy through the final stages of the shot.

TBH biggest problem i had as a junior was sugar crashes after eating mars bars and whatnot throughout the morning and then having nothing throughout the day lol.

These days i stick to drinking water or maybe some orange juice and just make sure i keep drinking a little every so often whether i feel thirsty already or not. As for food i invariably have a bannana to hand on a comp. day and maybe a good bit of pasta with some sauce and peppers for lunch, seems to do the trick.

ugh, i'm hungry now!

[FlourPower]

Quit your grumbling or I wont drive you and you'll have to walk!

I'm a barebow archer, our demands are simple. Tea, toast and totty!

Actually Enure and I were speaking to some guys at a competition on saturday about this kind of things and one guy reckoned his best shoots were where they sold burgers! So I guess it would be a personal decision and one with limits. i.e. 3 cups before shooting is fine, 5 isn't.

Personally I think there's a lot worse things you can do before shooting. (well worse for your shooting!)

[BowSurfer]

The big problem with coffee is that it is a diuretic and you end up having to do more 'quick dashes' to the loo between ends. This disturbs concentration more than anything else! You also end up being even more dehydrated, whereas the purpose of drinking during competition is meant to be to reduce dehydration, thus aiding concentration.
personally I go for the, reasonably dilute, orang squash, with sandwiches for lunch and banana and or fruesli bar between times.

[bimble]

Originally Posted by BowSurfer

The big problem with coffee is that it is a diuretic and you end up having to do more 'quick dashes' to the loo between ends. This disturbs concentration more than anything else! You also end up being even more dehydrated, whereas the purpose of drinking during competition is meant to be to reduce dehydration, thus aiding concentration.

This is actually a slight falicy (though a common one). Yes caffine is a slight diuretic, but when you consider that coffee is mainly water you do not end up more dehydrated after drinking a cup than before you started.

I personally stick to squash (though a cuppa in the morning and again at lunchtime never goes amiss), though that's generally because it's very easy and comes in many different flavours.

[FlourPower]

Thanks Bimble, you beat me to it! Stupid falicies!

Doesn't matter though coffee=evil


Tea FTW

[tel]

This is IMPAs province, but I think the 'JJ' formula is going to be the next big secret - like Coca cola, or Colonel Saunders.... I suspect its caffeine free though