Beet
juice and running – Can beet juice improve your endurance?
Recently I reached achieved a personal goal of running
a sub 3 hour marathon, and it was an amazing feeling, the memory will
stay with me for a long time. Now that this has been achieved and aiming
to continually improve as a runner, I now have a new goal, to run a
sub 2 hour 45 minute marathon. I am aiming to achieve this in the next 12
months, and I know it won’t be easy, but with gradual
improvements over the next few months I am confident I can do it. With
this in mind I have been looking into ways in which I can improve my running
and training, as well as researching if there are adjustments or
additions I can make to my plant based diet that may aid me in running a sub 2
hour 45 minute marathon.
This is led me to discover the current popularity of beet
juice (beetroot juice) with endurance athletes, and the links between beet
juice and running endurance. I now know that a diet high in vegetables
can improve cardiovascular health due to the high nitrate content found in
vegetables. All vegetables contain some nitrates, but they are more abundant in
beetroots, leafy greens, spinach, leeks and parsley – this is what has led beet
juice has become the big endurance boosting phenomenon of the running
world.
I have read the results of various studies carried out to
test the effects of nitrates from beet juice on endurance
improvements, as well as some very interesting blog posts. The
findings from the studies are very consistent and indicate that after
consuming beet juice, the amount of oxygen required to maintain a given
level of moderate exercise decreased, resulting in improved exercise
efficiency.
What is
exercise efficiency?
Exercise efficiency is the key physiological component that
predicts endurance performance, and this determines the speed or power
that you can maintain at a particular rate of oxygen consumption. If for a
given speed you are able to reduce the oxygen cost of exercise you improve
overall efficiency. Professor Andy Jones who was involved in one study by
the University of Exeter, said: “Our study is the first to show that
nitrate-rich food can increase exercise endurance. We were amazed by the effect
of beet juice on oxygen uptake because these effects cannot be achieved by any
other known means, including training.”
Impressive
stuff right? So after
researching and learning about the links between beet juice and running
endurance I decided to introduce beet juice into my diet on a trial basis
for 30 days.
How much beet
juice should you consume?
Studies have indicated that both consuming beet juice over short
periods and long periods has a positive effect on exercise efficiency, and
this is why I have decided to trial beet juice myself over a 30 day period. I
have also learnt that when increasing your overall dietary
nitrates over a longer period it’s advisable to include more solid foods
which have a high nitrate content, such as the ones I mentioned earlier, beetroot,
leafy greens, spinach, leeks and parsley. The benefit in varying your diet, is
that you will gain the other nutrients these foods contain – so as well as
drinking beet juice daily I am also including more of these nitrate rich foods
in my diet.
Regarding how much on a given day you should consume, one study
carried out to test the effects of nitrates from beet juice on endurance
improvements used doses of 300 ml, 600 ml, and 1200 ml of beet juice. The
results indicated that more is better, with the best results coming from
the highest dosage. This study also indicated that peak levels arrive 2-3
hours after consuming beet juice, and these levels will remain elevated for
about 6 hours, before they start to decrease baselining after
about 12 hours. Besides the endurance improvements, as an added health
benefit, one study found that blood pressure was lowered within 24
hours in those who drank beetroot juice.
Runners who currently drink beet juice before races have
settled on drinking 500 ml, 2-3 hours before races. Even though the study
I mentioned indicated that more beet juice is better, the quantity of 500 ml
seems to be the ideal amount as it that produced good results without any
negative physical reaction while running.
I began my trial into beetroot juice and running endurance
16 days ago, a couple of days after I had ran the Belfast City
Marathon (4th May 2015). My performance in this marathon should be a good
baseline to test against when I run my next marathon on 24th May 2015. When
considering which brand of beet juice to drink I looked at a couple of
different brands initially, and in the end settled on ‘Beet It’ beet juice due
to its popularity and availability.
Regarding how much to consume, over the past 16 days I have
been drinking 500ml each day. This weekend, when I run the Newry City
Marathon (24th May 2015) will be the first test of my beet juice and running
endurance trial. I am not expecting to see massive speed improvements in my
running, but with one of the most consistent findings from the various
studies showing improvements in exercise efficiency, I will pay close attention
to how I am feeling while running the marathon, and take a note of any
improvements I notice in my exercise efficiency. Regardless how it goes this
weekend I will still continue with my 30 day trial into beet juice and running
endurance, and will post a detailed review of the full 30 days once my trial
has concluded.
