ProLine Sports, Nutrition Blog: PreRace Capsule Review

Everyone has their secrets. Their go-to meal or supplements before a race. And for a while, many atheletes have been going for PreRace, in powder form. However, First Endurance did one better by offering up a more well-rounded approach to the same formula. PreRace in capsule form. Not only is PreRace in powder form not the greatest tasting, it's kind of cumbersome to worry about when to take how much when you're out on the course or out on a long training session. You need X amount of scoops for Y amount of water over Z amount of time if you weight between A-B lbs. If you're not great with numbers, the odds aren't in your favor for the powder form.

Enter PreRace in capsule form. The perfectly dosed amount in each capsule. Take X amount every two hours depending on tolerance and physical exertion and you are done. Generally for people who are heavier or less reactive to caffeine, 3 is the magic number. But if you are smaller, more reactive to caffeine 1 or 2 will be plenty.

Now I'm a bigger guy, and I like my coffee, so I started using 3 capsules right away. I've had some in my possession for about a week now and have put in a few training sessions with the capsule form. And I'll tell you, they're great. I think the best part about them is you don't get that over-stimulated feeling once things start flowing through your blood stream. It's a much better time-released formulation that truly does last around 2+ hours of training. Sunday I did a 2 hour ride on my trainer, going for a middle of the road effort. The goal with this ride was to get my base riding back up before I start slugging away at too much high effort riding.

About 20 minutes before I got on the bike, I popped 3 PreRace capsules and downed a banana and some chocolate milk and was ready to go. Taking about 15 minutes of low end faster pedal stroke work to warm up, I could feel I was ready to get at it. And once I started, there was no turning back. Throughout the whole 2-hour ride, I never once felt fatigue start kicking in, but my power and effort stayed constant. I never got jittery, but that could be due to my tolerance to caffeine. Every pedal stroke felt fluid and ready for more. I think you get where I'm going with this. I truly feel like PreRace is a great supplement.

To add in another experience, I did the same workout in the pool (2,400m) of high intensity work, about 4 days apart. The first time through, sans PreRace, I was really pulling myself to the end of my 100m repeats towards the end. The second time around, identical session with PreRace, it was a different story. My recovery between sets was faster, and I was also ready for more. But time was against me and the work day was starting so I cut my workout, and was feeling good throughout the day.

However, I wouldn't reccommend making it part of your every day grab bag of exercise supplements. Like everything else out there, you wil become tolerant of it. So I feel it's best to leave PreRace strictly for race day and those days where you REALLY need that boost. Let's say you're doing a max effort or a long run or ride, that would be suitable. But for a 30 minute jog and stretch? Not so much. And also like most supplements out there, try it out in training a few times before even considering throwing it in your race day lineup.

-Dave