Beatroot Juice

Its gross!

Even later latest research says that cooked beetroot works as well - more palatable and much cheaper.

Dunno if it works, but it makes my pee a lovely shade of pink.

They mentioned it on 'Bang Goes the Theory' the other week and just thought if it would be any good for runners??

Anyone that has taken it, do you know anywhere you can get it from?? H&B, Boots, major supermarket??

I bought it from Sainsburys... awful stuff and had to work very hard to drink a normal size glass of it. I decided I would just train harder!

I've got it from Sainsburys too - it isn't nice but if you neck it straight back it is just about drinkable.   Too early to tell you if it works yet but yes it does turn your pee pink.    

I don't know about cooked beetroot being more palatable - I've tried it in the past and it's just as rank but you can't tip it down your neck like you can a drink - the pickled stuff isn't too bad but who wants to stuff themselves with pickled beetroot.   

I tried it and couldn't really tell if it affected my performance or not

but the pink pee was a bit alarming

(there was a warning on the bottle)

I've used it for three races and pb'd on each, but I like to think that was more down to the training than the beet juice!   However, it didn't do me any harm and might have contributed so I'm willing to use it again.  I juiced my own the first time around but used Beet It shots for the marathon, which were easier for travelling. 

Charles J - the recommendation is that you take 140ml for the four days leading up to the event (with the last one on the day of the event).  As far as I know there's no evidence that taking it for months on end makes any more improvement and I don't think it would be recommended for prolonged use since there have been no tests done to rule out long term side effects.  

Actually I love the stuff, but I like beetroot sandwiches 

tried it for 4 races, taking it for 5 days beforehand. Pb'd everytime....obvioulsy has nothing to do with me increasing my mileage, and running more days a week.

As I like it, I'll keep doing it for those special events, but a bit pricey for everyweek. I'll just stick to the sarnies.

regards long term side effects,   this is a drink that some of the non running general public drink...so i think it will be ok.

Also if you get a "boost" in races by drinking 4 days before, would it be reasonable to think that if you drank it everyday it would "boost" the effort you can put into your training and therefore perform better

I have been drinking it for 2 weeks now, the only thing i know for sure is im about £6 lighter.

I am tempted to try it again... 140ml doesn't seem too bad. I have an ultra in 4 weeks so will see if it works.

All of the academic research I've read seems to support the claim that it does impove endurance capacity. All of the research was conducted on trained/professional athletes though, so how that translates to improved performance in recreational (I don't really like that word but can't think how else to put it!) athletes I'm not sure. 

It won't hurt though, and it certainly gives other health benefits so it's worth a try  

It's also worth noting that the research has been conducted using a concentrated beetroot juice, so you need to check the nutrition info./ingredients of the different brands. 

Not endorsing it, or dissing it, but here is some research posted on the "Beet It" website http://www.beet-it.com/research/ (there may be some selection bias here - they probably wouldn't post any negative findings, but these may, of course, not exist).

I'm drinking it daily now - interested in the endurance and blood-pressure effects. I dilute it with apple-juice (about 50:50) which makes it a bit more palatable. I also tried the Beet It concentrated shots pre-Brighton marathon. These were quite tasty really - earthy, but quite sweet - a bit like undiluted Ribena!) As with other posters, I can't discern a particular effect (no single person ever could).

As regards the pink wee: the main problem with this is that you can't use the colour of your wee to assess whether you are dehydrated.

Dan Ellingworth wrote (see)

As regards the pink wee: the main problem with this is that you can't use the colour of your wee to assess whether you are dehydrated.

You sort of still can - if it's pale pink you're probably hydrated well, if it looks like Ribena, you need to drink more

Wow looks like more people are taking / tried this than i thought. I found some Beet It Stamina Shots on the H&B site, So gunna pop in there and grab a few and see how i get on??

Would you say this is something you need to load a couple of weeks before a race maybe??

Nope.
The research suggests around 2 hours before the race.