How much does caffeine before endurance events help?
Your pre-race coffee is basically peer-reviewed.
Caffeine dosing is commonly associated with a 2–4% relative improvement in endurance time-trial performance in meta-analyses.
sports
health
If you…
Take ~3–6 mg/kg caffeine 60 minutes pre-race
Then…
Time trial completion time → -2–4%
Context
Cycling and running time trials, trained amateurs, WADA-legal dosing
What changes
Caffeine dosing is commonly associated with a 2–4% relative improvement in endurance time-trial performance in meta-analyses.
When this tends to work
- Conditions similar to: Cycling and running time trials, trained amateurs, WADA-legal dosing
- You can measure
Time trial completion timereliably - The intervention is implemented consistently, not half-measured
When to be careful
- Your audience or product differs materially from the cited context
- Compliance costs or second-order effects outweigh the lift
- Evidence label is meta_analysis—treat wide ranges as planning bands, not promises
Practical takeaway
Use the cited range for prioritization and test design. Verify against your own data before scaling.
