Hi,

I'm going to be racing in the Berkeley Crit a week from this saturday. I was wondering if it would be a horrible idea to "load" my body with creatine this coming week. That way, I won't feel the lactic acid burn as bad when I'm racing?

I don't know, I'm kind of scared I'll get a heart attack or massive kidney/liver failure.

Thought the trick was baking soda? Never used it myself or creatine for that matter. I dont think either of them are particularly brilliant for you

No amount of creatine is going to make up for not having trained as hard as the other guy...but you know that

rico

Don't worry, you'll be fine.
Thing is though, on the longer term creatine could do damage to your kidneys, for me thats a good reason not to use it.
And, more importantly for us weightweenies, it makes you gain weight because it retains(?) water.
I've tried the stuff and it didn't do me any good, i say: save your money and stay away from it.

So you guys think I should just load up on carbs and hydrate the days before?

Load up whit carbohydrates and then go to the crit and feel the pain.
Pain is a part of competitive cycling and it´s only good for you

Before an important race you should always do that.
But if you want to try creatine, do it, maybe it works for you.
I just think it's an overrated product.

For a crit? This isn't some kinda Kermesse style, 2-3 hour crit is it? Just a 1 hour crit?

Dude, seriously, all you need to worry about for a crit is that you're not dehydrated or glycogen depleted, and get a good warmup (and I mean a good warmup for a crit). For years, the extent of my crit prep consisted of a serving of UltraFuel (400 calories), another water bottle of water during warmup, and 30-45 minutes of warming up. Nothing magic about crit racing, the race is short enough you won't bonk unless you haven't eaten that day, you just have to be sure the motor is ready to go when the gun goes off.

Yes, it's short and fast.

40 laps around 1 block in berkeley. I was just hoping the creatine would help me fight off the lactic acid pain.

Sorry, you'll suffer anyway, with or without creatine
But that's part of the fun right?

Creatine benefits are not that great. Benefit has been pretty clearly demonstrated in the exercise capacity of kidney dialysis patients but they are so far from lactate threshold the applicability to your situation is pretty much zero. Soda loading is what you want if you are looking to buffer lactate but it can cause serious digestive distress when taken in the quantities needed so should definitely be tried out beforehand.

Pain is what separates the winners from the losers so you should learn to embrace it and welcome it and thank your body for giving you such good feedback. I mean literally embrace it and welcome it filling your body. Attitude makes all the difference. Just ask Vinokourov whose incredible riding after Kivilev died was all the result of what had changed in his head.

Creatine will do nothing but waste your money if you only use it for one week. It takes about a month to do anything and usually only helps those that are vegetarian or close to it. It has to build in your system and yes it will make you retain water, which means more weight. This is also why a lot of people think it works because the muscles will look bigger but its only looks. If you want to try then do it but dont even think about it working in one week. And follow the directions, blahblahblah.

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Is pointless in cycling has only a limited effect in explosive sports like the 100 meter dash where creatine boost can have a positive effect for about the first 4 seconds..... then that possible extra reserve will be depleted....

By the way if you are a coffee drinker.... caffeine blocks the the uptake of creatine....

You mean soda loading as in coca cola soda? I heard you can get rid of the bubbles by letting it sit out overnight, and then putting it in your waterbottle the next day.

Baking soda.

Pain is good, learn to like it.

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