The Beet Goes On

My friend Chadwick Sunday sent me a comprehensive article about beet juice, Using Beet Juice to Improve Performance in TrainingPeaks. Besides, of course, my recent blog post, I think it's the best information about beet juice yet. 

Here is an update about my own experimentation. I've taken the reconstituted beet juice powder a few times now. Although the stuff appeared to work well for a particular long run, I wondered what it would do over a week or so. I'm now taking a tablespoon a day, at least most mornings. Would the buildup over several days or a week be helpful? I noted that some of the studies had participants take the stuff for one to two weeks. I'm not sure that I'm making any improvements yet. But I have a long run tomorrow and a half-marathon on Sunday, so we'll see.

One other thing: the taste. After mixing a tablespoon of the powder in a glass of water and trying to gulp it down first thing in the morning, it's all I can do to keep the stuff down. Someone mentioned that although it definitely tastes like beets, it also tastes like there is plenty of dirt and grass included in the mix as well. I think that's a fair description. But, this morning, I tried mixing it with vegetable juice. Guess what? It ain't so bad this way. In fact, it tasted like vegetable juice.  I'll keep at it.