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Caffeine dose
The caffeine dose that research shows helps endurance, for your weight, and the safe limits.
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Caffeine doseFondoLab
216–432
mg
- Lowest dose
- 144 mg
- Most at once
- 200 mg
- Most a day
- 400 mg
216–432 mg is the range shown to help endurance: 3 to 6 mg per kg. Start at the low end, and try it in training first.
Most studies take it about 60 minutes before the start. In a long race, a dose later on, closer to fatigue, may help more. Try your dose and timing in training.
Even your low dose is above 200 mg, the safe single dose: split it, for example half before the start and half later in the race.
The top of your range is above 400 mg, the most EFSA considers safe in a day for healthy adults. Stay under it.
How we got this
The formula with your numbers in it, then every constant we used and where it comes from.
The working
- 3 to 6 mg/kg × 72 kg = 216 to 432 mg
The numbers and their sources
A number marked FondoLab default is our judgement, not a study's finding; we say so rather than borrow authority.
| Number | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Caffeine dose | 6.0 / 4.5 / 3.0 mg/kg (low / medium / high sensitivity) | 3–6 mg/kg reliably improves endurance performance; very high doses bring side effects without more benefit. [1] |
| Caffeine caps | 200 mg per dose, 400 mg per ride | EFSA considers single doses up to 200 mg, and up to 400 mg a day, safe for healthy adults, including during intense exercise. Each dose is capped first, so a heavier or less caffeine-sensitive rider can get less in total than their dose by body weight; the plan says when that happens. [2] |
| Caffeine timing | early dose ~45 min before the start; finishing dose 75 min before the finish on rides of 3h or more | Blood levels peak 30–120 min after swallowing and the half-life is 4–6 h. Caffeine taken later in long events may help more than caffeine taken before the start. The exact 45 and 75 minutes are FondoLab defaults. [1] |
References
-
Guest NS, VanDusseldorp TA, Nelson MT, et al. (2021). International society of sports nutrition position stand: caffeine and exercise performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 18:1. doi:10.1186/s12970-020-00383-4
Position stand · Synthesis of studies in trained and untrained people across many sports; aerobic endurance shows the most consistent benefit. · Read by us: Full text, first third (open access)
Caffeine reliably improves endurance performance, with moderate to large benefits, though the size of the effect differs between people.
- Effective dose: 3–6 mg per kg of body weight. The minimum effective dose may be as low as 2 mg/kg.
- Very high doses, around 9 mg/kg, bring many side effects and are not needed for a benefit.
- The most common timing is 60 min before exercise. Blood levels peak 30–120 min after swallowing it; the half-life is 4–6 h.
- Caffeine gum is absorbed through the cheek and acts faster than capsules.
- In long events, caffeine taken later in the race, closer to fatigue, may help more than caffeine taken before the start; low doses taken late compared well with higher doses taken an hour before.
- Responses vary, so riders should try their dosing and timing in training.
-
EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (2015). Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine. EFSA Journal 13(5):4102. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4102
Regulatory scientific opinion · Healthy adults in the EU, from all dietary sources. Separate limits apply in pregnancy and for children. · Read by us: Summary (EUFIC); the opinion itself was not reachable. Read it before relying on more than the points below.
For healthy adults:
- Single doses up to 200 mg raise no safety concerns.
- Up to 400 mg over 24 hours is unlikely to cause harm.
- Both levels also hold for healthy adults doing intense physical exercise.
Read more: Caffeine on a gran fondo: how much, and when?
3 to 6 mg per kilo works for endurance, and later in a long ride may beat a big dose at the start. Dose, timing and safe limits.
On your race
Fueling planner: carbs, fluid and caffeine stop by stop for your race
More calculators
- Energy of an effortWatts and time to kJ of work and kcal burned, with the gross efficiency it rests on.
- Carb loadingGrams of carbohydrate a day to load before a race, from a meta-analysis of 181 studies.
- Carbohydrate budgetMuscle and liver glycogen against what a ride burns: when you run empty, and what to eat or how much to ease off.