Your new endurance boost? Beet juice
Ten days before a triathlon, Lauren Goss is reaching for beet juice, a popular companion on the endurance circuit.
“It gives you more endurance,” Goss said.
Jessica Cording, a New York-based dietitian, said athletes like beet juice because it's rich in nitrates that can improve blood flow, allowing the body to use oxygen more efficiently.
Goss, a Boulder, Colo.-based professional triathlete and spokeswoman for the beverage Beet Performer, has been drinking beet juice since 2012.
Rather than consume it daily, she opts to down 8 ounces a day for the 10 days leading up to an event. The morning of the race — maybe three hours before — she'll drink another 8 ounces.
“I want to be able to feel the difference,” she said.
Before she discovered Beet Performer, Goss would puree beets herself. About three beets will deliver 8 ounces.
Goss said she prefers the canned beverage, which “doesn't taste like soil.”
She said she has noticed her results getting better, although the average person's regular workout might not be as dependent on a 10-second improvement.
She recommends giving beet juice a test run during training.
Cording added a warning for people with a history of oxalate-containing kidney stones: Beets are very high in oxalate, she said.
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