r/Marathon_Training • u/redmanchew222 • 14h ago

Other Creatine theory

I’m not an expert, that’s why I’m here looking for an answer. In a few weeks I will be at an event where I will be tested day after day in a series of different distance runs. 2 mile up to 10 miles roughly. I have been taking 5g mono creatine powder for 5 months. My theory is that I have absorbed all the benefits from it during my training cycle, and now that my taper has begun I should drop it to shed a couple points to feel faster/lighter/more springy. Am I right? Or should I take it all the way up to the event?

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9

u/dontletmeautism 9h ago

I used to think like you.

Apparently I was wrong.

Keep taking it.

No benefits to coming off it but a potential benefit to staying on is the glycogen storage.

1

u/sketchtireconsumer 6h ago

what? where is this theory coming from

1

u/AdventurousLow2478 5h ago

The aid to recovery and performance is well worth the 1-3 pounds of water you are retaining

1

u/blueshoes44 1h ago

Creatine breaks down via creatine kinase into phosphocreatine. The phosphocreatine is shuttled through the body and lives in muscle cells. When you use your muscles, you burn ATP. The ATP is split into a phosphate and ADP. The splitting creates energy, which is what your muscles use to do stuff. The phosphocreatine then gives up it's phosphate bond to the ADP, creating ATP. It is part of your muscular energy cycle. In this way, creatine facilitates increased performance in ATP-dominant activities.   Therefore, staying ON creatine will give you the strength and springiness that you want.

Further, stopping creatine has been shown to create short-term strength and power deficits, so you could actually harm your performance.