Sunday, seven in the morning, in a parking lot below the mountain. Your laces are tied and you’re holding an espresso you’re not sure you should drink. How much. When. And what it’ll do to your stomach at kilometer twenty.
Quote:
Every time I wanted to look up a race, I had to check ten different sites. Now everything is on one page — I can see all the route details and plan my nutrition too.” — Alexandros Foukis, Handpickers Coffee Roasters
In your brain, adenosine is the molecule that says “enough.” Caffeine takes its place. The climb stays the same — it just feels a little easier.
We’re not saying this as physiologists. We know about coffee, not about sports science. In 2021, the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) gathered the research on caffeine and exercise. The doses that follow come from the ISSN’s official position on caffeine.
Studies find benefits at 3 to 6 mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. Even 2 mg per kilo can help. More caffeine doesn’t mean more speed — around 9 mg per kilo, jitters and stomach issues become common.
In cups? A single espresso contains 60 to 100 mg of caffeine. For a 70 kg runner, 3 mg per kilo is 210 mg — roughly three espresso shots at 75 mg each. At 2 mg per kilo, that’s about two.
This is not medical advice. If you have a heart condition or blood pressure issues, consult your doctor.
In research, caffeine is typically administered 60 minutes before the effort. If the race starts at 09:00, your coffee is at 08:00 — somewhere between the car park and the briefing.
For race morning, we choose Dark Sparrow, our espresso blend. Dark chocolate, hazelnut, and caramel — a blend that wakes you up without picking a fight. One espresso in the car, then head to the start line.
For longer races, studies show a smaller dose later in the race can also help.
Nothing new on race day. The rule you know about shoes applies to coffee, too. Test your dose on a big training run first. That way you learn how your stomach reacts during training, not at kilometer twenty of the race.
For the Sunday long run, our coffee is the AA Githiga #096 from Kenya. Dried mango, apricot, and black tea — a filter coffee that opens up as it cools, then four hours on the trail.
Let’s put it all into a real race. We pulled the details from Trail Book — and further below we’ll tell you what it is.
The Dirfys Trail Run takes place in Steni, Evia. The Hraios Athlos 30K course is 32.5 kilometers with 1,506 meters of positive elevation gain. The start is on Sunday, November 29, 2026 at 09:00. In Trail Book’s race plan, you also see an estimated finish time, so you know how many hours you’ll be on the mountain.
Your coffee plan, step by step:
For everything else, Trail Book creates a plan for gels, hydration and salt for your race.
Το Trail Book σε τρία κινητά — ημερολόγιο αγώνων, πλάνο Dirfys Trail Run και σελίδα χορηγού Handpickers Coffee
At the finish, coffee has no more work to do. It woke you up, it kept you on the trail, it’s done. Now it’s time to drink coffee for a different reason — to sit with your crew and talk about how the race went, which section broke you, who missed the turn. Our coffee for that moment is Santa Monica from Colombia. Ripe strawberries, chocolate, and tangerine — a coffee you’ve earned after 32 kilometers.
Caffeine, though, stays in your body for hours. If you finish late in the afternoon, think about your sleep before that second cup.
On winter afternoons, with a Caballero Tanairi from Honduras and the maps spread open, you choose your next race. That’s where Trail Book helps.
It’s built by one person: Nikos Kritikos. A mountain runner and developer, originally from Samos, living in Athens. He documents his race preparation YouTube Zagori Prep video.
On Trail Book you’ll find 129 races across Greece, most of them mountain trails. The calendar lets you compare by date, distance and elevation gain. Each race has its route on the map with an elevation profile, typical weather for that day, how to get there and where to stay. It’s free — no account, no ads. Registration always links to the organizer’s own site.
We are its founding sponsor. Sponsors never change the race data and are always labeled as “Sponsor.”
“Before every race I used to search for the route and the weather across ten different sites. I wanted to find everything on one page, and that’s how Trail Book started. The coffee on race morning is the only thing that doesn’t need a plan.”
— Nikos Kritikos, Trail Book
Tell us on Instagram, at @handpickerscoffee. And if you want to try the three coffees from this article, you’ll find them at our online shop.
On the first Friday of every month, we also welcome you to the roastery for a tour and a tasting.
Stories, tips and flavor – freshly served.
