Tea has been known as a health support drink for long time worldwide. In addition to the aspect, I’d like emphasize it can be also “sports drink”.

It is reported that caffeine intake before exercise could enhance performance in endurance sports [068-070, 516]. Moreover, theanine could improve our attention performance [518]. Expecting the improvement in endurance performance and concentration, I drink thicker green tea before the races of open water swimming.

Let’s enjoy the wounderful beaches in Shizuoka prefecture with Shizuoka teas! This beach is “Nagahama beach” in Izu-Taga region in Shizuoka prefecture. What a fine quality of sea water that we can sea through the rocks on the bottm. These beautiful views make us feel teas more delicious.

In addition, outdoor sports make us sun-tanned. For reducing the damage and stress by sunshine, intake of vitamin C is known to be effective. Based on the research by Takayanagi et al. (1987) [199], that repoted the extraction ratio of vitamin C ranged between 498 and 639 mg/100g leaf, the infusion of 10g of loose leaf tea in 500ml water provides more than approx. 50mg of vitamin C. This amount equals to the half of the requirement per day. If we drink its 2nd infusion, we can intake more vitamin C.

Thanks to these benefits of tea, I have got some prizes of open water swimming races. Yesterday I could win the 3rd place in the personal competition of 2km open water swimming and 1st place in 500m x 4 relay held on the Iwa beach in Manazuru town in Kanagawa prefecture.

In this summer, many open water swimming race will be held on various fantastic beaches in Shizuoka prefecture as follows. Please enjoy these wonderful beaches with Shizuoka teas.

5/20 Minami Atami Aquathlon on Nagahama Beach in Atami city.
6/4 OCHA green tea open water swim in La La La Sun Beach in Numazu city.
9/30 Open Water Swimming Race on Osesaki beach in Numazu city.

[068] Costill D.L., Dalsky G.P., Fink W.J. (1978) : Effects of caffeine ingestion on metabolism and exercise performance, Medicine and Science in Sports 10(3):155-158.
[069] Ivy J.L., Costill D.L., Fink W.J., Lower R.W. (1979) : Influence of caffeine and carbohydrate feedings on endurance performance, Medicine and Science in Sports 11(1):6-11.
[070] Astorino T.A., Rohmann R.L., Firth K. (2008) : Effect of caffeine ingestion on one-repetition maximum muscular strength, European Journal of Applied Physiology 102:127-132.
[199] Takayanagi H. et al. (1987) : Changes in Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Green Tea by Different Steaming Times, Tea Research Journal, 65:81-85
[516] Greer F., Friars D., Graham T.E. (2000) : Comparison of caffeine and theophylline ingestion: exercise metabolism and endurance, Journal of Applied Physiology 89(5):1837-1844.
[518] Higashiyama A., Htay H.H., Ozeki M., Juneja L.R., Kapoor M.P. (2011) : Effects o L-theanine on attention and reaction time response.