Caffeine or NO?

I use caffeine when I race and avoid it completely all other times.  It's impossible to tell whether it really does help my performances but it makes me feel more awake, which can only be a good thing.

As far as the science goes there seems to be evidence to support both sides of the arguments so the reality is that it probably makes little difference whether you use it or not.

On a typical day the only caffeine I have is the minimal amount in decaf coffee and maybe a little bit of chocolate here and there (hey, a girl's gotta live!).  For a while I was avoiding the gels with caffeine because I was worried that it would make me feel jittery, but I also started reading about the positive effects of caffeine for athletes, so I tried one on a training day.  I felt great and definitely had a burst of energy.  Since then, I have used caffeine in a race as well, with no ill effects and a huge burst of energy soon after I took it.

I don't personally take any, because I'm hypersensitive to it.  But from what I've seen of the studies, the amounts that have been shown to be effective for boosting athletic performance) are REALLY high, a lot more than what a cup of coffee contains.

This is a question?

 I think it more or less depends on a persons personal preference.  There have been studies that go one way or the other, with some suprising corrleations between say a shot (or double) of espresso before a short distance race, say a 20k TT or a sprint tri.

 Do what's comfortable for you.

I'm the same way, except change the times to 6:30am and 10am or later. If I'm having trouble waking up during my early morning workout (since I am not a morning person at all) I'll have a Gu with some caffeine in it. I've learned the hard way about drinking a cup of coffee/espresso and then working out right after.

The only Gu I buy is the Gu with caffeine in it, since those are the only flavors I like. And I only like Gu. I haven't had any noticeable detrimental effects from it. 

Wow, great comments!

I think, however I still don't have a consensus.  I'm gonna try both ways.

Caffeinated & Decaff.

We'll see how it goes.

Thanks, everyone for weighing in!