BOOZE and running

Alcohol lowers your testosterone Nancy.

Booze has zero effect on my training. I drink regularily therefore dont suffer any side effects - well sometimes, but those are the days you have to be tough on yourself and nut it out.

Therefore, the only effect of drinking seems to be it makes me harder.

It should be noted, i dont drink til i pass out. just 3-6 drinks most nights.

I can still crank out a marathon in under three hours on around 35-40miles a week

well dat answer moobs' response.

thats pretty cool. im sure a factor is that because some people are easily relaxed by it, they sleep better, or just maximise crucial rest time, wat do u reckon?

must say though, 3-6 beers MOST nights???!

greenguy wrote:

Booze has zero effect on my training. I drink regularily therefore dont suffer any side effects - well sometimes, but those are the days you have to be tough on yourself and nut it out.

Therefore, the only effect of drinking seems to be it makes me harder.

It should be noted, i dont drink til i pass out. just 3-6 drinks most nights.

I can still crank out a marathon in under three hours on around 35-40miles a week

yeah, but he was talking about athletes.

[quote]thirsty! wrote:

Some say booze (without too much of a meal) can help replenish lost cal's, not fill you up horribly and aid the recovery process! Think Guinness or other 'healthier' beers.

How does booze affect other peoples training?? Any strict booze diets?[/quote

Beer, or any other alcoholic beverage, is not "healthy". In moderation, they can have some positive effects, depending upon the person and how they are wired, but alcohol is still basically a poison to the system that the body wants to eliminate as quickly as possible.

Anyone in serious athletic training who drinks heavily is doing nothing but holding back their progress.

thats one side of the argument alright.

but lots of people who arent training hard do enjoy induldging and associate (unfortunately perhaps) alcohol with chilling and havin a good time. chillin and havin a gud time is important in hectic training schedules as well, hence the role of alcohol (and this thread). question is how much/when does it hinder training really, when u acknowledge its positive benefits.

i mean having a few too many before an easy long wkend run, wont damage anyone! at least you're still getting out there

Personally, when I was running well, I didn't find it helped. Never seemed to get a quality session in the day after drinking. If you're having to push through a hangover you're definitely not running the best you can - for me it felt more like surviving a session than getting a really good quality workout in.

I didn't find booze without a meal aided recovery cos it was too dehydrating and the next day I'd feel like crap.

Having said that, I think banning booze is excessive.

As long as you're not binging every week I'd say don't worry about it but that depends on what level you want to run at.

i also drink 3-6 pints nightly (maybe a couple breaks during the week). and several times a day i enjoy bong rips. then i go and do 15+ miles. i'm not the fastest kid in the world, but i'm not trying to run professionally either. i just wanna get high. so for anybody else who's just trying to feel good: i highly recommend adding beer and herb to your training routine.

In 2003, I tried an experiment of no booze for one year, to see if I could improve my training and times. All my shorter distance races - 5K's, 5-milers & 10K's - became considerably slower. On the other hand, my 15K time held steady and I improved on the half marathon as well as a PR for my marathon. Not sure what relation being on the wagon had to any of this. Started drinking my favorite Sam Adams again in 2004.

Fast forward to 2008. Again, for this year, I declared no booze. Primarily, I wanted to take away any obstacles in my planned comeback after 2 years of injuries, and to knock my weight down. I'm back down to my weight from 8 & 9 years ago when I was establishing most of my PR's. The nagging knee pain has finally disappeared after cortisone and some PT, so I'm just starting to get some more intense stuff back into my schedule. My training times have gotten better, but it's still too early to record significant improvement. I have lost one motivational tool for post-run reward - A Nice Cold One. Kinda miss it.

You are what as known an a head case, a few beers once in a while will not hurt you. Get over your weird self satisfaction of denying yourself some pleasure just for the sake of running some arbitrary time. It's strange how you get satisfaction from denying yourself satisfaction.

Maybe there are other factors. Alcoholism is a legitimate concern in my family history. I usually can't settle for two or even four beers. Don't assume anything.

Head case, indeed...

well there ya go; some people have strict regimes, but in the end, is it reeeeeeallllly worth it?? Probably not, missing the odd cold one is not a nice feeling so surely getting rid of that feeling is judicious.

eamonn coughlan (sub4 min miler at 40 yrs of age) was rumoured to have been sipping a pint the night before his race!

balance it is wrote:

well there ya go; some people have strict regimes, but in the end, is it reeeeeeallllly worth it?? Probably not, missing the odd cold one is not a nice feeling so surely getting rid of that feeling is judicious.

eamonn coughlan (sub4 min miler at 40 yrs of age) was rumoured to have been sipping a pint the night before his race!

What is the great sin here of applying a little discipline in one's program? Are people so needy of instant gratification that they've got to have whatever they want, NOW?

As I stated simply in my earlier post, I saw booze as an obstacle to my goal of reestablishing good running fitness. Sure, I like beer. Being without is not the end of the world, though. Weekend runs without the cobwebs in my head feel pretty good. Unfortunately, for me, alcohol is an all-or-nothing proposition. Just the nature of the beast, in my instance. Why is that so hard for some people to fathom?

its so hard to fathom because you say you miss it loads when ur off it, yet one nice cold one even once fortnightly would do the trick most likely.

all-or-nothing isnt ever healthly!

have you ever experimented with light drinking??

Booze/beer has carbs in it and is great for replenishing yourself after a workout. I saw on the news the other night that they did a test on beer vs. water and they said beer was better for dehydrating yourself compared to water, woohoo. Drink in moteration and not a lot before a race or hard run, but afterward is fine. Happy running!!

runnerchick4 wrote:

Booze/beer has carbs in it and is great for replenishing yourself after a workout. I saw on the news the other night that they did a test on beer vs. water and they said beer was better for dehydrating yourself compared to water, woohoo. Drink in moteration and not a lot before a race or hard run, but afterward is fine. Happy running!!

Why would you want to DEhydrate yourself after a run??? Beer/alcohol is not great for replenishing yourself at any time.

think! wrote:

its so hard to fathom because you say you miss it loads when ur off it, yet one nice cold one even once fortnightly would do the trick most likely.

all-or-nothing isnt ever healthly!

have you ever experimented with light drinking??

Do you even bother to read previous posts in full before saying crap? Where does this guy say he misses it loads when he's not boozin'? "I miss it a little" doesn't sound like that to me. He also says there are family issues with the sauce.

Still, the part about giving it up altogether wouldn't work for me. Unless he's a full-blown alkie, I don't know if there's any real concern.

It's an individual choice I guess, and seems to be a truthful response to the OP. Eventually, everyone who drinks has to decide if the bottle is friend or foe.

I can understand where the guys coming from. One or two beers a night routine wouldn't last for long. So giving it up entirely for a long duration is required (he thinks).

Maybe a compromise would work. one night a week of 4-6 beers and have a no-limit beer night once a month. I doubt that this type of drinking would have any adverse effect on running.

Some people function better are more productive when they stick to strict guidelines of living. They are called obsessive compulsives and if they don't keep their guard up and moniter themselves things can go awry. At least in my experience.

THE best site for the truth about drinking and drinking problems...

www.moderation.org