how much does alcohol affect performance and fitness?
how much does alcohol affect performance and fitness?
If you drink it, you'll die!
If you go binge drinking every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights you'll definitely see some poor performances and you'll likely gain weight. If you have a beer or two with dinner every now and then you'll be fine.
I find it hard to keep my weight down when I drink a beer or two a night, even at high mileage. I think it's because the beer doesn't make me feel any more full.
I have been drinking between 6 to 12 standard drinks 2-4 nights per week for about 4 months now and still been training but not racing. i started drinking more heavily around March last year. I've been binge drinking for around 12 years - but usually only weekly. Sometimes I went a month without a drink.
I feel unfit but put that down to getting old. I need to lose weight (from a runner's perspective). I look slim from a non runner's perspective.
I'm going to stop and see how things go.
Alcohol has a double edged attack on your weight. It's not just the 100-300 calories per drink that cling to you, but it also leads to poor food choices. So you pound a six pack down and eat half a pizza and snacks and suddenly it's a 2000+ calorie bump in your consumption. Weight gain = slower times.
I drank pretty heavily almost every wednesday night (we'd w/o on wednesdays), and fri/sat when we weren't racing. If i had to put a number on it, i'd say i would binge drink on average 2.5 times a week, but definitely a beer or 2 every night except before a race. Ran 80 mpw, broke up with my gf, and drank more than ever my last semester of school - PR's across the board and a lot more girls.
When you're having fun, you'll run fast. Running is 90% mental. If you think alcohol hinders your performance, it will. If you don't think it does, then it won't.
405 once upon a time wrote:
I drank pretty heavily almost every wednesday night (we'd w/o on wednesdays), and fri/sat when we weren't racing. If i had to put a number on it, i'd say i would binge drink on average 2.5 times a week, but definitely a beer or 2 every night except before a race. Ran 80 mpw, broke up with my gf, and drank more than ever my last semester of school - PR's across the board and a lot more girls.
When you're having fun, you'll run fast. Running is 90% mental. If you think alcohol hinders your performance, it will. If you don't think it does, then it won't.
Check in with us 10 years from now and let us know how this approach is working for you.
smd wrote:
405 once upon a time wrote:I drank pretty heavily almost every wednesday night (we'd w/o on wednesdays), and fri/sat when we weren't racing. If i had to put a number on it, i'd say i would binge drink on average 2.5 times a week, but definitely a beer or 2 every night except before a race. Ran 80 mpw, broke up with my gf, and drank more than ever my last semester of school - PR's across the board and a lot more girls.
When you're having fun, you'll run fast. Running is 90% mental. If you think alcohol hinders your performance, it will. If you don't think it does, then it won't.
Check in with us 10 years from now and let us know how this approach is working for you.
Well, I've been running for almost 25 years and agree with "having fun" helps running. While binge drinking is not good for your health overall, drinking a few drinks the night before a wo (even race) has never made anyone slower. I have found that when I feel like I am "sacrificing" things for running, it never goes well. I've gone months without drinking and have found that it just makes me expect more out of running and that doesn't help me. Not saying that alcohol helps running at all. Just that going out of your way to not enjoy drinkng doesn't increase performance. But then again, naturally, I tend to not binge, but more likely to have 1-3 drinks over a few hours regularly.
405 once upon a time wrote:
Running is 90% mental. If you think alcohol hinders your performance, it will. If you don't think it does, then it won't.
I agree.
Worry less & live it up. Your performance in life will be 10x better.
N0 SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN wrote:
smd wrote:Check in with us 10 years from now and let us know how this approach is working for you.
Well, I've been running for almost 25 years and agree with "having fun" helps running. While binge drinking is not good for your health overall, drinking a few drinks the night before a wo (even race) has never made anyone slower. I have found that when I feel like I am "sacrificing" things for running, it never goes well. I've gone months without drinking and have found that it just makes me expect more out of running and that doesn't help me. Not saying that alcohol helps running at all. Just that going out of your way to not enjoy drinkng doesn't increase performance. But then again, naturally, I tend to not binge, but more likely to have 1-3 drinks over a few hours regularly.
I agree about having fun with your running (and life). I meant his approach to drinking and its likelihood of not being a panacea if he keeps it up like that for the next 10 years.
Depends if you're really serious about your running. It has a negative effect for sure but some people don't care. Lets see what the great Haile Gebrselassie has to say about it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYnCnxJQNXw
About 5:20 into this video - 'Don't drink alcohol or don't smoke, don't do it. If you do it, I mean you beat yourself which means you cannot win any race. You cannot beat anybody'.
Alcohol didn't affect Henry Rono's 1981 WR 5K run.
"Finally, in September 1981 in Knarvik, Norway, Rono made good on his prediction [of breaking the 5k wr]. Running with no real competition, but after a night of heavy drinking, he eclipsed the record by more than two seconds, finishing in 13:06.2. 'Thank God that track was round,' he would later tell his one-time agent, Tracy Sundlun. 'My head was spinning, and I was just trying to keep up with it.'"
Alcohol didn't affect Henry Rono's 1981 WR 5K run.
"Finally, in September 1981 in Knarvik, Norway, Rono made good on his prediction [of breaking the 5k wr]. Running with no real competition, but after a night of heavy drinking, he eclipsed the record by more than two seconds, finishing in 13:06.2. 'Thank God that track was round,' he would later tell his one-time agent, Tracy Sundlun. 'My head was spinning, and I was just trying to keep up with it.'
__________________________________________________________________________
Yeah, and do you remember what happened to Rono AFTER HE SET THAT WORLD RECORD? What about Komon? How did it work out for them?
About 5:20 into this video - 'Don't drink alcohol or don't smoke, don't do it. If you do it, I mean you beat yourself which means you cannot win any race. You cannot beat anybody'.
Looks like he's giving you a choice- don't drink OR smoke.
I agree with the guy who drank and had PR's.
What do you think Rod Doxon would say about that?
Train hard and party like an animal.
I believe his famous quote is, "All I want to do is drink beer and train like an animal."
Personally, I've never had an issue with it; everything in moderation. I keep myself happy and haven't struggled with staleness. I know others who never indulge in their desires and become very unhappy with themselves and their training.
This idea can be apply across mileage, core, drinking, eating, etc. Keeping yourself happy and not living like a slave is important. However, you still need some regulation.
Alcohol suppresses testosterone production. Less of an issue when you're young, but particularly as you get older it's bad news.
Kind of funny really - the popular macho, hard-drinking image, when really all that booze is turning you into a girl :)
an update
went for a 50 min run with strides after an 80 min run yesterday
another binge tonight - bit of a relapse
feb - a new start
this thread has never been done
Drinking alcohol increases the levels of lactic acid in your muscles. Lactic acid is the stuff that develops from doing speed sessions. When your muscles are really sore the day after a speed workout (or playing soccer, etc.), that is lactic acid and your run that day should be a recovery run to clear out that stuff.
The problem with drinking is that it creates lactic acid build-up, but without the training effects of doing lactic acid speed work.
Depending on the amount you drink, you won't be 100% on your game for 24 or 48 hours or even longer. That's why when you give blood, they ask you if you drank recently. The blood lactate levels will still be too high (even if the blood alcohol level has gone back down to 0). They don't want to give "dirty blood" to a patient in need, whose system would then have to finish cleaning the lactates out.
I've seen several excellent points on what I've noticed with my running. Someone said they expect more when they abstain from alcohol. This has been true with me. Another said they run better when they are having fun. I agree whole heartedly with that statement.
Another thing which I didn't see in this thread is dehydration. Being dehydrated definitely could hinder running. Drinking a bunch of water before passing out has always helped me.