Restarting running--alcohol problems

just do it

Perhaps you misunderstood. I can't even run 10:00...

If you want a real answer Here's my solution. Focus on minimizing your drinking. Run when you want, if you want but don't worry about it. Have fun. Make the drinking your focus and concentrate on getting it down to very low levels or gone all together. You will immediately begin to eat less and better foods. You will almost immediately begin to see differences in your body. This will create a strong desire to train for greater gains. You will need to rein yourself in avoid overtrainng.

Easier said than done, but the alcohol is the key. Eliminate the variables that lead you to drinking too much. Good luck.

Your not a beginner, but going back to the basics for a month or two will help. Hill sprints helped me get back into sprinting shape rather quickly this year. This is and excellent article on the subject.

http://www.active.com/running/articles/beginner-s-guide-to-running

Trackjacket wrote:

Perhaps you misunderstood. I can't even run 10:00...

You can run 10:00 just not at a 6:00 pace. Slow down to 7 or 8 or whatever it takes to get you running longer. Speed will come back as you rebuild your base.

Good luck with getting your life under control again.

I agree with Serious Answers. Focus on the alcohol. I personally would recommend cutting it out all together but I know some people are able to cut back and be ok. (I'm not one of those people.) For one thing, you'll start sleeping better, maybe not at first, but eventually you will and that's a wonderful thing.

my entire 20s was this way. train like a madman for ~6 months while taking care of myself & getting into phenomenal shape, then getting hurt or burnt out & feeling sorry for myself and turing back to booze.

the best thing is balance - you seem like me in that you have a tendency to be all-or-nothing, putting 100% effort into one thing (either running or drinking). for me being 100% focused on running leads to a lot of stress - pressure builds to get the training in, eat right, lose weight, hit times in workouts, etc. at some point this stress gets to be too much and i just want to say "F it, i'm tired of worrying about this sh*t!" and i turn to booze to give me a momentary stress relief (but then end up just feeling crappy & guilty about it the next day).

the last year has been great - longest stretch of consistent training in my life, and the booze has been under control (1-2 times per month). but the key has been not getting too stressed out and overdoing the training.

point is you need to ID the triggers that drive you to drink. maybe running is one for you, maybe not. could be work or some other stressor. regardless, when you recognize those triggers & start to feel the urge to drink, do other things that make you feel good - a run, a walk, shoot some hoops, sit at a cafe & read, watch a movie, whatever.

i got so sick of waking up with hangovers. so whenever i get the urge to drink now, i simply ask a question i already know the answer to - "how do you want to feel when you wake up tomorrow morning?". of course the answer is "good", so i make the decision to say no. YOU have to be in control & have power over the urge to drink. no one can do it for you.