In...looking forward to it. Getting up early will be easier.

yeah you are right. I'm tired of it already and it really hasn't been that long. Ready to be productive and make some gains again.

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Use this link to save $5 off your USAT membership renewal:
https://membership.usatriathlon.org/...A2-BAD7-6137B629D9B7

A day late, but I'm in as well, I'll do an extra day to make up for 1/01.

The first weekend always sucks.... but this should help get my morning swimming back in check.

Happy day two to you rockstars! And me, except for the happy part. FTP test on the bike plus some painful dental work made for an unpleasant day. I would have killed for some bourbon to numb it all down tonight, but instead I curled up on the couch with some water and the new James May series and laughed my way through the throbbing.

Over 6% of the way there now. Tomorrow should be an interesting test, first social outing of the year (with free beer involved).

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

Great - love Chipotle. Thanks for sharing. Btw - my wife is in it with me too. Makes a big difference.

This is a good challenge... a couple of January's ago made it through the first 7 weeks or so. Then later that year stopped for a couple of months. I don't really notice any benefits when I stop for these short little bits, it is a nice reminder that you can make yourself do something if you really want to. The added sugar one felt a little tougher.

I'm in. I can't remember how far I got last year. I have a couple bottles of wine and a bottle of champagne sitting around though. I gave up coffee back in november and have been really happy with that decision. Just 1 cup of tea in the morning for me now

Whats wrong with coffee?

I'm in. Alcohol has actually become an issue for me the last few years.

I have decided to go until Busselton 70.3 in May, with no alcohol. So getting through January will be a pretty good stepping stone to that.

I had my last beer on new years eve, it's now Friday afternoon (give me strength!), but three days will feel good.

I was getting irregular heart beats when I was racing, so I quit drinking it and it seems to have helped a lot, but I also stopped drinking beer at the same time. Coffee was not hard to quit, all the symptoms resolved in a couple days and I was a heavy consumer. I buy good decaf now and it's close enough, sort of

While my wife was pregnant, we switched over to swiss-water processed whole-bean decaf. Finding some was hard and it was kind of expensive, but I couldn't taste much if any difference. Ended up buying it by the 5-lb bag from some monks in New Mexico.

https://www.abbeyroast.com/...ections/coffee-decaf

That's the kind of thing I'm blowing money on now. I drink a lot of it because I like coffee and now I don't care if it's after dinner. I also pound a few non alcoholic old Milwaukees. I've turned into a wanker i guess.

The Heineken 0.0 tastes more like Heineken than their light beer does, if you'd prefer to not drink Old Milwaukee.

I've personally cut it out since 12/14 and plan to keep it going through end of January. Last night/yesterday was pretty damn difficult. I went to my Alma maters bowl game in Jacksonville and it was a pretty big nail biter. I can probably count the number of games on two hands where I've not had anything to drink in the last 20 years - more nerves than race morning.

Nothing is really wrong with coffee except the caffeine and I was drinking too much of it, at least 3-4 cups every morning. I’ve switched to hot tea and just one cup

If anyone is an IPA drinker, Lagunitas makes a non-alcoholic seltzer called Hoppy Refresher that is made with brewers yeast and hops that does 75% of the job for me. 0 carb, 0 calories too. I bought a case when my local store got it back in stock last time.

Agree with that 100%. As far as non alcoholic beer goes that’s probably the best

Lagunitas is on the Sell-Out List [they're owned by Heineken], so that's a "No" for me

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I did not know about that one, may give it a shot since I really like IPAs now.

I'm in again, do this every year, some more successful than others. Well, I'll be in from 1/1 until 1/27, going to Germany and Italy for work and not about to miss out on some good wine. I'm usually very good about only having a few drinks on the weekends, but the holidays (starting at Thanksgiving) start to creep that to every day. January is a good check to get back out of that habit and only enjoy a cold one after the hard workout on the weekends again (in February).

Good luck to all!!!

I was never very good at being Straight Edge

Back in my band days, I might have been mistaken for one while on stage: I didn't get high or drunk before a gig, didn't drink while playing, but I usually had a couple afterwards and often hooked up with a girl by the end of the night [breaking a couple rules from Minor Threat's "Out Of Step"]

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

When I worked at the Ad Agency, and often had to pull all-nighters, I'd have a cups at my side all day long [about 4-6 cups per, maybe?]

With all that behind me now, I only make myself one in the morning, and sometimes I don't even finish that

D'Wife on the other hand ...

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

When my local brewery starts making N/A beers I'll be sure to go over. For now this is what I have to satisfy the hop cravings from time to time.

FYI - for those wanting to make this challenge easier, reading "This Naked Mind" helped me out a lot. It goes a long way into describing the scientific evidence and psychological factors of why we drink and helps eliminate a lot of the "I need a beer" feeling.

On to day 3 of the new year!

I drink a lot less beer since I stopped using Untappd

Chasing every new release available to me, piling up the badges & so on, was getting to be too much [AND expensive]

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I don’t know how people stay up on Untappd. It just sounds exhausting never kind the drinking part of it all.

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Level II USAT Coach | Level 3 USAC Coach | NASM-CPT
Team Zoot | Tailwind Trailblazer
I can tell you why you're sick, I just can't write you an Rx

I drink with Jules Feiffer,
“Sometimes I feel small. And sometimes I feel larger than life. Sometimes I feel crushed. And sometimes I feel like a king. Sometimes I feel slow. And sometimes I feel like a wit. But most of the time I feel just like me. So I drink.”


and Edgar Allan Poe,
“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.”


I do 40 days of alcohol-free living each year, just to make sure I can. Oddly enough this has no detectable effects on weight, mood, sleep, exercise, or anything else.