How much am I hurting my running with the following training? I’m a high mileage runner(70+ miles a week) and do a mix of hills, easy running, tempo, some speed work, etc. I’ve been running 70+ weeks for about 3 months now, but along the way I’ve also started having a couple beers a night or every other night. I would guess I have about 10 or so beers a week. With the drinking, I’ve managed to feel good for my runs but I’m wondering if it would make a huge difference if I cut back a little. Weight control is fine, and I haven’t gained any weight. My diet is better now since I know I need to eat healthy because I’m consuming empty calories from the beer. My times have continued to improve, but maybe I should have more improvement and the beer is to blame. I’m curious to hear what other runners might think.
Also, it’s interesting that there seems to be an increase in ultra runners getting beer sponsors.
This topic has been debated a few times before. As long as it’s a couple of beers you are fine. If you are downing a 6 pack+ then I’d be concerned. Some people are affected more than others but if you feel fine on your runs then go for it. Beer has carbs so perfect post run carb replenishment
I am not a doctor but have run at a high level for years including 4 years at D1. Me and many of my friends who were much better than me love to run and love to drink beer, I find as long as I am not waking up dehydrated, sleepy, or hungover that beer has little negative effect on my running. I have one friend who drank 18 beers one day and still ran 14:30 5k the next day on a bet.
I think as long as you are not overdoing it, getting the diet you need and the sleep you need you’re running will be fine having 2-3 beers, just make sure you have some water and don’t wake up dehydrated.
Liquor on the other hand… If I have even a couple liquor drinks I tend to feel like I am dragging the next day and feel like it negatively affects my performance at least by how I feel
Why are you running so much if not, in part, to be able to enjoy beer?
If you are not gaining weight, not going to sleep drunk, and are still getting quality rest, I think you are probably no worse off. If anything, maybe stick with lower ABV beer.
Beer can be blamed for waking up next someone you shouldn`t have woken up next to… Aside from that, yeah it’s blameless
Someone on here has a signature that is along the lines of: “how much faster could I run if I stopped drinking beer?” to which the reply is “but if you stopped drinking beer, why would you run at all?”.
Just convince yourself you’re “carb loading”. It works for me.
I wasn’t sure where this thread was gonna go, and am (somewhat) heartened by the responses thus far. That being said, for the OP maybe a bit of an experiment is in order. Maybe try two weeks totally off the beer or reduce it by a substantial amount - whatever that may mean for you. Do a pre and post test and see if there were any major differences either in the time for the distance that you choose, effort required, possible weight LOSS, and any other of the intangibles. Draw your own conclusions and get back to us beer swillin’ fools with some good stories.
The goal of structured training is to make you faster through dosing a specific amount of stress, offset by adequate recovery. However, the popular tradition of post-ride beers or podium champagne throws a wrench in these spokes.
Much of your recovery takes place during sleep when your body releases human growth hormone and replenishes its testosterone levels. When alcohol has been consumed, even hours before sleep, it slows the production of both of these reparative processes athletes need. What this means in terms of training is that the intended benefits of increased training stress will not be absorbed at the same rate.
There’s another disadvantage to consider. If you drink an excessive amount of alcohol you can actually poison muscle fibers and significantly impair the way your body absorbs training adaptations. What once took your body hours to recover from, now takes days.
I’m sure it’s not ideal, but it really goes to your goals. If getting that extra bit of advantage is worth not drinking, then don’t drink. If it’s not, then drink.
I’ve went through periods of not drinking at all and drinking every night. I really haven’t noticed a difference. For me the key is to not drink enough to feel it in the morning. Maybe I could get faster by not drinking (ok…probably) but the thing is; I like to train, and I like to drink. I could drink more if I stopped training and I could probably do better in training if I drank less. But I like both, so I’m keeping them.
I do tend to take a week completely off from drinking prior to a race.
I signed up for my first triathlon after drinking too much rum. I figure alcohol got me into this mess, and alcohol will get me out.
i find that when i have more than 1 , maybe 2 beers in the evening my sleep sucks. I may fall asleep fast at first, but i then wake up a lot. also, not sure why but my legs always feel stiff the morning after a couple of drinks.
that being said, i am not a pro and do this for fun, so i still have 1-2 drinks 1-2 (sometimes 3) times a week, but try to time it so its not after/before a key training session, and always try to eat and wait a couple of hours after a training session before enjoying a fine frosty beverage. I also set a 5k PR last month on vacation totally hung over, so make of that what you will.
The goal of structured training is to make you faster through dosing a specific amount of stress, offset by adequate recovery. However, the popular tradition of post-ride beers or podium champagne throws a wrench in these spokes.
Much of your recovery takes place during sleep when your body releases human growth hormone and replenishes its testosterone levels. When alcohol has been consumed, even hours before sleep, it slows the production of both of these reparative processes athletes need. What this means in terms of training is that the intended benefits of increased training stress will not be absorbed at the same rate.
There’s another disadvantage to consider. If you drink an excessive amount of alcohol you can actually poison muscle fibers and significantly impair the way your body absorbs training adaptations. What once took your body hours to recover from, now takes days.
I don’t buy that at all. I was mainly a swimmer when I did most of my beer drinking but I had some of my best workouts after having 5-6 beers the night before. In fact, sometimes when my training is not going well, I wonder if maybe I should up my beer consumption.
The goal of structured training is to make you faster through dosing a specific amount of stress, offset by adequate recovery. However, the popular tradition of post-ride beers or podium champagne throws a wrench in these spokes.
Much of your recovery takes place during sleep when your body releases human growth hormone and replenishes its testosterone levels. When alcohol has been consumed, even hours before sleep, it slows the production of both of these reparative processes athletes need. What this means in terms of training is that the intended benefits of increased training stress will not be absorbed at the same rate.
There’s another disadvantage to consider. If you drink an excessive amount of alcohol you can actually poison muscle fibers and significantly impair the way your body absorbs training adaptations. What once took your body hours to recover from, now takes days.
I was planning on posting a link to this blog post. I’ve personally cut back on most of my drinking; only a few drinks a month. Before this, I only had a few (2-3) drinks a week. Back as an undergrad I drank a lot more and thus has a higher tolerance to alcohol and felt fine working out after having a few beers the night before. As my overall alcohol consumption decreased, my workouts became more affected (and less enjoyable!) after having a few beers.
My point is that your body adapts to alcohol consumption. If you feel you’re workouts/recovery are not effected, drink your beer, but definitely try cutting back on the alcohol for 2-3 weeks and see how you feel. In my case, it turned out that having my regular beer was more of a habit than something I really enjoyed. When I grab a drink now, I really enjoy my good glass of wine, nice craft beer or special whiskey.
I don’t buy that at all. I was mainly a swimmer when I did most of my beer drinking but I had some of my best workouts after having 5-6 beers the night before. In fact, sometimes when my training is not going well, I wonder if maybe I should up my beer consumption.
As did I, and many of my teammates. I think that alcohol may have some effect on deadening pain sectors in the brain; allowing us to push harder.
And; being young and invincible then certainly helped.
I’m sure it’s not ideal, but it really goes to your goals. If getting that extra bit of advantage is worth not drinking, then don’t drink. If it’s not, then drink.
I’ve went through periods of not drinking at all and drinking every night. I really haven’t noticed a difference. For me the key is to not drink enough to feel it in the morning. Maybe I could get faster by not drinking (ok…probably) but the thing is; I like to train, and I like to drink. I could drink more if I stopped training and I could probably do better in training if I drank less. But I like both, so I’m keeping them.
I do tend to take a week completely off from drinking prior to a race.
I signed up for my first triathlon after drinking too much rum. I figure alcohol got me into this mess, and alcohol will get me out.
Retweet.
Either way, take it from a 22-year young dumb and invincible, but I just finished a biopsychology class last fall and we had two lessons on the effects of alcohol and the body/brain. Some fairly recent studies have been done comparing a couple different alcohol drinking groups and showed no significant impact from a drink or two before training, or before races. It starts becoming significantly noticeable (this is at ~5% power/heart rate, not just perceived exertion) after 5-6 drinks. Body weight had some significance but there was also a note made on alcohol tolerance. For example, I’m a big guy but after even two drinks I’m reluctant to drink more; I’d be more affected by those 5-6 drinks than a light person who doesn’t notice it as much.
A drink was defined by grams of alcohol. I can’t remember what it was specifically nor do I particularly care to dig up the sources from my lesson sequence, so you’ll just have to take my word on it I imagine the biggest impact would be the empty calories alcohol provides, since it essentially metabolizes straight to fat.
When I was an undergrad I ran D2/NAIA- and I drank a lot.
I thought that I had it pretty much under control, weight was low, etc…
But I could never really break through to do well at nationals.
All of the runners that we idolized were drinkers- Pre, Shorter, Rogers, Rod Dixon- so we all wanted to be like that.
After college I largely stopped drinking- did triathlon for a couple years, did 1:55 for international, top 10 overall at Muncie, qualified for Ironman…
Then a couple years later started racing bikes. I was able to race bikes at the national level too.
None of this was alcohol fueled.
Did all the drinking prevent me from doing as well as I could have in college? I guess I will never know. But it certainly didn’t help.
Definitely didn’t help with academics.
I imagine the biggest impact would be the empty calories alcohol provides, since it essentially metabolizes straight to fat.