so i graduated about 2 years ago from uni. at uni i was a bit of a party animal. i could drink like a fish. i’ve taken up triathlons in the last 7-8 months. i still like to go out and get boozed now n again. earlier this year, i found myself saying on a nite i was going out on…ok this is gonna be an early nite, i got a 4 hour ride tomorrow. i made sure i told all my friends this as well. well i usually ended up getting home at abt 430am, and needless to say i flagged the bike ride…
so consequently ive had to restrict my drinking and going out because of training. how much does yr training restrict this part of your life?
Unless your drinking buddies are endurance athletes don’t even mention the ride/run/swim the next day when you go out. They either won’t care or have reason to make you stay out longer. What I have come across is there are two kinds of people out there. Them and Us. They have no problem sleeping away a saturday while we look at that as wasted training time.
That said I have had to cut way back on my drinking. My training means too much. Like everything else you have to prioritize.
Fulla sounds like we are about the same age and I’m in the same spot. I used to go out a few nights a week, at least. Now there is no way with morning workouts, etc. I find I can manage about one good night a week. Any more than that and my training really suffers.
No way I’m ready to quit with the parties though…SF i way too much fun.
I got out on sunday nights, dates usually, b/c Monday is my off day. Otheriwse I only go out for special occasions, ie bachelor parties, weddings, birthdays, etc… Nothing really fun happens anymore that hasn’t already happened to me anyway!
I used to be able to go out all night and still workout long, but now it’s too hard, I don’t recover like I did when I was 21, I’m 25 now.
Once my last A race is over I got out for a month or so and get it out of my system. Works well for me.
I feel your pain. I live in New York City and I am an investment banker. Drinking and viking dinners are part of the protocol.
I try to keep everything in moderation, though it can be hard. NYC is basically a city of functioning alkies (no offense Adam and others). The one thing I have done to prophylactically is to keep myself to a strict training schedule. For example, if I have a ride on Saturday, I ride if the weather permits. No excuses (save for bad weather). If I am out late on Friday, I just have to suffer the consequences. After a few “boot and rides” you will learn to practice a little restraint.
I used to love going out and managed to do so while training. I just didn’t drink much at all but still would go. Now I learned to comprosmised. I went to a party friday and only stayed 3 hours because I had a 5 hours brick saturday. It worked out great. And yes, my drinking friends will drive me crazy and buy me drinks… I have learned to surround myself with others triathletes, being young and single, you get the best of both worlds that way:)
its bloody horrible being all dehydrated from nite before and training…swimming aint so bad on a hangover though.
it does depend how much i drink tho. one time i went to a hardcore show and danced for a bit (hardcore as in guitar music)…dancing to it is kinda like kung fu steez. then i went to a dance party after, danced hard there. drove home next day. did a 3 hour bike and 1 hour run. then went to hardcore show again that nite, and danced my ass off. drinking appears to be the limiting factor…as i only had a couple on the first nite.
I’ve got to say that it is kind of refreshing to hear some talk about this topic. I swam through a fairly nasty hangover just this morning and was thinking “when am I going to learn?”. Anyways, I’m going to have to chime in on the side of moderation. If you’d like to quit drinking all together, I’ve found increasing training volume generally decreases the desire for booze. Best of luck with finding the golden mean.
how much does yr training restrict this part of your life?
I can’t help but chuckle, because those post-college days are so long gone for me it’s funny.
A wife, three kids and a need to keep some cash coming in have served to kill off my partying long ago. Training sure doesn’t get in the way of partying.
Once upon a time, I could put away six pints of Guinness. These days, I’m half asleep by the time I finish the second. And if I even look at the kind, I fall asleep.
I went down to Monterey for the Sea Otter Classic (Road Race). One of my friends is going to CSU Monterey Bay so I decide to go to her place for dinner and go out and party after that. I strolled into my hotel room around 2am. The next morning one of my teammates came to see if I was ready, my roomie had left at 5am. I was still asleep and was not happy about being woke up.
I had a great time the night before, but it was extremely painful the next day. If I would have cut it a few hours short I would have at least made the cutoff time. I don’t drink so that is not an issue, but I do need a lot more sleep than most.
My hard training days are usually Saturday mornings. The problem is, I have my daughter every weekend (and 3 weekdays), so my only time to party is Friday night (ie when my daughter is with her mother). So it is really hard to go out and still be able to be up by 6am to go train the next morning. Ask my daughter was daddy’s favorite thing to do is, she will say sleep. I usually take a nap for an hour or two after I get my daughter.
I set a bed time and make sure i am home and ready to go to sleep by that time. Then I know I will be ready the next morning. I sometimes tell folks I work on the weekends, then the peer pressure is not to bad about staying up later.
We usually only go to one ‘party’ a week, and it’s usually on Thursday night. The good thing is I don’t have school on friday, so I made that my day off (from training) and I can come home whenever I feel like and just sleep in.
Friday we usually just hang out, so I just leave at around 10-11:00 cuz I have a bike ride on Saturday.
I agree…what’s partying ! I was in the same boat as the orignal poster 16 years ago when I left college. Now my version of partying is meeting all my 35-45 year old training buddies for a 5 hour ride on Sat morning at 6 am. Pretty well all of us have full time jobs and young kids, so this is the only time we hook up. My old college drinking buddies no longer longer have the endurance to party or train. At least I no longer party, but I can ride and run pretty well !
How about training to party? At 43 with a job, wife & kids I too feel like many who posted. Nothing is the same as 21 or 25. 25? Wait till you’re 40! Anyway, training helps work off the beer calories and there is nothing like a cold one after a hard workout. I too fall asleep early now and after half as much. I did learn in Dennison TX last year not to drink too much red wine the night before.
To those who think 43, wife & kids sounds bad. My wife does running races, my 10 year old does kids runs and will be doing her first Kid’s Triathlon this month. She is very excited about being the athlete this time. If you don’t understand why this excites me I can only hope for you that you will have this pleasure someday!
Snaildoc, I hear you. My 7 year old XC ski races, and loves to bike, but I am not bringing him near a kids tri for many years yet. There are too many psychotic type A triathlete parents at these races locally who scream at their kids as if these kids will be the next Mark Allen. Totally reminds me of hockey parents who did not make the NHL themselves, but think young Johnny will. I hope that the kids tri scene where you live is much more participation oriented and less competition oriented. Where I live they have splits and everything. To me, at the young age groups, it is not neccessary. They should just be having a good time and not worrying about who beat who.
Paul, this will be her and my first kids tri. I have not pushed her at all. She wants to do it. I’ve told her its just about trying. If you get to the finish more the better. I run a kids race for the local runners club here in FtW TX. We have it before each monthly club run. We don’t keep time and we don’t give awards. We give a finisher’s medat and a coupon for a free kids meal at either Chili’s or Macaroni Grill (A shamless plug for my Brinker International sponsor). It is all about fun and participation. My daughter is a cheerleader and hearing parents scream at their third graders as if they are in the superbowl is sickening. I’m glad my kiddo wants to have fun. From her view she gets to swim and ride. Both fun things for her!
