Alcohol

I am in training for a marathon (August ) I have ran for a while, but like some people like a drink every now and again. Am I better off giving up alcohol whilst training? I drink plenty of water (a glass for every glass of wine!) image

Comments

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    "Every now and again"?  Carry on!

    I'm also in training for a marathon and I'm taking it very seriously.  My policy with alcohol is to make sure I don't drink so much that it disturbs my sleep or leaves me with a hangover before a key session.  A couple of drinks even the night before a race, no problem.

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    How often is every now and again? image

    In general, a couple of cans or glasses of wine don't seem to do any harm the night before a midweek session for me, but if I drink the night before a long run it has a negative impact.

    But I have tried to avoid drinking on a school night and before my long runs on this campaign and I have to say I feel much better for it.

     

  • It's just back to the old "all things in moderation" isn't it? Once you've learned what moderation looks like, of course! Moderation for me used to mean 5 or 6 pints but now is a couple - which won't do most people any harm.

  • give it up all together

    it's nasty poison  and you'd be better off without it.

  • ,

    if only my probation officer from 30 years ago could see me nowimage

  • We watched and celebrated the recent six nations match so enthusiastically that i was comotose at 7pm Saturday evening. But I got up ran a 10k pb on Sunday.

    I think I was still anaesthetised.

  • I've got a system, probably best explained by starting Saturday.

    Saturday, no alcohol.

    Sunday - Long run then beers

    Monday - nothing

    Tuesday - nothing

    Weds - Morning run & eve beers

    Thurs - nothing

    Fri - Morning run & leathered Fri eve

    And repeat.

    This is my half marathon training, full marathon will see Tues also become a running day.

     

    cheers

    Al

     

  • To be fair I only drink 3 times a week, 2 glasses last night and a good 9miles this morning.



    But....for every glass of wine I drank I did water inbetween image



    Think giving it up completely would've too much!image
  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    I am reading this thread while sipping a delicious gin and tonic.

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    Lime or Lemon?

     

  • classic slime when you sick it all back upimage

    just say no to drugs !

  • SuperCazSuperCaz ✭✭✭

    My coach encourages a small glass of wine or one beer the night before a key race.  His reasoning is that if you are excited or nervous about the race then you won't sleep well and that will impact on your race more than any marginal dehydration you may have.  A small tipple may also help you relax and sleep better so can even be beneficial.

    But you need to work out what suits you.  I used to do all of my long runs after drinking the night before (but not getting drunk) and it worked for me.

  • I've been wasted on a sat night,



    Got up Sunday with a hangover and still got that 10k PB



    Some alcohol can never hurt image
  • Monty39Monty39 ✭✭✭

    I gave up drinking in January for the Cancer Research Dryathon & extended it for the Wokingham Half Mara on 12th Feb.....  i only touched alcohol twice in 42 days....once for a mates 40th & once when the snow was bad & i had a 4 hour drive home from work ( 12 miles ) god i needed a beer after that !!  

    I lost 10lbs in weight and managed to reduce my Half Marathon PB by a mighty 60 seconds !  Woopy Feckin Doo !

    This friday night i got leathered....Saturday i had a couple of vino's.....Sunday i ran a 10k & was just short of a PB !

    Have a drink, enjoy it, dont go mad ! I think it does you good.  image

  • I started keeping a training log / diary back in August last year and was curious about how certain factors might affect my training. I log sleep (quantity and quality) as well as mood/energy, waking heart rate and units of alc consumed. This logging has now become a habit, takes about 60 seconds each morning, and I have data to peruse at my will. I confess I can be a bit of a statto, no apologies for that.

    And what would you know, the morning after a moderate or heavy drinking session (subjective, as I've always been a lightweight, so 4-5 pints is fairly heavy for me) my running suffers, as does my energy.

    As the "observer effect" would suggest, simply logging this data seems to have had the effect of reducing my overall booze intake. My total monthly boozing started off in the low 100's last autumn, through the 70's in Dec/Jan, and into the 30's in Feb/March.

    I feel that my marathon training is going well, i've suffered no serious setbacks, not had to shuffle my training around too much, and have also got used to drinking less, or not drinking at all when meeting up with mates. After the first couple of times of incredulity, the novelty wore off, and the occasional lift home by the token driver was welcomed. It's debatable whether if i'd have continued to drink on avg the recommeded weekly alc intake (~28 units per week) throughout my training, whether i'd have been more inclined to skip long runs or harder sessions because of feeling lethargic or hungover.

  • I also plan to stay off the booze for the month of april.

    my marathon is on 28th april, so that's effectively a month without booze, which would probably be the longest period in about 10 years that I've gone without. I don't suppose this can be a bad thing at all, and I want to arrive on the start line as fresh as I can be.

  • CC82CC82 ✭✭✭

    I've been off booze since 1st January 2012.  Not 100% off it.  I've had the odd "one" (as in, literally, one) drink on a special occasion (like a toast drink at a wedding for example) maybe 10 times since the middle of last year, but that's it.

    Over the past few years, I've become more and more against alcohol for various reasons.  I've always been wary of my intake because my Dad drifted gradually into alcoholism over a few years and that's caused him loads of problems over the past 20 years or so.  More and more though, the booze culture in our country really bothers me. I don't think there's anything wrong with people having the odd beer or odd glass of wine, but I've never really been into that.  My drinking was almost always binge drinking, followed by a hangover.  I don't bother having a drink at meal times or anything because I get nothing from it - I prefer the taste of a glass of milk!!

    I'd struggle with keeping up with training if I was still drinking.  I've only started training seriously this year, but I used to be lethargic on a Monday morning if I'd been drinking at the weekend because it messed with my sleep on a Sunday night.

    I don't miss drinking in the slightest - hangover free since 1st January 2012 and I never intend to have another one, ever again!!  I celebrated my own 30th, my Dad's 70th, 7 (yes, SEVEN) weddings and two stag weekends last year - all sober.  I also have a 3 month old daughter now as well - I can't imagine what it would be like having to look after her with a bloody hangover on a Sunday morning!

  • I'd say you'd be better off giving it up entirely, as I know I would, but that you need to be realistic. I just try not to drink if I have a run planned for the next day and when I do drink, don't drink too much and drink plenty of water too. Of course, this doesn't always work out as I intend!I'd really love to stop drinking entirely but I like it too much!

  • SuperCaz wrote (see)

    My coach encourages a small glass of wine or one beer the night before a key race.  His reasoning is that if you are excited or nervous about the race then you won't sleep well and that will impact on your race more than any marginal dehydration you may have.  A small tipple may also help you relax and sleep better so can even be beneficial.

    But you need to work out what suits you.  I used to do all of my long runs after drinking the night before (but not getting drunk) and it worked for me.

     

    SuperCaz wrote (see)

    My coach encourages a small glass of wine or one beer the night before a key race.  His reasoning is that if you are excited or nervous about the race then you won't sleep well and that will impact on your race more than any marginal dehydration you may have.  A small tipple may also help you relax and sleep better so can even be beneficial.

    But you need to work out what suits you.  I used to do all of my long runs after drinking the night before (but not getting drunk) and it worked for me.

     

    SuperCaz wrote (see)

    My coach encourages a small glass of wine or one beer the night before a key race.  His reasoning is that if you are excited or nervous about the race then you won't sleep well and that will impact on your race more than any marginal dehydration you may have.  A small tipple may also help you relax and sleep better so can even be beneficial.

    But you need to work out what suits you.  I used to do all of my long runs after drinking the night before (but not getting drunk) and it worked for me.

     

    SuperCaz wrote (see)

    My coach encourages a small glass of wine or one beer the night before a key race.  His reasoning is that if you are excited or nervous about the race then you won't sleep well and that will impact on your race more than any marginal dehydration you may have.  A small tipple may also help you relax and sleep better so can even be beneficial.

    But you need to work out what suits you.  I used to do all of my long runs after drinking the night before (but not getting drunk) and it worked for me.

     

    SuperCaz wrote (see)

    My coach encourages a small glass of wine or one beer the night before a key race.  His reasoning is that if you are excited or nervous about the race then you won't sleep well and that will impact on your race more than any marginal dehydration you may have.  A small tipple may also help you relax and sleep better so can even be beneficial.

    But you need to work out what suits you.  I used to do all of my long runs after drinking the night before (but not getting drunk) and it worked for me.

    SuperCaz sack your coach, i gave up drinking altogether 3 years ago (havent touched a drop since).I drank for 20 years previous to that.I have been runnining for many years, i have a very physical job, but since giving up drinking i sleep all through the night.Where as a pint or glass of wine at night used to make me ha

  • Behave yoursen life's too short to prioritise running over drinking or drinking over running.

    Just do both and whatever you achieve is what you were supposed to achieve.  Unless you're a pro, I can't see any merit in killing off other areas of your life that are enjoyable to improve your running.

     

    Besides, there's almost no comparable feeling better than having rewarded yourself for a hard race, mega long run or tough training session with a pint of cold barley water.  Ahhhhhh

  • cont:have an unsettled sleep.Dont go 2 bed worrying about the run ahead.train harder, sleep better, or try REGULAR bed exercises.

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