BEER!

Last Sunday, some friends and I were talking about how much booze we drink and what impact, if any, it might have on our training. It was a Sunday afternoon and we were in the pub. As I sipped my cold beer, I tried to count how many beers I had in that past 7 days. It had been an unusual week and there had been more than usual, but how many is too many?

I was a sociable person when I was at University and the years that immediately followed. On occasions, I was known to drink to excess and as I was in the UK at the time, I was self-classified against a matrix published in a large National Newspaper as a 'binge drinker' and 'bordering on alcoholism'. If my friends and co-workers were any kind of yard-stick, I don’t think I was anything more than a moderate drinker and I certainly was not bordering on anything other than chubby!

For two to three years, particularly when I started running a little more seriously, I cut my alcohol intake down to no more than special occasions. It was driven a little by budget and lot by fitness/weight-loss. Over time, particularly as I was running more and more and could afford the empty calories, I started to have a few more beers here and there and realized that i enjoyed a few guilt-free drinks. Today, living where I live, working with the people I work with, socialsing with our friends here, all typically leads to a Margarita or two when you least expect it. A quick beer after work leads to three and a post-run lunch on a Sunday often leads to a sleepy afternoon.

So,last Sunday, as I sat in the bar drinking my 19th alcoholic drink of the week, I was shocked. I had one night when I had no alcohol, but social events, dinners with families and my wife being away meant I had a couple of beers on five other evenings that week. On no occasion did I end up with a hangover. On no occasion was I 'wasted'. On no occasion was I stuck with the car not being able to get home. Just some good old socially drinking. Our conversation that Sunday therefore centered around, whether that many drinks was ok, whether it was a lot (compared to the others - it was) and critically (for this Blog) whether it has an impact on my running.

A little internet research has told me that the jury is still out. In the US, 19 drinks in a week is high-moderate. In the UK, it is average (for my age group).

For a middle-of-the-pack social-runner however it seems by all consensus that it is "high". As I sat there, I thought to myself that it wasn’t really having an impact on my training. I had been out that morning and run 22km and i still felt pretty good.

However, 8 days and just 5 drinks later I have come to realize otherwise. I am still tired, but I sleep better. I am still dehydrated when I run longer than an hour in the equatorial heat, but I am able to rehydrated on the go, quicker. I don’t feel as sluggish in the morning, and seem to 'revive' quicker. So I guess beer does have an impact in a way that popular media has been telling me for years and I willfully (or naively) ignored. The lesson? Well, I am still going to enjoy a cold beer every now and then, but until after the marathon, there wont be any more margaritas and I will be trying to avoid the keg stands.