Non Alcholic beer Training question

Gerry1995

If I decide to reduce my alcholic intake i.e. cut back on beer, can I substitute alcholic beer with non-alcholic beer or does it all have the same medical affect.

Peckham

Why would you want to cut back on beer intake? Surely this is the main function of running - i.e. to offset all beer consumption!

Not sure what the difference is in terms of calories, but it will stand to you in terms of feeling fresher the morning after a few beers and being able to get up and hit the road.

Odysseus

Hi Gerry,Can I ask what you mean by medical effect? Are you refering to calories, the effects of alcohol on the body, i.e. destorying vits, dehydration? Or is is something else. Generally if I travel to a marathon its time away with my partner so its a good meal and a healthly amount of alcohol the night before.

Gerry1995

Odysseus wrote: »

Hi Gerry,Can I ask what you mean by medical effect? Are you refering to calories, the effects of alcohol on the body, i.e. destorying vits, dehydration? Or is is something else. Generally if I travel to a marathon its time away with my partner so its a good meal and a healthly amount of alcohol the night before.

Odysseus, I'm assuming alcohol and loads of pints in particular and the length of time it takes to recover is a bad mix when training for a Marathon. Maybe I'm being over cautious, glad to hear it if so, 'cause I love my pints.:D

Odysseus

Well it will clearly effect performance to some degree. This is my personal opinion on it, as I am now only a month off the smokes and still have never done a race as a non-smoker. I metion this only as it is another thing that effects performance.

For me marathons and ultras are about the challenges I face when I take my body and mind to those places that challenge us, causing us pain, making us want to stop. If will never be about winning for me, however I do love the feeling of a personal best if all goes well and I don't get injuried I'm in line for a pb at the end of the month.

It will be the third time I entered that race and hopefully once I finish which is an achievement in and of itself I hope to have taken some time off last year time; and if by chance it doesn't happen I will be happy with finishing.

With the alcohol if I drink the night before I race, I have gotton PBs following having an Indian and as bottle of wine the night before. For me the key is getting adequate sleep and hydration. I will drink an isotonic drink before I go to bed. Have one beside the bed for when I wake during the night, and have another before the race.

But with saying that I'm not that fast my pb for a marathon is 3:40, but I use marathons to train for longer distances. So it really depends on what your goals are, at the end of the day I run because I enjoy it, its a challenge, it helps me to develop as a person and it keeps me out of trouble;) Some of the more serious athletes will disagree with my viewpoint but we all run for different reasons. Best of luck with it. What marathon are you aiming for?

Stupid_Private

This is by no means a scientific study but my results in comparison to my alcohol intake...

Marathon 1 - very fond of a pint - the slowest of the lot
Marathon 2 - replaced beer with wine - 2nd Best
Marathon 3 - cut back on my beer drinking but was still drinking - slower than marathon 2 by 4 minutes
Marathon 4 - no drinking at all for 10 weeks before - fastest by a long shot

The first marathon was going to be the slowest because I wasn't up to speed on marathon training - I followed a program to get me around it. I probably trained more for the third than the second.

I've no idea what affects non-alcoholic beer have on running - maybe I should run the next one with that to complete my little experiment above!

Todoquetengo

http://www.drinkaware.ie/aware.php?ID=19

There's a good article on alcohol and sport here, obviously they want to promote sensible drinking but some of this is interesting, especially about injuries.

Peckham

Stupid_Private wrote: »

Marathon 1 - very fond of a pint - the slowest of the lot
Marathon 2 - replaced beer with wine - 2nd Best
Marathon 3 - cut back on my beer drinking but was still drinking - slower than marathon 2 by 4 minutes
Marathon 4 - no drinking at all for 10 weeks before - fastest by a long shot

I've completed two marathons. For the first one I quit the drink 4 weeks in advance and the second one I quit it a week in advance - I ran the second one 20 minutes faster than the first one (3:26 down to 3:06). Trained well on both occasions, but trained better the second time.

I don't think that drinking sensibly has any impact on marathon performance. Indeed, if quitting the drink is going to be difficult then doing so for marathon training may make you more likely to resent the training and quit.

Going out and getting sloshed in the weeks before the marathon has less appeal as you may have to face a 15-20 mile run the next day, which is not pleasant on a hangover!

Everyone is different - if you think you can handle a few pints and then get up and run the next day, then why not. Indeed, some running advice I've read suggests you have a glass or two of wine/beer the night before the marathon if it's going to help you relax and sleep more easily.

saltrock2007

I've looked into this a bit myself, and how non-alcoholic beer is made;
APPARENTLY, non-alcoholic beer is the same as alcoholic beer, in terms of calorie content, because they make it the same way, but just before bottling it they run it through a process to reduce the alcoholic content. It's what i've heard. From the point of view of dehydration the next day, I don't think you'll be as bad off, but if anyone can tell me why beer dehydrates you (its made from water!!!) and normal water does not, let me know.

hope this helps

Odysseus

saltrock2007 wrote: »

I've looked into this a bit myself, and how non-alcoholic beer is made;
APPARENTLY, non-alcoholic beer is the same as alcoholic beer, in terms of calorie content, because they make it the same way, but just before bottling it they run it through a process to reduce the alcoholic content. It's what i've heard. From the point of view of dehydration the next day, I don't think you'll be as bad off, but if anyone can tell me why beer dehydrates you (its made from water!!!) and normal water does not, let me know.

hope this helps

In my understanding it the alcohol that dehydrates you, in the same way its the caffine in your coffee that works as a duretic. Meaning you expel more water than you intake from these drinks. I don't know how correct it is but I was told that from each cup of coffee you drink you lose 1.25 of that amount of fluids form your body.

--amadeus--

I think there are two sides to this.

First is that alcohol is a toxin and so does some evil things to your system. Mainly - in this context - is the dehydration and hangovers, neither of which are great for training! A few pints on the weekend or a glass or two of wine with your dinner though is no worse than drinking a couple of big mugs of coffee so I wouldn't lose sleep over it if your intake is fairly moderate. Switching to non or low alcohol beer will remove the dehydration & hangover elements though so should help.

That said beer is still a very high calorie drink so if you are looking to lose a bit of bulk in the run up to the race non-alcoholic ber won't do you any good at all.

The other side is that it depends on where you drink the beer. A bottle or two at home tonight watching the footie is no harm but going out till the early hours on Fri & Sat night possibly hanging around in teh smoking area and eating the unavoidable kebab on teh way home isn't reccomended if you are serious about training, non-alcoholic beer or not!

(and it tastes cack anyway!)

tunney

Odysseus wrote: »

In my understanding it the alcohol that dehydrates you, in the same way its the caffine in your coffee that works as a duretic. Meaning you expel more water than you intake from these drinks. I don't know how correct it is but I was told that from each cup of coffee you drink you lose 1.25 of that amount of fluids form your body.

Firstly coffee is a mild diuretic. Water is also a mild diuretic. Coffee gets a bad and unwarranted reputation. In fact coffee and water on pretty much on a par.

Alcohol on the other hand. Alcohol inhibts the production of antidiuretic hormones. Antidiuretic hormones promote the retention of water in the body. Less of these mean more trips to the jacks.

Finally as amadeus has said - calories. Beer, of any kind, will supply useless and dead calories.