Giving up booze to improve running

donothoponpop

New Years eve is coming up, I'm hitting 40, upstanding parent member of the community, my last remaining vice is hooch, and I'm considering letting it go for a year or so, to see what happens. Relaxing inebriation has been a large part of my life since I was 15 or so, but right now I'm curious to see what (extra) I can accomplish if I go dry for a relevant while. Running wise I want to do a sub3 hour marathon this year, sub 38 min 10k, and improve in IMRA races from last year. Who's given it up for a while, and what difference has it made?

746watts

ya give it up, you'll enjoy your weekends better too. Training is easier. Plus you'll have a bit more cash for home duties. If you are out for social occasions have an orange juice and the chat.

Slogger Jogger

Nah, don't give it up. Drink more. I don't want you running faster than me!

tunney

Why give anything up?
Just don't do it when it will affect training, and don't do it so often that you put on too much weight.

Never deprieve yourself, never make things more difficult than they are. If a couple of glasses of wine relaxes you - rock on.

--amadeus--

But..but...but... How will you carb load?

I can't remember who said "people who don't drink don't live longer, it just seems like it" (Dean Martin, Groucho Marx?) but that kind of sums up my ideas on it. Fair enough if you drink so much so often that it impacts on training but will a couple of glasses of wine or pints of beer at the weekend have that much effect? Fair enough in the weeks leading up to the race but are you really going to celebrate a sub3 with an OJ?

donothoponpop

746watts wrote: »

ya give it up, you'll enjoy your weekends better too. Training is easier. Plus you'll have a bit more cash for home duties. If you are out for social occasions have an orange juice and the chat.

All of this I agree with, the cash thingy would be very relavent too.

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Nah, don't give it up. Drink more. I don't want you running faster than me!

This sounds like a duel. Bottle of wine each at dawn, then pistols, we'll see who's the man.:)

tunney wrote: »

Why give anything up?
Just don't do it when it will affect training, and don't do it so often that you put on too much weight.

Never deprieve yourself, never make things more difficult than they are. If a couple of glasses of wine relaxes you - rock on.

Glad you replied, in that you're an "athlete" who's times I respect, who has also mentioned the importance of letting loose. My default personality says "never deprieve yourself"- has done for the past 25 years.:rolleyes:
"Why give anything up?" , I made a huge leap by giving up fags, but booze has always been a constant. It's so ingrained in my personality now that I was wondering about the specific benefits of giving up during a training program. I've twenty weeks till I run Limerick marathon- the training program should bring me under 3 hours. I wonder who here has given it up for a specific training program, to what specific benefits?

donothoponpop

--amadeus-- wrote: »

But..but...but... How will you carb load?

I can't remember who said "people who don't drink don't live longer, it just seems like it" (Dean Martin, Groucho Marx?) but that kind of sums up my ideas on it. Fair enough if you drink so much so often that it impacts on training but will a couple of glasses of wine or pints of beer at the weekend have that much effect? Fair enough in the weeks leading up to the race but are you really going to celebrate a sub3 with an OJ?

I guess I'm just fishing for like-minds. Don't want to go down the road of what's an acceptable amount to drink, but I had a bottle of nice red (and a pizza) the night before Dublin 2008 (3:10), before training hard, and having a few glasses of red pre Rotterdam 2009( fecked it up:rolleyes:)

TBH, I figure I know the answer, in that booze is hardly going to be a good training partner, no matter how funny, witty, and debatably astute and handsome it makes me. However, I never gave it up before, but I reckon I will for 2010 Jan-May, and see what happens.

Krusty_Clown

I gave up the booze a month before Berlin, and the real benefit was weight loss. I lost around 8-10lbs (partially attributable to reasonable mileage and a healthy diet at the time too), which was probably worth a few minutes to me (though I gave it up for the training benefits, and never considered the weight loss aspect). So, keep drinking and training, and it'll be like carrying a weighted backpack with you during training. Give it up with a few weeks to go, and toss away the 'backpack'. For further backpack effect, throw in a few sticky cream buns and a curry chip.

RacoonQueen

I second what Tunney says. I don't drink much especially if I've got a lsr the next day or in the next couple of days but if I WANT a drink I'll have one or four.

Edit: just realised I'm agreeing with Tunney alot lately :eek:

Peckham

I gave up for a month before my first two marathons, and for two months before my previous marathon. I probably drink 3 nights a week normally, but rarely get particularly drunk.

I find the benefit to be improved sleep and recovery. Getting out for a Monday morning 6am run isn't as difficult when you weren't drinking on Fri and Sat nights! Feel much fresher all the time.

Don't think I could give up indefinitely, and happy enough to do it all in moderation. Will probably give up at start of March for my London attempt at end of April.

RoyMcC

donothoponpop we're pretty much of like minds. Although I love my running I've never considered compromising the few pints for the sake of better performance. Life balance and all that.

Nevertheless I've found myself drinking fewer pints and consequently losing significant weight over the last month or two. The improvement in my running is very noticeable.

Certainly I'd now be far more disciplined when training for a target race, and then celebrate the result appropriately

robinph

If giving up drink means that I'd loose weight then I intend to keep drinking.

I actually may only rarely drink from one week to the next, but when I do there is generally a lot of it and I'll then have the next couple of days written off as far as any training goes anyway. There is also some times when I'd be drinking every day for a while, but then there is no running go on at the same time so it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

shels4ever

RoyMcC wrote: »

donothoponpop we're pretty much of like minds. Although I love my running I've never considered compromising the few pints for the sake of better performance. Life balance and all that.

Nevertheless I've found myself drinking fewer pints and consequently losing significant weight over the last month or two. The improvement in my running is very noticeable.

Certainly I'd now be far more disciplined when training for a target race, and then celebrate the result appropriately

I notice that too when in the middle of a training plan /i dont really want to drink, usually because I have runs early on Sat and Sunday morning so maybe the odd glass of wine, Took a break for a few week and had a good few beers and did put on a couple of lbs but back into serious training again, so i'd expect to drop that over the next few weeks. Life balance is the main thing, I enjoy food and wine and it does no harm once you dont over do it.

celestial

tunney wrote: »

Why give anything up?
Just don't do it when it will affect training, and don't do it so often that you put on too much weight.

Never deprieve yourself, never make things more difficult than they are. If a couple of glasses of wine relaxes you - rock on.

Fantastic post.

A mate of mine runs marathons every six weeks or so, he just ran a 60k ultra and is looking at doing a 100k now. Drinks and hits the pub just as often as he likes and he's hitting PBs regularly. Doesn't stop him at all.

toomuchdetail

Define a few drinks ? 2-3 pints every 2nd/3rd weekend (me) ? 4/5 pints once/twice a weekend .
Which has more effect , a few pints as above or the daily crisps/chocolate/dietery weaknesses ?
Had xmas party Friday night and made the commitment at 3:30am to cut the drink out for 2010 , made the same commitment 2 weeks ago at a similar party and I am sure I will do the same again soon .
As I am not a heavy drinker I feel the diet is probably better bang for buck but from looking at most of you guys and your times you seem to have this nailed so possibly booze is all thats left ?

Running Bing

I think there are many more effective ways to improve running performance than giving up drink.

As long as drinking does'nt affect your weight or leave you in poor shape going into training sessions then giving it up will do absolutely squat imo.

Dont get me wrong Im sure there are many good reasons to give up drink but improving running performance is not one of them imo.

--amadeus--

toomuchdetail wrote: »

As I am not a heavy drinker I feel the diet is probably better bang for buck but from looking at most of you guys and your times you seem to have this nailed so possibly booze is all thats left ?

Far from it - my diet is woeful. But I'm a long, long way short of elite status and I'm at the point where training smarter / harder will deliver performance gains of minutes versus the seconds that I suspect I'd gain from a smarter / better diet. I'd rather focus my energy where it'll have the most effect on my running and the least effect on the pleasure I get from the rest of my life.

greenplain

I have been off the drink for the past eight weeks and it has helped me no end. time has improved and also I have lost about 7bls. Plan to have a few drink over xmas alright but come the new year i will give it up again for another while. My quality of training has improved and the longer runs at the weekend has become alot easier. in saying that I am looking forward to having a few xmas beers.

celestial

greenplain wrote: »

I have been off the drink for the past eight weeks and it has helped me no end. time has improved and also I have lost about 7bls. Plan to have a few drink over xmas alright but come the new year i will give it up again for another while. My quality of training has improved and the longer runs at the weekend has become alot easier. in saying that I am looking forward to having a few xmas beers.

Think you're hitting on something else here - that booze affects people in different ways - the only way to know if it has an impact is to try giving it up (or cutting back if you drink a lot) for a while and see what difference it makes.

hunnymonster

I don't drink but if it's something you get enjoyment out of, I can't imagine giving up leading to a performance benefit so I'd say keep the drink in the interests of life balance. Start a new years resolutions thread and see if we can find something more interesting for you to give up/take up?

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Edit: just realised I'm agreeing with Tunney alot lately :eek:

Scary at first isn't it?

ronanmac

Funny, I've been thinking over the past few days of giving up the booze for 2010, and now I see this post!

Firstly, I love beer . The smell of a fresh pint of Guinness, English ales, the bite of a weissbeer, and mmmm, Chimay Bleu, the greatest beer of all time! Unfortunately, beer doesn't love me back and makes sh*ite of my immune system. A good session will almost certainly leave me vulnerable to a cold or sore throat.

So, after putting in a decent year of running/watching what I eat etc. in 2009, I've been considering giving up the booze for next year and seeing what I can achieve running-wise. This is a huge jump for me but I think it could help my running in that I am very much a "momentum person." If my training/eating well momentum is interrupted by illness, sore head, etc, then I could easily go a month without doing anything, eating crap etc.

I haven't committed to it yet, as I have to sort out in my head first all the excuses that could trip my abstinence up. Is there anyone else who gave the booze the bullet for a year or more, and how did it go for you?