Don't drink and run?
The buzz about that post-race beer
Running with Teri Dwyer I have one particular running habit. I'm not sure where it comes from exactly, but it's a practice of mine nonetheless. I don't like to drink alcohol the night
before a long run, a hard workout or a race.
It's not that I've ever had an incident when running long or hard post-drinking. In fact, if I ever had a bit too much fun during my college days, I would inevitably skip a run the next day in favor of a shorter walk. But I had friends in college who swore the best cure for a hangover was doing a long run. I couldn't even imagine this as an option. However, even as my overall drinking has decreased as I've gotten older, I still think about this
each time I'm doing a significant run.
Although I grew up in the Milwaukee area, that fact alone does not qualify me as an expert on the subject of alcohol, let alone how it relates to running. So I consulted a number of sources.
In his book Marathon!, Olympian Jeff Galloway writes, "Alcohol, this central nervous system depressant, is almost certain to lower your performance if consumed within about 12 hours of exercise. The more you drink, the longer the depressing effect lasts.
Alcohol dehydrates you, also. It's not a good idea to drink the night before a significant run (long, fast or race) Alcohol will leave you with less motivation the next morning."
In the Sports Nutrition Guidebook: Eating to Fuel Your Active Lifestyle, Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D. explains in a bit more detail, "It is a myth that beer is a good sports drink because it's filled with carbohydrates, potassium and B vitamins. In fact, it's a very poor sports drink for many reasons:
"The alcohol in beer has a dehydrating effect. If you drink beer after exercise, you'll make frequent trips to the bathroom and lose, rather than replace, valuable fluids. Drinking beer before an event increases your chances of dehydration during the event.
"The alcohol in beer can hurt your sports performance. If you drink before you exercise, you may end up on the sidelines due to poor performance, if not hypoglycemia. Pre-exercise alcohol can interfere with normal blood sugar
control.
"Beer is a poor source of carbohydrates. Of the 150 calories in a 12-ounce can of beer, only 50 are from carbohydrates. The rest are from alcohol. Your muscles don't store alcohol calories as glycogen, so with beer you are more likely to get 'loaded' than carbo-loaded.
"Beer is a poor source of B vitamins. You'd have to drink 11 cans of beer to get the recommended intake for riboflavin and a lot more to get other vitamins in significant amounts."
I can
understand why authors nutritionists, runners, physicians would take a bit of a conservative approach to this topic when writing a book of interest to a general population. But I still wanted to know, is it ever OK to mix running and alcohol?
So I called Robert J. Johnson, M.D., director of the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Among his many impressive credentials, Johnson is a board member for Team USA Minnesota, a Twin Cities-based
Olympic training program for elite-level, post-collegiate distance runners. Johnson is himself a runner.
"As with any habit, they are compatible. But consider it in moderation," Johnson said. "There are similarities between the two, running and alcohol. There are adverse effects with running too much stress fractures, etc. just as there are adverse effects with drinking too much. Runners isolate themselves and so do drinkers. Running, just like drinking, can affect one's
training, one's health and one's social circle."
He continued, "What is the immediate effect of alcohol on training? Probably two areas I think of that are most common. Alcohol can suppress the liver's ability to produce glucose for energy. And alcohol may impair the function of the hypothalamus, thereby decreasing your ability to regulate body temperature. As a safeguard, I would avoid the use of alcohol in weather extremes."
There are other times when it may be better
to be safe than sorry when contemplating mixing alcohol and running. "My best advice would be to not use alcohol for carbo-loading purposes before a race. Beer, especially, is empty calories," Johnson advised. "Don't use it as an excuse to drink before a race. You're better off sticking with whole grains, cereals, pastas, fruits, etc."
But how about immediately after running? I have a friend in Milwaukee who claims the only reason her husband took up running and racing
was for the beer at the end of the races.
Clark offers this advice: "If you are going to drink beer after an event, first quench your thirst with two or three large glasses of water. Then limit yourself to one or two beers, and be sure to eat some carbohydrates such as pretzels or pasta. Don't drink beer or any type of alcoholic beverage on an empty stomach when you are dehydrated; it'll hit you like a ton of bricks!"
I'm a lightweight drinker. Always have been and always will
be. A friend and I spent 10 days in Alabama and Louisiana a few years back. Between us we did three races in eight days. And there was free beer available at the end of every race. I thought it was a pretty fun idea, but I found myself feeling a bit woozy when drinking right after a race.
Johnson also cautions about post-race drinking. "If anything, alcohol can be used as a part of carbo-reloading. After we complete a marathon we're entitled to a reward," Johnson said.
"However, alcohol should never be used to replace the normal carbs we take pre-race. Keep in mind that right after a race it's harder to re-hydrate with alcohol because it's also a diuretic."
In conclusion, common sense is probably your best guide: Don't drink too much. Don't drink if you're doing a race on a really hot day or a really cold day. Listen to your body. Do what works for you. And know your limits.
But don't forget to celebrate when you finish that marathon.
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