@Peter HA I say that to my wife all the time. I never ever used drugs but like anything else I do it is to the excess so I would have no doubt loved them!
I've decided to abstain completely from alcohol, starting 1/1/14 until IMCDA on June 29. I'd progressed to drinking a glass or two of wine nearly every evening after work and had begun to feel that this was a bad habit that was just getting worse. Two weeks in and I will have to say that abstinence was way easier than I expected. As to how it has affected/improved my training I really can't say I can tell yet. I do believe it's for the best though!
@Charles that is exactly how I started! Then I started fighting my wife for the rest of the bottle then I just said the heck with it and opened another! Slippery slope! Good man it will pay dividends.
The other big thing that booze has shown to cause is a HUGE decrease in natural testosterone levels. So you are not only impacting your body from the workouts but destroying its ability to create one of the most important things needed for this sport.
Folks...I wanted to follow up to my earlier (fun) comments.....I do indeed continue to enjoy alcoholic beverages during training...in moderation....and within overall dietary constraints....but I did not want to sound trite(?) about the effect of alcohol on people...I have encountered and been involved with many recovering (they will tell you never recovered) alcoholics...and have a sensitivity to the issue....
I am inspired by friends in the athletic community who have a story to tell and thought I would share one with the team...I ran with Richard Dodd (and his twin brother) at UW-La Crosse...he was/is an amazingly talented runner who plumbed the depths of alcohol and through athletics..(running) he climbed his way back up...So drink with moderation, caution, and understanding ...
I perform better during periods of focused training when I abstain. I sleep better without it, ergo, I am recovering/performing better. When I'm whipped from a block of training and nothing could keep me from sleeping anyway, and I have the next morning off, then I will have the glass (or 2) of red with dinner, usually spilling the second as I nod off.
so this answer to the question is: i've stop alcohol now and: i sleep better, recover faster and it makes my wife WAYYYYYYYY happier. And the money i save from not buying alcohol helps me buy gels and sport drinks (that costs more actually).
Interesting reading all these responses. Many sound like my life.
I also have an all or nothing persona. Why have 1 beer when you can have 6? It's strange how people are wired. My brother is in the beer business. He works for Heineken. He took to a beer event where there was beer in ice buckets every three feet. He was totally bored and sipped a single beer all night. I got WASTED while scheming on how to drink every beer in the place for FREE before they turned the lights off.
I had my last drink 12/10/2009. Nothing remarkable about it. It was a night out with a couple old frat buddies. The next morning my wife took a home pregnancy test and we found out our son, Dean, was on the way. I quit that minute thinking I would start again like had after wife gave birth to my daughter. After 9 months, my boy came along and decided not to go back to those habits. I had lost about 50 pounds and was excited about getting fitter and faster. I have not had a drink of anything in over 4 years.
@Dino That is awesome that your children dried you up!!!!!!! I like your priorities. My wife had been traveling all week and I told her I started this thread and her first comment before I said any of the responses was; You are all type A and that means you're all in or go home nothing in between. I ended the conversation. she is such much smarter than me.
I find that I WANTit less when I'm training more. I really think about a nice cold beer in the heat of an evil threshold repeat or the end of a long run or ride, but I rarely have it.
Before races I learned this lesson: I was at a great italian place the night before IMLP in 2011 flanked by my Kona crush and another friend who can run circles around me...and these two were drinking Chianti. I figured, if it doesn't slow down these speedsters, it won't kill me! Half a glass does make me relax a bit and sleep the night before a big race, but I only drink it if I really want it!
My girlfriend next door expects me to drink a glass of red with her every Sunday, and for the most part I do. I had my best year ever last year. Drank about the same as the last 5 years.
I have a glass of wine or a beer almost every evening. I hardly ever have more than that though. On New Year's Eve (my anniversary) I did have 2 glasses of wine and a small glass of champagne but that was over a 7 hour period.
I have some persistent body comp issues so I am trying a "dry period" ahead of IM 70.3 Cali in March. It makes me sad because the Pac NW is full many many great beers, and I haven't tried all of them yet, nor have I drank enough of the ones I currently like. But I'd like to see what happens weight-wise if I go 10 weeks without my favorite beverage.
The empty calories and impact on hydration seem totally contradictory to what I am trying to do with the training and dieting.
Oh, and when you can remember the exact date, time, location, the last time you had "a few" .....I like to keep the streak of no more going. It has been years, and almost 35 pounds.
On a follow up for me, I was at 170lbs entering the NOS and weight stayed constant b/t 168-170 throughout. Stopped drinking alcohol 100% exactly 2 weeks ago and weight now at 165lbs. Coincidence? Maybe. But in my mind this is meaningful. Hoping this weeks bike/run testing as I exit the OS yields good results.
Comments
I've decided to abstain completely from alcohol, starting 1/1/14 until IMCDA on June 29. I'd progressed to drinking a glass or two of wine nearly every evening after work and had begun to feel that this was a bad habit that was just getting worse. Two weeks in and I will have to say that abstinence was way easier than I expected. As to how it has affected/improved my training I really can't say I can tell yet. I do believe it's for the best though!
@Charles that is exactly how I started! Then I started fighting my wife for the rest of the bottle then I just said the heck with it and opened another! Slippery slope! Good man it will pay dividends.
The other big thing that booze has shown to cause is a HUGE decrease in natural testosterone levels. So you are not only impacting your body from the workouts but destroying its ability to create one of the most important things needed for this sport.
Folks...I wanted to follow up to my earlier (fun) comments.....I do indeed continue to enjoy alcoholic beverages during training...in moderation....and within overall dietary constraints....but I did not want to sound trite(?) about the effect of alcohol on people...I have encountered and been involved with many recovering (they will tell you never recovered) alcoholics...and have a sensitivity to the issue....
I am inspired by friends in the athletic community who have a story to tell and thought I would share one with the team...I ran with Richard Dodd (and his twin brother) at UW-La Crosse...he was/is an amazingly talented runner who plumbed the depths of alcohol and through athletics..(running) he climbed his way back up...So drink with moderation, caution, and understanding ...
http://host.madison.com/news/local/...963f4.html
I perform better during periods of focused training when I abstain. I sleep better without it, ergo, I am recovering/performing better.
When I'm whipped from a block of training and nothing could keep me from sleeping anyway, and I have the next morning off, then I will have the glass (or 2) of red with dinner, usually spilling the second as I nod off.
i've stop alcohol now and: i sleep better, recover faster and it makes my wife WAYYYYYYYY happier. And the money i save from not buying alcohol helps me buy gels and sport drinks (that costs more actually).
I also have an all or nothing persona. Why have 1 beer when you can have 6? It's strange how people are wired. My brother is in the beer business. He works for Heineken. He took to a beer event where there was beer in ice buckets every three feet. He was totally bored and sipped a single beer all night. I got WASTED while scheming on how to drink every beer in the place for FREE before they turned the lights off.
I had my last drink 12/10/2009. Nothing remarkable about it. It was a night out with a couple old frat buddies. The next morning my wife took a home pregnancy test and we found out our son, Dean, was on the way. I quit that minute thinking I would start again like had after wife gave birth to my daughter. After 9 months, my boy came along and decided not to go back to those habits. I had lost about 50 pounds and was excited about getting fitter and faster. I have not had a drink of anything in over 4 years.
Before races I learned this lesson: I was at a great italian place the night before IMLP in 2011 flanked by my Kona crush and another friend who can run circles around me...and these two were drinking Chianti. I figured, if it doesn't slow down these speedsters, it won't kill me!
My girlfriend next door expects me to drink a glass of red with her every Sunday, and for the most part I do. I had my best year ever last year. Drank about the same as the last 5 years.
Oh, and when you can remember the exact date, time, location, the last time you had "a few" .....I like to keep the streak of no more going. It has been years, and almost 35 pounds.
Happily on the wagon...LOL
@Brad that is awesome!!! You have things falling into place for you very nicely. Looks like early stage for a wonderful year!