Drinking and running

I just returned from a 5 mile run and I feel sketchy. It was not a great run. Sure, it was a bit warm 78 F (25C) and muggy, but a runner with my experience should certainly be able to do better than I did.

The problem was that when I woke up this morning I didn’t feel too good. I stayed up way too late (2 am) and drank way too much Corona beer (84 ounces). Don’t get me wrong I had a good time last night but my morning joggling was suffering. I almost didn’t even go out for the run! But when you are trying to break a world record you can’t let little things like feeling sketchy stop you from a training run.

Last year, when training for the Chicago Marathon, I stopped drinking beer for the entire training schedule. That was over 100 days without a drop of ale. And what did it get me? A personal record (PR) in the marathon. Of course, it was a mere 2 minutes faster than my best so it didn’t seem that the “no drinking” training plan was worth it.

However, today’s run reminded me how hard it is to wake up and have a good run after a night of debauchery. To help my running, I’m going to have to cut out nights like that. Starting today, no more beer drinking until after joggling the Toronto Marathon. Of course, not everyone would agree with this strategy. Take a look at these running and drinking clubs.

Stats for 6/29/06

Weight: 192
Distance: 2.13 miles (featuring 3 hill runs)
Time: 16 min

Stats for 6/30/06

Weight : 193

Distance: 0 miles (focused on core exercises 44 pullups, 100 situps, 50 pushups)

Stats for 7/1/06

Distance: 5.1 miles

Time: 44:18