Drinking Alcohol

okgo

I've found recently that I've made a marked change to my lifestyle. All seemingly for cycling. (I'm not drinking with mates in London now as I have a race tomorrow which I have no chance of winning). Don't get me wrong I still drink and have fun on occasion, but not as often as previous...

Now perviously I'd go out on the sauce fairly frequently and not worry about it. And very recently it's occured to me that perhaps what I am doing is pointless given in not paid to do it and never will be. So for those of you at cat 2/cat 1 (my aim for next season) level, what do you do? Do you stay in and not drink, do you mix it up and try to be good? Do you live like a monk? I could easily keep looking fit and healthy and maintain cat 2/3 and go out drinking every weekend I would imagine, I'm beginning to think I should be. What's the point of making sacrifices if they're unfounded? I enjoy cycling but it's occured to me this evening that I'd rather be out having some drinks in the sun.

Interested to hear what other think...

phreak

I don't drink, but I don't suppose there's a great deal of harm in having the odd beer. If you're getting bladdered each time though I'd say there are plenty of reasons to stop that before cycling even enters the equation.

dw300

Why not go out, have 3 or 4, have fun, race the next day? You don't need to get wrote aff to have fun!

Alex_Simmons/RST

Depends on what your goals are. If you want to be the best cyclist you can be, then you need to make sacrifices and work seriously hard in training.

If that's not your goal, then you can get away with fewer sacrifices and working less hard.

No one can tell you what's right for you. Only you can do that.

bahzob

In an "ideal" world I guess you would not drink alcohol since there isn't any real way it can make a positive contribution to training.

However I, for one, would not want to live in such an ideal world, it would be a very miserable place. So I prefer to factor drinking into my training plan.

Basically this involves 3 things
- Making sure any calories consumed as alcohol are burned off as exercise (very roughly 1 pint of beer = 15-20 minutes threshold effort)
- Not ever allowing myself to use the excuse of feeling a bit rough as an excuse to miss a workout.
- Drinks mean no other "treats" (sorry chocolate, pies and chips I miss you)

Following this has let me as you say to look/feel fit and healthy and ride to a high level.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Not sure I'd classify a life without alcohol as necessarily miserable or less than ideal. It's an individual thing, and many do just fine without a need for alcohol to enjoy life. Others enjoy a tipple and have fun too.

Some people are allergic to alcohol and still have plenty of fun and enjoyment.

Some cultures eschew alcohol altogether and manage to enjoy life.

bahzob

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

Not sure I'd classify a life without alcohol as necessarily miserable or less than ideal. It's an individual thing, and many do just fine without a need for alcohol to enjoy life. Others enjoy a tipple and have fun too.

Some people are allergic to alcohol and still have plenty of fun and enjoyment.

Some cultures eschew alcohol altogether and manage to enjoy life.

Ah but Alex I think you hail from Australia which doesn't really do beer. it just does Fosters. If that was all on offer I'd be teetotal.

Luckily here in the UK we not only have the best cyclists in the world we also have the greatest range of beers.

T.C.

i'm no racer etc- but like too be fit and do sportives - i try to abstain from alcohol for at least 6 weeks after xmas -this month i've had a 2 parties and a wedding this Fri - gutted - but last week managed 11.5 hours on the bike! after this w/e i'll try too have a few weeks with no ale

mattshrops

ok I'm a below average TTer. Hopefully as i get a few years under my belt i will improve.

I spent 30 years drinking and smoking, until i was hit by a 4 wheel drive.

At that point iquit smoking and drinking and took up cycling.
It occurred to me how many years i had wasted being unfit and unhealthy. I am now determined to be the best i can be(cheese alert)

When you dont drink you start to notice how many people spend so much time boozing and also how much harm is done to themselves and society by too much alchohol.

When you take your day to day existence apart and examine it , almost anything could be viewed as pointless, and both sides of this are equally valid IF what youre doing is making you fulfilled/happy.
Do what is right for you/be what you want to be.

Alex_Simmons/RST

bahzob wrote:

Ah but Alex I think you hail from Australia which doesn't really do beer. it just does Fosters. If that was all on offer I'd be teetotal.

If Fosters was sold here, I'd be inclined to agree.

dw300

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

bahzob wrote:

Ah but Alex I think you hail from Australia which doesn't really do beer. it just does Fosters. If that was all on offer I'd be teetotal.

If Fosters was sold here, I'd be inclined to agree.

Bless him .. some people are suckers for marketing.

Maglia

I'm in the same position as you Okgo, moved up from forth to second this year and would like to have a crack at getting a first cat license. I still drink but the way I drink has changed massively although I get through a couple of beers and a bottle of wine a week. I spent a large part of my twenties making the most of London socially and now my life's evolved to the point where I feel that what I get from cycling offers more than that.

I believe that unless you're prodigiously talented (I'm not) then a first cat license will require a lot of training and sacrifices will need to be made to recover from volume and intensity associated with that. Anything that jeopardises that recovery needs to be considered, vandalising all the hard work done in training strikes me as rather pointless.

To echo Alex's sentiments I guess it comes down to your individual priorities.

okgo

I think I am going to set myself some goals, and be realistic.

The issue is when my mates go out they go and get smashed, so its not much fun being out with them if you're having 1 or 2.

I don't think small quantities make much difference, but thanks for input from everyone.

phreak

Maybe you need new mates? Kinda thought the whole charade of getting bladdered and then retelling the tale on Monday morning was something teenagers did.

*shrug* Each to their own I suppose. The missus works in A&E though and the number of drunks in there each weekend is frightening. Don't really get the need for it. If you can't have fun without getting that drunk it seems something's wrong there (to me). Not to mention the cost. Do it every week and you're spending a couple of grand a year easily.

You're a grown up though, figure out what you want out of life and do that If fitting in with your mates is most important then do that. If riding gives you more enjoyment then lean more that way.

Herbsman

phreak wrote:

Maybe you need new mates? Kinda thought the whole charade of getting bladdered and then retelling the tale on Monday morning was something teenagers did.

*shrug* Each to their own I suppose. The missus works in A&E though and the number of drunks in there each weekend is frightening. Don't really get the need for it. If you can't have fun without getting that drunk it seems something's wrong there (to me). Not to mention the cost. Do it every week and you're spending a couple of grand a year easily.

You're a grown up though, figure out what you want out of life and do that If fitting in with your mates is most important then do that. If riding gives you more enjoyment then lean more that way.

Starting to feel that way myself, although I feel like a c**t for hardly ever hanging out with my mates during race season.

I think if you want to stay mates with people, compromise is required on both sides. Not wanting to drink shouldn't affect anyone's friendship if both parties are willing to accept eachother's differences. Although it's difficult when other people's social lives revolve around booze.

slunker

Do what you feel like doing. You will gets ups and downs in drinking/socialising and ups and downs in racing/training. Just go with the flow.

When I feel like a drink I just think of a passage from Laurent Fignon's book...........he won a stage of the tour de france after drinking 5 bottles of wine!!!!

neeb

People's metabolisms are remarkably different in how they can handle alcohol. I drink most days but hardly ever more than a single glass of wine or small bottle of good quality beer, always with food. That amount I'm sure doesn't affect me at all the next day, but I know if I have even a little bit more than that (say two glasses of wine) it does, I just subtly lack energy and motivation for the entire next day. When I was younger I used to go out on Friday night and drink 5 pints, but these days there is no way I could do that without feeling very ill for 24 hours...

dw300

You've got a race calendar I presume. Can you not chat to your mates and plan nights out for after races .. i'm presuming they're not going out every single week? If you can plan it that way you can use the sessions as a celebration if you raced well.

okgo

Yes they go out every week.

I live in London, people go out 3 times a week here!

I am going to try and find a happy balance.

rick_chasey

Didn't realise you took SCR so seriously.

okgo

lol!

Not as seriously as some of you lot

dw300

okgo wrote:

Yes they go out every week.

I live in London, people go out 3 times a week here!

I am going to try and find a happy balance.

Ok .. here's what you need to know ..

Unless it happens to you first, in a few years time your 'mates' will all get girls and/or families and you'll never see them again, or at least it'll be once a month they're allowed out on their own. At that point you will then reflect on your life and wonder why you didn't follow you hopes and dreams and try to accomplish your goals, or at least seek out similar like minded friends as you. You will then realise that you could have been good if you'd devoted yourself and have had several years training under your belt, at which point you will kinda give up, or start eating cornflakes with Special Brew for breakfast, as the utter waste of time dawns on you.

Keep training son.

rick_chasey

Do whichever you prefer the most.

Ultimately, as everything in life is, it's about balance.

Probably part of you enjoys taking the cycling quite seriously, as much as you enjoy a few beers in the sun.

Only you can really weigh up the cost/reward for each action.

In all likelihood I'd suggest a few beers here and there have little cost compared to the reward.

You can always go and have a few, rather than get totally sh!tfaced. If anything, you could use the cycling as an excuse, rather than a reason not to.

phy2sll2

Just turn up really late to everything. Works for me.

okgo

haha, I like that!

SteveR_100Milers

dw300 wrote:

okgo wrote:

Yes they go out every week.

I live in London, people go out 3 times a week here!

I am going to try and find a happy balance.

Ok .. here's what you need to know ..

Unless it happens to you first, in a few years time your 'mates' will all get girls and/or families and you'll never see them again, or at least it'll be once a month they're allowed out on their own. At that point you will then reflect on your life and wonder why you didn't follow you hopes and dreams and try to accomplish your goals, or at least seek out similar like minded friends as you. You will then realise that you could have been good if you'd devoted yourself and have had several years training under your belt, at which point you will kinda give up, or start eating cornflakes with Special Brew for breakfast, as the utter waste of time dawns on you.

Keep training son.

A tad presumptious!

Most of my buddies are pub orientated, as is my social life I guess. I certainly don't get shitfaced regularly, but enough when I go out to mess up any real ability the next day, and probably is the real cause of a pretty lame power/weight ratio. But then cycling is just a hobby, my kids, friends, job are all much more important to becoming a rounded adult contributing to society. Do what makes you feel happiest, and don't worry about the judgement if other people. All you need to really understand is how detrimental alcohol is to athletic performance, and if that bothers you or not.

petemadoc

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

All you need to really understand is how detrimental alcohol is to athletic performance, and if that bothers you or not.

Er.... and how detrimental is it???

For someone like me who likes to do the odd sportive, the odd crit, the odd TT, a bit of cross, try and smash some strava segments (usually unsuccessfully).

I drink 2-3 times a week, just a couple. At the weekend then I might have a few more, depends if I'm riding the next day or what's going on.

Cycling for me is a hobby, I don't take it too seriously but I do like to be competitive. I'll never give it the time required to be an elite, I've got too many other things going on in my life.

I would like to know how alcohol affects my fitness though......

Alex_Simmons/RST

Physiologically, the effects of alcohol consumption on exercise performance are complex. We are well aware of the negative associations with chronic over use of alcohol, but where is the point at which it does/does not influence performance? The answer is not totally clear.

This summary looks at some of the issues:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... ool=pubmed

Keep in mind also there is research to show that the rate of injury requiring time off from training/racing doubles for elite cyclists that have even a small amount of alcohol. It's often not what happens on the bike that's the problem, but rather what happens off it.