By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

As adults with a full life, alcohol is a ubiquitous part of most of our lives. Some of us enjoy the occasional drink in a social setting, some have one every day, some can’t stop consuming it, and some finally overcame alcoholism.

As far as I have read, there’s no proof that the occasional post-run beer will wreck your recovery, nor that it will help it either. Yet, alcohol has undeniable social benefits associated with consuming responsibly it with your buddies, like after a run. I am not a scientist or a wine drinker, but I’ve read about the benefits of a glass of wine when it comes to HDL cholesterol and antioxidants. I’ve also read how more is not necessarily better. You should not be having 3 or 4 glasses because it the positive effects don’t necessarily compound.

A post-run beer has many social benefits and won’t ruin your recovery. The operating word here is “A”, meaning “one”.

I am not here to proselytize on alcohol consumption, which is a personal choice. But as athletes wanting to improve on our fitness and/or racing times, we need to be aware what are the negative effects that too much alcohol can have on our recovery, which is half of our training (Work + Recovery = Training).

For starters, alcohol is a diuretic. A diuretic is a substance that promotes the increased production of urine. This means that it produces dehydration, a big problem for runners. The consequences of moderate dehydration are, among others, cramps and fatigue. Severe dehydration, which can occur after combining drinking and running, include urinary and kidney complications, low blood volume, heat-related injuries and even seizures. As if that weren’t enough, I am sure that running with a hungover must suck all the joy we could get of the sport.

As I was researching this topic, I googled “alcohol and running” and, among the 812 million results I got, the very first one was this paragraph, which resumes most of what I wanted to say: Alcohol is a powerful diuretic, and dehydration is never a runner\’s friend. The risk for muscle cramps, muscle pulls, muscle strains and general fatigue increases when dehydrated, so drinking extra water after a night of hitting the bars is more than necessary to regulate your body for your next run.”

As we have mentioned in this blog, many times before, the number one recovery tool in your arsenal is sleep, which is the time your body uses to repair itself from the pounding of your training and the stress of your day. Alcohol consumption affects and impairs your sleep. Don’t let anyone fool you by telling you that drinking makes them sleepy like a baby, so it doesn’t affect them. Even if you are asleep, drinking in excess will affect your REM sleep, which restores your brain and is good for your memory and learning. Sounds kind of important to me.

Wine has plenty of documented benefits, but they do not compound the more your drink.

Consuming alcohol in excess, also affects your fitness, which is the capacity of your body to recover so you can do it again. If your liver is too busy processing the excess alcohol you consumed, it would not be able to assist repairing of your body, which is needed after every training session, regardless of how easy it was.

The definition of “excess” is personal and individual. What is suitable for a fit, 200-pound male, may not be suitable for a 115-pound female recovering from Covid. Each runner must understand what is good for their lifestyle and make sure they can live with their decisions.

In a podcast I recently listened, Coach Jonathan Marcus made a comparison between two separate issues. One of those fits perfectly in what the last paragraph was explaining: “You can down a whole bottle of wine in 45 minutes. You can do it. You can, physically, get the liquid into your stomach. But what is going to happen afterwards is not going to be pretty. Or, you can have half a glass of wine in an-hour period, sipping on it though dinner, multiple nights in a row and enjoy it as part of a meal. Your body can extract the nutrients, flavors, etc. from that, versus being overly consumed by the poison of the alcohol that then forces a harsh and severe, nasty metabolic response”.

This post is not for pointing fingers, preaching on lifestyle or proselytizing on the virtuosity of abstention. Just make sure you understand what the consequences of mixing running with alcohol are for both your body and your training, so you can make the right choices when the time comes.