Marathons: Treating Yourself to a Delicious Beer Post-Run

Marathons are among the toughest races to train for as a runner. It can take months or up to a year to prepare mentally and physically to feel confident.

Not only do you have a grueling training plan to adhere to, but you also have to make many sacrifices to ensure you are at your very best. You will need adequate sleep, a good diet, and cannot consume alcohol.

Drinking beer during your marathon training is unacceptable. You will find many training plans asking you to quit drinking. The reason is that beer can lead to issues like dehydration, reduced energy, poor physical recovery, unregulated body temperature, and so on. Despite that, sometimes you need a nice refreshing beer after a tough run. If that’s the case, then finding a balance between the two can make your life easier.

Marathons and Hydration

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When you are running every week for marathon training, you need to be extremely hydrated to keep up with your high-mileage weekly runs. Being dehydrated can slow you down because of the loss of fluids and electrolytes. You will lose significant liquids because your body is trying to cool itself down. If this happens, it can force you to stop training for several days until you have recovered. If you are drinking high amounts of alcohol, you are more likely to experience dehydration, and everything you worked for will have been wasted.

Why is alcohol an issue? Alcohol is a diuretic that causes your body to lose many fluids through frequent urination and sweat. Alcohol can cause your body to warm up excessively, and if you are already losing many fluids because you are working out, imagine what happens when you are both sweaty and warming up excessively when you are drunk.

If you want to stay hydrated before and during your race, you need to drink beverages that will help you stay hydrated. Keep yourself hydrated and cool by drinking the following: water, water with electrolytes, Pedialyte, sparkling water, smoothies, and so on. Beer can reverse all your hard work, so the key to doing well is to stay hydrated during your training, and for the actual race.

Drinking Beer After a Run

Although beer is not recommended during your marathon training, there are plenty of running events that are for alcohol lovers to join. You can run the Marathon du Medoc, Run Bacchus, Beer Lovers Marathon, Lanzarote Wine Run, Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, Water to Wine Half Marathon, and the Beer Mile.

If these running events have alcohol included in them then drinking while you’re running shouldn’t be so bad, right? According to a study conducted by Matthew J Barnes, male athletes can drink alcohol if it is 0.5 g/kg and it will not impact recovery. If you are abstaining from drinking during your training, then your tolerance will be lower, so it is best to drink even less.

Another study published in Nutrients found that beer with a low amount of alcohol (less than 4%) would help rehydrate athletes after exercise instead of beers with more alcohol. If you drink a beer post-run, then the study suggests following it up with food. You can also sprinkle salt in a beer with a low alcohol percentage since salt will manipulate the beer’s ingredients and hydrate you, according to a study conducted by Ben Desbrow. According to the researcher, “a properly formulated beer beverage is likely to do no more harm than a sports drink,” Desbrow says. This is because beer has more natural ingredients than sports drinks do.

Can Beer Really Harm My Training?

Strenuous activity can negatively affect your immune system, so you are more prone to becoming sick. In the previous study, it was found that probiotics can reduce your risk of infections. Since beer has polyphenols in it, the researchers noted that it can prevent respiratory infections and even reduce your risk at heart disease.

Although the alcohol in the beer can interfere with your training, the study found that alcohol consumed in moderation is acceptable as a post-run beverage. Drinking a beer after a run or race does not affect your body unless the athlete drinks heavily.

Yes, alcohol can affect you negatively. However, drinking one beer will not ruin everything you have trained for to be in tip-top shape.

Treat Yourself Post-Run in Limited Amounts

You have already invested in yourself to do well in your upcoming race/races. You invested money, time and made sacrifices to be successful in your race. Drinking throughout your training isn’t recommended because all your hard work will go nowhere if your body is constantly recovering from hangovers. If you want to do well then it is important to be aware of how much you drink and not treat yourself too much.

You can also choose to drink non-alcoholic beers to avoid the effects alcohol has on the body. Non-alcoholic drinks will still allow you to quench your beer thirst while helping your body. Non-alcoholic beer can keep you healthy since it is full of vitamins and minerals including iron, zinc, and potassium, and has fewer calories than those with alcohol in it.

In the end, it is up to you to decide whether drinking a beer is ok after you complete your races. You do have options and can choose to give up drinking while you train or continue to drink occasionally.