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It is time. It is Race Week. You are at the venue and ready to “ROCK THE SHIT” out of your race. Let me break down your week for you.
You are TWO days from your Ironman Triathlon!
You are excited, hanging at the Expo and grabbing your Ironman Branded Gear. You start hearing what people say about their training and how many miles they have taken. You head back to the hotel. You get your T1 and T2 gear ready. The bike is prepared. You sit with more athletes at dinner. They talk about the “war” stories of how much training they did. They pull out their phone to look at their data. You observe.
You are ONE day from your Ironman Triathlon!
You eat a LARGE breakfast and must start tapering your food today. You head down to the bike drop-off with your bike and TI/T2 bag. You begin hearing MORE people discuss their training. You head back to the hotel. You jump on your social media. You see, EVERYONE is talking about Ironman this and Ironman that. People keep talking about the weather. Is it wetsuit legal? What do you do?
STOP EVERYONE…I am FREAKING OUT OVER HERE!
You might have encountered this dilemma before: you want to enjoy some drinks with friends, but you’re worried that the alcohol and extra calories might negatively affect your training. It’s difficult to weight the pros and cons in this situation if you aren’t familiar with the ways in which alcohol can affect your body. In this post I’ll cover how alcohol impacts different aspects of your health, athletic performance, and recovery. Hopefully this information can help you to make more informed decisions regarding your drinking habits and behaviors.
The truth is I can’t tell you exactly how alcohol consumption will impact your health because everyone is different. There are several factors which influence the way alcohol is metabolized in your body including genetics, biological sex, body mass, nutritional status, activity level, and amount/timing of consumption (Barnes, 2014). Here I’ll give you a general overview of the science behind alcohol metabolism and how it affects health.
Hydration
You probably already knew this one, but one of the most noticeable effects of alcohol is its ability to dehydrate you. Normally, a hormone called anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) helps your body to retain water and keep your cells well-hydrated and functioning properly. However, ethanol, the type of alcohol in drinks, blocks the effects of ADH leading to excess urination and dehydration (Shirreffs and Maughan, 2006).
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