Feb 23, Alcohol

So, I was able to take the spinning and yoga classes again. Incredible. I didn’t feel so great in the afternoon, not really sure why, maybe still recovering from the 8 mile workout on Saturday. I hadn’t recovered properly, and may have just been feeling my body trying to recover. In any case, the spinning class seemed extra hard today and by the end I was pretty exhausted but felt much better than before the class. The yoga class was cool, and learned how to do a headstand. I’ll post a picture when that is possible. Probably in the next few days if I practice.

My cousin Todd made an excellent observation in regards to my training. He noticed that I was doing jump roping on my cross training days, and that it might lead to injuries due to strengthening the calf muscles, which are being rested on the cross training days. It hadn’t even occurred to me, and I’m glad he mentioned it. If anybody else notices odd pieces of my training, please let me know, sometimes I just overlook things and won’t piece obvious informant together. I still plan to practice jumping rope, it will just be on days that I run as either a warm up or cool down, or in between periods. That way I get a good cardio workout, and get m calves engaged, but still let them rest.

One thing that always occurs to me for a while and then fades into the background is the importance of breathing. Everybody should know that it’s been happening since birth, and that it will continue on its own until death, unless circumstances arise. How many people actively think about their breathing, and go out of their way to control it, or to become aware. Since the training began my lung capacity is surely greater. I pity people who smoke, because you are basically poisoning yourself. What good does smoking really create? A sense of calm, that you’ve Pavloved. Come on, what good can possibly come from consuming burning plants and other substances that lead to buildup in your lungs. It’s simply foolish to think that people who smoke are cool or the “in crowd” it’s long been the opposite. If you do smoke, in 20 years do you want a hole in your throat, trouble breathing, cancer, probably heart disease, etc., you might be shit out of luck for smoking related diseases if a system is created based on personal accountability.

I haven’t mentioned before that I love water, and think that everybody should love it as much as I do. Just a few moments ago, my eyes actually lit up when I saw a quart of water sitting peacefully on my desk. Partially because it meant I didn’t need to get up and get some, but more because my body must really want it and love it. Why would people allow their bodies to become dehydrated? If our bodies are…60% water (looked it up) than becoming dehydrated is just really sick and demented. I wake up every morning and drink a class of water because my body has been working for the previous 7-8 hours on rebuilding and evolving me. It deserves it, plus it gets my metabolism going immediately. I try to have enough water that I don’t get thirsty, and so that I don’t need to drink anything during my meals. It’s been said that drinking during eating dilutes the stomach acid. I don’t know if it’s true, but if you think about 5,000 years ago, I bet they didn’t have a Nalgene bottle handy when they ate their meals, let alone dispensers, or soda and alcohol. Maybe if they happened to eat near a watering hole, but certainly not for the majority of their meals.

Another thing I love is good quality beer. If you don’t know by now, I have given up drinking until after the marathon. It’s unhealthy and expensive enough that it’s not the greatest training aid, and I don’t mind giving it up for a few months. Empty calories, dehydration, diuretic, hangovers, lethargy, these seem like enough reasons to stop at least for now. I have had my share of experiences with alcohol and certainly a few times of overdrinking, but at this stage in my life it has dawned on me that binge drinking might be one of the most detrimental activities that people do on a regular basis. Flooding the body with empty calories, lowering inhibition, decision making just out the window, spending a small fortune, treating the liver and rest of the body like it doesn’t matter is certainly nothing to brag about. Not to mention, staying up late and mixing drinks.

I can only wonder what the body is thinking when it first encounters alcohol in the system. It’s not a food it would recognize, and it’s not a drink that occurs naturally without some fermentation, and often tends to be accompanied by shitty food and poor judgment. Am I being poisoned and tortured could be a possible question.

Don’t get me wrong, I love beer, just that quality and moderation are the key. It’s just that seeing people drink large quantities of tasteless alcohol with the overall purpose of having a good time are being extremely short sighted. What about later that night or morning when the body is working itself to the limit trying to fix the issues created? Or the next morning when you get up and realize that you should drink about a gallon of water, and knowing that the entire day will be lost. Or even next year when you haven’t exercised in a month, are eating bad food and generally feel terrible.

The point, know what you are consuming and why. A drink a day won’t do anything negative to your system, unless that one drink is a gigantic Irish Car Bomb, or a triple shot of Jack. If you aren’t in the best shape and are under the assumption that tomorrow or the next day or next week is when you’ll start changing your life, you should probably stop drinking. Alcohol has a tendency to be accompanied by the sedentary lifestyle, and poor food choices. Maybe the government didn’t have prohibition correct, but all the health reasons and issues DIRECTLY related to alcohol are still obvious pointers that it needs to be regulated at some level. Or at least stop showing all of these ridiculous ads about how great it is, and how great it will make your life.

Why can’t it be like the tobacco industry, where they still sell it(though they shouldn’t be allowed to), they just can’t spend money advertising on tv. Then at least young people won’t have to be influenced as much, and the companies could actually start creating some quality beers and maybe donate some of the ad money towards the issues they are unfortunately causing (AA, DUI deaths, road damage, prison overcrowding, substance abuse, violence, theft, teen pregnancy, STD’s, lots and lots of stupid decision making). Obviously not all completely alcohol or its distributors fault, but the widespread idea that alcohol is the way to have fun does not make the problems go away.

That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow,
Ryan