Recent research tells us that runners and alcohol don’t make ideal training partners. And yet, they sure do meet up a lot: Run clubs start and end at breweries, marathons offer wine tastings, and competitors break records annually at the Beer Mile World Classic. For that reason, some runners may resist cutting alcohol from their training entirely—especially if a postrun beer provides an opportunity to spend some extra time with their running buddies.
So the question becomes: “As a runner, what amount of alcohol can I consume before it starts to meaningfully affect my fitness and performance?” The answer isn’t completely clear, Ron Maughan, PhD, honorary professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, whose research includes the effects of alcohol on athletic performance and recovery, tells Runner’s World. But we can still make some conclusions with a level of certainty.
Alcohol has strong effects on the liver, can interfere with sleep, influences how we access our energy stores, and can impair our muscles’ ability to adapt and recover—all of which will derail training. So is it possible to balance alcohol and a regular running routine without experiencing poor performance outcomes? Research indicates that consuming just one drink—the equivalent of five ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of liquor, or a 12-ounce beer—within an hour of bedtime can negatively affect sleep quality.
Specifically, researchers noted a decrease in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which helps support cognitive functions like memory, emotional regulation, and the ability to focus. This might surprise some runners who rely on alcohol to help them fall asleep faster. Bede says alcohol’s impact on sleep is one of her first concerns for any athlete trying to recover efficiently from daily training sessions.
Beyond that, one drink can also affect your hydration status, because alcohol is a diuretic. So that can have negative consequences,” says Maughan, particularly if it leaves you dehydrated before a workout or race, as even mild dehydration can impair endurance performance. He explains, however, that more dilute alcohol solutions, such as a pint of 5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) beer, do not have the same dehydrating effects as, say, a shot of 40 percent ABV whiskey.
For this reason, she recommends drinking additional fluids and electrolytes alongside any alcohol you choose to consume to help offset the dehydrating effects. In addition to hydration, alcohol affects the body’s metabolic response to food, which can disrupt our ability to meet nutritional needs during training. Because the body can’t store alcohol—and recognizes it as a potentially toxic substance—the liver prioritizes breaking it down before other nutrients.
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