Beer and running go together like “rock and roll,” “fish and chips” or “Romeo and Juliet.” Anheuser-Busch sponsored the Colonial Half Marathon for 30 years. The appeal of the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon is twofold—music and post-race beer. There’s also the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon, Blue Moon Wicked 10K, Samuel Adams Surf-N-Santa 10-Miler and the new Peroni Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon in Hampton. A common joke amongst running club members is that they are “a bunch of beer drinkers with a running problem.”
Beer is clearly popular after the event. It’s refreshing and quenches the thirst. It adds to the post-race atmosphere and camaraderie. What isn’t as well known is that many consider beer to be conducive to better racing performance if consumed the evening before the event, or even during the race, in particular for longer events like marathons or ultramarathons.
While I was on the track and cross country team at the College of William and Mary in 1968-69, our coach, the late John Randolph, would preach the dangers of drinking beer the day before races—that it would interfere with the body’s heat mechanisms and slow performance. I naively believed him, and never drank beer before a race, even after graduating.
Then, the day before the inaugural Yorktown Victory Run, a 1976 Bicentennial event, I had some running friends, including Ed Ayres, my high school cross country coach (and the founder of Running Times Magazine) over to my house for a pre-race picnic, including several cases of beer. At first, I didn’t drink. But everybody was having such a great time that I changed my mind and had a couple beers, even though I assumed it would slow my performance the next day.
So what happened the next morning? I ran a breakthrough race, beat my high school coach for the first time, beat a couple of William and Mary track stars (a 4:06 miler and a 13:50 three miler) with credentials far superior to mine, and won the race. It remains one of my Top 10 running thrills. Halfway through, it was mind-boggling to hear the labored breathing of my two W&M rivals, while I was still comfortable, and realize that I was going to win the race.
Was it the beer alone that enabled me to win? Of course not. But I am convinced that having one or two beers the night before a race is beneficial. Every one of my lifetime best races since then, from a 2:23:55 marathon at age 27, to a 54:25 ten-miler at age 46, to a 35:20 10K and 1:18:36 half marathon at age 56, and most recently, in 2012, a 39:00 10K and 1:27:21 half marathon at age 61, have all come after drinking one or two beers the night before. My mileage has changed (from 100 miles per week in my 20s to around 50-60 now), my race times have inevitably slowed, and it takes me forever to warm-up now, but there is one constant through the years—a beer or two the night before all my races. I even experimented with not drinking beer the night before races, and did not run as well.
There are valid reasons for beer being a “performance-enhancing substance.” Similar to the traditional pre-race pasta, it has carbohydrates to build energy stores for the next day’s race. There are B vitamins from the grains used to make beer. And the alcohol can have a relaxing effect, both for a good night’s sleep before the race, but also just to relieve the usual “pre-race jitters” that most runners encounter. While beer has a mild diuretic (dehydrating) effect, that’s not a problem for me, as I thoroughly hydrate the morning of the race.
Drinking beer the evening before, and quenching your thirst after races with a couple beers is standard. What’s more surprising are those runners who drink beer during the race to improve their performance. The late running philosopher George Sheehan advised runners to drink some beer in the later stages of a marathon.
But it’s beyond the 26.2-mile marathon distance that beer might have its greatest advantages. Cheryl Lager of Newport News, the premier female ultra-marathoner in Southeastern Virginia, was “bonking” (completely running out of energy) during the ninth annual Virginia 24-Hour Run for Cancer, held in mid-April at Sandy Bottom Nature Park in Hampton. As she writes, “I was at a low point during my 24 hour race—I was sick, weak, nauseous and depleted. Instead of quitting or taking a long break to regain my strength (as ultra runners often do), I drank a beer instead. The beer instantly refueled my body and was the perfect remedy. Within minutes, I felt well again and ran vigorously for a few hours. I repeated this process several times and went on to ultimately win the race. Beer was the ace up my sleeve!”
Lager took a few more beer breaks and ran a total of 100 miles in a 24-hour period to win the women’s division, just short of her women’s record of 101.5 miles. She says, “I don’t want it to sound like beer is the reason I won, but it did make me feel much better! I ran strong after I drank it. Beer definitely helped me … it worked when nothing else did.”
Other ultra runners tout beer’s anti-inflammatory properties as well as its quick absorption rate in the body (compared to food).
George Nelsen of Newport News, the ultramarathon “guru” of the Virginia Peninsula, doesn’t drink beer in his ultras but theorizes that beer’s true benefit is that it relaxes you. “In a long, slow ultra I can see a need, but in shorter, faster races like marathons or less, it won’t work,” Nelsen says. “However, as George Sheehan always said, we are each ‘an experiment of one.’”
There are many great runners who never drink alcohol in any form, and that’s fine. But if you do drink beer, or wine, consider a glass or two the night before as part of your pre-race routine. Your racing might be better for it!