Episode 218 - Seven Tips to Navigate Alcohol and the Festive Season Without Sabotaging Your Performance

Seven Tips to Navigate Alcohol and the Festive Season Without Sabotaging Your Performance

Sick of starting January feeling like a slug in your race suit?

With the silly season in full swing, it’s easy to let festive drinks snowball into a performance handbrake. But you don’t have to swear off bubbles to stay on track. In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly how alcohol impacts triathlon performance, from recovery and sleep to hydration and immune function. And more importantly, I’m giving you 7 practical tips to help you navigate parties like a pro, without undoing all your hard work.

Links:

References
1. Lakićević, N. (2019). The effects of alcohol consumption on recovery following resistance exercise: A systematic review. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 4(3), 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk4030041
McLeay, Y., Stannard, S., Mundel, T., Foskett, A., & Barnes, M. (2016). Effect of alcohol consumption on recovery from eccentric exercise induced muscle damage in females. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2016 0171
2. Parr, E. B., Camera, D. M., Areta, J. L., Burke, L. M., Phillips, S. M., Hawley, J. A., & Coffey, V. G. (2014). Alcohol ingestion impairs maximal post exercise rates of myofibrillar protein synthesis following a single bout of concurrent training. PLOS ONE, 9(2), e88384. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088384 
3. Burke, L. M., Collier, G. R., Broad, E. M., Davis, P. G., Martin, D. T., Sanigorski, A. J., & Hargreaves, M. (2003). Effect of alcohol intake on muscle glycogen storage after prolonged exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology, 95(3), 983–990. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00115.2003 
4. Vella, L. D., & Cameron Smith, D. (2010). Alcohol, athletic performance and recovery. Nutrients, 2(8), 781–789. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu2080781
5. Pan, Y.-T., & Wu, C.-H. (2023). Effects of alcohol consumption following resistance training: A narrative review of physical performance and metabolic recovery. Rehabilitation Practice and Science, 2023(2), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.6315/3005-3846.2228

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Episode Transcription

Episode 218: Seven Tips to Navigate Alcohol and the Festive Season Without Sabotaging Your Performance

Welcome to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. The show designed to serve you up evidence-based sports nutrition advice from the experts. Hi, I'm your host Taryn, Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Advanced Sports Dietitian and founder of Dietitian Approved. Listen as I break down the latest evidence to give you practical, easy-to-digest strategies to train hard, recover faster and perform at your best. You have so much potential, and I want to help you unlock that with the power of nutrition. Let's get into it.

Taryn Richardson (00:00)
Hey Legend, welcome back to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I'm your host, Taryn. I'm an advanced sports dietician, triathlon nutrition expert and pavlova lover. It's that time of year again where the silly season is well and truly here. The Christmas party invitations are rolling in, the drinks are flowing, and for a lot of triathletes things can start to feel a little maybe off balance.

Now, I'm not here to play the fun police. No way. I'm not going to tell you to skip the wine and avoid the pudding and just stay at home and wrap yourself in cotton wool. What I do want to do is help you understand how alcohol actually affects our bodies, our performance, our recovery and ultimately your progress through this season as a triathlete.

So you can be an adult and make your own decisions from science backed information.

Because whether you're mid-race season like we are here in Australia, or you're building your aerobic base in the off season in our Northern Hemisphere countries where it's bloody freezing right now, or maybe you're just trying to not completely derail yourself through this time of year before your next big race as we hurtle into the new year, alcohol can have more of an impact on your body than you might think.

So in this episode we're going to dive into what alcohol actually does to your body as an endurance athlete and what the research says about its effect on training, sleep and recovery. And of course, I've got seven tips for you on how to enjoy the festive season without sabotaging all your hard work. So let's get into it.

Okay, so let's start with what alcohol actually does to your body, because it doesn't just vanish into thin air while you're cutting sick moves on the D floor.

Alcohol is a toxin and it has a few steps to process it through the liver. The enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase converts ethanol, which is alcohol, into acetaldehyde, and then aldehyde dehydrogenase rapidly converts it into acetate. Acetate is then further broken down into carbon dioxide and water, which are removed from the body. So it's a big process.

We can process alcohol at about one standard drink per hour.

Because it is a toxin our body is just trying to get rid of it as fast as possible. It can't be stored anywhere like fat or carbohydrate or protein, so it gets processed in preference to anything else coming in. That means your body puts the brakes on any of those other important recovery processes or fat burning processes that might have been happening until it's cleared from your system completely.

So if you've done a big solid training session this morning and you're like, fuck it, it's the festive season, I deserve a drink, just know your body is going to prioritise dealing with that before it does anything useful with your post training nutrition and recovery.

The other thing you need to know about alcohol is that it's not empty calories. It is relatively high in the kilocalorie or kilojoule per gram department. If you're a metric system person, it's 29 kilojoules per gram of ethanol. If you follow the imperial system, it's seven calories per gram of ethanol.

A lot of people forget that. It doesn't always equate to a lot of calories per drink, but you need to think about what you're drinking with it and the food you're consuming alongside it. Because if you are working off that alcohol and breaking it down to get rid of it, then everything else you're eating just kind of sits there and potentially goes into fat storage depending on how much you're drinking.

Alcohol also suppresses vasopressin, which is your antidiuretic hormone, and that leads to increased urine output.

Now, if you're combining that with the heat of Australia right now... holy Jesus. You're sweating in training and sweating just existing. Depending on where you live, you are absolutely on the fast track for dehydration on a daily basis. Add training into that mix, add alcohol into that mix, and you're running the risk of poor performance, poor recovery, slower cognitive function and increased injury risk. So be really mindful of your hydration status through the silly season.

The other key thing with alcohol, which a lot of people now understand thanks to the tracking devices we all wear, is that it absolutely negatively affects your sleep.

Even though you might think you fall asleep faster, or you pass out, your sleep quality and the amount of deep and REM sleep you get is definitely disrupted and reduced. That's going to lead to increased wake ups, or more time spent in lighter sleep stages. Potentially poor hormonal recovery, elevated cortisol and, depending on how much you've drunk, higher fatigue the next day. For some people that can be from one drink.

You might think you feel all right, but compared to somebody who doesn't drink, or you on a no-alcohol day, you're not going to have as much energy. And for us as triathletes that matters a lot when you're training daily and backing up sessions. It never ends.

Sleep is your ultimate form of recovery, so we want to be mindful of anything that impacts that so we can maximise overnight recovery.

Now I want to talk about this in a bit more detail, but alcohol affects muscle protein synthesis, which is obviously key for rebuilding and repairing muscles after training. Alcohol can also affect glycogen replenishment, particularly when you're consuming a large amount in that post training recovery window and particularly post race.

The other important thing you need to be across is that alcohol does affect your immune system and not in a good way. When you train a lot and you're under stress from that training, that's not ideal.

All of this impacts your recovery, your adaptations, your energy levels and even your body composition.

One or two drinks occasionally is not going to undo all your training, but regular or excessive drinking can absolutely slow down your gains even if you're nailing your nutrition every day and in every session on paper.

So how much is too much?

Most people drastically underestimate how much they're drinking, especially if you've got generous home pours of wine or festive cocktails. We need to think of alcohol in units of a standard drink. A standard drink is 30 mls or an ounce, a little measured shot. It's around 100 mls of wine. A restaurant pour is at least 150 mls. So less again. Less than half a cup.

Depending on the strength of beer, it's around one can, but beer can range anywhere from one standard drink to more than two. Check the label. It will tell you how many standard drinks the bottle or can contains. Then you can work backwards to understand how much you need to pour for one standard drink.

Be mindful with that glass of wine in your big fishbowl glasses. That is not one standard drink. It might be one drink, but it's not one standard drink. It's probably closer to three or four depending on your bowl size.

Now, why does this matter for performance?

Low to moderate intake can have a minor impact, especially if spaced out or timed well, but binge drinking, which is more than four to five standard drinks in a session, will have a much bigger impact on performance, coordination, hydration, recovery and even perceived effort. Those effects can linger for up to 72 hours.

There are a lot of individual factors to consider: body size, body composition, gender and genetics all play a role. Some people think they're piss fit and can tolerate more with fewer effects. But smaller framed athletes and women in particular often experience a greater effect for the same alcohol dose compared to larger males.

I'm not saying you need to go sober to protect your gains. But knowing your limits and planning around key training sessions will make a huge difference in how you feel, perform and recover.

So let's dive into some of the science around endurance performance and alcohol.

While we all know alcohol isn't a performance enhancer, the specific ways it impacts you are worth understanding.

Firstly, reduced endurance capacity. Evidence shows that alcohol, even moderate doses, can impair aerobic metabolism during submaximal exercise and reduce endurance performance in the short term. Several studies show alcohol impairs aerobic performance acutely and for up to 24 hours afterwards. It's been shown to reduce VO2 max, slow reaction time and impair coordination.

Not great for a social group ride in the silly season when someone does something silly in front of you and you need to react. Even small amounts of alcohol affect perceived exertion, so things feel harder.

Alcohol also delays recovery from training and racing. It interferes with muscle protein synthesis and glycogen resynthesis, both essential for triathletes backing up day after day. This is particularly problematic if you consume alcohol in those few post exercise hours when your body is primed for glycogen resynthesis.

So if you're smashing beers after your long run, know that your body is missing out on prime recovery nutrients and time and you're going to feel a bit feral for days.

Another factor is dehydration and thermoregulation. Alcohol increases core temperature and impairs your ability to cool yourself, especially in hot conditions. If you're dehydrated and your cooling mechanism is impaired, you're at a much higher risk of overheating and poor performance.

And let's not gloss over injury risk and reaction time. Alcohol affects balance, decision making and reflexes. Think about the implications of going for a trail run, crit racing or anything requiring neuromuscular control. Alcohol increases injury risk in all those scenarios.

So dive into the literature if you have time. It clearly shows alcohol is not going to help your performance as an endurance athlete. For me, it's not about demonising it. It's about educating you so you can understand what matters and make informed decisions. Put your big adult pants on, know the implications and choose accordingly.

Now let's talk practical tips so it's not all doom and gloom.

Tip one: plan your sessions around social events. Shift your long ride earlier in the week so it doesn't fall after your work Christmas party. If you're drinking, don't schedule high intensity training the next day. Switch it out for something easy or put your rest day there.

Tip two: hydrate like a pro. Alternate alcoholic drinks with non alcoholic. Choose lower alcohol options. Hydrating beats cramping halfway through a brick session because you overdid it with champagne the night before.

Tip three: don't drink on an empty stomach. Eating is not cheating. Always eat first to balance blood sugar and slow alcohol absorption. Ideally choose a balanced meal with fat, protein and carbohydrate.

Tip four: know your limits and set a game plan. Decide your approach before drinking. Set maximums, choose your strategy, know what time you'll stop. Write it down if needed. Peer pressure is real and YOLO energy escalates quickly. You don't need to explain your choices. Fake it with soda water in a fancy glass if necessary.

Tip five: choose smarter drink options. Lower alcohol choices, spritzes, spirits with soda instead of soft drink. Avoid sugar heavy cocktails. Consider non alcoholic options. Some are actually pretty decent these days.

Tip six: prioritise sleep and recovery. Give yourself buffer time between drinking and hard training. Adjust your nutrition and hydration. Sleep in if needed. Don't burn the candle at both ends.

Tip seven: give yourself permission to enjoy this time of year. As triathletes we can be all or nothing, but sometimes it's okay to have a drink and enjoy yourself. It's not going to ruin your season. Enjoy the food, the drinks and the company without guilt. Guilt is more damaging than one drink.

Just don't YOLO so hard that you undo months of progress and say it's a January problem. You don't need to be perfect. Intention, foresight and hydration go a long way.

So there you have it, the truth about alcohol and performance from a sports dietitian to help you manage the silly season with seven tips so you can enjoy yourself without going cray cray.

I'm not here to shame your eggnog or take away your champagne. But if you want to start the new year ahead of the pack, not dragging yourself through sessions wondering why everything feels so hard, it pays to be strategic now. Use the same strategy mindset you use for training.

Remember you're human. If you want bubbles and a second serving of pudding, I'm not here to judge. Just make informed decisions, not default ones.

Enjoy your parties, savour the pavlova and maybe think twice about backing up the work Christmas party with a three hour race simulation. Terrible idea.

If this episode was helpful, flick it to your training buddies, especially the ones who think beer is a recovery drink. And if you're ready to level up your nutrition in the new year, register your interest for the next cohort of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program.

Merry Christmas, you filthy animal. I'll catch you next week.

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions or want to share with me what you've learned, email me at [email protected]. You can also spread the word by leaving me a review and taking a screenshot of you listening to the show. Don't forget to tag me on social media, @dietitian.approved, so I can give you a shout out, too. If you want to learn more about what we do, head to dietitianapproved.com. And if you want to learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, head to dietitianapproved.com/academy. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to helping you smashed in the fourth leg - nutrition!