I don't really drink nearly as much as I used to because that was a very large part of the reason why I ended up gaining so much weight in the past. If you are drunk or worse, hungover, it is really difficult to get motivated to exercise even though that normally is what can break the curse.
The other night I didn't get drunk, but I was a bit tipsy, and I felt guilty about the empty calories and the fact that I hadn't done any exercise yet that day and decided to head out and do something about it.
I didn't end up burning all the calories that I had consumed in beers, but it was close enough.
My pace was not great and I was sweating like mad even though it is quite cold here but that's what the booze will do to you I guess.
The funny thing about this run is that I hadn't intended to do 7km but I ran into another tenant of my building on my way out the door and she asked what I was about to go do and I said "running... kinda." Then I suggested that she choose how far I actually go. I had planned on an easy 3-5km but she said 7.
I am stubborn when I am drinking so I was determined to make it through all of it, which I did, but just not in any sort of impressive manner.
You can see here that I started out with gusto but gradually slowed down, then just started walking around the 4km mark. I just didn't have it in me to keep going although honestly, i probably did have it in me and then after stopping 3 more times after that, I got back to where there were other people around and even though it is silly, this motivated me to run faster than I had the rest of the time. Witnesses encourage better performance in a lot of people and for me, especially tipsy me, this resulted in me not stopping and actually increasing my pace to the fastest of the entire run towards the end of it.
I don't really know what to make of this stat that comes at the end of my list of things the watch tells me but if I go on any sort of run over 5km it will normally tell me that I should wait 96 hours in recovery and also that I am over-reaching. I don't feel like I am over-reaching but the next day I certainly did.
I guess booze and exercise don't really mix but I suppose it was better for me than doing nothing. I also drank a lot of water when I got back home so the next day I don't know if I had any residual alcohol in my system, I didn't really feel like I did.
Is it a good idea to get your heart rate up to near your max after drinking for a couple of hours? Well, I think the obvious answer is "probably not" and this is not something I make a habit of doing. I did feel pretty good about having done it immediately afterwards and ended up sleeping pretty well so I guess that is a win in the end.
I'm around a 7 minute per km runner, probably more like 7:20 at the moment, but for me to go 7 km at 11pm after drinking for a while, I think I can take the extra near 1.5 minutes per km. Most people wouldn't have gone at all!