Trust me, I enjoy my margarita....

Kelli, the nutritionist I consult with, has put together a great article on alcohol binges. The article does a good job of keeping the subject simple, and describing the physical effects alcohol has on impacting weight loss and fueling the body. Trust me, I enjoy my margarita (or multiple margaritas) just as much as anyone, but here are a couple of good points that she makes -

1) Drinking a sugary mix drink (like a margarita) can have as much as 600 calories in it - have about 5 of these (yes, on a binge - 5 sounds about right!!) will wipe out the calorie deficit accumulated that you worked so hard to achieve the previous week!!
2) Alcohol, converted to acetate in your bloodstream, will be the first use of fuel your body uses. Taking up to 3+ days to burn instead of the fat/current carb fuel you could be using for fuel.

Basically, with the calorie deficit from the hard work done in the previous week wiped out plus the lingering effect of acetate in the blood stream, you lose about a week to a week and a half to help sustain or reach your weight goal. Ouch.

At the end of the article, she reminds us that "Your body is a machine. Give it what it needs and it will run well. Fill it with junk and it will break down."

Here is the article - take a look!
Drop the Drag Wednesdays: Alcohol Binges

Not just about the running

What's up?

With spring here, my wife and I are keeping smiles our face leading our "full and abundant" family life. We've been keeping busy with lots of this:

And end of the school year activities such as this:




We have had lots of baseball; the weekend of the piano recital, we also had watched (and the kids played in) 7 baseball games. Oh yeah, it was Mother's day with both of my wife's and my mom in town! Whew - somehow we made it through!

I've planted my garden, which I've vowed to keep in good condition this year. So far, plant in the ground are broccoli, onion, garlic, strawberries (planted new this year!) and cantaloupe. Yea - I can't wait for the fresh food from the garden. (However, the bunnies are threatening the broccoli and cantaloupe crop - I'll be reinforcing the bunny fence soon!)

The week before Mother's day, I was at a conference for work in Boston. I really enjoyed running there as well. Not my pic, but this was what I remember:

As for my running, I've been going really strong lately and getting in 60-80 miles per week. I think the "going" has been "good" because of my added attention to proper fueling and generally developing better eating habits. With all the baseball lately, my long runs on Saturday have started no later than 5 am. Yes, 5 am on a weekend. I don't get up that early to go to work!!


I'm still generally following a 3 week build-up cycle, then a rest week. During these 3 weeks build ups, I've really incorporated lots more hills and trails and this seems to be paying dividends in my running world.

For example, today, I went out to a do an easy 12 mile run which ended up being at a 7:06 pace - 7:06 is 9 seconds per mile faster than what I think I could run a road marathon at this point. This last weekend, I did 20 miles with a couple of buddies at a 7:55 pace and not only did I feel comfortable running this, I felt really good after the run!


Also - I'm trying to bike to work more and today was day one of that goal. May is bike to work week, so if you haven't already - try and bike to work!


Take it easy and run far!