Christmas parties and silly season are approaching rapidly. If you are in training, “Oh Crap, I can’t do this anymore, it’s just not worth it”, or “Wohoo!!! Bring it on” are probably crossing your mind when the mention of Chrimbo sesh rears it’s head!!! More than likely, you will be swinging out of the work Christmas tree, making a fool of yourself, thinking you are made of titanium and the training scheduled in the morning “Ain’t nothing but a thang”, or maybe that’s just me. I’ll sweat it out of me on the uphill stretch. Well, it rarely works out that way.
Some swear by this method. Others prefer to close the world off for 24 hours and eat every bit of junk food available in a self-loathing, fear induced paranoia. If you are the former, well science has been working overtime to make it easy on you…
Leaving those over-sized medical terms aside, alcohol acts as a diuretic. Early in the night (before the cringy embarrassing stuff), your body pulls that water from your blood plasma. But as the night wears on, you dehydrate even more. At this point, your body will pull water from the brain to keep your other organs functioning properly. So in short, when the noggin lacks the basic amount of water needed, it stretches the cells in your brain, which causes the outer body headaches that we are all too familiar with next morning. And the more alcohol, you consume, the more dehydrated you become.
If you wake up next morning, feeling like The 6 million Dollar Man, do not be fooled. When you hit the hills, you are going to push your body into a further state of electrolyte and hydration depletion, seriously increasing the possibility of muscle strains/pulls and cramps.
So, what to do?
Party, Hydrate, Sleep, Refuel, Exercise.
- Obviously, the elephant in the room here is, not to train. But if you must train, you must train.
- Steer clear of murky drinks. Wine, vodka i.e. clear drinks are better. They contain less chemicals and crap that uses up your bodies resources trying to get rid of them.
- Water. Yup I said it. Between sambuca slammers, try and sip on some water, try and dilute those chemicals. Re-hydrate those cells.
- Drink Coffee. Caffeine helps reduce headaches. Buuuuut, remember not too much as it also acts as a diuretic. Make sure you are topping up on water.
- If you have any electrolyte tablets, take some before you start to train. They can rapidly hit the areas of the body most in need.
- A good healthy breakfast…not of the jumbo breakfast roll variety will definitely help. Plenty of fruit like bananas and blueberries work a treat.
Sorry if I come across like the Grinch but a little knowledge can go a long way….Merry Christmas y’all
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