beer maths

For a change it was horrifically humid this morning. I wore my running singlet while I walked Rowlf and by the time we got home I was pretty soggy. On the plus side, I'd had a better sleep - certainly not good, but better. I think I woke up once in the night and managed to fall straight back to sleep, eventually getting up at around 05:20. Still criminally early, but that's how I roll.

I threw down a pint and a bit of water and set out for the city. I wondered if the litre of 4 Pines Citrus IPA would hinder my running. More specifically, I was wondering if going to my firm's annual awards dinner next Friday, the night before a 10km race, was a smart idea. There will be free beer and I'm only human.

I'd set off at 06:45, the same time the Sun Run sets off in 10 days time. The weather would probably be about the same - bloody horrible. I'm not sleeping well so it really doesn't matter if I have a night out and less sleep than I'd like. I happened to look at my Garmin at around the 10k mark. Fifty two minutes. OK, not fast. In fact pretty slow. But but but...I was carrying a backpack. I was stopping at lights. I stopped to have a brief chat with a PT. It's a commute and I'm not after the land speed record. And I'd had those two beers. I didn''t think the beers made a difference.

I don't really want to use race day to see if I can drink more. Let's assume those two beers put me at some limit beyond which I might be adversely impact performance.

The Citrus IPA is 7% ABV and it comes in 500ml bottles. It will not be on offer at the awards night, which is a shame but for the best. If I could get on it for free then I'd probably drink myself into a hop-coma and you can jam both Janathon and the Sun Run. Mmmmm, beer. Ahem.

The company will stump-up for more mainstream mass-appeal brew. So we have some simple maths.

((500ml x2) x 7%) / (355ml v 4.5%) = 4.4 Corona. It's Mexican cat piss, but technically still a beer.
((500ml x2) x 7%) / (345ml v 4.2%) = 4.8 James Squire One-Fifty Lashes. A bit better.

So by my reckoning I can go to the bash and have 4 or 5 beers. There is a bit of variation around bottle size and ABV, but we're ball-park here.

So I arrived at work drenched, leaving my small puddle of sweat in the foyer before the lift arrived. Morning done, 12km chalked up.

Lunchtime came and it was pretty hot outside. I didn't feel rehydrated and my piss was more like cloudy pineapple juice than weak apple juice. Ah well, no real option but to run and I didn''t want the land speed record, just my standard trot around the foreshore. Which was what it was until I heard the rhythmic thud-thud of running shoes just behind me. A little too close for comfort. And getting closer. Just as I caught a glimpse of him starting to pass I put my foot down. Just a few steps, but enough to open up a little gap. I slowed and he once again got up on my shoulder. We were running around Farm Cove, approaching the Opera House and the path was fairly clear, so I put my foot down again, this time not letting up until I was out of the Botanic Gardens, plenty of daylight between us. He caught up again after we'd rounded the Opera House then kept going, taking a different route to mine as I stopped for a drink. I eased back to a gentle plod for the remaining 5km of today's miles. So that's about 21km for the day, something that should no longer surprise anyone.

Oh, and I'm doing a plank a day challenge. Up to 3min tonight. More in support of the wife than something I've chosen myself.

Janathon total 487km


But wait, there's more! I did the three minute plank before dinner, loaded today's miles and then took a look at my total. Really quite close to 500km and with a day off work tomorrow I figured I could knock out tomorrow morning's not-going-to-happen miles tonight. So I did a 13km beach loop to bring up 34km for the day and 501km for the month to date. And, quite pleasingly, I did the first 10k of tonight's miles in a little under 48min. Feeling good about the Sun Run at the moment.

Janathon total - 501km