Friday, January 28, 2011

It's Official: I'm a Lightweight

Triathlon can do weird things to your body.  Case in point: I can no longer hold my alcohol. 

Back in 2006 and 2007, before I was bitten by the triathlon bug, The Wife and I would go out a couple of times a week and grab some food and a couple of beers.  It was our way to spend time with each other and with our friends.  After all, a beer, a burger, a good game and the company of friends are a fairly satsifying combination.  Then, we discovered the Old Chicago World Beer Tour.  Basically, you drink more of their beer (though, never more than 4 per day), and they give you more free crap.  Every time you hit 110 beers on your tour, you start over again, drink more beer, and earn more crap.  Well, it's not like I needed much encouragement to drink beer, but when you start offering me t-shirts, hats, bottle openers and mini-coolers, you've got yourself a fan for life.

For a short dude - 5'8" (1.73 meters for you metric users) I could put away copious amounts of brew.  An average evening would consist of 4 beers of 22 ounces each (2.6 Liters).  This was not enough to get me drunk, or even buzzed.  My kidneys just flexed their muscles and took care of business.  Though, it wasn't the best for my waistline - I maxed out at just over 210 pounds back in 2008.

Now, let's fast-forward to January, 2011.  I've lost 40-45 pounds.  The Wife and I only go out 1-2 times per month (and split an entree when we do), and make nice, healthy meals at home.  I feel grrrrreat and am looking forward to my 3rd tri season.

We decided on Wednesday to use a gift certificate to Old Chicago to have a good meal and a couple of brews while we watched a Gopher Basketball game.  You know - a good all-American date night.  I had a nice steak, with shrimp and french fries.  It wasn't the healthiest meal, but it was more than enough to absorb a little alcohol.  Over the course of 2 hours, I had a total of 2, 12 ounce beers.  Check that.  I actually had 1.75 beers.  Half-way through beer #2, my stomach began to feel a little oogy.  Realizing that I didn't want to be drunk on a Wednesday, I decided to cut my losses and we headed home.  Don't worry.  The Wife drove.

Yesterday, I woke up and my stomach still had that 'not so fresh' feeling, and my head was a little achy.  A hangover?  After only 1.75 beers?  Seriously?  You have got to be kidding me.  It seems that my body has switched from being an alcohol processing machine to a fat and carbohydrate processing machine.  I guess for now I'll have to be the Diet Coke guy at the bar.  Sigh.  Too bad there's no tour for that.

I suppose that I could try to get back into the swing of things and start drinking more beer to teach my body to be efficient at processing alcohol again.  But, that's a dumb idea.  I'd much rather feel good about getting a PR at the Liberty Triathlon in June than feel good about my latest new beer t-shirt.  That is, unless the t-shirt design is really cool.

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