Does Running Have a Drinking Problem?

A growing body of research says that no amount of alcohol is good for our fitness and health. It's time to rethink our relationship with booze.

- A.C. SHILTON

Pro ultrarunner Coree Woltering doesn't do anything halfway. "If I'm going to do it, I want to do like 120 percent, no matter what it is," he says. When he brings that attitude to his running and racing, the results speak for themselves-like setting a new fastest known time on the 1,000-plusmile Ice Age Trail across Wisconsin in 2020.

However, Woltering also brought that attitude to the bar. "It wasn't just a 'let's have two beers and be done' thing," says the 32-year-old from Dalton, Georgia. Two beers at his house would lead to four more at the bar. "Six a night would be normal." The results were noteworthy-but in all the wrong ways. His training became inconsistent. After long nights out, he'd sometimes skip sessions. When he did get out to run, he found his focus and mental fortitude lacking.

Woltering doesn't take over-the-counter pain management medications like Tylenol or ibuprofen. Instead, he'd slam a beer or two late in a race, hoping to hush the screaming of his feet and legs.

This approach is not unusual, says David Wyrick, PhD, a public health education professor and the director of the Institute to Promote Athlete Health & Wellness at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Wyrick studies alcohol use among student-athletes. Pain control is one of three primary reasons athletes report using alcohol (along with stress management and as a way to celebrate). Though, when it comes to pain, "there's no evidence that alcohol has medicinal benefits," says Wyrick.

Almost all the benefits Americans attribute to alcohol-that it is good for the heart, helps you sleep, eases pain-are false, says George F. Koob, PhD, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "The truth is, there's no safe amount of alcohol, not even one drink a day," he says.