It looks like a training plan
Monday rest
Tuesday vo2max
Wednesday z2
Thursday rest
Friday Threshold
Saturday Z2
Sunday Group Ride
I guess that from a non drinker perspective, that looks like straight up alcoholism, not just “I’m drinking too much”.
I just wanted to say that this is EXACTLY how it affects me too. I also feel like I’m roasting in bed the night of consumption, even after 1 beer or 1 glass of wine, and it gives me the sweats.
Excellent work 
Similar to yourself i started cutting right back this year.
Few things ive learnt is that, after years if mocking its existence, none alcoholic beer etc tastes alright and virtually covers all bases. Dont miss the alochol content at all.
Other thing is whoop noted, after a few hundred occurences that 1-3 beers on a day was reducing recovery by 12% the following.
Very personal figures obviously, but interesting none the less
Damn, i watched that GCN video and did not see that info-graphic…that’s a lot of pints for our boy Dan. I think the end result of that was that he didn’t want to make the leap and quit? Now i see why. It makes me feel good about my habit.
I’m actually slowing down my consumption this week. I’ve been on non-alcoholic beer during the week days and weekend i can drink but try to keep it to light beer. I try to do this all summer and had probably more cheat weeks than sticking to the plan. Did not notice that much of a change this week. Yes sleep is a bit better and my HRV is better. Also been off the weed for over 2-weeks and going to try and make it a full month. Honestly only notice the crave when i get ready for a ride as it was part of my routine but other than that have not really noticed it and feel marginally sharper. Honestly it motivated me more to get out and ride.
Back to the drinking; curious if there is a time/length threshold that you have to hit to notice all these amazing, glowing results others have espoused above.
Holy schitt…I can’t fathom drinking that much beer / alcohol.
His Tuesday is about my weekly consumption (on a big week). 8 beers on a Friday would have me useless for the whole weekend, let alone consuming another 10 beers for the remainder.
Yea his Friday alone is my weekly, on a big week. I guess its different in the UK?
Those might be units rather than pints, given a pint is not a standard unit. 
——
Scratch that he said beers and over 60 uk units so four times the recommended limit.
That might be a week I’d have had as a young man, I’d be comatose now!
He said pints…it’s not massive drinking from a UK perspective, although eyebrows might be raised to 5 pints on a weekday evening!
The workaround is to have you drink earlier, like 3-4 hours before bedtime. 
That is, if you want the workaround.
That’s not a work around, that’s enabling 
Day drinking.
This is my exact observation as well. I still enjoy a single malt occasionally but not very often.
Me too. Sleep was significantly affected after a wee dram in the evening.
I used to drink heavily, socially, and also happy hours with my workmates. I had a chat with an alcoholic buddy about his health issues so I challenged him to not drink for a month. I started feeling better, but more importantly went back to drinking, and started feeling worse again. Through this experiment a few years ago, and repeated experiments where I go dry for longer and longer periods, and then drink and feel terrible, I’m now at a point where I avoid the alcohol because the immediate gains aren’t worth the longer term shittyness!
So if you’re not ready to quit alcohol my advice to you would be to experiment with it. Drink more and drink less and see how that makes you feel and ultimately make your decision based on your data.
Plus, the more people on here who keep drinking, the better my race results will be 
So bizarrely I quit drinking for a month or so and my training got consistently worse.
I actually wonder if I was more stressed as I’d lost one of my few relaxation options (especially going to tasting events with friends) which ended up affecting my sleep fairly badly. I’m notoriously bad at relaxing (possibly ADHD related), so it’s something I always need to pay heed to.
I think I just need to stick to moderation rather than abstaining.
That’s a refreshing take, so many here espouse quitting all together as the only way. I think moderation weekly or monthly is still ok. Everyone is different, but even many long recovered/recovering alcoholics that had the “not one more drop, for the rest of your life” drilled in their heads during their 12 step program realize eventually that its ok now and then. Key is to respect the power of alcohol and appreciate its affects, in moderation.
Agreed on this one. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with going fully dry, but moderation is perfectly fine too.
The GCN screenshot of Dan’s consumption is hefty … I don’t care what units you choose measure in, having 25-30 drinks per week is a lot. Is alcohol really THAT bad at 25-30 drinks weekly? Yes, yes it is …
I there, thanks for sharing, I went 6 month’s off booze in preparation for l’etape du tour in 2022, yeah the one finish on top of Alp d’huez, shed 20 pounds and felt amazing. Fast forward 20 pounds , realized that there is no way around it, need to get back on the wagon. Cheers
This mirrors my path. I was drinking a lot 10-12 years ago (though less than Dan!). It started affecting my mental health. So I quit for 9 months. I felt amazing after 4 months. It took that long. For those that quit for a few weeks at a time, it may take longer to fully realize the effects of abstinence.
Now, I’m a once in a while glass of wine person and I honestly feel like I pay dearly for it every time. I just feel like crap the next day after a couple glasses of wine. My productivity is much lower. My father was alcoholic so I’m sure I have the genes. I’m down to every 2-3 weeks now and more and more the interval gets pushed farther out.
It’s true that we have this culture where AA is the only way. I read an article that spoke about tapering and weening off alcohol. It was even suggested that if you drinking as much as Dan that it would probably be better to ween. Take your 25 standard drinks, or whatever, and divide by two every week until you get to 1. At that point, one can decide to stay at some minimal social dose or quit.
Honestly, Dan’s amount of alcohol is shocking. I’d say that he has a problem.
Same here. I honestly didn’t feel that bad when I was drinking all the time, or at least I didn’t notice it much. On work nights I drank 0-3 and Fri/Sat I’d probably do 4-6. So maybe part of it is the lack of tolerance now, and another part of it is that I know what “clean” feels like. All I know is my reward/payment system has changed and that’s why I don’t drink as much.
One other downside of drinking now is my sleep gets messed up. Which snowballs into shitty workouts/performance, which pisses me off more than not having that 4th shot of tequila with coworkers.
I can drink a beer here and there at lunch or 5pm and don’t really notice it, but nowadays I can’t be bothered, what’s the point