Beer Mile Ponderings

What do you think about when you run?

Today my brain couldn’t get away from the idea of reformatting a beer mile. What if, instead of beer, lap, beer, lap, beer, lap, beer, lap, the competitor was given four beers and four laps and the format he/she chose to drink and run was up to them?

Would drinking all four first, then running four hard laps produce a better time than the existing format?

How about running your butt off for a mile, then trying to chug four beers in a row?

An 800, then two bees, another 800, and then two more?

Has anyone tried an open format? If so, how did the results differ from the traditional method?

Sound off! What do you think?

12 Responses to "Beer Mile Ponderings"

joseph says:

September 22, 2015 at 10:45 am

i think chugging four beers and then running would be the ticket. chugging while not out of breath from running would likely make a difference.

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Alex Varner says:

September 22, 2015 at 11:03 am

i dunno… if you’ve ever run one, you know how absolutely awful you feel on the final 1-2 laps with 3-4 beers in your stomach. that’s a ton of liquid and carbonation to deal with. i feel like running then drinking would produce the faster times, as someone who’s quite fit could run a 4:20-4:30 mile with relative ease and then pound 4 beers in a row quite a bit faster than trying to run a 4:30 mile with 48oz of carbonated liquid in your stomach.

on a semi-related note, this is easily one of the most impressive things i’ve ever seen. challenge was to eat 6 big macs and a 10k in under an hour, in whatever order you want. the differing approaches are interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fUSBeV_s-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmMVO2d9HpU

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1. eric schranz says:
  
  September 22, 2015 at 2:41 pm
  
  Pretty impressive, but I’m guessing that someone with your leg speed and gastrointestinal prowess could produce a better result. Up for one?
  
  Reply
  1. Alex Varner says:
    
    September 22, 2015 at 3:52 pm
    
    Nope. I’ve seen this guy run and eat, and this was when he was fairly fit (thus the casual 10k tempo in 33:20), and I can’t touch him when it comes to eating.
    
    Reply
2. Ben says:
  
  September 23, 2015 at 8:59 am
  
  I recently did a relay and one of my teammates did something like this…. they said the person in second place had a faster running pace than them, but they were able to make up so much time during the burger eating that they won. I believe it was 3 burgers in a 5k though so that 10k is on a whole other level.
  
  Reply
Chris says:

September 22, 2015 at 11:12 am

I know a group in NC does their beer Mile as first to finish a 6 pack and a mile, however they want.

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1. eric schranz says:
  
  September 22, 2015 at 12:19 pm
  
  And how do those times differ than the regular format?
  (I readily admit to knowingly expending FAR too much thought to this.)
  
  Reply
2. Brad says:
  
  September 22, 2015 at 4:49 pm
  
  Yep, that’s also how the XC/Track team at my college did it.
  
  Reply
Wannes says:

September 22, 2015 at 11:24 am

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kastenlauf

Beermile germannstyle

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1. eric schranz says:
  
  September 22, 2015 at 2:42 pm
  
  Now THAT’S what I’m talking about! I’m putting it in writing: I’m going to organize one of those by spring ’16. Sacramento, who’s up?
  
  Reply
Chris says:

September 22, 2015 at 7:57 pm

Definitely count me in. I better start working on strategy now.

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Ultramarathon Daily News, Wed, Sep 23 says:

September 23, 2015 at 5:57 am

[…] ponder some changes to the Beer Mile […]

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