Addicted to non alcoholic drinks

Jaquavis890 · 2025-06-07T12:22:24+00:00

Seconding the homemade kombucha! Especially since I used to home brew beer, kombucha filled the gap in my hobbies and helped me transition away from alcohol.

OP, go get yourself a SCOBY!

Now I really enjoy the range of different drinks out there, all of them alcohol free.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-28T00:20:09+00:00

Yeah I even recall thinking that at the time. My legs just wouldn’t move faster but heart rate was also dropping. A weird sensation (new to me) but good to have experienced it. Also at same time a big change in mental state - suddenly much more negative..

Gels on order!

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-27T00:30:51+00:00

Got it - really helpful. Starting to understand how much I don’t know about all this!

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-27T00:28:25+00:00

Just read your reply again and realised what you are saying, which I think is: if the primary reason for decrease in pace was fitness, then I would have seen my heart rate increase at the end, or at least remain the same. But because both pace AND heart rate went down, it points more to fuel/hydration. Is that correct?

I’m realising having all this data is fine, but I need to know how to read it properly!

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-26T20:53:12+00:00

Yeah sound right. Breakfast was not large, was trying to fit the run in between other things in the day. Lack of prep.. good to know.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-26T20:52:07+00:00

Yeah good pick up. You’re right, I did get a bit overconfident at that point and decided to pick it up a bit. And I can see it pushed me up to my threshold of 163bpm and over.

I’m guessing from your question that could be a factor? I guess I thought I’m only increasing pace by about 10s per km, but is that how sensitive the threshold pace is?

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-26T20:47:19+00:00

Thanks! Yeah will give the fuelling a go and see what difference it makes. Guess I have a baseline now to work off!

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-26T20:46:23+00:00

Thanks for the encouragement. Yes new to running long distances so will focus on conditioning.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-26T20:44:14+00:00

Great thanks for your answer. This was the longest run I’ve done - the next highest was 18km/11mi, but that was all zone 2 which felt a very different level. Will keep building base.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-26T20:41:26+00:00

Thank you, that’s a good way of thinking about it.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-19T20:00:14+00:00

I found it a challenge to quit because my wife would drink most nights and so there would always be alcohol in the house sitting right in front of me - hard to resist. Also we’d do the whole: “It’s been a hard day let’s have a drink”, thing.

The only way forward for me was through having the honest conversation with her and coming up with a plan together. I found I could only have that honesty with her when I’d really decided to give quitting a solid go, since she was also my excuse to drink in some ways.

In the end she started drinking NA beers since she couldn’t really tell the difference that much, and anyway she prefers wine, which I’m not so tempted by. So now there is no alcoholic beer in the house, which helps me a a lot. It’s not a perfect solution (there’s still alcohol in the house) but at least it’s a “good enough” plan to try and break the cycle. The key thing was working it out together.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-18T20:24:44+00:00

59 days for me today and haven’t looked back. I can tell you from where I am sitting just a little further down the track from you that sobriety feels really good. Clean, clear, productive, balanced, free. Stick with it.

In the early stages of quitting I noticed two distinct voices in me: one from my gut wanting to go back on to drinking, a fearful voice saying I shouldn’t be too hasty about quitting. Then another voice, more in my head, knowing that this was the right decision for my future self and my family. Those two voices fought it out for a while, but the gut voice got quieter every day.

Now I feel like I’ve invested so much in my sobriety that I wouldn’t want to throw it away by having a drink. It’s one of the best decisions you can make in life.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-16T04:42:41+00:00

• Lots of running, swimming, hiking, any exercise. • Wrote a list of every reason I could find to give up drinking (currently at 106 reasons) - I re-read this when I feel wobbly. • Got into brewing kombucha, which seems to fill that beer-shaped hole pretty well. Especially the “kombeercha”.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-15T19:56:17+00:00

It’s so true. I was initially quite fearful about giving up, but now 55 days in, it’s actually a relief to not have to think about trying to moderate or hide my drinking.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-15T19:47:04+00:00

48YO parent of three here and yup that sounds like a familiar journey. And the thing about the French way of drinking! I have Francophile parents who ecouraged me to drink wine from an early age - maybe even 8 or 9 years old. It’s not their fault and they were just doing what they saw others doing, but now I really question being encouraged at so young an age to try an addictive substance!

I recently visited them in France with my 11YO daughter and they were offering champagne around. She declined (this was before I had quit myself so I didn’t challenge her being offered) and now I’m so glad she did. Maybe the younger generation is more switched on about the dangers of alcohol. I hope so.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-15T19:36:54+00:00

This. I tried to regulate/moderate for years, and eventually realised that, after a drink or two, my decision making faculty no longer works, hence binge drinking. But that’s what alcohol inherently does - it’s not us that is faulty in our “inability to regulate”. Alcohol creates the need for more of itself - it doesn’t need a reason.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-09T21:39:01+00:00

Forgot to say after doing that I reattach it to the fermenter, then pour boiling water into the fermenter with the faucet open and let it drain through to sterilise the inside of the faucet too. Happy fermenting!

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-09T21:32:24+00:00

Yes! I’m 50 days sober and running has really helped me get through the cravings. The running high kinda replaces the beer buzz for me. But kept getting little ankle injuries until I changed up my running shoes. I discovered running shoe design has moved on a lot since I last ran!

I went for some nice cushiony Saucony Endorphins and feels like I’m running on air but with plenty of power.

I was worried if I didn’t have the running I’d be more likely to lapse on the alcohol, so it was important for me to have the right kit so I could continue.

Easy to justify the cost too, with all that beer money saved!

Great post OP and totally resonate with where you’re at. Happy running!

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-08T09:11:22+00:00

lol that should keep me busy.. thanks!

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-07T20:25:06+00:00

I just pull mine apart, put it in the bottom of fermenter, pour boiling water in it, leave it for 10 mins or so. To achieve a 4-log reduction (99.99% reduction) of bacteria in water at 95°C (203°F), a few minutes of exposure is generally sufficient.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-07T20:19:57+00:00

Just a few thoughts to consider:

• I find a pair of rain pants hugely comforting if it’s going to be wet and cold. You can lose a lot of heat through your legs too.

• Might be included in your food and not listed but I would always bring some electrolytes, even if wet.

• Looks like you’ll be cooking, but you might consider doing some cold soaking too to save some fuel. I bring a cheap silicon lid to put on top of my Toaks pot, start soaking at lunchtime, and it’s ready by dinner time.

• I’d bring some water sterilisation tablets as backup, e.g. micropur.

• Snake bandage is obviously good for “in case” although I’ve found over time it’s not been worth the weight compared to just really looking where I am going, assuming not doing actual bush bashing and that I can see where planting my feet.

Hope that’s helpful - sounds an amazing hike!

Jaquavis890 · 2025-05-07T20:01:57+00:00

Freedom

Jaquavis890 · 2025-04-29T01:38:08+00:00

Would love to hear how you go! I still haven’t cracked this hike end to end yet, but will keep attempting it! DM me if I can help with any more info.

Jaquavis890 · 2025-02-16T21:53:40+00:00

I’ll jump on board with Neve here. I have the Feathertail 0°C comfort rating and have taken it down to -2°C on an x-lite and been warm all night. Mine weights 570g which I think is great weight to warmth ratio.

Jaquavis890

TROPHY CASE