As glaconman has
again reduced my training blog to a discussion about beer, I'll come to the party (if you'll excuse the pun)...
When I was a lad, packaged beer (that you bought from a "bottle shop") came in two sizes: the 750ml (26 fl oz) "long neck" or the 375 ml can ("tinnie"). Then some money-grubbing wanker in an office tower somewhere decided there was a market for a trendy European beer called "Heineken". Nothing terribly wrong with that - I'll drink Heineken myself if there's nothing else to hand,
except it was only available in tiny little 330 ml bottles - a trifling amount really.
Gradually the tinnie was replaced by the "stubby", a 375 ml glass bottle that was hugely successful, indeed it even successfully killed off the 750 ml longneck for a while. However, more and more European and then American, Asian and African beer appeared over the years, all of it in those piddling little 330 ml bottles. Smaller Australian brewers began emulating them in an attempt to make their beer seem ever trendier, and pretty soon everyone was packaging their beer in those tiny 330 ml sample bottles. It is now very, very hard to find an Aussie beer packaged in 375 ml stubbies at all (except for the very working class "VB", which is kind of like the Aussie equivalent of Fosters*.
However, one proud Aussie private family-owned operation, and maker of my favourite beer is fighting back and supplies of the range of Coopers Ales and Stouts are readily available in the classic 750 ml long neck.
And so my #1 training beer is one I may have mentioned before
- Coopers Sparkling Ale. But I have made a pledge which will make Mr.Cooper fearful, but it has to be done. 1 long neck = 5km running. Despite being a relatively powerful beer, this will ensure my chances of drunkenness are very, very slim. In fact this might just save my life, as the 750 ml version of the beer is superb - quite superior to the smaller bottle, and not expensive. Which is a dangerous thing. Pete Townsend long ago gave Remy Martin cognac a vote of thanks on his "Empty Glasses" album for saving his life "by making the stuff so bloody expensive". I am not quite that bad an alco, but I understand his sentiment.
Um OK, not too sure why I told you all this, except I know there might just be one or two occasional beer drinkers among you all out there. Hard to believe I know among a fraternity of superior athletes, but there you are; stranger things happen at sea apparently.
I'm off for a run before I die of thirst.
Cheers.
MLC Man.
P.S. The pic shows two loves of my life - my battered Gel Kayanos (sorry Ana, these are size 10) and 15km worth of Coopers Sparkling. Look away now if you don't like seeing a grown man cry...
*
Fosters is very rarely seen in Australia. Certainly I've not seen it for years. Thank Christ.
April Bloody April, Nothing Rhymes With April.
