Beer Mile Research

So much has happened in the world of beer mile in the last year. A new world record was set (4:57) by James Neilson and the inaugural beer mile world champs are being held in Austin TX this summer, hosted by flocasts.

For a previously hidden, niche, word-of-mouth sport coming into the mainstream, there ought to be some research done and training methodologies discussed. Until that happens, lets look at what we do know:

Look at what happens when carbonated soda is exposed to iodized table salt. Is it reasonable to assume that with enough salt in the stomach the beer would react in a similar way, becoming CO2 unsaturated? Would this amount of fizzing be beneficial? I would say yes, especially for those who have trouble burping. The more air volume that leaves the stomach the better. However, this might only be an advantage for the first beer, as the salt in the stomach would become diluted after the first beer.

Warm beer would also be easier to consume (if you are used to the taste) since the gas would increase in volume compared to when cold, exiting the can upon opening and thus reducing the total volume of beer/CO2 mixture consumed.

Enough of the chemistry, what about training? I fear all we have to go on at this point is that Neilson mentioned crushing a warm beer as fast as he could every day after work, along with maintaining high running fitness. Since it is so easy to die during these races, it makes sense to even split at a reasonable pace. See this table for calibration based on your individual chugging and running strengths/weaknesses.