Bonking...Not the fun kind!

DanTheTriMan

Morning all

I've entered UK 70.3 so I'm aiming to get some hills in the legs. Yesterday I went out in Rutland and did a 40miler. I thought this wouldn't be an issue as I've done 55miles alright. However after 30miles I was gone. The last 10 miles took me 50mins instead of the usual 30-35. I was really hurting.

So I've got too questions really.

1. How bad are the Wimbleball Hills? I went up some absolute beasts (several must have been greater than 10%) yesterday but only climbed 900m altogether, so I'm terrified what 1700m will be like!! Are they long continuous drags or steep short ones?

2. Has anyone got advice (apart from eat more on the bike) to avoid bonking? I know I can lower the intensity, but if you are banging up steep hill after steep hill I don't know how this is possible despite pedalling like an old woman (which I was at the end )

Thanks in advance,

Dan

largeade

Been there done it. Not an expert though by any means.

The hills are harder than you think. I was able to do 56miles in 2hr40 on my training circuit prior to Wimbleball and clocked 3hr28 in the race. The route had 1100m climbing and was totally insufficient.

The worst hill in Wimbleball forces you out of your seat. It lasts about 3-5mins. And you do it twice.

Note: the run is hilly too. It is off road and the downhills in particular were unexpectedly difficult. You need to train hills off the bike. I didnt bonk in the race, but my quads were cramping very badly and it totally spolt the run.

Bonking avoidance. This is never written anywhere, and I discovered this year that advice is not always on the ball.

My answer is that you need to find your heart rate in training which allows you to complete the distance at a pace you do not bonk (whilst remembering to take on carbs). Initially this will not be the pace you desire, and may indeed be scarily low. Then during training your pace for a given heart rate should improve over time as you become more aerobically fit. Hopefully you'll arrive at the pace you wanted in the first place.

Hope that helps.
Adrian

Rapha

More training will make you feel better over longer distances. Its a shock to the muscle if they haven't done it for a while. Nutrition will help you feel better, especially during the event simply because of the length of it. Anything over an hour or so and you will run low on glycogen stores without topping them up. You will start to use more fat for energy and this in return will make it feel so much harder.

It is even worse on the run. I suggest going to the 20mile marker at a marathon and you can literally watch people as they collapse because they have hit the wall.

Caffeine will allow you to take up more carbohydrates per hour. Also look for a 2:1 Fructose ratio because this again allows for more carbohydrates to be taken up per hour.

largeade

Rapha said...
I suggest going to the 20mile marker at a marathon and you can literally watch people as they collapse because they have hit the wall.

I've done a marathon now so must be an expert, lol. (For me) a HIM is much easier than a marathon.

I suspect there are two things going at 20miles.

Some people will be bonking. For me personally bonking feels like my head is cloudy, pressure on my forehead and no matter how much I want to there is a physical inability to turn my legs over faster.

Then others will be experiencing what happened to me during Amsterdam. Shredded legs from the impact of tarmac having done too much training off road. This is purely mental and unlike bonking can be overcome by MTFU.

Both are very painful but totally different and I suspect often confused. As the distance is less you shouldnt reach the second case during a half-M.

grant1974

I've done Wimbleball twice now and yes, it's well hard.

Wimbleball route
The first hill is from transition up the main road and the loop. This is around 3mi. I would advise just spinning here, stay sat down, it will be very busy at this point.
Section two, main road, left down to the bottom of the course. This section can be very fast as it's rolling, a lot of time can be made up here. Very sharp descent at the end of this section.
Section three, about 3mi of flat and then turn left and hit the first of the two main hills. The first is quite sharp, but not too long. The second is long but not too sharp, there is a nice rest bite in-between hills.
Section four, again rolling, but nothing to worry about, restart loop.
Section five, on second lap, really nice descent into transition with short sharp hill at the end.

Check this out; http://www.bikemap.net/route/438519

You will be fine with approiate training. Be warned, the run is harder than the bike because;
[list:2s2va1op]
1. You've just done a very hard bike
2. The run is very hilly in it's own right
3. If sunny, you are very exposed to the sun[/list:u:2s2va1op]

Bonking
Bonking is when your body has run out of carbs, and thus it can no longer burn fat. Think of carbs as the fuel of the fire, in other words logs. Fire is your body fat. If you run out of logs, there is no more fire.

A good rule of thumb is, 1gram of carbs per KG of weight, per hour. I am 60kg so the math is pretty easy. I have 3 SIS gels an hour on a long ride.

Hope that helps, feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Grant

Rapha

grant.smith wrote:

A good rule of thumb is, 1gram of carbs per KG of weight, per hour. I am 60kg so the math is pretty easy. I have 3 SIS gels an hour on a long ride.

That's an outdated rule with recent scientific findings. Use drinks during the bike that contain 2:1 fructose because they will allow you to consume more than 90g per hour! That could potentially make a huge difference over longer distances. For the run change to caffeinated Gels and water. Again the caffeine helps you consumer more carbohydrate per hour. I use EnergyGel Plus from High5 so thats 23g per Gel so I aim to take a Gel every 20mins or just under. I've tried the Powerbar Gels with 2:1 fructose but they were way too sweet for me!

As mentioned earlier, without training you will get to a point where you body isn't used to the pace or distance. However well trained you are, once you run out of carbs it is pretty much the end of the race for you

grant1974

Rapha wrote:

That's an outdated rule with recent scientific findings. Use drinks during the bike that contain 2:1 fructose because they will allow you to consume more than 90g per hour! That could potentially make a huge difference over longer distances. For the run change to caffeinated Gels and water. Again the caffeine helps you consumer more carbohydrate per hour. I use EnergyGel Plus from High5 so thats 23g per Gel so I aim to take a Gel every 20mins or just under. I've tried the Powerbar Gels with 2:1 fructose but they were way too sweet for me!

As mentioned earlier, without training you will get to a point where you body isn't used to the pace or distance. However well trained you are, once you run out of carbs it is pretty much the end of the race for you

Just because you can get more carbs doesn't mean you should. Your body can only absorb X amount, this varies on weight, body type, stomach tolerance. Be wary of advertising hype, just because High 5 says it, it doesn't mean it will work for you. I could quite easy consume hundreds of grams of carbs an hour, but my stomach would soon give me issues on the run.

The 1 gram of carbs per kg of weight is a guide and should be trained, but at least it's a starting point. And it works as I use it all the time.

The key is to take in just enough, too little, you will bonk, too much, you will have stomach issues.

Rapha

grant.smith wrote:

Just because you can get more carbs doesn't mean you should. Your body can only absorb X amount, this varies on weight, body type, stomach tolerance. Be wary of advertising hype, just because High 5 says it, it doesn't mean it will work for you. I could quite easy consume hundreds of grams of carbs an hour, but my stomach would soon give me issues on the run.

The 1 gram of carbs per kg of weight is a guide and should be trained, but at least it's a starting point. And it works as I use it all the time.

The key is to take in just enough, too little, you will bonk, too much, you will have stomach issues.

You are right it is important to take the correct amount. I could take 5 gels an hour on top of a sports drink but that doesn't mean I will absorb it all. However, it's not the amount you can consume, its the amount that you can absorb that is increased using 2:1 fructose and also caffeine, so 90-100g per hour is not unreasonable and will give you more carbs to use. By using conventional sports drink you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.

How the fructose works is explained here www.highfive.co.uk/fructoseScience.html. If fructose wasn't so sweet you could absorb even more, and that's also why the Powerbar 2:1 Gel is so sweet!

High5 are not the only company that do it and most other endurance focused companies will follow soon. The scientific evidence is pretty convincing and it is a huge performance advantage in races.

DanTheTriMan

Thanks for all the replies; some cracking advice!

Looks like a winter full of hills and trying out different foods! I wasn't under the pretense that the course was easy by any stretch of the imagination but now I've got a feeling it's going to being an absolute beast of a day!

Cheers all,
DTTM