Bonking

The pacing of the the 4:50 group for the SIM08 went
pretty well, with two (Samantha and Fatt) stayed
with me and successfully crossed the finished line
in 4:53. A three minute missed is more than
acceptable for the two, considering the hot
weather and not so perfect training
(I considered myself doing a
great pacer job. Now, it is time to run my
own race...)


Fatt had asked me a few times the reason for
some who have all the ability and potential to
run sub five or even much faster, only to
end up crossing the finishing line in 7 hours
plus; how some runner reached the 30K mark in 2:30
and only crossed the finishing line in 4:45.
(A 2:30 30K is VDOT 43.5 and the equivalent
performance for a 3:34 marathon, in another word,
the above mentioned runner reached the finishing line
more than 1:10 later than his true
potential for the day).

The answer is simply INCORRECT PACING STRATEGY!!!

In Sam case, she had not trained well for the season
due to injury, but through smart pacing
( thanks to me ) was able to maximize her
potential and set a PR even in a hot weather condition,
though I had to admit that that her sheer will power
and my constant "pushing" does help a bit.

But can sheer will power overcome your body limit
when you really BONK?

I doubt so!

Back to the runners mentioned above, I noticed that
they bonked not once, but a few times
over the years. (Now, there might be some
reasons for the saying of
"some marathoners never learn...").

I think the reasons behind was three fold.

Firstly, their pacing strategy is
totally incorrect--they started out too fast.
Noticed some of these runner actually practised up to
40K for their longest long run just to make sure
that they won't bonk in the race.

But they DID!!!

Simply because they raced at a
much faster pace than their training.
It is like they set a 10K PR
in the marathon race, how could you expect
that they would not bonk later.


Secondly, when you bonked a few times,
the effect is just like training, the body
has been conditioned, the mind has been
programmed TO BONK.
I bet the above mentioned runners always bonk
at almost the same distance marker.
It is like you mind is wired
to shut down just reaching that point...

So the more you bonked before, the harder to break this,
and the more likely it will bonk again, a vicious cycle!


Last but not least, the psychological aspect.
I had bonked once (yes, it happened to me too,
and my PW is 6:45 which I hope I would
never ever set another record).

I remembered how I feared the marathon distance
especially SIM where I set the PW, and it took a
few good marathon racing to overcome that fear.
And you know what fear can do to you if
you unable to overcome

it--WHATEVER YOU FEAR WILL HAPPEN!



To break this vicious bonking cycle,
the more you have bonked before,
the slower you should race the first half.
This strategy will most likely does NOT
maximize your racing potential for the day,
but it will make sure that you DON'T bonk.

Here is what "BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY" really make sense.


And finally, I include the video of the
IronMan Hawaii Triathlon of 1997,
where Sian Welch and Wendy Ingram “race” over
the final few hundred meters for
fourth and fifth place (YES, FOURTH AND FIFTH).

You can see what it look like when someone bonk and
totally spent--fatigue, muscle cramp, hypoglycemia
(disoriented, difficulties to balance
and stay co-ordinated).

Welch was ahead of Wendy when the video start,
obviously she bonked quite hard and suffer
severe muscle cramp and hypoglycemia(she was
disoriented and fell a few times)

Wendy Ingram was cramping quite severely and
modified her running style into a spider like
running style towards the finishing line.

Now, I realized that there were more than
one ways of finishing:

(1)You finished strongly and looking good,
smiling and high-fiving like some of
the men in the video did.

(2)Modified your running style,
like Wendy did, adopted a
spider-like gait if it is what it takes.

(3)Do whatever it take to cross that
damn line--Crawl if you have to.







P/S: I broke into tears the first time
I watch this and totally
respect human's racing spirit (for FORTH and FIFTH).


Merry Christmas and Crank on.