Bonking
Over here most people know the meaning of "bonking" but I also found this little excerpt from a Canadian website called "Prarie Inn Harriers" running club with yet another definition:
"John, "Haven't you ever heard of bonking"?
Bob, "Yes that's when someone like Steve Barr raps you on the head with a two by four".
John, "No it isn't. It is when long distance riders have used every ounce of energy and fuel in their bodies and they physically black out and fall off their bikes. Their whole system shuts down".
Bob, "This reinforces my theory on the I.Q. level of cycling for-fitness freaks".
John, "So you think that cycling is not helping my running"?
Bob, "Only running will help your running, John. Get your ass off the seat and pile on 50 more miles".
Nevertheless from John's enlightening description of bonking, I thought I would apply this principle to running. In 1990 while training for the Elk-Beaver 50 Miler, I experimented with bonking at the Garden City 10k. I had just completed a 144 mile training week and ran the Garden City the next day. Upon approaching the finish line I noticed the clock change to 33 minutes flat as I hit the last 200 metres of the race. At that point my legs went to jello, my head could not control my body and I collapsed in a heap of s--- on the road. After crawling the distance to the line to finish in 35:41, I had dropped from first master to ninth master in a matter of 1/2 lap of a track. Even Cynthia Reid jumped over me at the end to record a personal best of 35:39. Six days later I won the Elk-Beaver 50 mile race setting a course record of 6 hours 16 minutes. Bonking must of helped!
My second attempt at bonking came at the Jasper-Banff relay one month later. Call it lack of altitude training or low blood sugar or lack of beer the night before but something quite serious happened to me at the 15k mark of a 21 kilometre stage. My legs again went all rubbery and I started wobbling all over the road. My team mates could not drive the portion of this stage as it was restricted to runners only so I weaved and stumbled for 6K and finished 5 minutes slower than my predicted time. This picture was taken immediately after I handed off to Bob Cook at the end of stage 1 of the race. The Harriers did, however, win the masters division, finishing 6th overall in course record time. My bonking must have once again helped the team"
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