What is bonking?

I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?

Roger Zoul wrote:
I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?



Bonking is when your blood sugar gets depleted to the point where you
have no energy. It usually takes at least a couple of hours of high
exertion. At moderate exertion you can run off of fat and most of us
have several days worth of capacity there.

I've only bonked a couple of times. Besides no energy, my main symptom
was an *incredible* hunger.

On Jul 2, 10:20 am, Peter Cole wrote:
Roger Zoul wrote:
I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?

Bonking is when your blood sugar gets depleted to the point where you
have no energy. It usually takes at least a couple of hours of high
exertion. At moderate exertion you can run off of fat and most of us
have several days worth of capacity there.

I've only bonked a couple of times. Besides no energy, my main symptom
was an *incredible* hunger.

My definition is pretty much the same!
When I used to run marathons we called it "hitting the wall" because
that is what it felt like. It is not just feeling a bit logy or tired.
It is a drastic decrease in energy and often happens quite suddenly.

In article ,
Peter Cole wrote:

Roger Zoul wrote:
I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?



Bonking is when your blood sugar gets depleted to the point where you
have no energy. It usually takes at least a couple of hours of high
exertion. At moderate exertion you can run off of fat and most of us
have several days worth of capacity there.

I've only bonked a couple of times. Besides no energy, my main symptom
was an *incredible* hunger.

And general fatigue.

In shorter races, there's another phenomenon, which my more knowledgable
friends claim is likely a changeover from long-term to short-term energy
sources, where after a bit of intense riding you get into this pit of
immense depression. It's not that your fatigue level suddenly goes over
a cliff, it's just that you suddenly wonder what the heck you're doing
in a bike race, and since you're feeling so bad, you should probably
just give up.

Then a few minutes later it passes.

Some of my best race results came when I felt that pit of black despair,
told myself to just ride a few more laps, and then made it onto the
podium.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

On Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:20:46 -0400, Peter Cole
wrote:

Roger Zoul wrote:
I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?



Bonking is when your blood sugar gets depleted to the point where you
have no energy. It usually takes at least a couple of hours of high
exertion. At moderate exertion you can run off of fat and most of us
have several days worth of capacity there.

I've only bonked a couple of times. Besides no energy, my main symptom
was an *incredible* hunger.

That sounds like the real meaning of bonking. I tend to use it when I
just can't get up the energy to pedal faster and am just dragging.
Sort of like having a bad day. It doesn't happen to me too often,
maybe a few times a year.

I realize that it isn't the real definition but, judging by the
criteria, I'm never going to get to use the word bonk and I hate
letting a good word go to waste.

On Jul 2, 7:28 pm, gds wrote:
On Jul 2, 10:20 am, Peter Cole wrote:

Roger Zoul wrote:
I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?

Bonking is when your blood sugar gets depleted to the point where you
have no energy. It usually takes at least a couple of hours of high
exertion. At moderate exertion you can run off of fat and most of us
have several days worth of capacity there.

I've only bonked a couple of times. Besides no energy, my main symptom
was an *incredible* hunger.

My definition is pretty much the same!
When I used to run marathons we called it "hitting the wall" because
that is what it felt like. It is not just feeling a bit logy or tired.
It is a drastic decrease in energy and often happens quite suddenly.

The few times when I have bonked I was also unable to get my pulse up
above about 65% of max. And this was for rides not long enough for
major HR drift to have been an issue. And it was a reasonably quick
change. One minute I was able to work hard with a high pulse trying to
hang on to the group, the next minute I was in a world of hurt, and my
legs just wouldn't push hard enough to get my HR up. No power as I was
apparently getting all my energy for fat which has a limited rate of
metabolism. Both times this happened near th eend of the ride, so I
just suffered to the end. I have no experience (that I recall) with
trying on bike recovery from bonking, but I'll bet a Coke or a
chocolate, (or a pizza!) would have got me rollig again at least for a
while.

Joseph

On Jul 3, 1:28 am, gds wrote:
On Jul 2, 10:20 am, Peter Cole wrote:

Roger Zoul wrote:
I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?

Bonking is when your blood sugar gets depleted to the point where you
have no energy. It usually takes at least a couple of hours of high
exertion. At moderate exertion you can run off of fat and most of us
have several days worth of capacity there.

I've only bonked a couple of times. Besides no energy, my main symptom
was an *incredible* hunger.

My definition is pretty much the same!
When I used to run marathons we called it "hitting the wall" because
that is what it felt like. It is not just feeling a bit logy or tired.
It is a drastic decrease in energy and often happens quite suddenly.

When I sit through three cycles of the traffic light trying to decide
which route is the shortest one to get me to drinking water and snacks
and the difference between the two routes is ultimately about 150
meters.

I've done the incredible hunger thing a few times though more often I
find that while I don't feel particularly hungry I have an incredible
ability to eat everything put in front of me and go back for tenths.

-M

On Jul 3, 1:35 am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In article ,
Peter Cole wrote:

Roger Zoul wrote:
I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?

Bonking is when your blood sugar gets depleted to the point where you
have no energy. It usually takes at least a couple of hours of high
exertion. At moderate exertion you can run off of fat and most of us
have several days worth of capacity there.

I've only bonked a couple of times. Besides no energy, my main symptom
was an *incredible* hunger.

And general fatigue.

In shorter races, there's another phenomenon, which my more knowledgable
friends claim is likely a changeover from long-term to short-term energy
sources, where after a bit of intense riding you get into this pit of
immense depression. It's not that your fatigue level suddenly goes over
a cliff, it's just that you suddenly wonder what the heck you're doing
in a bike race, and since you're feeling so bad, you should probably
just give up.


This sounds almost exactly like what happens to me right before the
happy endorphin high fairies start making the world extra special
interesting.

In the one race where this happened I also found myself feeling a lot
more tired and a lot less capable to the point where it was clear that
the heart rate monitor and odometer weren't merely lying but were
actually broken and something was wrong not just with me but with the
rest of the world too because I was, strangely enough, still in the
pack.

In the "let's ride our mountain bikes up that nearby 10km length of
steep dirt road" event at new year's the only thing that kept me on my
bike when the depression hit was the knowledge that someone I barely
tolerate was behind me and if I stopped riding he might catch up with
me, see me resting, and decide to stop and talk at me. Shortly after
that the colors of the world got brighter.

In my the journal I was keeping for class at time I wrote that "I rode
my bike until I was thirsty. I rode my bike until I was hungry. I
rode my bike until I was tired. I rode my bike until I was drunk with
pain. And still I rode my bike. I rode my bike until I wasn't
thirsty. I rode my bike until I wasn't hungry. I rode my bike until
I wasn't tired. I rode my bike until there was no pain anymore. And
still I rode my bike."

-M

On Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:00:49 -0400, Roger Zoul wrote:

I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it? What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?

There are some useful posts in this thread, thanks.
But you should know, in the UK, Bonk, has a completely different slang
meaning!

"me" wrote in message
news:xUjii.81075$NV3.68979@pd7urf2no...
On Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:00:49 -0400, Roger Zoul wrote:

I'm curious as to what people here think is bonking. What causes it?
What
are the variables involved?
Are there degrees of "bonking" or is "bonking" considered to be the worst
possible form of an exercise induced hypo?

There are some useful posts in this thread, thanks.
But you should know, in the UK, Bonk, has a completely different slang
meaning!

The slang term is 'bonk?' My wife (a Brit) sometimes says 'boink.'