Bonking!

Ok what gives. I've put in 1000 miles of training, and my stamina is in the toilet the past few weeks. I'm seriously bonking around 5-8 miles into my rides. To the point I have to stop, rest, and eat some Gu. I can easily do 50 miles on a ride, but it's these first 10 that are just KILLING me.

It's really a problem when I do my club rides, because I can't just stop and rest without holding everyone up. Today I had to stop about 20 miles into it because I couldn't recover from that initial bonk. I ate carbs for lunch but it didn't seem to matter. I also got that lovely ammonia smell again :)

So what's the deal? I do have crohn's disease, and I swear if it's that causing me issues I'm going to scream. I'm going to talk to my doc about this too.

I was wondering if any of you use those amino fuel mixes and similar things that they advertise in Bicycling mag and sell at GNC. Do they work?

I'm doing RAGBRAI in about a month and am a little concerned right now.

Thanks for any tips on what this might be and how to offset it.

Are you getting enough rest to let your body recover in between rides?

Hi Betagirl,

I sometimes have the same problem. It takes me a good 10 miles to "warm up" on a ride, and as a result, I can be dropped early on when I could stay with the riders who dropped me if I start early and just let them catch me later. So, part of that may just be the way your body warms up - slower than the norm.

Are you eating enough before rides? And I don't mean just carbs. There is an article in this month's Bicycling that says that riders need fat and protein along with the carbs in order to sustain them. I am petite and have a fast metabolism, and if I don't eat something fairly close to (before) the ride start, I will give out too. For afternoon rides my current pre-ride snack of choice is a Payday bar, which has carbs, protein, and fat.

Good luck to you!

Emily

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Originally posted by emily_in_nc

For afternoon rides my current pre-ride snack of choice is a Payday bar, which has carbs, protein, and fat.

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Mmm...that sounds good to me! :D

Bonking after the first 5 - 8 miles sounds pretty nasty. Sounds like you're starting off too fast to keep up with the rest of the group.

Even though you may have many miles under your belt it depends on the speed you normally ride these at. My boyfriend isn't very fast but he can ride for hours - slow & steady.

Maybe you could ask the group to slowly build up the speed over the first half hour of the ride rather than ' going it from the gun.' Alternatively maybe you could ride with a slower group for a couple of rides and see how you get on.

Good luck :)

What if you bunk off work and then you bonk! :eek: :D

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What if you bunk off work and then you bonk!

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Ha Ha!! That's funny!:)

Bonking when your bunking isn't to be encouraged...:D :D

You said you did 1000miles in recent weeks, but have you had a rest week at all? I don't mean totally off the bike, but where you do maybe 50-75% of the miles that you did the week before and have at least 1 extra day where you don't ride. I know for a lot of people (including me) their heavy training works in a 4 week cycle - 3 weeks hard and then 1 week easy and it helps me be able to continue the hard training schedule for a long time.

As for hanging in with the bunch - sit on, sit on, sit on! Sit on the back until you are past the bonk point, making sure you eat your Gu while on the bike along the way. If you can eat some of the Gu before you bonk this might help. If anyone asks why you're sitting on, then tell them why and hopefully they'll be ok with it.

betagirl, i have crohn's too. i have a fairly mild case, but i understand the feeling of struggling with your own body and being so frustrated you want to scream. :rolleyes:

we often change our diet because of crohn's and if you're missing certain foods, or eating at different times, or not digesting everything (ie not absorbing all nutrients because of the part of the intestine that is affected by crohn's) that could contribute to bonking.

i'm going to suggest things even though you're probably already doing them-- better to suggest it than possibly avoid the root of the problem! ;) if you're not eating certain foods because of how it affects you (i know the feeling :( ), take a look at your overall food consumption and make sure you're still getting a balanced diet and not missing out on carbs or protein or nutrients. also, check out when you're eating:if you eat at certain times to avoid getting symptom at certain times, maybe you could find things to eat pre-ride that will give you energy but won't cause symptoms, if that's a concern.

also, depending on where and how much the crohn's is affecting your intestine, you may not be absorbing all the nutrients you're eating. it may be worth asking your doctor if this is a possibility. also, check out your iron levels, because as women with crohn's we are particularly susceptible to low iron, which can have a drastic affect on our overall energy.

like i said, you're probably aware of these already: i'm kinda worried i have a preachy tone, and i don't wanna sound like i'm doing a mommy thing. ;) but i've been there, i sympathize, and i want to mention all the possibilities just in case. it does sound like the solution could be a pacing thing, but if crohn's is on your mind it doesn't hurt to consider it. hope this helps.

Thanks everyone.

Spokes - you didn't sound preachy at all. I appreciate your insight as a fellow crohnie. I too have a milder case, but I know I'm not absorbing stuff like I used too. I also don't eat like I should, aka not enough, a lot of the time. Have you noticed that riding helps your symptoms? I was at the doc yesterday and we were talking about that. For me it seems to quiet things down for the most part. But yes, it is frustrating not being able to do what you could before because your body can't figure out how to process things right and give you the fuel you need. He did check my iron levels so we'll see if that might be my issue also. It's highly strange that after all the training I'd start bonking now when I didn't before.

I do get plenty of rest between rides. I don't ride every day, and the 1000 miles I've done is since late March/early April. I ride probably 3-4 days a week on average.

I think you're right about starting out too fast. My comfort pace is around 18mph, but lately the club is jumping out to 20-25 in the beginning and maintaining that pace throughout. Except when they're sprinting, which I don't even wanna know how fast they're going then :D On the last club ride I did, I was going 21 and I got dropped. So I backed down to 18 and said screw it :)

Hmmm, payday bars.....what about snickers? Gotta have my snickers!

I guess I won't be riding in any races any time soon. I'm more like slow and steady than anything.

Thanks everyone!

18 mph is slow and steady?! ;) Oh my! I'm just hoping to achieve an 18 mph average speed at sometime in my life! I normally average 16-17, with the occasional mid-upper 17s on a very good ride (and with more drafting) but have yet to break the 18 mph barrier in 2 years of cycling. Not giving up yet, though!!!

As for Snickers, they're yummy, but I expect a bit heavy on the simple sugar, and definitely too melty to take along on a ride (Paydays are good for that). Paydays have 27g of carbs (2g fiber), 14g fat, and 6g protein. Paydays are a lot less sweet, though so I expect are lower carb and higher protein than Snickers.

Emily

Y'know- I saw that article in Bicycling about the Payday bar- and I tried it.
It gives you the protein/energy/carbs and fat that you need...and salt too.

I did a 50k charity ride- with next to no training, since I couldn't get on the bike after my endo- I did take the payday bar, and it worked like a charm! I didn't bonk- I finished the 50k fairly easily- yet just prior to that, I'd been having problems with bonking.

Heck- it worked for me!

The good thing is- a local store is carrying the Payday bars- normally we don't see them up here in my part of the Great White North...so I'm loading up!

Kimba

Congratulations on your ride, Kimba! Glad the Payday worked for you. I had read about them awhile back but was glad to see Bicycling jump on the bandwagon. They're great!

Emily

I'll cast another vote for Paydays. One of my fellow riders turned me onto them a couple of months ago. There's a little convenience store where we stop to take a break along one of our long rides. I've noticed recently that the Paydays are regularly sold out (can sometimes still find a king-sized one) so the word must be getting out. Hopefully the store owners will notice the trend and stock up!

I think I'll stock up on some PayDay bars for RAGBRAI next week.

Thanks all :D

chocolate paydays are really good, but very hard to find.

Irulan