Bonk

I experienced another cycling first yesterday.  I bonked.  Mark and I went for a ride up Millcreek Canyon and I was fatigued and lacked energy.  I made it about halfway up the canyon, then told Mark to go ahead while I turned around.  

I had had little to eat that morning and have been cycling every day this week.  I had also gone to the gym that morning and had - unwisely - done a leg workout.  The result of all these factors was that I simply ran out of gas.  

I hated the thought of not continuing on, fearing that I would create a psychological precedent.  I turned around twice, thinking I could will my body up that canyon, but each time I realized I simply didn't have it in me that day.

What I did do, however, is decide to ride south on Wasatch Boulevard for 3-4 miles, then back, in order to give me at least a 20-mile ride.  I'm glad I did.  On this relatively flat surface, my energy and will came back.  I rode harder in order to get my heart rate up, particularly on my way back, and I ended up having a good ride in terms of conditioning, as the following graph shows.  (It helped that I had the incentive to catch up with and overtake - successfully - a young, very fit guy whom Mark and I had seen on a previous ride a week or so ago.)

I'm sure I will have many more opportunities to learn lessons about diet and training and psychological fitness.  About overcoming.  About realizing when enough is enough, and wisdom lies in retreating from the field to fight another day. 

“Little by little, one travels far.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien