Monday, May 4, 2009

Bonk

Bonk ( v) To hit the wall.
Long distance athletes get energy from two sources:
1) Fat metabolism
2) Breakdown of glycogen into glucose

During intense activity all of the bodies available O2 is needed for the muscles none is available to metabolize fat and all of the energy used to sustain comes from the breakdown of glycogen. This is a problem as unless the body is able to take in carbohydrates the liver and muscles will run out of glycogen and the athlete can suffer from:
Dilation of pupils
Weakness
Fatigue
Dizziness
Hallucinations

This can occur when the athlete sustains a heart rate above 130 bpm for about two hours without replenishing the glycogen. Depending on the condition of the athlete this is around 15 to 20 miles of running.

In my case it was 17.

3 comments:

hern42 said...

So what did you see?
I guess pink elephants are only showing up when hallucinating from alcohol, aren't they?

The Eel said...

I have never hallucinated from alcohol pink elephants or otherwise.

From this horrid misadventure I saw what can only be described as "fog" rolling from the bottom of my "vision" up

hern42 said...

that's no fun :(