TITLE: Bonk
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: August 27, 2004  1:09 PM
DESC: speed workout hits the wall
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BODY:
I bonked while running this morning.  It's been a long while since that has
happened, and I won't mind if it doesn't happen again for a long time.

Today called for an 8-1/2 mile speed workout, doing seven 1200m repeats.
After my third repeat, I felt myself losing all energy.  For a while,
I considered alternatives to finishing -- stopping short and running
laps this evening, or doing a short workout in the morning.  In the
end I gutted it out, with longer recoveries and much slower lap times.
The rest of the workout was a struggle, but I'm glad I finished.  I was
even able to finish relatively strong, with big negative splits for
each 200m.  That felt good.

Why the bonk today?  I'm probably feeling the effects of a 60-mile week
last week.  I had been scheduled for 48 miles then, but I returned late
on the previous Sunday from Brazil and ended up doing my long run for
that week on Monday.  The big week went well, including a much faster
than expected 18-miler on Sunday.  That extra speed is probably also
affecting my runs this week.

The final ingredient can be traced to a storm.  A major thunderstorm
knocked our power out for a couple of hours at bed time last night.
That killed my alarm clock, which allowed me to sleep in more than an
hour longer than usual.  That got me to the track this morning at 7:00
AM, rather than 5:30 AM.  So I shared the track -- with three or four
dozen ROTC recruits, out for weekly PT.  No problem there, except that
they were only running 2 miles, and some of those guys do a fast two
miles.  I let myself get caught up in their speed, which led to three
fast repeats -- and then the wall.

I think there is a lesson that I can draw for software development
in this story, such as the importance of maintaining a sustainable
pace, but I am not inclined to draw it out now.
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