If you've run any distance races you're probably familiar with "The Wall" or the verb "Bonking" and today I bonked big time.
I ran from the Old Wade House Trailhead to the top of the Parnell Hill, which is right at the 11-mile marker. I did my best to take it easy on the way out. I figured I should try to train myself to be able to run the 'runnable' sections of the trail from Highway 67 North, back to the Old Wade House Trail. This section of the Glacial Trail course is, in my opinion, the toughest...and it's also the last 7 miles, so a lot of time can be lost here. The last 2 miles of the Glacial Trail course is pretty darn flat, so it's a good idea to have something left in the legs and run that part. Who doesn't want to finish looking and feeling decent? So, my plan for today was to be smart for the first 10 miles of the run and finish strong.
FAIL.
After I stopped to refill on water at the water pump at Shelter #5 (just south of the Greenbush Picnic Area), I decided that I'd hike the tough hills, but run the flats and downhills and any mild uphill. This lasted for a while...then I started hiking any uphill. Then I walked the uphills. Then (I'm sure you guess what's coming), I was walking the flats.
Finally, as I was back on the Old Wade House trail, I was walking the downhills. I. Was. Done. It. Was. Ugly.
There's plenty to blame for this, from previous training, to nutrition, to my absolute inability to pace myself, but I won't bore you with that. I will share that my Starting Point-to-Highway 67 split was 10 MINUTES faster than my split on the return trip.
I've got some work to do before October, when I hope to run well at the Glacial Trail 50k.
Here is my Garmin
Any other good BONK stories out there? Feel free to share them in the comment section!
-Nic
No comments:
Post a Comment