Dehydration?

Rich Stanbaugh

Hi folks, I just recently completed Los Cabos (link to RR below). It was a fantastic event! I let myself get into a little trouble on the bike course... for two hours it felt unbelievably good, and then I felt like I woke up on the moon! I was completely bonked and didn't know if I could make it to the top of the hill I was climbing.

I have a few questions for the group:

1. Is the confusion that I described typical of dehydration/overheating? I am not certain that I have forgotten the middle hours... more like they are foggy with sporadic memories that I cannot put in chronological order.

2. Any chance that swallowing a little too much sea water exacerbated the problem?

3. My cadence is still a mystery to me. I am typically 82-83 like clockwork... on race day it was off from the beginning. Was that a warning sign?

http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/15071/Default.aspx

Thanks for the feedback!

Rich

steve Beyer

The confusion is more directly related to the bonk, rather than dehydration or overheating. Bonking is having blood glucose levels drop, and the brain cells (neurons) can't secondarily use proteins of fats for energy like every other tissue in the body ( a very unique aspect of the brain)....ie.the brain is entirely dependent upon glucose for energy. Hence the "confusion" or similar type symptoms with a bonk.

Rich Stanbaugh

Thanks for the feedback Steve. The more I discuss it, I think that I exacerbated the problem by being a little dehydrated coming out of the water and then taking in chewable calories (Honey Stinger / Bonk Breaker / Cliff Gel)... As the temperature came up and I was behind on the water, the sweating deprived me of water needed to digest the calories. Kind of a double whammy...

I'm definitely going to move towards more liquid calories on race day.

Thanks!

Rich

PS - I lived in Champaign from 1985 - 1992 - Oskie Wow Wow!