Exercise researcher Dr. Bente Klarlund Pedersen claims that it may be beneficial to bonk regularly in training. She makes the case that endurance athletes "stand to gain greater fitness by performing some of their workouts in a glycogen-depleted state than by trying to perform all of their workouts in a glycogen-replete state." What happens is that training in a glycogen depleted state -- bonking -- triggers adaptations in the muscles to make you stronger when you compete. You want to, of course, compete with glycogen in your system.
So when Floyd bonked in Stage 16, that made in stronger for his Stage 17 comeback. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Read more in this Active.com article. Via Missouri Bicycle Federation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Interesting find since I had a severe bonk on the club century back in early July. I bonked at about 75 miles and crawled to the finish. A few days later I felt stronger than I had all season.
ReplyDeleteSurely you didn't mean this:
ReplyDeletebonk v. In the UK, bonking is, well, the act of reproducing. Well, unless you're using some sort of contraceptive device I suppose. It's the act of practising reproduction, maybe. Oh, hell, you know what I mean. We do also share the US definition (a clunk/bash).
http://english2american.com/dictionary/b.html
It makes reading the post a little funnier, though!
No source readily at hand, but I recall reading that bonking is really bad for you. It can take days to fully recover, and it seems hard to believe that someone would advocate it as a training method.
ReplyDeleteProbably deepends on just how "deeply" you bonk (um, using the "depleting glycogen" meaning, not the UK/Aussie one).
ReplyDeleteIf you're just running on low sugars, that shouldn't be so hard to recover from. If it takes days to recover, sounds like heat exhaustion or other depletions were happening. (I haven't bonked in a dozen years or so but I am pretty sure I was back adn rolling fine the next day.)
I bonked pretty badly just about three weeks ago. The next day I felt pretty good, though I still wasn't in top form. But then I wasn't fully recovered from the factors that led to bonking in the first place (didn't eat breakfast, not adequately hydrated).
ReplyDelete