The Bonk

Spring Break has sprung! (Which is great, because Spring is still working on it.) Break was wonderful, and relaxing.

Accomplishments:
My first Seder! 2 Jews, 3 non-Jews, and some chicken. Big success.
4000 yards swum in 2 swims (about 2.3 miles, almost the distance of an Ironman)
25.7 miles run in 5 runs, including an 8- and a 10-miler (almost the distance of a marathon)
20 miles biked in 1 bike (it would've been more, but I had a little cold at the start of break)
3-bean chili with chipotle chive cornbread
36 stars in Super Mario 64
No injuries!

It was a good week, and I did a good job of relaxing.

Most importantly, I diagnosed the problem I had at my first half marathon. I had done a 12 mile training run, pretty comfortably, so expected the 13.1 to be the same. It was NOT. At about mile 11, I was feeling so bad. The last 2.1 miles were the hardest I've ever run in my life (including four hours into a triathlon). In fact, I use that as a motivation to push harder sometimes, because I know I have more in me if it doesn't feel that bad. Stupidly, I didn't realize the problem was so obvious. I was hungry.

I had been training with snacks (energy gels or candy). I had taken a small snack every 30-45 minutes. On the day of the race, I was too self-conscious to wear my waist-pack, so I ate all of my snacks at the start. I figured that the first few miles of upset stomach was the worst of it, but I was wrong. It was the awful crash 150 minutes later. Runners call it "bonking".

Problem solved. Take snacks in my race, and I'll be all set. Easy as 13.1 miles.

I'm incredibly busy this week, due to some scheduling challenges (and our last round of interim assessments), so I'll update more soon.