Bonking

I bonked a run.  It shouldn't be a surprise considering my pre run meal, or complete lack thereof!

Last Saturday I was looking forward to running up at my in-laws on some country roads.  I got up early on Saturday morning and headed out...but I didn't eat anything before going and didn't think anything of it.

The run was beautiful.  The moon was setting, the sun was rising and there I saw only 3 cars!  Plus there was wildlife galore!  Notably too many deer to count and a few skunks!  I was fueling throughout the run with my usual routine of G2 every 20 - 30 minutes and an energy gel every hour but at mile 15.5 my pace started fading.  First it was 45 sec/mile.  Then a minute/mile.  So I cut my run short 9/10 of a mile of hitting 18 miles (my goal despite my plan calling for 16 miles).

At first I was a little frustrated because I really wanted to finish out the 18 miles strong but the more I thought about what happened before my run I began to realized that not fueling before an 18 mile run probably isn't the smartest thing in the world to do.  Once I realized my error I felt better about my failure and wasn't so worried that I bonked a long run...after all I did surpass my planned distance!

The other good thing about the run was that it gave me an opportunity to try out an energy gel that I had recently picked up.  On a whim I purchased a couple Power Bar energy gels.  These are my new favorite!  Unlike some of the other brands that I've tried the consistency of the Power Bar gels are not super gooey - a big plus in my book!