Exercising & Hitting the Wall

Somewhere along the way to becoming healthy, I got addicted to biking. I LOVE the idea of getting on my bike and going for a 50 mile ride just for the fun of it. I assume it’s the same way runners feel when they are out on a long morning run.

I bike often, and it’s my preferred method of working out – partly for the fun of going so far, but also because it’s great exercise.

Now, when I first started biking, I wasn’t eating too healthy. I would still pig out on pizza and beer at night then throw on my spandex and go for a morning ride. It wasn’t until a very scary morning did that all start to change rapidly…

It was just like every other morning… 7am I was suiting up for my ride. I grabbed 2 bottles of water and set out to see where I could go. I was planning about 40 miles that morning, but wasn’t sure if it’d be longer. The morning was beautiful, and I was in a great mood. I set out on my own and found some very cool things on the ride. I usually stop and chat with people, or watch the sun rise if it’s early enough.

This day was similar to all the rest… until I reached the half-way point. I changed the plans to go somewhere I’d never been before, and ended up in the middle of no-where. As I was approaching my mile-mark, I started getting a headache. The next 2 miles, I felt like I was drunk. My body wasn’t responding to me, and I was about to fall off my bike.

So, I sloppily popped my shoes out of the pedals and jumped off. The second I got on the ground, I fell over. I closed my eyes, wondering what had happened. The spins kicked in and I was sick to my stomach. It was the worst feeling I had ever felt!

Fast-forward 10 minutes and I was in front of a gas station. I had walked my bike to the town I was near and popped in. I felt like I was out of energy and by brain was screaming for calories. The only thing I could do was to purchase a few conventional oranges and green bananas and chow down. I was hoping that the sugar would give me the spike to beat my headache and help me feel normal again.

After about 20 minutes of fighting this feeling, I started to feel better. I regained control of my body and decided to take the ride home easy.

Once I got home, I looked into what happened. Essentially, I had burned all of my calories available in my body and it was starving for more. Cyclists call this “hitting the wall” or “bonking”. Either way, it was a terrible thing to have happen!

The reason I’m telling you this is because I lacked one important and critical skill when going for those long bike rides. I hadn’t practiced listening to my body and trying to understand what it really needs. I could have been on a dirt road on the out-skirts of town and bonked… then what? I would have been in big trouble!

Now, when I’m out on rides, I stay in tune with how I’m feeling. If I feel poor before I head out, I pinpoint the reason and I deal with it then. This has given me a huge edge in every aspect of my life, and I am a much stronger person for it.

I challenge you to start listening to your body NOW, before it starts SCREAMING at you when something terrible happens.

I wonder if this same idea would have saved my parents from getting cancer in the first place … Posted in Fitness.

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