Crack then second wind?

[jeffg]

On very long rides I often have a bad patch where I always hear Paul Sherwyn yelling, "bridge to engine room, more power!" I often think I am done at that point, but most often recover and even get a second wind that has me feeling super strong on some of the toughest final sections. I try to keep a decent electrolyte balance and use sustained energy or extran to keep the calories from dipping too low. I can certainly see why I would crack on a long day out, I am more mystified as to why I recover. One time I almost called home to get a ride since I had been out for about 120 miles and the only way home was over a nasty 3.5 mile, 10% climb. I ended up doing the hill in my best time ever for that route after almost walking up an easier climb just 30 miles earlier. Any thoughts? Although I am happy not to have DNF'd any ride yet, I would love to avoid or minimize this bad patch and need to isolate if it is training or nutrition related (likely both). :banana: :banana:

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . with you. If you know your route, top off the nutrition at least 15 minutes before you get to that big hill. See if that helps.

Now what’s this about cracks and breaking wind? . . . ;)

BBDave

[weisan]

jeff, I think your experience is not unique and many of us could relate to it as well. Even the pros often times during a post-race interview would say things like..."Oh, I don't feel so good initially....but then my team supported me and I managed to recover....and win the match sprint in the end!!!"...yeah right! and Petacchi is notorious for making such statement. ;)

I don't know enough about the human body to comment but my completely uneducated guess is that our body goes through a process of conditioning and adaption as the ride wears out, eventually the body caught up with the mind, and that's when the second wind comes. That's assuming we are eating right during the ride and replenishing as we go. If our mind is weak and give up before that happens, then the opportunity is missed. ;)

weisan

[Tom]

When you transition from glycogen use into fat metabolism, there's a point where one graph's dropping and the other's climbing. If you don't sync them just right, there's a valley in there.

[jeffg]

When you transition from glycogen use into fat metabolism, there's a point where one graph's dropping and the other's climbing. If you don't sync them just right, there's a valley in there.

That's an interesting thought. I had read that you seek to increase one's ability to emply fat as fuel (Ferrari's "lipid power" @ 80-90% of AT) so you can spare some glycogen. Since I don't have enough glycogen for 90 miles and about 10,000 feet of vertical (the start of the rough patch), I was thinking it may just be a lack of muscular endurance and a poorly developed fat metabolism. Perhaps the answer is that eventually your body can process lactic acid and turn it into fuel, so if you hit the wall and then ride through it, you can eventually recover. Once I did recover I felt very strong again and was putting out a good effort, though my HR was severly depressed via the start of the day. I just want to figure this out prior to the Ventoux century, since I imagine cracking on Ventoux is no fun ... You might just not recover so well :banana:

[Tom]

Perhaps next time I read your post more closely! Given where it happened, that explodes my theory... maybe lactic acid was the deal, as you say?

[Ozz]

happened to me just yesterday...I threw a another hill into my usual route (Holmes Point Loop, for the locals) and it is fairly steep and about 3/4 mile long. It came about 25-30 minutes into my ride and when I finished I thought I was done. I was sucking wind badly!

About an hour later I came to my next series of hills and felt pretty good and was was actually pushing hard up them. I finished my ride up a 1/2 mile hill with a pitch about 150 yds long at 12%+. Felt good at the top and ready for more...but I was home and needed to do "mothers day chores".

I figure that first hill just came before I was fully warmed up and was not ready to push so hard.....every year it seems it takes longer to warm up and get ready to push myself. :crap: