Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog

Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church

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I will start today's post with a confession. I have run this distance before on several occasions. In fact I will blog my old route along the Taff Trail tomorrow in the the hope that a Cardiffian with expert local knowledge will be able to confirm that the distance was 13 miles. I was never too concerned with precision in those days and I may be a mile or two out.

One thing that has always concerned me though, is the vital question of glycogen depletion. I have posted a YouTube video below of unprepared runners 'hitting the wall' . This experience which invariably occurs somewhere between the 15th and 20th mile of any long distance run is also referred to as 'the bonk' . Some of us are very reluctant to be caught 'bonking' in public especially when you consider that it involves an unseemly display of wobbling invariably followed by total physical collapse.

I understand that this phenomenon has to do with a metabolic adaptation to burning body fat for energy which occurs once stored glycogen reserves have been depleted. I leave it to any experts out there to correct me on the details if I have erred.

All in all it seems like another good reason to stop running at around the 13 mile mark. But still I would be interested to pick up any tips on how to handle this from full marathon runners. I realise that with proper preparation the body will make this adjustment smoothly and no public embarrassment will ensue.

Hitting the wall is similar , in terms of its symptoms and effects, to hypoglycaemia and at this point I have another confession to make. When I was young and foolish ( youth has fled and only folly remains ) I suffered occasionally from a form of 'exam nerves' which I treated with prescription beta blockers . I have long since forgotten the name of the course and qualification I was pursuing. I read the warnings on the label and decided that since I was young and immortal they did not apply to me. In particular they cautioned against combining alcohol consumption and physical exertion. Naturally I opted to combine the two in the form of a good Friday night out at my local pub followed by a brisk nine mile walk in the Brecon Beacons the following morning.

Result? Disaster! My blood sugar collapsed as it was bound to do under the circumstances and I was left rolling down the side of a ridge at the back of Pen Y Fan because I was no longer able to stand let alone walk to the car. Families out for their Saturday morning constitutionals looked away in embarrassment assuming I must be drunk or insane. I did made it back to the car and after a short drive to the nearest convenience store and an emergency Mars bar I was fine again. Of course I was very lucky. The incident occurred within reach of emergency transport and I had someone to drive me . Under different circumstances this episode might have had much more serious consequences and I DO NOT ignore warning labels on pill bottles any more.

Anyway....just in case I change my mind and decide to got for the full 26 miles....any advise on avoiding 'the bonk'?

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