To Bonk or Not to Bonk

I'm a day behind here on reporting workouts, but thankfully something weird happened during both of my workouts so that I have something interesting to write about. Muddy last week wrote a post about bonking - the dreaded lack of calories fatigue that sends you into nasty downward spiral until you collapse on the floor like a sack of potatoes (this sack of potatoes is however much different than the sack you create when falling due to letting go of the pull-up bar). I finally got my own taste of bonking, but then I realized that it was not an unfamiliar feeling.

To understand my point, lets rewind and bit and understand what I do for a living. I teach self-defense at a fairly high level, and over the past five years I've had to go through some pretty nasty weeks of training to get higher levels of certification. During these certifications we typically train 8-hours per day for upwards of seven days. Our last day is our test, and that's anywhere from 4-6 hours of complete and total hell. I've gone through six of these various certifications, and at several points during each one I've either wanted to our successfully hurled my guts out, felt like I wanted to pass out, or just collapsed to the ground at the end of the day only to be moved by someone yelling at me that I needed to get off the floor.

So now we move forward to this P90X experience. Some of my workouts have been great, others good, and still others downright awful. Normally in the downright awful ones I feel a little nausea or that I want to just drop the weights and sit on the couch for a few hours. Yesterday and today were both like that. Normally I attribute this "wanting to die" feeling during workouts as 1) a normal part of the workout that is testing my willpower and 2) not drinking enough water. Basically I just thought I was a tad dehydrated for the past two days and that was it.

Then I went back and read through several posts referencing the so-called "bonking" phenomenon. I put together a mental checklist of things that occur while bonking: 1) extreme fatigue, 2) nausea, 3) overall want to just collapse and die. Check, check, and check. Wait, what?!? So I went through the list and I got the same result - check, check, check. So now I find myself sitting at my computer going, "I've been bonking for the past five years and didn't know it?" Check-a-roonie!

I always looked at bonking as something that wouldn't happen to me - I usually eat more than enough. Besides, I'm tougher than that, right? I'm a big bad self-defense instructor. The problem is that in my hardened (alright, stupid) way of looking at things I just assumed that what I was feeling was part of the process. It always seemed like these things happened when I wasn't drinking enough water, but when I don't drink enough water there's usually a reason - I'm not eating. AHA! Suddenly the light bulb goes off and I can put another tick mark on the big epiphany board.

So why the big story about all my training? Well, first off I need you all to know how much of a hardcore, thug-killing, badass I am. More importantly though, the way I've been feeling for years while working out is not a necessity anymore! Instead of thinking it's part of the process I can make a preemptive strike against bonking by eating more carbs when I'm working hard. It sounds like such a simple solution for something that sucks so bad.

Now I'm sure you're wondering, what's the deal with the bonking over the past few days? Simple - I guess I'm just not eating enough. I know that I've been eating a little lighter than normal, but it's pretty clear that my required caloric intake has increased over the past two months, so I need to keep pace with that. I know I've lost weight because my belts are running out of holes, so as the fat stores deplete I'm going to need to up the 2,400 calorie count. I guess it's 3,000 calories for me every day (oh darn). Does Coldstone Creamery fit into the diet?
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