The Diabetic Athlete » pros http://dathlete.com dAthlete.com - talking about the needs of athletes with diabetes mellitus type 1 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:02:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Kris Freeman “bonked” http://dathlete.com/2010/02/kris-freeman-bonked/ http://dathlete.com/2010/02/kris-freeman-bonked/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:10:52 +0000 Cary http://dathlete.com/?p=51 I have been thinking quite a bit about why Kris Freeman “bonked” in the 30KM Pursuit in Vancouver.  It has been very well published — for the more normal audience.  But it is a perfect case study for all levels of athletes.  It is important to realize that at the level he competes there is no way he could be competitive starting a race and keeping with BG 200 like many others try to keep from going low.  Kris understands his body and what it needs to be close to perfection.  However, this being diabetes, and countless changes that can result over the course of race as long as the 30KM — pushing a little harder to make a pass may result in a tiny bit more of a BG reduction without ensuring a carb to back up that move.  Basically, Kris cannot compete with the “buffer” that many of us use to keep from going too low.  That brings with it risks — especially when he cannot test his BG during an event (he would lose).  Therefore, only by training over and over — he learns how his body will react along a race course by testing BG over predetermined areas.

Bonking in in diabetics can really be a two fold event since a more traditional bonk where you are at the end of your glycogen stores.  However, it may look and act much like a hypoglycemia in diabetics.  It would not be unreasonable for both to happen — although it seems as though Kris really just had hypoglycemia — since a few minutes after getting sugar into his system, he was off and pounding the snow again.

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