Post Comp Bonk Tips

For anyone who has done a long distance endurance race (10 km swim, a 70.3 Ironman or any similar long-distance endurance competition), you may have suffered what is popularly known in the Americas as the "bonk" (apparently, in England, "bonk" is something entirely different and may lend itself to embarrassing moments). It is when you completely crash, energetically speaking. It can happen any time your body is reaching or has hit an energy deficit.

This can be avoided pretty much in one way: eating and hydrating. And I'm not talking about eating just any old thing and whenever.


Immediately after a long competition, you should load up on all the carbs you lost along the way. It is of the utmost importance that you load up on all the carbs you can find. Grab those Gatorade bottles and have at least two.

Avoid the pizza. With all that grease and fat content in the cheese, your stomach will probably get back at you for treating it so badly.

Eat pasta, jelly sandwiches, baked potatoes, cereal bars or juice.

All this should be done within the first two hours immediately after finishing.

In the evening, before you hit the sack, two Alka-Seltzer or bicarbonate soda in water is a great thing to take for the lactic acid build up. It doesn't get rid of all your pain but at least you can walk normally.