Don't Blow It Too Soon

Don't Blow It Early On!

We've all been there. You set off from the road side feeling great, saunter up the first easy slopes then as things get steeper and harder , it just feels right to go harder and faster - especially if there's a summit at stake and your mate got there first last time.

So you push it a bit harder, pant a lot and finally collapse in a steaming heap by the trig point, panting like a dog. You should be able to recover in five minutes then push on right? So how come you feel like death warmed up for the rest of the day?

You've Gone Anaerobic And Now You Must Pay...

Okay, listen carefully. What you've done is push beyond the aerobic threshhold, the point where your body's oxygen demand is greater than its ability to supply oxygen. At this point, weird things happen - you'll produce more lactic acid in the muscles, your coordination will be impaired - see why you're staggering - and you're no longer able to use fat as an energy source.

All this wouldn't matter if things went back to normal as soon as you resumed normal, steady aerobic progress up the mountain, but unfortunately it doesn't. Until you've recovered properly, and that means at least 24 hours depending on how hard you've pushed it, your aerobic performance will also suffer. Bad news.

But that's not all, sugar...

That's pretty bad in itself, but things get worse - if you're out on a long day at relatively low intensity, like mountain walking, you'll be relying mainly on fat burning. So far, so good, but burning fat relies on glycogen stored in the muscles, so you need to keep those levels as high as you can. However, periods of hard effort, like sprinting for a summit, means that you go back to burning carbohydrates alone and deplete the levels of glycogen in your muscles. Exhaust it and you also spoil your body's ability to burn the stored fat it'susing as fuel, so it's a bit of a double whammy. Think of it as like trying to make custard using just milk...

So...

Okay, this is a pretty basic explanation and over-simplified too, but then I am a dog. The bottom line is not to push hard unnecessarily especially early in the day. If you do go over the top, remember that you can't replenish your muscle glycogen while still exercising, so consider stopping for a few hours and eating carbos in the form of sugary things. The cure for your impaired aerobic system, unfortunately, is a day or more's rest, so think hard before that second day epic.

Best of all though folks, just don't do it!