I committed a rookie mistake yesterday. I’ve had my fair share of bonking in the past but never to this level. As one of my 2013 goals, I completed back-to-back spin classes last night. I don’t usually bring electrolytes or energy bars for spinning, strictly reserving them for cycling. 
Let’s face it, they are convenient but not the most cost-friendly. However, I knew they were necessary for a 2h15min ride & arrived prepared, consuming an energy bar before each ride with Nuun tablets in my water at all times. At 1hr45min, I suddenly hit the wall. It’s truly a bizarre feeling when the body is solely running on water & electrolytes without any “substance”. The last 0.5hr was definitely not my glory moment. Walking to the train station afterwards, I desperately consumed 2 apples (which didn’t help) to alleviate the light-headedness, eye droopiness, shortness of breath …. Ok ok, I’ll save the icky details for myself. Long story short, I was in dire need of protein, meat, fat, ANYTHING!! It wasn’t until 10:30pm when I had my dinner, followed by a quick shower and crashing on my bed. Woke up suddenly at 2am with the same light-headedness, freaked myself out & went back to sleep.
This morning was better but still a bit off. Everything I ate either got immediately metabolized or didn’t settle properly. It’s been a “non-stop eating” day with protein, oats, & LOTS of water. I whipped up some black bean burgers and homemade mango sorbet topped with greek yogurt & homemade chocolate pudding. I’m almost feeling normal now! Phew!
Speaking of sorbets, I’ve been on a fruit craze lately with various sorbets topped with apple crumble, mix-ins, & greek yogurt. All homemade, except yogurt. I haven’t eaten ice cream in a while!
I like learning but seem to always do so the hard way. I’m going to take fuel more seriously next time!
What food do you bring for late night workouts? Snacks? An on-the-go dinner?
meredith
March 2, 2013
Amazing cherry! The food that is….I’m hoping that you focus on nutrition as part of your training regimen or regime or whatever. Also, could you start captioning your food photos with ingredients? I’d love to start making some of these!
Cherry
March 2, 2013
Thanks & will do for future! I usually link them to the respective creator unless the recipe is mine or I significantly modified the original.
bgddyjim
March 2, 2013
You’ll either laugh or find this disturbing… Every other Tuesday in-season I ride with the local advanced guys – 32 miles upwards of 22-23 mph average and we’ll get going up to 28 for mile or two stretches – in other words, we ride pretty hard. Afterwards I always head to Burger King. I get a Whopper combo and a Classic Chicken Sammich combo and eat ‘em both. Only way I can keep my weight up.
Getting the energy bars at the grocery store helps, usually a buck a piece. I also use the Gatorade Prime, juice or chews, 15 minutes before heavy efforts. During, jelly belly energy beans with caffeine are excellent.
Cherry
March 2, 2013
Not disturbing at all!! I tend to not have as much fueling issues when riding on the road because I tend to over-stuff my pockets with energy bars, gels, & chews like Shot Bloks. Then post-ride would typically be a BBQ with burgers. But for some reason, I can’t seem to apply the same logic when I train indoors because I prefer real food or am obligated to wait until I get home for dinner etc.
bgddyjim
March 3, 2013
Oops.
In that case, your bonk will be a good thing – chances are, when you plan on another long ride, you’ll remember that bonk. It’s all good. 
Brittany Breaux
March 2, 2013
Sorry to hear about the bonking! David has trouble bonking a lot; maybe I don’t because I love to eat
I eat a lot of Clif bars before/during biking because they’re cheap (~$1) and have pretty good ingredients. Also rice krispie treats are bonk savers- quick carbs & sugar – and I buy them in bulk at Costco. Quaker oat bars are quick, cheap 100 cal snacks too.
Hope you liked the bean burgers! The crumble looks yummy – on my list to try!
Cherry
March 2, 2013
$1 for clif bars!! That’s so cheap – I need to fly to Houston just to buy a year supply of them! Here in Toronto, I cheapest I’ve found is $1.45+tax per bar. I love the bean burgers, the BBQ sauce makes it real yummy. The only thing I need is figuring out how to firm them up – they fall apart easily!
Brittany Breaux
March 3, 2013
Hmmm, I mash mine with a fork (not food processor) so the beans stay sort of whole and wet my hands when forming them if they get sticky.
Yeah, cost of living here is cheap
have you checked out vitacost at all? I don’t know how shipping works to Canada, but I order enough to get free shipping and thy always have good deals on health foods.
Cherry
March 3, 2013
$16.99 for a box of 16 Larabars? My jaws just dropped, what a deal!
thedarbster
March 6, 2013
Costo has variety packs of 18 Cliff bars for $15 : )
Cherry
March 6, 2013
This is almost enough to make me wish I have a Costco membership!! WOW!
bgddyjim
March 3, 2013
Get out – rice krispie treats? Oh, I’m tryin’ that! Thanks!
Cherry
March 3, 2013
I know!! Who knew?!
Brittany Breaux
March 3, 2013
They are my secret weapon and yummy
aaronwest
March 4, 2013
Sorry about your bonk. I’ve had a number of experiences where I was under-fueled, but only one when I truly bonked. Sounds similar to what happened with you. I went from riding normal, to being absolutely and completely out of gas, nothing in the tank and just feeling miserable. It was no fun whatsoever and I’ve been careful to fuel as much as possible.
Cherry
March 4, 2013
Yes, it’s so crazy how it literally hits you suddenly!! I think you’re right, under-fueling is a better term. Bonking which I’ve now realized from last Friday is a whole lot different!
thedarbster
March 6, 2013
I bonked at the Tour de Grand last year with 10km to go. Then I got so paranoid that I totally overate for the next couple of centuries/races. And, just when I thought I had figured it out I ended up bonking on a couple of 35km training rides. I assume that it’s different for everyone, but I’m finding the nutrition/fuel issue is more complicated than I had anticipated.
I thought about going low carb (very interesting approach)… but let’s face it, that’s not going to happen for me… I love to eat too much : )
Cherry
March 6, 2013
Low carb is hard especially when you do hard cardio! You need them, plus they are delicious. I sometimes simply get caught up in the moment when riding & don’t realize I’m hungry until it’s too late. Your 35km training rides must be intense if you bonked within such short distances!