Gray Guys/Girls Masters Focus Triathlete Forum--OPEN! (Page 33)

I've never experienced anything like that Scott. Sounds like you were pushing it too hard, but maybe best to check with a sports doc.  Any chance it was a nutrition issue, i.e., not enough glycogen? 

Hey Scott,

Couple questions than an observation/comment.

You said this was at the end of the workout.  How long was the workout and what was the workout like?  What I mean is, was it long slow aerobic sets or was it fast anaerobic sets?  How much rest?  Next question, did you experience this on the first "race" 100 or had you done a couple already?  If more than one, how much rest between repeats?  When you stopped, how long did it take "the tunnel" to go away?  Final question, when did you last eat before the workout and what did you eat?  A snack or a meal?

I am not a doctor, however I do have a degree in Biology, so take this with the appropriate grain of salt.

One of two things likely caused the "tunnel effect."  Either you were out of oxygen or you were out of gas.  It's nearly impossible to push through lack of oxygen so my vote is nutrition.

I suspect you "hit the wall" because you had insufficient nutrition for the workout.

A quick basic lesson on biology.  You brain uses EXCLUSIVELY glucose as fuel.  That's it.  Glucose or nothing and it uses a surprising large amount of it.  The brain does not have glycogen stores like the muscles in the body so it relies on the liver to provide glucose in the bloodstream.  It is a good system unless you do something to "upset the apple cart."

You had been in the pool working out for some period of time.  If you were in an organized workout I can pretty safely say you were likely anaerobic for a considerable period of time - using up your glycogen stores and also stimulating the liver to dump more glucose into the blood stream.  Remember that glycogen stores can only be utilized by the muscle in which the glycogen is stored.  An interesting by-product of exercise is that insulin become mores efficient at transporting glucose into the muscles.  That further reduces the overall blood glucose level.  If you were running, you would have been using the large muscles in your lower body - the glutes, hamstrings and quads.  When you started running out of gas, you would have "hit the wall" and your legs would have clearly told you something was wrong.  But you weren't running, you were swimming.  After your legs, the brain has the next highest demand for glucose.  Higher than you arms because you arms have glycogen stores available.  The muscles in your back, chest, and core were not weight bearing so they had relatively low energy requirements, plus they also had large reserves of glycogen available relative to the amount of work they needed to do.   I think you probably got ahead of what your liver could provide and effectively "ran out of gas."

The good news is that with additional training, you will raise the level where this occurs.  The quick fix when it happens is to back off the pace a bit or take a longer rest period between zone 5 efforts.  Another suggestion is, if you know you are going to be in the water for 90 minutes or more, eat a couple hundred calories half an hour before the workout.

Hope that helps.

Well, unless your watching the Seahawks!  My how the mighty have fallen when my lowly Rams can end up on top!

I bought a Kurt Kinetic when we still lived in Indiana.  I absolutely love it and still use it to this day, even though we now live in sunny Southern California.  You can't go wrong.  Their customer service is second to none and I suspect they will help you with any problems you may experience even though you are not the first owner (that is based on things I have heard from others who have purchased KK trainers second-hand).

Speedster!!  Congratulations!