| Author | Message | ||
     Herb Board Administrator Username: Herb Post Number: 74 Registered: 04-2006 |
It was a beautiful day today so I thought I should go out for some exercise. Bike, or Run around the lake? Such a beautiful day so a bike it is. A nice easy 40 km loop will be great. Most of my loop will be on quiet country roads through forests and meadows. At one point early into the ride I pass by our Volunteer Fire Department building which is usually deserted. It sits at the bottom of a long dip in the road on the north side opposite the lake. Half way down the hill toward the dip I notice two small black bears running across the road. I give a blood curdling shout the way I always have in my over 40 years of bear encounters. I fully expected them to take off the way I have always experienced it. Well they did, but I suddenly realized these were cubs and the mama has just come onto the road behind them. I made the quickest U turn you can imagine and started to sprint away. In my rear view mirror I could see the mama starting to give chase... not after the cubs, AFTER ME!!! Oh hell I also just realized that it is UPHILL!! But my fear was short lived, after 3 or 4 seconds she turned and went after her cubs. I stopped. I'm halfway back up the hill. What do I do now? I don't want to abandon this particular ride. I can't see the bears, but there is bush down to the road between me and the clearing. The bear could be just behind it. On the other hand she probably took off after her cubs. Why would she linger there? I decided to sprint past. As soon as I could see the whole clearing there she was, sitting up on her haunches sniffing the air. One doesn't always make the best decisions at the heat of the moment. I decided to shout at her as I went by, it should scare her off. But it didn't. She lunged and took after me at a full sprint. I think that's when the adrenaline really hit me. I also went into full sprint mode with power I didn't think was in me. Looking back in my mirror I could see her coming but she wasn't gaining on me. Then I realized, oh shit, it's uphill again! But the adrenaline didn't let me slow down, I kept the same speed up the hill. Half way up the hill I looked back and to my relief I could see she was losing ground. A few seconds more and she ran into the ditch and quit. I kept going till I crested the hill. I looked at my heart rate... 181. I haven't seen it that high in quite a while and I sure didn't expect to see it that high today. (I'm a 62 year old guy.) I wonder if anyone else can say they outsprinted an angry mother bear? Where are the cars when you need them? Well I'm really glad I wasn't on a run today. | ||
| Mary_ann Intermediate Member Username: Mary_ann Post Number: 17 Registered: 10-2007 |
Hi Herb! That's a story worth publishing! Where is our lactate pro when we most need it. hehe If I was a betting person, I'd bet that your lactate level was lower than the bears'! :-). Happy Spring! | ||
| Herb Board Administrator Username: Herb Post Number: 75 Registered: 04-2006 |
Yesterday I rode the same route. I attempted to ride that hill with the same top gear that I sprinted the whole thing while escaping the bear. There was absolutely no way I could maintain that gear without the "extra motivation" and the power of the adrenaline. If sprinters could somehow harness that adrenaline I wonder what would happen to records? Perhaps, in the big events they are so pumped that in fact they do get that adrenaline rush to power them through the event? | ||
| Art_k82 Senior Member Username: Art_k82 Post Number: 150 Registered: 10-2009 |
Maybe we should revisit ECGM again for the explanation? ECGM senses mortal threat, and thus allows you to redline like that for that short period of time? | ||
| Mary_ann Intermediate Member Username: Mary_ann Post Number: 18 Registered: 10-2007 |
Good question Art. Do hormonal changes, adraneline; alter ECGM? Herb, are you able to remember if your breathing patterns, heart rate or fatigue in the legs were similar to other efforts that you'd rate a similar intensity? (hmm... unsure what would be similar)... maybe similar to the intensity of our FaCT testing? What I'm wondering is if adrenaline minimizes the body's physiological response to Herb's high intensity performance? With last year's research publication showing an appropriate use of lactate/lactate pro with first responders to offset hypovolemic shock... but am unsure what change they saw in other vitals? I'll have to look for those poster boards and summary abstracts to see if there is a change compared to our exercise induced stress. | ||
| Herb Board Administrator Username: Herb Post Number: 76 Registered: 04-2006 |
Remember beathing patterns? Are you kidding? All I remember is the bear in my mirror. I have no recall of the effort at all. It did not feel hard as far as I can recall. Didn't even feel bad when I finally slowed down. |