5 ms·

That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Stranger

121 points by prakash 17y ago

pmichaud 17y ago
Many of his symptoms sound just like severe hypoglycemia. My wife has similar, but much less dramatic things happen to her when her blood sugar crashes. Really interesting.
- listic 17y ago
  How is it diagnosed? What are the usual measures one should take if he/she has one?
  - Janzert 17y ago
    A simple finger prick blood glucose check[1] will give the current blood sugar level. A doctor's office can also check A1C level that basically gives a longer term (couple of months) look at what the blood glucose level has been. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_glucose_monitoring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_glucose_monitoring
  - pmichaud 17y ago
    To determine if you have reactive hypoglycemia you go through something called a 5 hour GTT (Glucose Tolerance Test), which is hell if you really do have the disorder. Essentially you fast after drinking a sugary drinks, and they test your blood at intervals to see what it does. A Reactive Hypoglycemic will spike, then crash, unlike a normal person who will have a smaller rise then pretty much stay there. See, she normally has to eat ridiculously healthy food every 2 hours to stay even, otherwise she crashes. It starts with cold sweats, then degenerates into nausea, confusion and a rotten mood. It never gets that bad with her anymore, we have a good system going now. When she is upset about something the first thing I ask is: when's the last time you ate? If you want to know more about it, check out her site: http://www.reactivehypoglycemia.info/articles/ http://www.reactivehypoglycemia.info/articles/
- kmavm 17y ago
  I've occasionally dug deep enough into exercise-inducded hypoglycemia to have very, very mild hallucinations, but mostly it just forces you off the bike; if you could go on exercising at that point, you'd be at risk of doing neurological damage, like someone injecting an OD of insulin. I'm familiar with Robic from other articles, and it seems pretty clear that his craziness is sleep-deprivation induced. He wins those multi-day "ultra" events more by sleeping much less than by going faster.
  - ComputerGuru 17y ago
    90 minutes of sleep a day is enough for "normal people" to avoid hallucinations... But doing what he's doing, I'd imagine he'd need a hell of a lot more, so you're probably right.
DuncanKinney 17y ago
Read this yesterday. A great profile piece by the NYT on an obscure but awesome story.
smoody 17y ago
Version properly formatted with photos: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robi...
listic 17y ago
As a hacker looking into fitness and taking up cycling recently to stave off health issues that become to interfere with my life and work, I can fully relate to this. The extent to which the pro cyclists and this guy in particular can push their bodies is fascinating. As far as I can understand, it is generally beneficial to health unless you push it to the over the edge, where the position of this edge is unknown to science. Often times I come from work very exhausted, unable to do anything, including having a dinner, which my body needs, I think. If I reluctantly stuff some food into me and cycle for an hour or to, I become so invigorated that I seem to be able to keep going on and on: cycling, or coding - I can do it. The prudent thing here is have a proper dinner and sleep, I guess. I was told that "marathoners go by the pulse meter" (i.e. not odometer/speedometer), I wonder how true is this for marathoners and for endurance cyclists. Maybe at the point in your training where you have personal trainer and follow car, you don't need pulse meter that much? I am never going to be there and I have high hopes for training with pulse meter. Here's an obligatory video introduction to racing cycling culture: MC SpandX "Perfomance" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4
- arithmetic 17y ago
  For the longest time, I couldn't run more than a couple of miles a day. I was always told that I had poor stamina. I trained for a year, and recently ran my first marathon and I'm now addicted. I can completely relate to what you say above - its so easy to just go on and on (because you seem to be able to) completely ignoring your body. I've had 14 hour days at work at the end of which I'm very tired, and yet would easily run 8 to 10 miles and feel extremely refreshed at the end of it, that I would go back to work. Adrenaline kicks in as a result of high-intensity workouts, and it then becomes hard to tell your body to slow down and rest. The key is to know your body's limits and feed and rest it regularly.
- jac_no_k 17y ago
  I started riding the bicycle to and from work a year ago, mostly to avoid the commuter crush here in Tokyo. The first few weeks was difficult but it got significantly easier as I got more fit. I've hit my goal of getting to and from work in less time then the train. My motivation lately has been to keep up and pass the numerous mopeds and scooters. What really gets me going is trying to keep up with cyclists on road racing bicycles. I really don't have much of a chance on the my hybrid (cross between a commuter and mountain bicycle + electric assist to 24km/h) but it's always a happy day when I pass the slower road racers. It must motivate them too because they will try to keep pace but eventually fade away after a few kilometers. The other motivation is thrill of speed on the downhill sections. Another area I seem to have an advantage as the road racers seem to top out at 40km/h. Or maybe I'm just crazy as I'm leaned all the way over to negotiate the curves. Now that it looks like the burn I feel in my legs is most likely a lie, I'll keep pushing!
listic 17y ago
I first encountered the title phrase in comic strip Ozy and Millie, though I can't find the exact strip now.
- klipt 17y ago
  http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/20021105.html http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/20021105.html
ojbyrne 17y ago
I found the use of the euphemism "derriere" in a story of such visceral details to be quite jarring. Hilarious even.
arithmetic 17y ago
I love the title of the story - very intriguing and fitting.
DaniFong 17y ago
That which does not make you stranger will kill you.
wallflower 17y ago
See also: Marathon Monks of Tendai "The final two years of the 1000-day challenge are even more daunting. In the sixth year they run 60km each day for 100 consecutive days and in the seventh year they run 84km each day for 100 consecutive days. This is the equivalent of running two Olympic marathons back-to-back every day for 100 days... Only 46 men have completed the 1,000-day challenge since 1885" http://baldrunner.com/2009/06/13/tendai-marathon-monks/ http://baldrunner.com/2009/06/13/tendai-marathon-monks/
RobertL 17y ago
Everything the NY Times does makes it a little stranger.
terpua 17y ago
"In addition to races, Robic trains 335 days each year, logging some 28,000 miles, or roughly one trip around the planet." Jeez, I suspect the majority here drive way less than that.
alparsla 17y ago
In Soviet Russia, that stronger man kills YOU!
learnalist 17y ago
Thank you for sharing that. An awesome read..
jeremymims 17y ago
I used to regularly push over into a sort of manic trance when I did long runs in high school and college. I certainly never got as far as Robic (maybe the closest was when I did the New York marathon in 2005). I could obsessively focus for long periods of time on the smallest thing (like watching my hand jump in front of my eye) or a word or phrase. But I don't think I ever hallucinated anything or even got to the point where that could happen. I'm kind of inspired to try. Word of caution: I think if you'd like to try, you should make sure your body can support the level of activity needed to get to that barrier. That means you shouldn't just try to run 40 miles right away. You're more likely to injure yourself. You need to build a high quality base of fitness before you attempt something drastic otherwise you might be out of the game for weeks or months.

121 points by prakash 17y ago

Many of his symptoms sound just like severe hypoglycemia. My wife has similar, but much less dramatic things happen to her when her blood sugar crashes. Really interesting.

listic 17y ago
How is it diagnosed? What are the usual measures one should take if he/she has one?
- Janzert 17y ago
  A simple finger prick blood glucose check[1] will give the current blood sugar level. A doctor's office can also check A1C level that basically gives a longer term (couple of months) look at what the blood glucose level has been. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_glucose_monitoring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_glucose_monitoring
- pmichaud 17y ago
  To determine if you have reactive hypoglycemia you go through something called a 5 hour GTT (Glucose Tolerance Test), which is hell if you really do have the disorder. Essentially you fast after drinking a sugary drinks, and they test your blood at intervals to see what it does. A Reactive Hypoglycemic will spike, then crash, unlike a normal person who will have a smaller rise then pretty much stay there. See, she normally has to eat ridiculously healthy food every 2 hours to stay even, otherwise she crashes. It starts with cold sweats, then degenerates into nausea, confusion and a rotten mood. It never gets that bad with her anymore, we have a good system going now. When she is upset about something the first thing I ask is: when's the last time you ate? If you want to know more about it, check out her site: http://www.reactivehypoglycemia.info/articles/ http://www.reactivehypoglycemia.info/articles/
kmavm 17y ago
I've occasionally dug deep enough into exercise-inducded hypoglycemia to have very, very mild hallucinations, but mostly it just forces you off the bike; if you could go on exercising at that point, you'd be at risk of doing neurological damage, like someone injecting an OD of insulin. I'm familiar with Robic from other articles, and it seems pretty clear that his craziness is sleep-deprivation induced. He wins those multi-day "ultra" events more by sleeping much less than by going faster.
- ComputerGuru 17y ago
  90 minutes of sleep a day is enough for "normal people" to avoid hallucinations... But doing what he's doing, I'd imagine he'd need a hell of a lot more, so you're probably right.

DuncanKinney 17y ago

Read this yesterday. A great profile piece by the NYT on an obscure but awesome story.

smoody 17y ago

Version properly formatted with photos: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robi...

listic 17y ago

As a hacker looking into fitness and taking up cycling recently to stave off health issues that become to interfere with my life and work, I can fully relate to this. The extent to which the pro cyclists and this guy in particular can push their bodies is fascinating. As far as I can understand, it is generally beneficial to health unless you push it to the over the edge, where the position of this edge is unknown to science. Often times I come from work very exhausted, unable to do anything, including having a dinner, which my body needs, I think. If I reluctantly stuff some food into me and cycle for an hour or to, I become so invigorated that I seem to be able to keep going on and on: cycling, or coding - I can do it. The prudent thing here is have a proper dinner and sleep, I guess. I was told that "marathoners go by the pulse meter" (i.e. not odometer/speedometer), I wonder how true is this for marathoners and for endurance cyclists. Maybe at the point in your training where you have personal trainer and follow car, you don't need pulse meter that much? I am never going to be there and I have high hopes for training with pulse meter. Here's an obligatory video introduction to racing cycling culture: MC SpandX "Perfomance" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4

arithmetic 17y ago
For the longest time, I couldn't run more than a couple of miles a day. I was always told that I had poor stamina. I trained for a year, and recently ran my first marathon and I'm now addicted. I can completely relate to what you say above - its so easy to just go on and on (because you seem to be able to) completely ignoring your body. I've had 14 hour days at work at the end of which I'm very tired, and yet would easily run 8 to 10 miles and feel extremely refreshed at the end of it, that I would go back to work. Adrenaline kicks in as a result of high-intensity workouts, and it then becomes hard to tell your body to slow down and rest. The key is to know your body's limits and feed and rest it regularly.
jac_no_k 17y ago
I started riding the bicycle to and from work a year ago, mostly to avoid the commuter crush here in Tokyo. The first few weeks was difficult but it got significantly easier as I got more fit. I've hit my goal of getting to and from work in less time then the train. My motivation lately has been to keep up and pass the numerous mopeds and scooters. What really gets me going is trying to keep up with cyclists on road racing bicycles. I really don't have much of a chance on the my hybrid (cross between a commuter and mountain bicycle + electric assist to 24km/h) but it's always a happy day when I pass the slower road racers. It must motivate them too because they will try to keep pace but eventually fade away after a few kilometers. The other motivation is thrill of speed on the downhill sections. Another area I seem to have an advantage as the road racers seem to top out at 40km/h. Or maybe I'm just crazy as I'm leaned all the way over to negotiate the curves. Now that it looks like the burn I feel in my legs is most likely a lie, I'll keep pushing!

listic 17y ago

I first encountered the title phrase in comic strip Ozy and Millie, though I can't find the exact strip now.

klipt 17y ago
http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/20021105.html http://www.ozyandmillie.org/d/20021105.html

ojbyrne 17y ago

I found the use of the euphemism "derriere" in a story of such visceral details to be quite jarring. Hilarious even.

arithmetic 17y ago

I love the title of the story - very intriguing and fitting.

DaniFong 17y ago

That which does not make you stranger will kill you.

wallflower 17y ago

See also: Marathon Monks of Tendai "The final two years of the 1000-day challenge are even more daunting. In the sixth year they run 60km each day for 100 consecutive days and in the seventh year they run 84km each day for 100 consecutive days. This is the equivalent of running two Olympic marathons back-to-back every day for 100 days... Only 46 men have completed the 1,000-day challenge since 1885" http://baldrunner.com/2009/06/13/tendai-marathon-monks/ http://baldrunner.com/2009/06/13/tendai-marathon-monks/

RobertL 17y ago

Everything the NY Times does makes it a little stranger.

terpua 17y ago

"In addition to races, Robic trains 335 days each year, logging some 28,000 miles, or roughly one trip around the planet." Jeez, I suspect the majority here drive way less than that.

alparsla 17y ago

In Soviet Russia, that stronger man kills YOU!

learnalist 17y ago

Thank you for sharing that. An awesome read..

jeremymims 17y ago

I used to regularly push over into a sort of manic trance when I did long runs in high school and college. I certainly never got as far as Robic (maybe the closest was when I did the New York marathon in 2005). I could obsessively focus for long periods of time on the smallest thing (like watching my hand jump in front of my eye) or a word or phrase. But I don't think I ever hallucinated anything or even got to the point where that could happen. I'm kind of inspired to try. Word of caution: I think if you'd like to try, you should make sure your body can support the level of activity needed to get to that barrier. That means you shouldn't just try to run 40 miles right away. You're more likely to injure yourself. You need to build a high quality base of fitness before you attempt something drastic otherwise you might be out of the game for weeks or months.