If anybody else here is diabetic, I’m sure you share this frustration. It is almost impossible to find good information about how to handle Type 1 diabetes during a triathlon or marathon. The Diabetic Athlete by Sheri Colberg is a good book, but for the most part, the literature out there just urges diabetics to exercise.
There is some fantastic information posted on the Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association forum that I just found today. Unfortunately for my boss, I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading the site instead of working today. Missy Foy is professional runner with diabetes. She was first (and I think the only) person with diabetes to qualify for the U.S. Olympic marathon trials. She has listed so much helpful information! I’ve pasted a copy of her first post below. She goes into great detail, the post is currently several pages. If you are a triathlete with diabetes, you will be very interested in reading more. The link is http://www.diabetes-exercise.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=92 You do have to be a member to view the forum and there is a charge to join(I believe $20). If there are people interested in reading more, I will be glad to paste her posts on this site (tomorrow when I’m back at work).
Also, if someone has other great sites to recommend, I’d love to hear about them!
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I have been asked several times lately if I would detail my experiences with training/racing and being a professional runner with diabetes. I have Type 1 diabetes and I've been a professional runner for quite a few years now. I run for a US National Team sponsored by Moving Comfort, a subsidiary of Russell Athletics. I have qualified for and competed in Olympic Marathon Trials and I race distances from 5K to the marathon. I have decided to put together an 8 part series of posts here. My two greatest hopes are that this will generate some type of dialogue among us and that this information will help someone figure out how they can better manage athletic training with diabetes. The 8 parts will be:
(1) Summary of my athletic background
(2) Summary of my diabetes regimen
(3) My physiological testing
(4) How my coach and I plan my training/racing
(5) How I train (with exerpts from my training logs)
(6) How I manage my diabetes when I race a marathon
(7) Injuries and how they have affected me
(8) Where do I see myself going with all this?
I am NOT trying to detail how to get started training or how to begin a fitness program. I will lay out MY experiences and what has worked for me. As I go through this, please reply with any questions and I’ll answer them as we go. Also, add any comments you have. Even if people just read the posts without comments or questions, I’ll still go through the entire outline. I’ll also include updates about where my current training is as I get back in shape for racing again. I really want to emphasize, though, that I am not trying to offer medical advice or coaching. People have asked me to detail my experiences and I hope that my experiences might be of some help to other diabetic athletes.