Writing this to get it down before I forget, and also in the hopes that someone else who is training with diabetes can gain some insight on how to handle long races. I'll try to keep it as interesting as possible to non-diabetics here.
Lead up:
The week leading into the race was pretty stressful. My training partner ended up getting pretty sick and ended up going in for surgery. Poor guy, couldnt get a break and had to miss the race. Suddenly with no ride I had to scramble. Luckily a teammate came to the rescue just as I was looking at buying Greyhound tickets(can't drive due to epilepsy condition). On top of that, I found a crack in my 2010 Cervelo P2 as I was cleaning it about two weeks prior to IMLP. Contacted Cervelo, sent some pics and rushed a warranty replacement frame. I was nervous having an entirely rebuilt bike so close to the event, but I figured with the geometry basically the same it would be ok. I took it for a few test rides, swapped the tires just before heading to LP on Thursday morning.
Bike setup:
2011 Cervelo P2, 56cm
167.5mm Dura-ace cranks
Front Shimano Training wheel
Rear Mavic Open Pro with Powertap and Wheelbuilder Disc cover
Two tubes velcroed under my ISM TT saddle.
Insulin Pump:
Minimed Paradigm
I inserted three infusion sets, one in the butt, one in the abdomen, and one in the thigh. I always prefer the abdomen because it seems to accept and process insulin better than legs and but while racing, but I wanted backups just in case.
Fluid setup:
I bought a set of Arundel Crono Aerobottles for the downtube but decided to ditch them at the last second and stick with the round cages. I was worried about dropping bottles on the crummy LP roads and figured it would be better to be able to swap in Perform if I lost my nutrition. Between the aerobars I had a Xlab torpedo mount cage for swapping in fluid from aid stations.
Pre-race:
Woke up around 3:45, tested my sugar and it was right on target, 93mg. I took one Ensure, a small bagel with some smooth peanut butter and drank a cup of coffee. I bolused 50% of what I would normally so as to not have too much insulin on board. I would later regret this...
When I arrived at the transition area at around 6:00, I setup my gear and tested my sugar before prepping for the water. Sugar was 445mg, way too high. It must have been the adrenalin rushing through my body, because that is a crazy spike in two hours. I sat down and quickly gave myself 6 units of humalog via syringe into the thigh. I was worried about swimming and having my pump off as my sugar started climbing. I do notice that I get crazy spikes in my sugar during adrenalin rushes and hard intervals. My team's coach lent me two gels to stuff in my sleeves(yup, I wore a wetsuit...) just in case my sugar dived from the bolus.
Swim - 1:12:19
Lined up in the middle ranks off to the right. Some lady was yelling to "stay the hell away!!", and seemed to be getting really nervous. I was also pretty freaked. I have really struggled with my swimming. There had been many races where I was basically dead last out of the water. Last year at Syracuse 70.3 I lost it and breast stroked the whole thing. This was my focus for 2011, figure out how to keep my cool in mass start OWS. Practice paid off and I had an expected rough start(left goggle lens was kicked in and was full of water the whole second loop). I swam calmly and was crawled over by some terribly rude swimmers. I am sure it was unintentional... I merged in half way up to the red turn buoy and stayed on the line the rest of the way, nice and chill in my own space. As I entered the water for my second loop I took one gel just in case my sugar was dropping, somehow I just had a feeling it was going down...
T1 - 9:46
This was pretty brutal. The medical bags near the start had been moved to a different table. Inside a ziplock was my insulin pump and my glasses. I scrambled around trying to find the bags, located mine buried(and open!) and proceeded to wetsuit stripping area. I planned on doing it myself, but relented and fell on my back to have a nice lady strip it off for me. In the mess, I think my glasses fell out of the bag, because when I arrived at the tent they were gone. I looked all over the place, pacing back around, on the ground amongst a bunch of half naked dudes all yelling and excited to get on the road. After wasting a bunch of time looking, I gave up, inserted my pump, tested(143mg), and ran to the bikes. I turned my pump on and left it at a normal basal rate to compensate for the rush of climbing up that first hill to the descent into Keene.
Bike - 5:41:15
I planned on riding pretty conservatively. Looking at the power data, I think maybe I was a little too conservative. That being said, from my very inexperienced eye, it seems maybe I did not ride very consistently/smart. I welcome any and all feedback here.
Work: 3880Kj
Avg. Power: 188watts
Normalized Power: 207watts
Avg. Speed: 19.52mph
I was aiming at keeping my power at around 210. Seems I was a little below that. The bike felt great. I was amazed at all the drafting though. I was swallowed up by a peloton of at least 20 riders at one point on the first OAB. I swapped water bottles at each station and took 2 salt sticks every hour. At the special needs section I tested my sugar and came in at 152mg. Not bad! I was pretty happy about that and decided to pick up the pace a little. I gave myself a bolus of 1.5 units of Humalog and dialed my basal down to 60%. The rest of the ride was awesome. I passed a lot of people and saw a wide spectrum of riders out there. One guy with a custom Shiv and 1080's on the front and back, sick aero gear, and his hands on top of the aeropads wobbling back and forth... and other dudes/ladies crushing it. Very illuminating. Papa bear was fun, saw some people I knew who cheered me on and had that "I'm in the TDF!!" moment.
T2 - 4:27
Tested glucose, came in at 112mg. Reduced my basal to 25%, someone slathered sunscreen all over me and I was off with pockets full of Gu Roctane's and salt sticks in a pill packet.
Run - 4:39:17
I was feeling great coming out of the tent. I knew I had to keep it easy and within my pace. I had planned on keeping the first three miles quite slow at 10:00. Stuck to that and decided to really run by the time I got down to ski jump hill. Picked up the pace to 9:00miles and popped salt sticks every 3 miles. I knew I was going to walk aid stations and took on two cups of water at each aid station. Damn it was hot out there! Stuffed ice down my jersey and poured water on my head but still, I was burning up out there. I stuck to my nutrition plan and felt consistant and on pace up until my first attempt at IGA hill. I noticed I was starting to feel tiiiiired. And emotional. Sortive felt like crying... This was when I knew I was getting pretty low on sugar. Unexplained overwhelming emotions and dead legs... bad sign. I walked/shuffled to run special needs and tried to test my sugar. But alas, the glucometer had been baking in the sun all day and gave me the high temp warning so I couldn't test. I felt terrible and walked with it in my jersey amongst a bunch of ice. After a few mins in the ice I stopped in the shade and tested and it read out at 37mg. I had screwed up and had set my temp. basal of 25% to only last 1 hour. I had probably stacked those boluses too, so I was dropping pretty hard. I stuffed the tester back in my jersey and started surging to get some stored glycogen to dump from my liver. 10seconds sprint, 20seconds walk... did that a few times as hard as I could till I came up to another aid station and started taking on spare gels with water and Perform. The second loop was difficult. And slow. Noticed my pace drop to a depressing 10, then 11 minute mile. I was keeping form and running, just super duper slow. I had estimated a 4:30 run, but really was hoping for more like a 4:00 marathon. Oh well.
Summary
I came in the Oval at 11:47:02. I was happy with my time and overall how I managed my sugar while racing. I probably looked like crap because they took me straight to the med tent. I lost 9 pounds that day(yikes!). Thankfully, when I tested, I was back to a solid 150mg. Awesome day, thrilled. signed up for 2012 and can't wait to kill it next year. More run training in my future.
Lead up:
The week leading into the race was pretty stressful. My training partner ended up getting pretty sick and ended up going in for surgery. Poor guy, couldnt get a break and had to miss the race. Suddenly with no ride I had to scramble. Luckily a teammate came to the rescue just as I was looking at buying Greyhound tickets(can't drive due to epilepsy condition). On top of that, I found a crack in my 2010 Cervelo P2 as I was cleaning it about two weeks prior to IMLP. Contacted Cervelo, sent some pics and rushed a warranty replacement frame. I was nervous having an entirely rebuilt bike so close to the event, but I figured with the geometry basically the same it would be ok. I took it for a few test rides, swapped the tires just before heading to LP on Thursday morning.
Bike setup:
2011 Cervelo P2, 56cm
167.5mm Dura-ace cranks
Front Shimano Training wheel
Rear Mavic Open Pro with Powertap and Wheelbuilder Disc cover
Two tubes velcroed under my ISM TT saddle.
Insulin Pump:
Minimed Paradigm
I inserted three infusion sets, one in the butt, one in the abdomen, and one in the thigh. I always prefer the abdomen because it seems to accept and process insulin better than legs and but while racing, but I wanted backups just in case.
Fluid setup:
I bought a set of Arundel Crono Aerobottles for the downtube but decided to ditch them at the last second and stick with the round cages. I was worried about dropping bottles on the crummy LP roads and figured it would be better to be able to swap in Perform if I lost my nutrition. Between the aerobars I had a Xlab torpedo mount cage for swapping in fluid from aid stations.
Pre-race:
Woke up around 3:45, tested my sugar and it was right on target, 93mg. I took one Ensure, a small bagel with some smooth peanut butter and drank a cup of coffee. I bolused 50% of what I would normally so as to not have too much insulin on board. I would later regret this...
When I arrived at the transition area at around 6:00, I setup my gear and tested my sugar before prepping for the water. Sugar was 445mg, way too high. It must have been the adrenalin rushing through my body, because that is a crazy spike in two hours. I sat down and quickly gave myself 6 units of humalog via syringe into the thigh. I was worried about swimming and having my pump off as my sugar started climbing. I do notice that I get crazy spikes in my sugar during adrenalin rushes and hard intervals. My team's coach lent me two gels to stuff in my sleeves(yup, I wore a wetsuit...) just in case my sugar dived from the bolus.
Swim - 1:12:19
Lined up in the middle ranks off to the right. Some lady was yelling to "stay the hell away!!", and seemed to be getting really nervous. I was also pretty freaked. I have really struggled with my swimming. There had been many races where I was basically dead last out of the water. Last year at Syracuse 70.3 I lost it and breast stroked the whole thing. This was my focus for 2011, figure out how to keep my cool in mass start OWS. Practice paid off and I had an expected rough start(left goggle lens was kicked in and was full of water the whole second loop). I swam calmly and was crawled over by some terribly rude swimmers. I am sure it was unintentional... I merged in half way up to the red turn buoy and stayed on the line the rest of the way, nice and chill in my own space. As I entered the water for my second loop I took one gel just in case my sugar was dropping, somehow I just had a feeling it was going down...
T1 - 9:46
This was pretty brutal. The medical bags near the start had been moved to a different table. Inside a ziplock was my insulin pump and my glasses. I scrambled around trying to find the bags, located mine buried(and open!) and proceeded to wetsuit stripping area. I planned on doing it myself, but relented and fell on my back to have a nice lady strip it off for me. In the mess, I think my glasses fell out of the bag, because when I arrived at the tent they were gone. I looked all over the place, pacing back around, on the ground amongst a bunch of half naked dudes all yelling and excited to get on the road. After wasting a bunch of time looking, I gave up, inserted my pump, tested(143mg), and ran to the bikes. I turned my pump on and left it at a normal basal rate to compensate for the rush of climbing up that first hill to the descent into Keene.
Bike - 5:41:15
I planned on riding pretty conservatively. Looking at the power data, I think maybe I was a little too conservative. That being said, from my very inexperienced eye, it seems maybe I did not ride very consistently/smart. I welcome any and all feedback here.
Work: 3880Kj
Avg. Power: 188watts
Normalized Power: 207watts
Avg. Speed: 19.52mph
I was aiming at keeping my power at around 210. Seems I was a little below that. The bike felt great. I was amazed at all the drafting though. I was swallowed up by a peloton of at least 20 riders at one point on the first OAB. I swapped water bottles at each station and took 2 salt sticks every hour. At the special needs section I tested my sugar and came in at 152mg. Not bad! I was pretty happy about that and decided to pick up the pace a little. I gave myself a bolus of 1.5 units of Humalog and dialed my basal down to 60%. The rest of the ride was awesome. I passed a lot of people and saw a wide spectrum of riders out there. One guy with a custom Shiv and 1080's on the front and back, sick aero gear, and his hands on top of the aeropads wobbling back and forth... and other dudes/ladies crushing it. Very illuminating. Papa bear was fun, saw some people I knew who cheered me on and had that "I'm in the TDF!!" moment.
T2 - 4:27
Tested glucose, came in at 112mg. Reduced my basal to 25%, someone slathered sunscreen all over me and I was off with pockets full of Gu Roctane's and salt sticks in a pill packet.
Run - 4:39:17
I was feeling great coming out of the tent. I knew I had to keep it easy and within my pace. I had planned on keeping the first three miles quite slow at 10:00. Stuck to that and decided to really run by the time I got down to ski jump hill. Picked up the pace to 9:00miles and popped salt sticks every 3 miles. I knew I was going to walk aid stations and took on two cups of water at each aid station. Damn it was hot out there! Stuffed ice down my jersey and poured water on my head but still, I was burning up out there. I stuck to my nutrition plan and felt consistant and on pace up until my first attempt at IGA hill. I noticed I was starting to feel tiiiiired. And emotional. Sortive felt like crying... This was when I knew I was getting pretty low on sugar. Unexplained overwhelming emotions and dead legs... bad sign. I walked/shuffled to run special needs and tried to test my sugar. But alas, the glucometer had been baking in the sun all day and gave me the high temp warning so I couldn't test. I felt terrible and walked with it in my jersey amongst a bunch of ice. After a few mins in the ice I stopped in the shade and tested and it read out at 37mg. I had screwed up and had set my temp. basal of 25% to only last 1 hour. I had probably stacked those boluses too, so I was dropping pretty hard. I stuffed the tester back in my jersey and started surging to get some stored glycogen to dump from my liver. 10seconds sprint, 20seconds walk... did that a few times as hard as I could till I came up to another aid station and started taking on spare gels with water and Perform. The second loop was difficult. And slow. Noticed my pace drop to a depressing 10, then 11 minute mile. I was keeping form and running, just super duper slow. I had estimated a 4:30 run, but really was hoping for more like a 4:00 marathon. Oh well.
Summary
I came in the Oval at 11:47:02. I was happy with my time and overall how I managed my sugar while racing. I probably looked like crap because they took me straight to the med tent. I lost 9 pounds that day(yikes!). Thankfully, when I tested, I was back to a solid 150mg. Awesome day, thrilled. signed up for 2012 and can't wait to kill it next year. More run training in my future.