Race report from 70.3 last month
Deer Creek Fall Challenge 9/28/2014
This race had a 9:16am start time so I got to sleep in until 6am, yay! Woke and check blood sugar, it was 157mg. Not awful, not great but about what I expected. My bg tends to rise pretty high out of bed due to the dawn phenomon. Made some coffee and tried to eat two English muffins with peanut butter and 3 units of bolus (Humalog). The insulin was pretty much ineffective at keeping my bg from trending upwards. Adrenaline can cause bg to rise and this happens to me at every race.
I tested my bg 8 times before the start, it was as high as 243 and last test before the start was 203. I typically burn off the high when swimming in the morning so I was pretty confident I could swim for around 45 minutes with no carbs and come out of the water within a normal range.
The race start late, my age group started at 9:37, over 20 minutes late. I had a horrible swim and I’m not sure why. I swam for 10 minutes the day before with no issues so I was feeling pretty excited. However, once I was in the water I was freezing! I had opted to wear my sleeveless wetsuit, maybe it was a bad idea. I did a lot of backstroking on the swim. One funny comment a lifeguard made to me “most people can’t swim straight backstroking”, well at least I have that going for me. So finally I was out of the water, nearly dead last. Oh well, get to T1, test bg and start biking! Swim time was 43 minutes
Got to T1 and tested my bg, 116mg, nice! I decided to take 4 units Lantus to keep from going high. I felt kind of hungry so I ate one Hammer Gel. Got all my crap together and off I went. T1 Time-6:13
I carry my own nutrition. For this race I had one bottle on the front with 1 scoop of Heed and another bottle with Hammer Perpetum. I also had 4 Gu gels on my bike and 2 sandwich bags with 1.5 scoops of Perpetum in them. The bike course was three loops, mostly flat with a few rollers and 2 small climbs. So as I got started on the bike I noticed my Garmin 510 wasn’t picking up my heart race, cadence or power. Not sure what happened but I powered it off and back on then it picked up the data, weird. On my bike I was running a 44mm carbon front and wheelcover on the back with my LG Vorritice helmet.
The bike course was pancake flat for the first 10-12 miles with rollers and one small climb at the end of each loop. I was feeling pretty good on the bike. Power was hovering around 180-200 avg which put me right around 20mph, much faster than I had anticipated. I was watching power but decided to go off heart rate data instead of power. Finished the first lap in 55 minutes and change, avg power was 179 np 193 avg hr 147. Stopped at the aid station, check bg and was 200mg, yikes! Refilled one bottle and dumped my bag of perpetum in it and also grabbed a bottle of just water. Now the plan was to drink water only for about 30 minutes to bring down the high.
Felt pretty good on the second loop. The sun was out and the wind was light. I wanted to ride a bit faster but decided to maintain current effort. I finished the second lap in about 55 minutes, the same as the first. This time I didn’t stop to test bg, grabbed another bottle of water and kept on going. Second lap data, avg power 188, np 197, avg hr 146.
Just a few minutes into the 3rd and final lap I managed to knock my Garmin 510 off and it went rolling down the road behind. I looked back and see a car run right over the top of it but didn’t hit. I about had a stroke. Turned around and quickly picked it up. I was starting to get a little fatigued and was ready to get off the bike. 3rd lap data, was 54 minutes and change, avg power 184, np 194 avg hr 152. Overall bike data 2:50 19.73 mph avg, avg power 183, np 194, avg hr 148. Very pleased with the bike split.
Tested bg in T2 and was around 120. Grabbed my running stuff and was off. T2 4:02
I carry my own nutrition for running as well. For this race I had 3 or 4 gu gels on me along with perpetum in my camelback quikdraw. Run legs felt really good, like I could go faster. It was really warm and all sun at this point in the day so I decided to stay conservative and keep heart rate under control which was around 8:30-9:00 minute pace. I was just hoping for 2 hours. The run was a double out and back on mostly pavement and nowhere to hide from the sun. Every aid station I grabbed water and ice and dumped in over my head and chest to try and keep my core cool. I did stop once to check my bg it was 90 which is a little lower than I like but nothing to be too concerned about. One thing that frustrated me, I forgot to turn off auto pause. So when I stopped to check my bg my run time stopped on my Garmin 910, no biggie though.
The run was pretty boring in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cornfields. One thing I do well at long course triathlon is keep moving when my brain is telling me to stop. Sometimes it’s difficult to stay motivated out there. Also want to set a good example for other T1D out there. So I was finally in the home stretch and new it wasn’t going to be my fastest 70.3 and I had no idea what my overall time was at this point. Suspected I was around 5:50 thanks to all of stoppages. I crossed the finish line and new my run was under 2 hours so I was pleased with that. 1:57 offically
One of my tri buddies went to get my final finish time ticket from the timers and brought it to me. To my surprise it was 5:41! I was very pleased with the finish time. However I was very disappointed with my swim time/effort. Stoppages cost me at least 5-6 minutes overall and had a few silly mistakes but hey, that’s how long course goes. I have lots to learn about long course and being T1D but I know I can be much more efficient. Just need to do more racing. My bg was steady the rest of the evening. No issues with highs or lows.
"Keep those feet moving!" Me
Deer Creek Fall Challenge 9/28/2014
This race had a 9:16am start time so I got to sleep in until 6am, yay! Woke and check blood sugar, it was 157mg. Not awful, not great but about what I expected. My bg tends to rise pretty high out of bed due to the dawn phenomon. Made some coffee and tried to eat two English muffins with peanut butter and 3 units of bolus (Humalog). The insulin was pretty much ineffective at keeping my bg from trending upwards. Adrenaline can cause bg to rise and this happens to me at every race.
I tested my bg 8 times before the start, it was as high as 243 and last test before the start was 203. I typically burn off the high when swimming in the morning so I was pretty confident I could swim for around 45 minutes with no carbs and come out of the water within a normal range.
The race start late, my age group started at 9:37, over 20 minutes late. I had a horrible swim and I’m not sure why. I swam for 10 minutes the day before with no issues so I was feeling pretty excited. However, once I was in the water I was freezing! I had opted to wear my sleeveless wetsuit, maybe it was a bad idea. I did a lot of backstroking on the swim. One funny comment a lifeguard made to me “most people can’t swim straight backstroking”, well at least I have that going for me. So finally I was out of the water, nearly dead last. Oh well, get to T1, test bg and start biking! Swim time was 43 minutes
Got to T1 and tested my bg, 116mg, nice! I decided to take 4 units Lantus to keep from going high. I felt kind of hungry so I ate one Hammer Gel. Got all my crap together and off I went. T1 Time-6:13
I carry my own nutrition. For this race I had one bottle on the front with 1 scoop of Heed and another bottle with Hammer Perpetum. I also had 4 Gu gels on my bike and 2 sandwich bags with 1.5 scoops of Perpetum in them. The bike course was three loops, mostly flat with a few rollers and 2 small climbs. So as I got started on the bike I noticed my Garmin 510 wasn’t picking up my heart race, cadence or power. Not sure what happened but I powered it off and back on then it picked up the data, weird. On my bike I was running a 44mm carbon front and wheelcover on the back with my LG Vorritice helmet.
The bike course was pancake flat for the first 10-12 miles with rollers and one small climb at the end of each loop. I was feeling pretty good on the bike. Power was hovering around 180-200 avg which put me right around 20mph, much faster than I had anticipated. I was watching power but decided to go off heart rate data instead of power. Finished the first lap in 55 minutes and change, avg power was 179 np 193 avg hr 147. Stopped at the aid station, check bg and was 200mg, yikes! Refilled one bottle and dumped my bag of perpetum in it and also grabbed a bottle of just water. Now the plan was to drink water only for about 30 minutes to bring down the high.
Felt pretty good on the second loop. The sun was out and the wind was light. I wanted to ride a bit faster but decided to maintain current effort. I finished the second lap in about 55 minutes, the same as the first. This time I didn’t stop to test bg, grabbed another bottle of water and kept on going. Second lap data, avg power 188, np 197, avg hr 146.
Just a few minutes into the 3rd and final lap I managed to knock my Garmin 510 off and it went rolling down the road behind. I looked back and see a car run right over the top of it but didn’t hit. I about had a stroke. Turned around and quickly picked it up. I was starting to get a little fatigued and was ready to get off the bike. 3rd lap data, was 54 minutes and change, avg power 184, np 194 avg hr 152. Overall bike data 2:50 19.73 mph avg, avg power 183, np 194, avg hr 148. Very pleased with the bike split.
Tested bg in T2 and was around 120. Grabbed my running stuff and was off. T2 4:02
I carry my own nutrition for running as well. For this race I had 3 or 4 gu gels on me along with perpetum in my camelback quikdraw. Run legs felt really good, like I could go faster. It was really warm and all sun at this point in the day so I decided to stay conservative and keep heart rate under control which was around 8:30-9:00 minute pace. I was just hoping for 2 hours. The run was a double out and back on mostly pavement and nowhere to hide from the sun. Every aid station I grabbed water and ice and dumped in over my head and chest to try and keep my core cool. I did stop once to check my bg it was 90 which is a little lower than I like but nothing to be too concerned about. One thing that frustrated me, I forgot to turn off auto pause. So when I stopped to check my bg my run time stopped on my Garmin 910, no biggie though.
The run was pretty boring in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cornfields. One thing I do well at long course triathlon is keep moving when my brain is telling me to stop. Sometimes it’s difficult to stay motivated out there. Also want to set a good example for other T1D out there. So I was finally in the home stretch and new it wasn’t going to be my fastest 70.3 and I had no idea what my overall time was at this point. Suspected I was around 5:50 thanks to all of stoppages. I crossed the finish line and new my run was under 2 hours so I was pleased with that. 1:57 offically
One of my tri buddies went to get my final finish time ticket from the timers and brought it to me. To my surprise it was 5:41! I was very pleased with the finish time. However I was very disappointed with my swim time/effort. Stoppages cost me at least 5-6 minutes overall and had a few silly mistakes but hey, that’s how long course goes. I have lots to learn about long course and being T1D but I know I can be much more efficient. Just need to do more racing. My bg was steady the rest of the evening. No issues with highs or lows.
"Keep those feet moving!" Me