I was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I am currently training for a marathon in the spring. I am struggling to figure out the nutrition component of training, and especially racing. I am on a “raw” diet at this point,which has reduced my need for insulin significantly. My mains questions are regarding carbs before/during/after running and then before a race, should I carboload (seems like this would just jack my sugars way up.) Any advice or referrals other resources to would be greatly appreciated.
Everyone is different so it would be hard to give direct advise. For me I typically run my sugars a bit on the high side prior to the race and turn down my basal rate during the race (i set my pump to deliver about 40% of what it normally deliver). I check my sugars throughout the race and take in carbs and sugar accordingly to the readings. I always run it a bit high 180-200 during races to make sure i don’t crash then bring it down after the race. I hope that helps some if you have any questions let me know.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I just emailed team type 1. Scooby, do you have a specific formula for the amount of carbs you consume based on BS readings? How do you check throughout a race without wasting time? Do you do any pre-race carbo-loading, or what does your pre-race nutrition look like? Thanks again for all your help!
Sorry to hear about your Diabetes. My son was diagnoised Jan 1st, coming up on a year. He is on the Omni Pod and it has worked wonders for him. He is an avid sno-boarder and I found that heavy type carbs like bagel, pasta, baked potato before excersize works well for him. He can eat a bagel and he’s good for a few hours. Good luck to you.
I was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I am currently training for a marathon in the spring. I am struggling to figure out the nutrition component of training, and especially racing. I am on a “raw” diet at this point,which has reduced my need for insulin significantly. My mains questions are regarding carbs before/during/after running and then before a race, should I carboload (seems like this would just jack my sugars way up.) Any advice or referrals other resources to would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. There are a lot of great resources out there these days. I have been T1 since '02 and don’t know what it’s like to run or do tris and not have to manage my BGs. I have a blog at www.runningwitht1.com where I share the details of how I manage it, but it might give you some things to think about.
You will need carbs, so don’t fear them, but you will have to do a ton of trial and error. The big thing is to be careful with your insulin on board. For example, if you have a normal lunch with a healthy amount of carbs and you take insulin to cover it and then you go out to run a few hours later. You are bound to go low if you are not careful and do things to prevent this (like lowering your basal prior to your run and eating some carbs before heading out.)
I would suggest checking out Triabetes and Insulindependence. Fantastic organizations and a terrific community of people just like you that have done amazing things.
Are you doing shots now or are you on a pump? There’s a lot to learn, but you can do it and you have some time before the Spring to get it figured out (a little. you’ll never completely figure it out. )
Are you on Twitter? There’s a great community on there that is more than willing to help and answer questions.
The most important thing for me is to have something with me if/when I get low. I have the best luck with carrying a bunch of Gu or some similar gels. They will get you out of a low sugar as fast as anything else I have had. Best of luck.
I was diagnosed with type I about this time last year.
Basically, I had to experiment with my carb/insulin requirements as most endocrinologists are used to non athletes. We are the exception. If you can find a provider that has experience with athletes, do it
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If you’ve experienced diabetic ketoacidosis, then definitely seek advice of a doctor who works with diabetic athletes as this makes things a little more complicated.
That being said, it took me quite a bit of trial and error but:
I ended up not using my pump during exercise, as even the lowest setting caused me to go low very quickly.
I found that approx 400 calories (1 scoop of efs and 1 scoop of carbo pro in 24 oz of H20) worked perfectly.
During the course though I tried mixes from 200 cals/hr up to 600 cals/hr.
Some Helpful Things:
Always make sure to have an extra gel or two tucked away to keep the lows to a minimum.
Use a short loop just in case.
Check glucose at regular intervals, before during and especially after.
It will take time to dial things in so be patient.
Good luck with your diabetes and with the marathon!!!
hello, i´m type 1 since over 10 years and i did 7 long distance triathlons and 6 marathons in my “career”. and the nutrition is a very special thing. that´s why i post MY experiences, which is not for every type 1 possible.
i try to start with a value of 100 - 120 and take every 20 minutes a power gel (marathon). in triathlon i try to start with the same value, but i take 2 powergels 10 minutes before the start an after swimming my value is between 80 and 140 an i start my personal nutrition with maltodextrin.
Sorry to hear about the diabetes, but there are a lot of good resources coming out for Type 1 diabetics who are athletes.
First, I suggest you pick up a copy of Sheri Colberg’s book “The Diabetic Athlete”. It’s a great resource to use.
Secondly, depending on if you are on shots or a pump, technique is a little different.
If you are on shots, you may want to consider lowering the amount of long-lasting insulin you take in the 24 hours prior to exercising. Make sure that you take about half the insulin required for the meal you eat just before running. If you’re eating raw, it sounds like you may not be taking in a lot of carb anyways.
If you’re on the pump already, lower your basal rates a few hours before exercise and keep them low throughout exercise. Also, only take half the bolus amount for the meal before exercise.
To each their own, but most Type 1s say that they prefer to start exercise with their blood sugars in the 150-180 range.
As far as nutrition goes, it’s personal too, but you should be taking in carbs just like a normal person- about 60g of carbohydrate per hour- you just need to take insulin to correct for these (although usually not the “full” amount of insulin since exercise tends to make blood sugars drop).
There are a lot of online blogs from Type 1 athletes, so I suggest searching for those (too many to list here), and TuDiabetes is a great online community and forum for diabetics.
I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1993, which was my 3rd season racing triathlons. As someone has already mentioned, Team Type 1 has shown that you can accomplish anything you want even while living with Diabetes. I am one of the members of their Tri Team and will also be a member of their new Running Team. In my career as a racing Type 1 triathlete, I have run 18 marathons, including Boston, NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia as well as others. Also included is 9 Ironman finishes. What did that experience teach me? Nothing works exactly the same for every race and nothing works the same for two different people. There are a few basics that I like to focus on, and one of them is that there is no need to be afraid of taking insulin. It’s better to eat healthy and take insulin than to be “overly” restrictive in an attempt to take less insulin. You are a Type 1 Diabetic…until someone discovers a cure, you will always need to take insulin.
Trial and error in a very controlled setting is the safest way to plan a nutrition strategy for racing. When doing your run training test your blood VERY often and keep very detailed notes on what you ate, how intense your workout was and the exact times you ate and the amounts of your meal time bolus. This info will be important to establish an educated personal race day nutrition plan.
Put together some specific questions and post them. I think there are enough Type 1’s on ST to have a pretty great discussion…
Thank you everyone for your responses. I have started keeping close track of my BS before and after exercise. Today a strange thing happened, Ive heard it happens when you exercise and your BS is already high. However, today I started exercise at 97, probably a bit low, but I wanted to see what would happen. I ran fartleks for 35 minutes and checked again. My BS was 155. I hadnt eaten anything for several hours. I am guessing that my body started breaking down glycogen stores in the liver and thus the higher BS. My question is, would eating more carbs before running have prevented this? Or is this how it goes with “strenuous” exercise?
Some other questions:
What do most of you eat pre-workout? How many carbs? I realize that this will depend on the length and intensity of the workout to an extent.
Anything in Z3/Z4will raise my BG over a short period of time. My understanding is that hormones that cause the liver to dump glucose and increase insulin resistance will cause this
Anything in Z2 will drop my BG levels and insulin resistance.
I remember starting a HM at 108, not eating anything for the 13miles and finishing at 270 after running the whole thing in Z4.
But if I run in Z2, I can take on carbs and my BG will go down.
I test before, if below 90 I eat peanut butter, which slowly raises levels for me
If above 90, I don’t take anything
I never exercise at high levels (above 170ish) I know I will go hypo if I do.
Personally, I find that I sometimes need to take a unit or two after hard Interval work. My sugar always seems to spike when I go anaerobic. Perhaps its the sudden release of stored glycogen in the muscles?
I’ve been type 1 for nearly 23 years(diagnoses at age 6)… and I still don’t have it down. It’s remarkably easy to handle type 1 diabetes when you are NOT working out.
My general experiences:
-I try to train in the morning. It has a real positive impact on my sugar throughout the day. When I train at night I often bounce low during the night and get what some people refer to as “Dawn Phenomenon”. This is where your liver dumps sugar when you get too low.
-Before a race I aim for about 180
-I always need insulin once I finish a race. I’m often a little high, but the danger of getting low and confusing it with getting tired is too sketchy for me. I’ve been diabetic so long I’ve lost low glucose sensativity. I’ve had a few 35mg tests during races and I felt totally fine… Not good.
-I find it difficult to rely on gels to bring my sugar up when I’m running. They tend to cause me to spike and then fall fairly quickly… so I try to get something a little more solid.
-I don’t train with electrolyte drinks. I find it too complicated to calculate where I’ll be once I start taking Gatorade. Instead, I rely on salt pills while on long races and/or mix Gatorade 50/50 with water.
-For long rides(3-6 hours), I like to bring real food, like a turkey sandwich or my personal favorite: Peanut butter, a little Nutella, whole wheat bread and banana slices. I have a fairly steady stomach, so this doesn’t bother me… but the fiber may cause you to have GI issues during the run.
I’m running the NYC marathon as a practice race for IM Lake Placid. I’m not looking to PR or anything… I’m going to test every 2 miles to get a bit of a graph for where my sugar goes during a race. I’m considering it a long day of research. I’ll post the numbers after if you’re interested. Again, everyone’s body and metabolism is different. I’ve only recently started getting serious about planning my sugar/insulin for the IM distance.
Check the link above, there you can find some of my thoughts on training with diabetes. My first advice would be taking any pressure off in terms of performance for the first 2-3 years, you want to learn about diabetes as much as possible before performance is ahead of health (if at all!). Also what you will learn in the next 1-6 months are likely to change after that period as you are probably experience what is called “honeymoon”, which refers to the fact that your pancreas still produces some insulin. Over the months you will see that things will change quite a lot, then it gets stable.
What ever you want to achieve can be done, it takes more dedication, discipline and definitely more planning, but it has its positive sides as well, developing your self-knowledge and awareness being the most important of them.
If you are on the new medtronics pump have you considered trying the glucose sensor? It can’t be relied on for exact readings but it does trends very interestingly. It isn’t cheap (insurance doesn’t usually cover it), however many diabetes education centers/diabetes nurse practicioners have them for patient use to try.
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