Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Trusting Your Body

Yesterday I made one of the scariest decisions I've had to since having diabetes in regards to working out. I trusted that my nutrition, pump settings and preparation would allow me to strongly complete my workout even though my meter readings indicated otherwise. My triathlon coach wanted me to do a 3 mile speed test which required me to have optimal blood sugars for performance. About an hour and 45 minutes after lunch my blood sugar was 90, I had turned my pump down to 5% about 45 minutes before that and after the reading had a clif bar. I headed to the gym 10 minutes later and after changing into my running clothes I gobbled up a hammer gel. I stretched and warmed up for 5 minutes, tested again and had a bs of just 99.

I knew I had just ingested over 65 grams of carbs and trusted my nutrition. I figured there was no way I needed more carbs and if I had anything else without a bolus I risked going into DKA (bs over 250). With great trepidation I set the treadmill to a 8:30 pace and finished my 3 mile run in just over 24 minutes (upped the speed each mile). By mile 2.5 my stomach felt like it was in a vice so I knew I was risking going low but I didn't have blurred vision

2 comments:

Bernard said...

Sounds like a good plan. FYI, going over 250 doesn't suddenly trigger DKA. I've had higher blood sugars readings without evening spilling ketones.

So I'm not recommending it, but I'm also saying that you don't have to panic just because your meter says 270 or some number like that.

And don't forget that you may see your numbers dropping several hours (4-10) after finishing your exercise.

Brittney said...

I just stumbled on your blog via Allison's page. I'm glad to see you're taking life by the horns and not letting things slow you down. :-)

Keep on running, swimming, and biking. A Tri is on my to do list next summer, I think I'll keep on reading your blog for pointers.

Brittney