Friday, January 30, 2009

Day 2 With the Navigator

Yesterday I took my Navigator for a long run to see how accurately it could predict a low. One of the main reasons I wanted a CGMS was to have a way to monitor my blood sugars during exercise without stopping, to have an alternative to finger sticks in the pouring rain (like IMLP) and to have a trend predictor of an impending low.

The plan was to run for 40 minutes yesterday at a recovery pace at then do hill repeats for 20 minutes. I knew my cumulative carbohydrate total was a bit lower than it should have been for the amount of exercise I've done over the past 2 weeks and thought there was a small chance I'd have a low, but was confident I had enough in the tank to finish the run. However, as I looked down at my Polar RS800 I noticed maintaining a 10:30 pace was WAY harder then it should have been (normally I run at an 8:40 - 9:20 pace), which is normally the first sign of a low. After struggling along for 3 or 4 minutes my navigator started vibrating, I took it out of my sleeve pocket and saw the vertical downward arrow and a blood sugar of 106 - it worked!

Yesterday, without the Navigator I would have kept running until my blood sugar was in the 60s since I normally test every 30 minutes while running. The Navigator predicted my low 4 minutes before I would have tested and allowed me to safely walk the rest of my route home - rather than having to sit down with an energy gel waiting for my blood sugar to rebound. The Navigator worked perfectly yesterday and prevented what could have been a dangerous low - exactly what I wanted the device for.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

very useful info. i'm the guy with the recently diagnosed ten year old grandaughter. look foward to learning from your experience with the navigator.

jpnairn said...

So what was your BG when your CGMS said 106?
Just curious. I'm a fan of CGMS myself.

Alison said...

That's totally cool! I love the idea of being able to see if my sugar is trending up or down. Like you talked about yesterday, I tend to worry what my sugar's doing while I'm sitting in class too. The Navigator sounds like it's been a great asset to you so far!

Kim said...

the navigator will certainly be a useful tool at cville marathon! (no excuses about your BS when im kicking your ass!)

Anonymous said...

Great posts here. I just put my order in with Smith Medical to get my Navigator today. I'm so excited I can't wait to get it.