7 Is Not The Luckiest Number Of Them All

When I received my bib number for last weekends race the woman said, oh you have the luckiest number of them all - 777. As soon as she said this, I knew that triple 7 was going to bring me anything but luck; really I'm not superstitious at all! The next morning when I showed up for body marking, the guy marking me made the comment, "oh you're going to have a lucky race," as he wrote 777 on my arm - really this is why I'm a huge fan of ipods so I don't have to freak out over comments like this.

I quickly forgot about the "lucky" comments, got into my race groove and was happy coming out of the water:

Then the crash happened, which turned out to vastly more unlucky than I had previously thought. Not only did the crash screw up my overall time for the Patriots International, but its going to turn out costing me a cr*p load of money. I cracked my freaking frame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I was cleaning my bike off on Tuesday and about to load it onto my trainer for my recovery ride; I noticed some sort of mark on the top tube - upon closer inspection this was anything but a mark, it was the most evil sight any triathlete can see on their beautiful carbon frame.

So my options are to use Orbea's crash replacement program which allows me to purchase a new frame and fork for retail cost; which 3 sports in Richmond can have for me built up this weekend. Or can I go with a company in California called Calfee which repairs carbon frames; this will cost about $1,000 less than the replacement frame (including shipping) but I will miss the South Carolina Half as the turn around time for a Calfee repair is 30 to 50 days. I'm not sure whats worse, missing a race and being without one of my favorite things or spending a bit of extra money and not missing a beat.

This decision has me feeling like this:

full disclosure: I've been making faces at cameras in races for a while - I finally timed it right!

Patriots International Race Report

I have never before gone into a triathlon with such confidence and hope for a strong performance. I have always known what I am capable of on the bike; god gave me the quadzillas to eat flats and well struggle up hills; but it has taken me a long time to learn how to swim and run for distance. Last week Coach Orton had me do a 500 yard swim test and 6 minute run test.

The results:

500 yards - 7 minutes, 48 seconds

6 minute run - 1 mile

I was a pretty decent swimmer when I was a little kid but moved away from the sport as my body developed for the gridiron. However, running has never been my strong suit. For high school lacrosse, I once dropped 20 lbs in a 15 day period so I could receive extra points on our fitness test for my bench to weight/ squat to weight ratio since I knew I couldn't run consecutive 8 minute miles. So running a mile in 6 minutes was a huge success for me, and something I am astonished and thrilled about. Given that, I had all the hope in the world that I would finally live up to my expectations at the Patriots International Triathlon.

Pre Race

Saturday was a bit of a weird day. I woke up and had my fruit and protein shake; went for an hour bike ride, and then devoured pancakes before driving to Williamsburg. Prior to getting into the car my blood sugar was in the 80s, an hour later it was 118 but I felt kind of weird. I had a clif bar at this point; bolused as normal but my blood sugar was in the 250s about an hour and 1/2 after that. For the better part of the next 5 hours I struggled to get my blood sugar below 300 - awesome, just what I want the day before the race. I made sure I took in extra salt for all the water I was drinking to try and flush my system.

That night for dinner I had 1 cup and 1/4 of whole wheat pasta, a 1/4 lbs of ground buffalo and tomato basil sauce - about 65 grams of carbs. I had trouble falling asleep, by 11:50 my blood sugar was 55, so I took in a clif builder bar; finally falling asleep at 1am. My alarm went off at 5:20, I woke to a blood sugar of 120 - perfect I thought.

For breakfast I had a banana, some mixed berries, 1 scoop of muscel milk light, 4 oz of odawala superfood and some chia seeds all blended together. I gave myself a 2 unit bolus for this. At 6:50 am I turned my pump down to 41% (i'm kind of weird and don't like to round down) and 10 minutes later had my clif bar. At 7:20 am I took in my 2 scoops of EFS, and then tested; uhoh 355 - umm how'd that happen. .8 units of insulin and off to the water to swim.

Swim:

The start of the swim was alot of fun. Having done all my triathlons in freezing cold water I felt like I was in the Caribbean during my warm up. I cracked up as the mostly southern field complained how the water was freezing. Try Jersey in early April for freezing guys, this was like a bath tub! I felt great during my swim warm up, lined myself to the right, the gun went off and there I went.

The entire time during the swim I kept thinking I was going really slow; I had open space the entire time, and from what I could tell no one from the previous wave had passed me. I exited the water, 4th in my age group! I did the 1500 yard swim in 28:21; a great swim, I was calm the entire time and just felt comfortable in the water. In T1, I tested my blood sugar and was relived to see 224; still high but headed in the right direction.

Swim Results: Final Time 28:21; 4th in age group

Swim Grade: A

Bike:

I felt great in my new groovy aero helmet on the bike; I actually headed out to the bike course next to an undergrad on the UVA tri club team so that was pretty cool. I passed by him and yelled out go UVA, only to realize I was about to encounter an insanely sharp turn. I gripped my breaks, my tire screeched, I cut my front wheel, my rear wheel slid off the road where there was a drop off, I slid onto the road at 20 mph, shifting my aero bars out of position, throwing my nutrition and shredding up my leg. For the first time in my tri career I crashed during a race:

Amazingly the only part of my pump that was damaged in the crash is the clip, and really just some superficial scratches. However where the pump sits on my hip as I ride has an awful case of road rash; I would take pictures of that but I try and keep this blog PG. I'm pretty sore and pretty banged up but.....

I collected my things from the road, dusted myself off and jumped back on my bike. After a couple minutes of riding my bike didn't feel right so I pulled off the race course, checked my tires, checked my cranks, and everything seemed good to go. I kept my pace at 19 mph as I convinced myself that nothing was broken. I finally settled back into my groove and wound up passing the same UVA dude that I had crashed in front of; this time I didn't say hello.

My bike was great; I kept my cadence above 90; and even with the crash my average speed was about 22 mph. According to my race data it looks like I lost about 5 minutes due to the crash; and its pretty cool to see my heart rate totally spike when I realized I was going down. Overall I'm pretty happy with the bike, with how aggressively I push the bike I'm going to dump it from time to time, thats part in due to the confidence I have from learning to ride and Manhattan and in part because I'm an absolute meathead who loves to hammer. I love the way I ride, and I love riding hard; I'm not upset about the crash, and am psyched I was able to get up, bounce back and still have a pretty good bike.

Bike Results: Final Time 1:09:14, 13th in age group

Bike Grade: B, solid effort, but still below my goal pace of 25 mph, crash or not

Run:

I knew that my goal of breaking 2:25 was out the window when I finished the bike in over an hour. With a good run, breaking 2:30 was within my reach however, I had planned to go out at an 8 minute pace, see how I felt after 4 miles and then fire the legs to try and close at a 7:30 pace; well that was the plan at least.

I went out at an 8 minute pace and felt freaking great; my legs felt strong, I felt well hydrated and was just looking forward to enjoying a good solid race. About 1.5 miles into the run I started to cramp up on the right side of my sternum. A mile later my legs started to feel heavy, and my pace began to slow from 8 minutes, to 8:30, to 9, to 9:30. By the 3.5 mile mark my calves had cramped so badly that I almost fell over. At this point I was upset, disheartened and just plain disappointed.

All that training, all the effort, killing myself during all those intervals didn't let my body hold up. I don't know if it was the high blood sugar the morning of the race or the day before, I don't know if I didn't take in enough salt, or if to be honest I just can't run. I've improved my swimming, I've become a solid biker, yet I still can't put it together on the run and I'm frustrated. I can work through pain, I can work through heat, I can't work through what my legs wont let me do and I need to understand why my legs are preventing me from running. I work hard enough to be better than this, its time my race results are indicative of how much effort I put into this sport.

Run Results: Final Time 58:46

Run Grade: F

Even though my run was awful I'm pretty happy with my performance in the race. The first two segments of the tri went to plan; even with the crash I had a decent bike. Even with the poor run I took 15 minutes off my Mooseman International time in early June. To really improve I need to really dig into the reasons behind my high blood sugars and awful performance on the run. Coach Orton and I have to address why my run times are so off my training paces. I'm excited that I was finally able to take performance pressures off myself during a race allowing me to juts enjoy the event. However, I'm not satisfied and will really need to push myself to figure out this run issue, as in 3 weeks I have this seasons A race, the South Carolina Half Iron.

Just Off The Mark - Vincentown Sprint Race Report

Before I get into my race report I want to give a HUGE congratulations and virtual high 5 to my girlfriend, Kim, still the best looking triathlete I know for her SECOND PLACE AGE GROUP finish at this past weekend's race! Kim had a great race and seeing the smile on her face when she read the results made swimming through a mud pond and fighting through hours of traffic to make more than worth the drive to Vincentown! Great job Kim!

The drive down to Vincentown was frustrating, we had to run some errands before leaving Boston so our 1:30 departure time was delayed to almost 3:30; this was made all the worse by an awful accident on the NJ Turnpike. The accident caused a full road closure and delayed us another 2 hours, so we didn't make it to our hotel until after 9pm - not the best thing the night before the race. Thankfully a Macaroni Grill was close to our hotel so we both were able to get some whole wheat pasta for our pre-race dinner.

Pre-Race Nutrition:

Since this triathlon was just a sprint I decided to change up my pre-race eating plan a bit. I knew I wouldn't need the full carbohydrate load I normally take in, so instead of toast with almond butter, a pre-race nutrition drink and a clif bar, I opted for a pistachio muffin and 1/2 my usual pre-race nutrition drink. This had me start the race with a blood sugar of 235, probably on the high side but just about where I wanted it.

Swim:

The swim was in one of the muddiest ponds I had ever seen. Growing up my parent's pool would often be on the receiving end of a mud slide after a bad rain storm. This pond made all those memories come back! I felt bad for the women who had to swim after the men. We kicked up all the mud and they all came out of the water looking like they grew hair on their face and chest!

Since the swim was only 400 yards I opted not to wear a wet suit; although I decided to have my tri top on for the swim. For whatever reason I just can't find the same comfort level in the open water that I have in the pool. My 500 yard swim test was finished in 8 minutes and 30 seconds, yet the 400 yard swim on Saturday took me 9 minutes (including a 200 yard jog to the timing pad). I'm not sure if it was my tri top coming unzipped creating extra drag, not fully digesting my pre-race nutrition or pre-race dinner or just plain not being that good at open water swimming that hurt my time; but fact is 9 minutes isn't close to good enough.

The huge positive though, is that for the first time EVER I didn't freak out at the start of the swim, and used my stroke the entire time. Coach E wanted me to warm up in the water, so I swam about 200 yards and that seemed to take all the freaking out, out of my system.

Swim Time: 9:01
Swim Grade: C, I'm happy that I was able to swim the entire time without pausing, changing stroke or freaking out, but that time is just WAY TOO slow for me to be close to happy about.

My T1 time was awful, as usual. It took me over 2 minutes to put on my bike shoes, grab my helmet and head out to the course. Perhaps next time I should take a nap, read War & Peace and try and solve The Proof of Fermat. I need to train for transition just like I do for the other disciplines, something I plan to address pronto.

Bike:

This was the big goal for my race, to post one of the best times of the day. I wanted to see how fast I could be on the bike, I wanted to see if the big gears I can push in training would correlate to race day success. The answer to that is yes and no.

My bike split was good for 44th best on the day and not much separated the 44th rider from the 25th rider; but my goal was to exceed an average pace of 24 mph - that didn't happen. I wasn't as fast up the false flat that started the bike course as I should have been and that cost me my timing goal. This was the first time I was racing with heart rate, heading up the false flats my heart rate was creeping towards 170 so I knew I had to settle down a bit. The few miles I rode at a 19 mph pace cost me my time goals. However, I rode towards the front of the pack on the bike, and when I asked my legs to push for the last 4 miles they had enough juice to exceed 26 mph. So my pacing strategy was pretty good but I needed a little extra speed on the false flat to top that 24 mph goal. I also honestly believe I'm faster on my training wheels than my race wheels, but thats a conundrum for a different day.

Bike Time: 40:31, 22.2 mph avg
Bike Grade: B, I was fast but didn't achieve my goals, I set forth the 24 mph goal in full belief that I could achieve it, but I fell short. My time is nothing to be upset about, but it also wasn't the really good performance I knew I could achieve.

Run:

I wasn't sure how I would do on the 5k run. At the Darden Cares 5k I broke 23 minutes and was really hoping I could rival that performance. But the truth is, I've never run all out on a brick; not in training and not in a race so this would be a new experience. I left transition at a 7:20 pace but knew I couldn't hold that so I slowed down to a 7:50 pace and felt pretty good. Somewhere between mile 1.5 and 2.5 my legs started to wobble and I had to ease back on the pace a bit. I believe I had some pre-race hydration issues that cost me some valuable time on the run.

Overall I came in 97th on the run which is pretty disappointing. The official race time has me at an 8:12 pace but the actual course may have been slightly longer than a 5k. Regardless, I've broken an 8 minute pace during a 5k in the past and wanted to do that again in Vincentown. It wasn't training or effort that slowed me down, I believe it was pre-race nutrition and hydration.

Run Time: 25:23
Run Grade: C+, I've been faster in both training and racing then what I showed in this race. Hydration and nutrition is a huge factor in this and I need to learn from that lesson

Overall: 67th place, 1:18:17

I know that the above race report is pretty harsh, but I had some high expectations coming into this race. I finished the race in the top 33% of racers and am pretty happy about that. However, I'm training hard, believe in my Coach's system and want to do better. At the same time I need to remember I'm still a novice in this sport and really this is my first season of "racing." Last year I had to learn how to handle an entire new way of living and an entire new type of athletics where this year is the first time I'm actually striving to get much faster. But I'm pretty competitive and want to do well, and tend to take disappointments to heart.

I came away with some great insight from this race, showed tremendous improvement even from Mooseman and knew I gave the course just about all I had (I was exhausted at the end!) I had a blast racing and am so freaking happy for Kim. So yeah, the race was positive and I did have alot of fun but I'm still giving myself a B- for this race. That grade is based on performance and not on the learning experience or how much fun this small race was.

Moving forward Sunday will be a huge test as I'm racing in the Mussleman Half Ironman. That will be my last "C" priority race for the season. When I return to Virginia in August I will have races with some real performance goals, including a second half Ironman in October in South Carolina. I need to keep refining my nutrition plan, working on transitions and figure out how to continually improve my performance. This is a long process but each step of the way provides new insight, new challenges and more opportunities to have fun while challenging myself.

Charlottesville Marathon - Oh Technology!

I can now add Marathon finisher to the list of endurance races I've completed! On Saturday I completed the Charlottesville Marathon in 4 hours and 26 minutes; 26 minutes off my goal time but over an hour faster than my Ironman Run time and at a faster pace than during Mooseman last year. So the good news, I'm showing progress in my training and ability, the bad news - a ton of stuff still went wrong and I failed to reach my goal. As I continue my evolution to becoming an endurance athlete I await the day that everything comes together and I perform the way I know I can perform.

Two major issues occurred during the marathon, both of which I should have been able to correct on the fly. In each case I continued to trust technology which ultimately cost me a good bit of performance on race day. The first major issue that occurred and will be of greater relevance to readers of this blog was the unbelievable inaccuracy of my Abbot Freestyle Navigator.

This was the first competition I was utilizing my Freestyle Navigator for, during training runs the accuracy of the CGM wasn't spot on but was close enough for me to have confidence in my nutrition plan. I started the race with a blood sugar of about 220 - right where I wanted to be; through mile 5 my blood sugar was in the mid 180s according to the CGM and I felt as if I was going to have a great day.

My blood sugar dropped about 10 points per mile over the next 3 miles on the Navigator. Instead of testing manually I trusted technology and took in about 1/2 a fuel belt bottle of nutrition (that equates to 55 to 60 grams of carbohydrates). My blood sugar continued to drop on the Navigator and like an idiot I didn't manually test and took Gatorade from a water station. My blood sugar stagnated in the mid 130s but I began to feel very sick during the run. At mile 14 I finally decided to slow down to test - my blood sugar was above 400!!!!!!!!!!

How can a CGM be considered even marginally useful if there is a discrepancy of over 250 points of glucose!? This is dangerous and points to a huge quality issue which makes the device nearly useless. Should I have tested manually at some point earlier in the race? Absolutely! But there is also no excuse for the device to have performed this poorly.

At this point in the race I took in .3 units of insulin and knew I would no longer be able to take in nutrition for the rest of the race. For the next 12 miles I only had water as I tried to fight off the effects of my very high blood sugar.

The other technological snafu I had was my Polar RS800 was off by .06 miles per mile. At the end of the race my running computer indicated I ran 28.4 miles at a 9:38 pace - when in actuality I had run 26.2 miles at a 10:11 pace. This means that all my training runs were off pace and that when I started the race at my goal pace I was actually running slower than indicated. I should have calibrated my foot pod prior to the race but neglected to and that cost me dearly.

So in the end I'm happy to have finished a very hard marathon (see profile below) in a pretty decent time. Only 4 runners broker the 3 hour mark, and I finished right in the middle of the pack. I continue to show improvement and continue to learn how to manage my blood sugar on the fly during these events. I just hope everything comes together someday soon!

Season's First Goal Met!

Saturday was the Darden Cares 5k; my first actual race since Ironman Lake Placid. As I stated in an earlier post this season is all about having fun on race day by having stable blood sugars and achieving my performance goals. The knowledge I gained last year should aid in that greatly; plus I also have a better understanding of what I'm capable of.

At 9:20 am on Saturday I toed the line with my classmates, some dressed in speedos, some in figure skater outfits and even one dressed as a gorilla. My goal was to break 24 minutes; I have done 2 5k speed tests in the past, the first a year ago I completed in 25 minutes and the second about a month ago I finished in 24 minutes, 30 seconds. On Saturday I shattered my goal pace with a time of 23 minutes (or 22:58 on my watch) - a pace of 7 minutes, 11 seconds, good for 16th place!

My blood sugars remained above 200 throughout the race which was fine, a high in a 5k is way better than a low. But what was important was setting a realistic goal, exceeding those expectations and having a blast with my classmates doing it. The season is off to a great start - I can't wait for the Charlottesville Marathon!

Race Report: Bassman Olympic; Cold Water, Loose Seat & Sand!

I am now officially a Triathlete! Those words feel incredible to write and I'm more excited than ever to chase down this dream of becoming an Ironman. For month I have felt the wear of training as I grinded out 11 hour training weeks with no days of rest; but finally I was able to test myself and compete - it felt incredible.

Pre Race:

My Dad had picked a somewhat less than desirable hotel with some questionable stains on the wall, itchy sheets and a sticky rug outside of Atlantic City for the night before the race. Although the ghettoness of the hotel was well worth it so my # 1 fan could see the race:

Life as a diabetic triathlete involves lots of preparing for nutrition; the night before the race the bathroom looked like a chemistry lab!

Pre race - 2 scoops cytomax, 1 scoop Met Endurance; 1/2 Clif Bar
Pre swim - 2 scoops EFS, 1 Scoop Carbo Pro, 1 Scoop Met Endurance
Bike Bottles (2) - 2 scoops EFS, 2 Sccops Carbo Pro Run - 2 scoops EFS, 2 Scoops Carbo Pro (comes out to less than that in 2 fuel belt bottles)

Post Race - 2 scoops Endurox

Nutrition for the entire race was spot on! I woke up with a blood sugar of 193, took .3 units of insulin, then turned my pump down to 30% for the duration of the race, pre swim my blood sugar was an awesome 214, post swim I was a little high at 290, I took .5 units of insulin and came off the bike at 167 (nailed that); I finished the race with a bs of 149 - couldn't have asked for my nutrition to be have been more dialed in!

Nutrition grade: A+

Swim:

Terri (the Terrier Teammate whom I drove to the race) and I got to the race site a bit later than ideal but we were able to park in the main parking lot and had plenty of time to get into our wet suits, set up our transition areas and listen to the pre-race instructions. I can honestly say there have been few times in my life that I have been as nervous as I was the morning of the race. I could barely speak and was choking back vomit the entire time before I entered the water. During college football I'd normally throw up 3 or 4 times before a game and a few times during it (yeah I was kind of a nasty o-lineman) but knew because of nutrition I had to hold everything down.

The swim was perhaps the most terrifying experience of my life; I had heard from people who are far better swimmers than me that your first open water swim is like nothing you have ever done before. From my training times I should have been able to complete the 1/2 mile swim in less than 15 minutes. However, I didn't realize how hard it is to breath in 58 degree water or how much I'd freak out due to not being able to see in the water. I must have looked like a dying seal as I did a hybrid doggy paddle/ freestyle for 21 minutes until I exited the water (I'm the second guy):

Swim Grade: C, I preserved when I thought I was going to drown but my time was awful!

Bike:

I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to leave that freezing cold water, I have alot of work to do for open water swimming, my coach has suggested I start training with my eyes closed to get used to the murky water. So it was with great excitement and determination that I left the transition area, I knew I had a ton of places to make up:

I felt phenomenal for the first 15 miles of the bike. My average speed was somewhere between 22 and 24 mph as I picked off racers one by one. Around mile 16 things took a serious turn for the worse; I started having back spasms which led to my hamstring cramping up and my right hip getting locked. I screamed out an F Bomb as my power started to leave my legs; of course 20 seconds later a super cute triathlete raced by me. I pushed through the last 10 miles of the bike in some serious pain and finished with an average mph of 19.5. When I cleaned my transition area after the race I pushed my bike by the saddle and came to find my seat had come completely loose during the bike! This equipment SNAFU really screwed my bike leg but as Coach Eggers told me "in typical Ed fashion you refused to let that stop you."

Bike Grade: B+, fought through the pain and came away with a pretty good split, would have been an A- if I didn't run into the back/ hamstring issue.

Run:

With a slight limp and a screaming back I headed out for the 4.1 (way longer than that in actuality) run course and hoped to hold on for a solid finish.

The race plan was to settle in over the first mile at about an 8 minute pace, then up my speed by 30 seconds for each mile and close at a 6 minute pace. Unfortunately I couldn't come close to those performance goals and went out for the first mile at an 8:40 pace, upped it to 8 minutes over mile 2, and closed with a 7:45 to 8 minute pace. One really weird thing about the race course was a 1/4 to 1/2 mile stretch in sandy woods - given that the bike to run transition on pavement is hard enough, the soft sand could only be compared to kryptonite for Superman - my legs were being sapped of all their energy on the soft stuff.

Run Grade: B, didn't achieve the speeds that I wanted but I also held my position off the bike and my fitness felt fantastic.

Overall:

Overall, this was a phenomenal experience, I finished right in the middle of the pack with a time of 2:32; I'm somewhat disappointed in my time but the transition went well and I know exactly what I need to work on heading into the Mooseman 1/2 Ironman in about a month and 1/2. Having this triathlon under my belt this early in the season gives me the confidence that my nutrition, training and mental preparation are all headed in the right direction. I also learned that in this sports some things are simply out of your control, whether that be a loose bike seat, a sandy transition area or freezing cold water. You simply need to persevere and push through the bumps that triathlon presents, hold on and will yourself to the finish. There were several times during yesterdays race where that small doubt inside my mind asked "is this worth it," but an even louder voice boomed back "F, yeah this is worth it, keep working Liebo." As I headed out for the bike I heard my Mom yell, "Ring The Bolus!" I doubt she saw my smile but at that moment I knew that my work was paying off.

As I walked back to the transition area to collect my things I proudly thought to myself - we have alot of work to do before Placid but we're getting there:

Overall Race Grade: B-

Race Report: Bear Mountain 10k: Mud, Rocks & Blood Sugar

Bear Mountain hosted the first stage of the North Face Endurance Challenge on Saturday April 12th. Rather then test my luck or prove my insanity to the world I opted for the mild (or so I thought) 10k, versus the 1/2 marathon or ultra distances (50k and 50 miler) that took place. Since the race was close to my parents house this also marked the first time they would see me compete in an endurance sport. Most of their lives have been spent chasing after my sporting events; although my college was over 5 hours away from their house and we played some away games over 10 hours away from the house they amazingly never missed a game.

Friday night I drove home from the city and prepared my pre-race meal of ground buffalo, whole wheat protein enriched penne pasta and a ton of water for my parents and younger sister - a great test run for IMLP! That evening I went to bed with a great blood sugar and fell into a deep slumber until the pouring rain woke me at 5am - perfect for a trail run I thought. At about 7:45 am I had a pistachio muffin and a large glass of coffee as I filled my fuel belt bottles with the Ironman Cocktail. At 8:10 am we left Mahopac and headed to Bear Mountain. I think I gave both my Mom and Dad migraines by blaring Wolfmother on the ride over!

Pre-race my blood sugar was a fantastic 214, for the first time in the past 4 or 5 events I wasn't nervous of a low heading into a race!!!! However, this enthusiasm was short lived. At the start of the race something simply felt "off", before we even reached the start of the trail I started to almost hyperventilate; I was able to control my breathing but as we started the monstrous climb my muscles felt insanely fatigued. Just outside of the group of lead runners I pulled over to the side of the rocky trail and tested - 395, not good, not good at all - for the first time since my diagnosis I had to bolus during a run; this also meant I couldn't take in any nutrition for a while.

The 1,000 foot 2 mile climb was freaking insane, add to that the high blood sugars and it was a rough rough day, my second test of the day at about mile mark 2.5 my blood sugar had come down to 248, so I gave myself another small bolus and continued on. After finally reaching the aid station I gulped down 2 glasses of water and headed out on the second leg of the course. Shortly after that I felt my body return to somewhat normal but the fatigue had really set in. I finished somewhere in the front of the middle pack at just over an hour and 20 minutes; although I wasn't thrilled with my effort, I couldn't have asked for better experience. Each new race is going to bring a different obstacle and while the blood sugar kicked my butt I was able to deal with it and fight through to the finish.

This race also gave me a whole new appreciate for xterra runners and ultra marathoners. The trail was BY FAR the hardest run I had ever done; rocky, hilly and wet. We ran through streams, plodded through mud and sweated up a storm. Areas of the course were so technical that all you could do was walk and pray that you didn't fall down on the jagged rocks. Without question a totally new experience and while I'm not sure that trail running is for me, it was alot of fun.

Race Report: Central Park Half Marathon

While fighting through major blood sugar issues and a strained quad I was able to finish my first half marathon in 1 hour, 50 minutes and 29 seconds - an 8 minute, 24 second mile pace; both well within my goal range and faster than the 10k pace from just a few weeks ago! My Coach, Mary Eggers and sports nutritionist, Lauren Antanucci both laid out a tremendous plan for me and continue to help my confidence as an endurance athlete grow.

Saturday I had a hard day of workouts with a 20 minute run and what was supposed to be a 3000 meter swim. I made 2500 meters of the swim and was totally gassed so I determined it was best to fight the water another day. That evening I had what has quickly become my favorite meal and what I will continue to have the evening before all my races:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat penne pasta
1/4 cup of peas 1/4 cup fresh cut mushrooms Red sauce with arugula Fresh Mozzarella cheese Basal, Oregano and Some Chilli Pepper 1/2 lbs. of ground buffalo

Total carbs - 80 and bolused with a 70/ 30 dual wave for 3 hours - perfect pre race nutrition and delicious!

Unlike the night before the 10k where my blood sugar spiked into the 200s I went to bed with a gorgeous bs of 91 - it seemed that my neighbors (in the building that is cady-corner to me) who like to shout chinese at each other and cook until 2 in the morning stayed up even later than usual but I still got a somewhat decent night's sleep. I woke up at 6:35 am and tested with a blood sugar of 125 - off to a perfect start.

For breakfast I had 2 scrambled eggs, breakfast chicken apple sausage and 2 slices of whole wheat toast, 6 oz of black coffee and 5 oz of orange juice. I hopped in a cab and arrived to the engineer gate at 7:40 am as planned, found a bench changed out of my pre-race get up into my CW-X tights, running hat and terminatoresque Oakley Radars.

Of course things couldn't continue perfectly! NYRR decided to have the bag drop be conducted somewhere other than the bag pick up location. They lined up 4 box trucks in a small corralled area to collect the bags from everyone. Each truck had 2 people collecting bags and a mass of people trying to throw the bags at the two people - this may have been the dumbest idea any race organizer has ever had. I've learned that some runners are pushy, arrogant and really annoying - force about 1,000 of them into a small area pre race to hand in their gear bag and it makes for a colorful situation. After fighting through the mash pit for 10 minutes I gobbled up my clif bar and made my way to the start area.

Here's where the day started to get really tough:

8:21 AM - 9 minutes before the start of the race I test and my blood sugar is just 112 - uhoh plan A that Lauren laid out so nicely was now out the window - time to go into emergency plan.

Emergency plan: 1/2 of clif bar (20 g of carbs), Accel Gel (25 g of carbs), 3 glucose tabs (15 g of carbs) in the 5 minutes before the race started.

First mile - ran at a 8:05 pace - so much for starting slow (sorry Coach!), I really thought I had held back but apparently not, I slowed it up a bit at this point and 2 minutes later I had my accel gel (25 g of carbs); at minute 30 - about 4 miles into the race I tested and was shocked to see a blood sugar of only 121 - I had ingested 85 g of carbs unbolused with only 10% of my basal rate in the previous 45 minutes and only had a bs of 121 - not good! I jammed down 3 more glucose tabs (15 g of carbs) which are really tough to eat while running and continued on my way.

At this point I made the decision not to test again for the rest of the race. I know - stupid idea. But, The goal has always been more important to me than my body. Getting the job done and proving to myself that I can do it, and do it well has always been # 1 in my book. My body and my health have always been secondary. This mentality will never change because it makes me who I am but this mentality is also really at odds with being a diabetic athlete.

Every 25 minutes for the rest of the race I had another accel gel (5 during the race) and grabbed gatorade at every other aid station. By the end of the race I had ingested about 250 g of carbs and my stomach paid for it the rest of the day. The biggest challenge I had was around mile 11, my hamstring started to tighten up and I had laid out a lovely fragrance on the course for the past 3 miles (thanks accel gels!) when I saw my salvation - a guy running in a Union Rugby t-shirt. My big rival in college was Union, our football team's hated each other - a maylay broke out after our game my sophomore year - think of this as a D-3 version of Ohio State v Michigan. Anytime I see a Union sticker on a car, someone walking in a Union Sweatshirt I instinctively say F*ck Union! (my friends can attest to this) and then in my head start singing Hobart's fight song - this guy gave me the adrenaline boost I needed to motor it home; for the first time in my life I can be thankful of seeing that awful scarlet color.

Quick update: I turn my pump down to 10% of basal rate at least an hour and a half pre run, maintain that 10% until 15 minutes after run than switch to 50% of basal rate for a couple hours. Thank you all for the suggestions in the comments!