I finally made my way back to Charlottesville on Friday and was excited to ride the C'Ville hills again and get some runs in on the lightly traveled roads. C'Ville is a triathletes paradise, the UVA pool is top notch, the riding is tough and the running terrain is so varied that on any given day you can run next to a beautiful river, torture yourself on hills or get away from it all on the Rivana trail. Trail running may be something I get into later this year, as there are a ton of trail races in the fall and winter around here and after finishing "Born To Run," I can't help but be excited to try my hand at it.
I had hoped to hop on my bike by 8:30 on Sunday; but after having a few beers catching up with my friend Matt on Saturday night, I didn't get out of bed until 9:15 am! An hour and 1/2 later I was on my bike and ready to ride. However, someone forget to remind me that the South is WAY FREAKING HOTTER, than NY or Boston. By 11am it was about 90 degrees with high humidity and like an idiot I had only brought 1 bottle of nutrition and 1 bottle of water for my 2 hour ride.
Prior to getting to the bad news, here's the good news. I am in much, much better shape than I was when I left Darden in the spring. I did the same ride on Sunday that I had done the day I left Charlottesville in May feeling strong, faster and fitter on it. Compared to my May 10th ride, my August 16th ride was 3 mph faster, at a slightly higher average heart rate which included attacking the hills harder. Best of all, although my back got pretty sore around the 30 mile mark, I was able to supress the pain; on May 10th the pain in my back got so bad I had to stop and stretch for 5 or 10 minutes, this ride I stayed on my bike and was able to pedal home.
Now the bad news; 1 bottle of water for a 190 lbs guy in 90 degree heat and high humidity is about as dumb as heading to the Artic in a speedo! By the time I got back to my apartment I was dizzy, disoriented and my arms felt tingly; I had also stopped sweating. I downed 3 glasses of water and got ready for my transition run. By the time I left my apartment sweat was pouring down my face after just 30 seconds of jogging. At that point I decided to return home and wait for the heat to die down. At that point I realized that the muscles in my legs were twitching like crazy, obviously searching for water.
Finally I got a bit smarter and started downing water bottle after water bottle. About 80 oz of water later I was finally able to pee again, but I continued to drink water to try and rehydrate. I'm not sure I ever properly rehydrated after my killer run last Tuesday so Sunday just exacerbated the problem. I think what frustrates me most is hydration is totally under my control and I screwed it up - lesson learned, I won't make that mistake again.
Showing posts with label Sports Nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sports Nutrition. Show all posts
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Fightining the Inferno
Saturday morning Kim and I said goodbye to each other as I was beginning my long drive back to Charlottesville and she was headed out on a bike ride. You learn a ton about yourself while living with someone and this summer taught me alot; more than just putting the toilet seat down! Although I don't know if I'll ever pick up my test strips to her satisfaction.
I was excited to head back to my parent's house for the week. It would be the first time I'd have an opportunity to train in the Westchester/ Putnam area since Lake Placid so I couldn't wait to go on some of my favorite bike rides. I was refitted on my bike by Jay Courant at Stage5 cycling in Arlington, MA a couple weeks ago and wanted to see how well I could hammer on the new fit. Jay is a former physical therapist who has since switched his focus to biomechanics - he knows his stuff and the fit is incredible. We dropped my front end almost 6" so my back is now totally flat and although I'm riding a less steep angle now (from 82 to 79.5) I'm still steep enough to post on slowtwitch!
Saturday's ride called for 3 20 minute intervals of riding in my hammer zone with a cadence of 80 to 90. Coach E wants to see if lowering my cadence during training will help reduce the stress on my back by evening out my pedal stroke. Normally I ride at a cadence of above 95 (thanks to Coach Egg busting my butt last year) so riding at an average cadence of 85 feels like a constant grind on my legs. However, during my 2.5 hour ride on Sunday I experienced almost no back pain and only minor stiffness in my hip - plus I didn't loose too much speed! The new fit is freaking phenomenal, my power transition on it is stronger than before and the more aero position gives me greater efficiency to pedal harder, longer. In short, I'm getting faster on the bike so I'm psyched about it.
Best part of the ride was my blood sugar dropping to 128 after my second interval. Rather than panic, stop on the side on the road and wait, I continued on my 20 minute recovery after eating half a clif bar and downing a little extra nutrition mix. I tested prior to my next speed interval and was happy to see a blood sugar of 167. I'm starting to understand that extra water helps in the absorption of carbohydrates so that a lower blood sugar than desired doesn't have to end a training session.
Yesterday, a 2 hour run was on tap, a 2 hour run on the hottest freaking day of the summer. I had to wait for UPS to arrive with my nutrition, so my run was delayed until 5 pm. I messed up my pre-workout nutrition a bit and started with a BS of 357; I knew a low blood sugar wouldn't be a problem on this run! However the heat, that was a big problem!
30 minutes into the run I was soaked from head to toe, and not soaked like sweaty, soaked like I had just stood under a firehose. 45 minutes into the run my shoes had filled with sweat and were shooting out water with every step. I had to stop for a minute to ring out my socks they had become so heavy! An hour into the run I believe my skin was starting to slide off as I had lost so much water! Yet I still had speed intervals left to run.
An hour and 20 minutes into the run I hit my first speed interval, of course this just happened to coincide with reaching the 3 mile low grade uphill climb on the Northcounty Trailway. The first 4 intervals were all great, I had maintained a pace of 5 minute miles for most of the speed intervals and slowed to a 12 minute pace during the recovery intervals. On the 5th I finally understood why this week needed to be a recovery week. 30 seconds into my fifth and final speed interval my legs stopped. Much like the time when I tried to run with Moose and he simply dropped down onto the grass refusing to move any further, my legs came to a pounding halt and refused to move. They had filled with so much lactic acid and had become so heavy they might as well have been stuck in cement. I was happy with the effort and began to walk during my cool down.
20 minutes later I was back at my parents house after a combination of fat man shuffle and walking to finish up the run. After jumping into the pool and downing 4 glasses of water, I weighed myself and still had lost 8 lbs on my run!!!!! Needless to say I probably should have brought a little extra water with me.
I was excited to head back to my parent's house for the week. It would be the first time I'd have an opportunity to train in the Westchester/ Putnam area since Lake Placid so I couldn't wait to go on some of my favorite bike rides. I was refitted on my bike by Jay Courant at Stage5 cycling in Arlington, MA a couple weeks ago and wanted to see how well I could hammer on the new fit. Jay is a former physical therapist who has since switched his focus to biomechanics - he knows his stuff and the fit is incredible. We dropped my front end almost 6" so my back is now totally flat and although I'm riding a less steep angle now (from 82 to 79.5) I'm still steep enough to post on slowtwitch!
Saturday's ride called for 3 20 minute intervals of riding in my hammer zone with a cadence of 80 to 90. Coach E wants to see if lowering my cadence during training will help reduce the stress on my back by evening out my pedal stroke. Normally I ride at a cadence of above 95 (thanks to Coach Egg busting my butt last year) so riding at an average cadence of 85 feels like a constant grind on my legs. However, during my 2.5 hour ride on Sunday I experienced almost no back pain and only minor stiffness in my hip - plus I didn't loose too much speed! The new fit is freaking phenomenal, my power transition on it is stronger than before and the more aero position gives me greater efficiency to pedal harder, longer. In short, I'm getting faster on the bike so I'm psyched about it.
Best part of the ride was my blood sugar dropping to 128 after my second interval. Rather than panic, stop on the side on the road and wait, I continued on my 20 minute recovery after eating half a clif bar and downing a little extra nutrition mix. I tested prior to my next speed interval and was happy to see a blood sugar of 167. I'm starting to understand that extra water helps in the absorption of carbohydrates so that a lower blood sugar than desired doesn't have to end a training session.
Yesterday, a 2 hour run was on tap, a 2 hour run on the hottest freaking day of the summer. I had to wait for UPS to arrive with my nutrition, so my run was delayed until 5 pm. I messed up my pre-workout nutrition a bit and started with a BS of 357; I knew a low blood sugar wouldn't be a problem on this run! However the heat, that was a big problem!
30 minutes into the run I was soaked from head to toe, and not soaked like sweaty, soaked like I had just stood under a firehose. 45 minutes into the run my shoes had filled with sweat and were shooting out water with every step. I had to stop for a minute to ring out my socks they had become so heavy! An hour into the run I believe my skin was starting to slide off as I had lost so much water! Yet I still had speed intervals left to run.
An hour and 20 minutes into the run I hit my first speed interval, of course this just happened to coincide with reaching the 3 mile low grade uphill climb on the Northcounty Trailway. The first 4 intervals were all great, I had maintained a pace of 5 minute miles for most of the speed intervals and slowed to a 12 minute pace during the recovery intervals. On the 5th I finally understood why this week needed to be a recovery week. 30 seconds into my fifth and final speed interval my legs stopped. Much like the time when I tried to run with Moose and he simply dropped down onto the grass refusing to move any further, my legs came to a pounding halt and refused to move. They had filled with so much lactic acid and had become so heavy they might as well have been stuck in cement. I was happy with the effort and began to walk during my cool down.
20 minutes later I was back at my parents house after a combination of fat man shuffle and walking to finish up the run. After jumping into the pool and downing 4 glasses of water, I weighed myself and still had lost 8 lbs on my run!!!!! Needless to say I probably should have brought a little extra water with me.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Sprint To The Finish
This Saturday I will be competing in my first sprint triathlon - EVER! The Bear Mountain triathlon was supposed to be a sprint, but turned into a duathlon due to poor water quality so I guess that one didn't really count. So Saturday in Vincetown, NJ I'll swim 400 yards, bike 15 miles and run a 5k; I'm super psyched about it. My meathead ways have been craving an all out hammer fest for quite some time and this race gives me that opportunity.
I'll be bombastic about this, there is no reason for me not to do well in this race. The bike course is totally flat, the run course is short enough where I shouldn't have nutrition problems and the swim while disgusting will be short and warm. If I don't do well on the bike the only person I can blame is myself, a 15 mile flat bike course is suited perfectly for my strengths on the bike and my goal is to post one of the best times of the day on the bike leg. Last year the fastest bike split averaged about 24 mph and given weather conditions I think I can top that. This is the first race I'm going into putting actual performance pressure on myself - in all my previous races my goal was to do well but more importantly manage blood sugars and have fun. In this race my goal is to obliterate the bike course, a totally different mindset and one that has me really, really excited for the race.
I'm sure Kim will tell me before the race like she always does, "don't hammer." But to be honest, on a 15 mile flat bike course I can do nothing but! I love hammering on the bike, I love riding my bike fast and most of all I freaking love flats. There is something magical about feeling your quads push out huge watts on a big gear while the wind rushes into your face. Half the time I feel like a dog chasing down cars on flat roads, its just alot of fun. So yeah I can't wait to test and push myself on that bike course while I hammer away - this is what I do all that training for!
On a separate note, many people left a comment about not eating while my blood sugars are super high. While normally I would take that course of action when I'm in for a long training day after a long training week its not as easy a choice. Last year Lauren Antanucci did a metabolic rate test on me which showed if I did nothing but sit in a chair all day I'd need something like 2,000 calories to maintain my weight. My sweat rate rivals the sweat rate of a melting ice cube so that combination can lead to dangerous consequences if I don't take in electrolytes and protein during my workouts. Given that, I try and reduce my nutrition intake in those situations but can't abandon it entirely because of other nutritional consequences.
I'll be bombastic about this, there is no reason for me not to do well in this race. The bike course is totally flat, the run course is short enough where I shouldn't have nutrition problems and the swim while disgusting will be short and warm. If I don't do well on the bike the only person I can blame is myself, a 15 mile flat bike course is suited perfectly for my strengths on the bike and my goal is to post one of the best times of the day on the bike leg. Last year the fastest bike split averaged about 24 mph and given weather conditions I think I can top that. This is the first race I'm going into putting actual performance pressure on myself - in all my previous races my goal was to do well but more importantly manage blood sugars and have fun. In this race my goal is to obliterate the bike course, a totally different mindset and one that has me really, really excited for the race.
I'm sure Kim will tell me before the race like she always does, "don't hammer." But to be honest, on a 15 mile flat bike course I can do nothing but! I love hammering on the bike, I love riding my bike fast and most of all I freaking love flats. There is something magical about feeling your quads push out huge watts on a big gear while the wind rushes into your face. Half the time I feel like a dog chasing down cars on flat roads, its just alot of fun. So yeah I can't wait to test and push myself on that bike course while I hammer away - this is what I do all that training for!
On a separate note, many people left a comment about not eating while my blood sugars are super high. While normally I would take that course of action when I'm in for a long training day after a long training week its not as easy a choice. Last year Lauren Antanucci did a metabolic rate test on me which showed if I did nothing but sit in a chair all day I'd need something like 2,000 calories to maintain my weight. My sweat rate rivals the sweat rate of a melting ice cube so that combination can lead to dangerous consequences if I don't take in electrolytes and protein during my workouts. Given that, I try and reduce my nutrition intake in those situations but can't abandon it entirely because of other nutritional consequences.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Exercise & Basal Rates
Since moving to Boston for my summer internship I've been working out on a much more consistent basis than my schedule in C'Ville permitted. Seeing Kim train daily for IM Cozumel has given me extra incentive to work out (I can't let my gf make me look soft!) and with Coach E pushing me I have a great incentive for consistent exercise. However, what I forgot to calculate into my nutrition plan was the enormous effect increasing my daily exercise workload would have on my basal rates.
Over the past three weeks I've performed something like 30 hours of exercise and noticed a gradual reduction in my blood sugars. This week my blood sugars were attacked by a pack of rabid dogs so I've had to fight to maintain a blood sugar above 80. At the beginning of the week my basal rate was about 13.5 units of insulin per day, today my basal rate is down to 12.15 units and falling. Each day this week I've had at least three instances of blood sugars below 60 and on Wednesday night I had to have a full on carb fest to keep my blood sugar above 70.
This reminds me of the benefits and dangers of a type 1 diabetic undertaking arduous training. The huge benefit is that as my body becomes more responsive to insulin I'll be able to enjoy some of the foods I've had to avoid over the past year. But if I am not constantly monitoring my blood sugars during this transition period the chance of a really dangerous low is greatly enhanced. That relationship reinforces how essential it is to be vigilant in monitoring blood sugars and flexible enough to adapt environmental factors in blood sugar management.
Over the past three weeks I've performed something like 30 hours of exercise and noticed a gradual reduction in my blood sugars. This week my blood sugars were attacked by a pack of rabid dogs so I've had to fight to maintain a blood sugar above 80. At the beginning of the week my basal rate was about 13.5 units of insulin per day, today my basal rate is down to 12.15 units and falling. Each day this week I've had at least three instances of blood sugars below 60 and on Wednesday night I had to have a full on carb fest to keep my blood sugar above 70.
This reminds me of the benefits and dangers of a type 1 diabetic undertaking arduous training. The huge benefit is that as my body becomes more responsive to insulin I'll be able to enjoy some of the foods I've had to avoid over the past year. But if I am not constantly monitoring my blood sugars during this transition period the chance of a really dangerous low is greatly enhanced. That relationship reinforces how essential it is to be vigilant in monitoring blood sugars and flexible enough to adapt environmental factors in blood sugar management.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
IOB - How I Haven't Missed You
An increased training load brings all the old blood sugar demons with it, no ticket required. When I was on my own hodge-podge training plan I didn't have to try and squeeze in a workout, if life happened, life happened and I'd just as happily skip a workout as I would ride my bike for hours on end with no real goal in mind. However, now that I'm training under Coach E, there is no way I'm going to skip workouts just because life got in the way. I'm coachable to a fault which makes me something like Pavlov's dog but we'll leave that to another time.
Yesterday, Kim was home sick so when I got home from the internship I decided to help finish cleaning the apartment. We finally received our Rubbermaid Fast-Track storage system and both of us wanted to put it up right away to finally get some space in the "spare room". By the time we finished it was 7:15 pm and neither of us had eaten yet.
I woke up at 5:30 yesterday to get my swim workout in, but throughout the day my blood sugar remained somewhat high. At 7:15 after a couple extra units of insulin my bs was still in the 190s, I needed to take some insulin in for our left over Chinese food before my hour and 45 minute bike ride but also knew I didn't want too much IOB to create a low during exercise. With that I gave myself 3.5 units of insulin for what I assumed was a 100 to 120 gram carbohydrate meal.
At 8:30 I jumped on the trainer for a killer workout that Coach E prescribed. 40 minutes into the ride I started to feel sapped of some leg power and decided to test. When I saw a bs of 90 I knew my workouts were done for the night - just too much IOB to recover from that safely. 25 minutes later my blood sugar had rebounded to just 100, and an hour after that i dropped to 71. I made the right call jumping off the trainer but it reminds me of how exact I need to be to complete all my workouts - looks like I might be moving towards a year of chicken sausage and brown rice!
Yesterday, Kim was home sick so when I got home from the internship I decided to help finish cleaning the apartment. We finally received our Rubbermaid Fast-Track storage system and both of us wanted to put it up right away to finally get some space in the "spare room". By the time we finished it was 7:15 pm and neither of us had eaten yet.
I woke up at 5:30 yesterday to get my swim workout in, but throughout the day my blood sugar remained somewhat high. At 7:15 after a couple extra units of insulin my bs was still in the 190s, I needed to take some insulin in for our left over Chinese food before my hour and 45 minute bike ride but also knew I didn't want too much IOB to create a low during exercise. With that I gave myself 3.5 units of insulin for what I assumed was a 100 to 120 gram carbohydrate meal.
At 8:30 I jumped on the trainer for a killer workout that Coach E prescribed. 40 minutes into the ride I started to feel sapped of some leg power and decided to test. When I saw a bs of 90 I knew my workouts were done for the night - just too much IOB to recover from that safely. 25 minutes later my blood sugar had rebounded to just 100, and an hour after that i dropped to 71. I made the right call jumping off the trainer but it reminds me of how exact I need to be to complete all my workouts - looks like I might be moving towards a year of chicken sausage and brown rice!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
When The Food Just Won't Digest
Ever encounter a situation where no matter how many carbs you take in, your blood sugar just won't respond the way it is supposed to? I'm still trying to get a grip on this phenomenon but because it happens so rarely I can't totally grasp what causes it.
Wednesday was speed work day, with 2 miles of my goal marathon pace, then 4, 1 mile tempo pace repeats (about 30 to 40 seconds faster than goal pace) followed by 2 miles of marathon pace. I knew I'd need a decent amount of glucose on board for this run but nothing prepared me for the amount of food I'd have to eat right before it! I was a little low at 1:30 pm for lunch with a blood sugar of 71, so I had chicken with rice and a big chocolate chip cookie (training allows such delights!); I calculated 80 grams of carbs and bolused accordingly. an hour later I turned my pump down to 40% basal rate and had a clif bar (42 grams of carbs), at 3:30 I headed out for my 15 mile drive to the only flat stretch in Charlottesville and took in about 100 grams of carbs via my nutrition mix. However, when I got out of my car my blood sugar was just 108! I felt like my blood sugar was high, but my meter wasn't showing that - 2 more finger pricks confirmed a blood sugar below 115. Since I was training with a friend going home wasn't a real option.
So I did what any insane person would do, ate half a clif builder bar, 3 luna slices and a Gu - all in about 50 grams of carbs and waited until my bs started to trend up. After 7 minutes my blood sugar was up to 130 and I knew I had enough carbs digesting to make it through a Russian winter without eating so I headed out for my run. I finished my run with a blood sugar of 65 and was probably lower than that at points during the tempo intervals but know that my blood sugar reading wasn't indicative of the glucose in my system. An hour after my run my blood sugar was 240, so at least some digestion finally took place!
I have yet to figure out this absorption rate issue, I was well hydrated, hadn't eaten anything overly fatty over the past few days and there were no environment issues to speak of. I guess sometimes my stomach just wants to take the day off.
Wednesday was speed work day, with 2 miles of my goal marathon pace, then 4, 1 mile tempo pace repeats (about 30 to 40 seconds faster than goal pace) followed by 2 miles of marathon pace. I knew I'd need a decent amount of glucose on board for this run but nothing prepared me for the amount of food I'd have to eat right before it! I was a little low at 1:30 pm for lunch with a blood sugar of 71, so I had chicken with rice and a big chocolate chip cookie (training allows such delights!); I calculated 80 grams of carbs and bolused accordingly. an hour later I turned my pump down to 40% basal rate and had a clif bar (42 grams of carbs), at 3:30 I headed out for my 15 mile drive to the only flat stretch in Charlottesville and took in about 100 grams of carbs via my nutrition mix. However, when I got out of my car my blood sugar was just 108! I felt like my blood sugar was high, but my meter wasn't showing that - 2 more finger pricks confirmed a blood sugar below 115. Since I was training with a friend going home wasn't a real option.
So I did what any insane person would do, ate half a clif builder bar, 3 luna slices and a Gu - all in about 50 grams of carbs and waited until my bs started to trend up. After 7 minutes my blood sugar was up to 130 and I knew I had enough carbs digesting to make it through a Russian winter without eating so I headed out for my run. I finished my run with a blood sugar of 65 and was probably lower than that at points during the tempo intervals but know that my blood sugar reading wasn't indicative of the glucose in my system. An hour after my run my blood sugar was 240, so at least some digestion finally took place!
I have yet to figure out this absorption rate issue, I was well hydrated, hadn't eaten anything overly fatty over the past few days and there were no environment issues to speak of. I guess sometimes my stomach just wants to take the day off.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Saving A Training Run
With 40 to 50 miles already logged in February, Marathon Training is in full swing! Yesterday, it was about 65 degrees in Charlottesville which was a huge temperature change from the 30 degree run I had last week. With the sudden change in temperature I had to adapt my nutrition plan to ensure safe blood sugars for my run.
The sudden increase in temperature had some buds forming on trees so my allergies were killing me from the moment I woke up. I had to find batteries for my polar stride sensor prior to my run, apparently a size 2430 battery is the least popular battery known to man as it took me about an hour to finally find a store that carried them; thank you Batteries Plus! Finally at Ridge Rd. about an hour later than I had hopped my blood sugar spiked to 323 (I had my usual clif bar and nutrition an hour before I was supposed to run – that turned into 2 hours). Knowing that 323 was too high of a blood sugar to start with, I took in .5 units of insulin and headed out for my run.
2.5 miles into my run my blood sugar had already dropped to 171 and I knew a blood sugar low was right around the corner. In adjusting for my high blood sugar I neglected to consider the high temps and what that would do to my metabolic rate. With the higher temperature my normally high sweat rate becomes well disgusting, this causes my body to burn glucose at a higher rate thus increasing my need for carbohydrates. Since my body hasn't yet adjusted to spring temperatures my nutrition needs were that much more.
At 171 I decided to take in the rest of my first nutrition bottle about 25 minutes early; 2.5 miles later my blood sugar was down to 131. At that point I decided to pound my entire second nutrition bottle and second water bottle – each was supposed to last me 45 minutes to an hour. I knew that by taking in 80 grams of carbohydrates and slowing my training pace from 9:15 to 9:45 minutes per mile (for 1.5 miles) I'd be able to spike my blood sugar high enough to run the last 5 miles to my car to get in enough nutrition to finish up the last 2 miles.
The strategy worked perfectly, when I reached my car my blood sugar was 121, better yet my fresher legs allowed me to run my last 2 miles at an 8:30 pace. No matter how much I train, every experience brings about a new blood sugar management lesson!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Lake Placid Nutrition & Pacing Strategy
Coach Egg and I are finalizing the details of my race day strategy but what you see below is pretty much what I'll be following on the 20th:
| Pre Race | |||
| 4:30 AM | 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with peanut butter | ||
| coffee | |||
| 5:30 AM | Turn pump down to 40% basal rate | ||
| 6:00 AM | Cliff Bar | ||
| 6:15 AM | Pre-race nutrition mix | ||
| 6:55 AM | Pre-Swim Mix | ||
| Swim | |||
| 7:25 - 7:35 AM | Power Gel (chocolate) should be on the home turn when taken | ||
| Mid-way | Test blood sugar, if below 180 take nutrition mix | ||
| 1.5 Miles Into Swim | Power Gel (chocolate) | ||
| T1 | |||
| Post Wet Suit | Test | ||
| If Blood Sugar is below 160 take nutrition mix | |||
| Bike | |||
| Every 15 Minutes | Sip on nutrition | ||
| Water Stops | Change water bottle at each stop - should go through 3 Aero bottles per hour | ||
| After descent into Keane | Test & have 1/2 Clif Bar | ||
| After climb into Wilmington | Test & have 1/2 Clif Bar | ||
| After Wilderness Inn II | Ramp up nutrition intake, keep bike in small front ring | ||
| Special Needs Pick Up | Test | ||
| Repeat Above for 2nd lap | |||
| Pacing & Cadence | |||
| Climb into Keane | Cadence should remain at or above 90, speed should be around 15 mph | ||
| Route 9N | Keep pace under 24 mph with a cadence of 100 - don't hammer! | ||
| Climb into Wilmington | Small gear and spin, don't get frustrated, speeds will top out at 11 mph | ||
| Out & Back | Keep pace under 24 mph with a cadence of 100 at the fast part - remember the hills and don't burn the legs | ||
| 86 First Part | Mostly downhill, large front ring, cadence of 90 and speeds of 20ish | ||
| Last 11 Miles | If you're not in the small ring, you're wrong! After Whiteface and before the Cherries you can get speed - don't be tempted to shift to big ring; smooth pedal strokes, Papa Bear is waiting and you want your legs fresh, cadence better be above 90 to get the lactic acid out, remember to drink and take in nutrition mix | ||
| Special Needs Pick Up | Don't worry about your time and relax - still a long day to go; patience and don't be obsessed with the negative split, just follow the same strategy | ||
| T2 | |||
| After Bike Is Racked | Test | ||
| If Blood Sugar is below 160 take nutrition mix | |||
| Run | |||
| Each Aid Station | 3 cups of water, if cups are less than 1/2 way filled have 4 cups | ||
| Between Each Aid Station | Sip on nutrition mix, if carbohydrate intake at aid station, skip nutrition mix | ||
| Test | Every 5 miles (about every 45 minutes) | ||
| Pacing | |||
| First 13 | Head out at a 9:30 pace, increase to 9 minutes if feeling strong after 3 miles | ||
| Second 13 | At mid-way point, increase to an 8:40 pace, hold for 7 miles, if legs are available increase pace by 10 to second increments each mile, with 3 miles left empty the tank | ||
| IT'S OK TO STOP AND STRETCH! | |||
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Cumulative Carbohydrates
Lauren has really been stressing the effect of cumulative carbohydrates to me during our nutritional meetings. For a "normal" athlete running at a cumulative carbohydrate deficit will cause them to feel lethargic or just crappy overall, this will eventually lead to bonking during a workout or not having the energy to perform. For a T1 diabetic a carbohydrate deficit will eventually manifest itself in a low.
For every 2 hours of exercise I'm supposed to have about 500 grams of carbohydrates. Pre-exercise I ingest 60 grams of carbs and during my workouts I have about 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour. From Sunday morning until Tuesday night I had exercised for 10 hours; therefore I should have consumed 2500 grams of carbs over those 3 days. Sunday I had around 700 grams of carbohydrates, about 300 less than I nutritionally needed; Monday I had about 500 grams of carbs and Tuesday I added 600 grams of carbohydrates. All together that led to a 500 to 800 gram carbohydrate deficit.
Several factors led to this:
1 - It's really hard to eat that many grams of carbs! Sure I could go to McDonald's and gobble up a few Big Macs but that wouldn't really be the best option.
2 - I should have consumed at least 1 more during exercise drink on my Sunday ride.
3 - On my Tuesday ride since it was an easy spin and I was running a bit high that morning I didn't drink any of my workout mix.
All of this manifested itself in a low that was really hard to fight through last night. For dinner I had a full cup of pasta mixed with ground beef, eggplant and red sauce - should have been at least 70 grams of carbs. Less than an hour after dinner my blood sugar had dropped to 69 so I had a snickers ice cream bar; an hour after that my blood sugar was still in the 50s! Two glasses of orange juice later I was able to stabilize my blood sugars in the low 100s.
Given all this, I had to skip my morning bike ride today. If I had worked out for an hour and 1/2 the rest of my week would have been ruined, I simply wouldn't have been able to "catch up" on my carbohydrate intake. As is, I'm going to have to eat like a hungry hungry hippo today to make sure I balance out my needed carbs. The hardest part of this is finding carbohydrate rich foods that aren't processed and don't come in powder form. For breakfast I had a glass of OJ and egg whites on toast - only 600 more grams of carbs to go!
For every 2 hours of exercise I'm supposed to have about 500 grams of carbohydrates. Pre-exercise I ingest 60 grams of carbs and during my workouts I have about 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour. From Sunday morning until Tuesday night I had exercised for 10 hours; therefore I should have consumed 2500 grams of carbs over those 3 days. Sunday I had around 700 grams of carbohydrates, about 300 less than I nutritionally needed; Monday I had about 500 grams of carbs and Tuesday I added 600 grams of carbohydrates. All together that led to a 500 to 800 gram carbohydrate deficit.
Several factors led to this:
1 - It's really hard to eat that many grams of carbs! Sure I could go to McDonald's and gobble up a few Big Macs but that wouldn't really be the best option.
2 - I should have consumed at least 1 more during exercise drink on my Sunday ride.
3 - On my Tuesday ride since it was an easy spin and I was running a bit high that morning I didn't drink any of my workout mix.
All of this manifested itself in a low that was really hard to fight through last night. For dinner I had a full cup of pasta mixed with ground beef, eggplant and red sauce - should have been at least 70 grams of carbs. Less than an hour after dinner my blood sugar had dropped to 69 so I had a snickers ice cream bar; an hour after that my blood sugar was still in the 50s! Two glasses of orange juice later I was able to stabilize my blood sugars in the low 100s.
Given all this, I had to skip my morning bike ride today. If I had worked out for an hour and 1/2 the rest of my week would have been ruined, I simply wouldn't have been able to "catch up" on my carbohydrate intake. As is, I'm going to have to eat like a hungry hungry hippo today to make sure I balance out my needed carbs. The hardest part of this is finding carbohydrate rich foods that aren't processed and don't come in powder form. For breakfast I had a glass of OJ and egg whites on toast - only 600 more grams of carbs to go!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Now We're Training!
Ironman lore is filled with stories of training day in and day out for hours on end, of the ability to consume an entire pizza without putting on a pound and of body aches that would make Earl Campbell wince in pain. After months of building a base I began to beg Coach Eggers to push me, to make me scream in pain and to scratch tooth and nail to the end of each training week. For me the journey is alot more special if it's hard as hell, by giving something your all you truly know what you have accomplished. To drive home my desire for her to bring the pain I sent Coach Egg this simple e-mail:
This morning as I sit here with my quads on fire, knees swollen, back screaming and eyes dreary, I know Coach Egg brought it, but each moment I push myself, each drop of sweat is a step closer to the finish line at Placid. My training week was in a word, ridiculous, and it's only going to get harder from here.
My 16+ hours of training last week included waking up at 5am a few days to ride in Central Park or go for a run. The nice weather finally arrived in NYC which definitely gave me some extra incentive to wake up early. My 14 mile run on Saturday and 85 mile ride on Sunday were awesome. I met my target pace and blood sugar goals for each activity and felt strong at the end of both.
Best of all, the EFS and Carbo-Pro electrolyte mix I'm currently using helped me avoid ANY blood sugar lows during training throughout the week. The highlight of the week was eating an entire pizza (small) from Two Boots last night and bolusing for it perfectly!!!! Insane training weeks have their perks.
However, with all the positives from last week there are some things that without question need work:
1 - Improve my climbing ability on my bike. I'm a strong cyclist especially on the flats but my speed suffers (in comparison to others) on hills. I'm working with Cliff this week on cycling technique so that should help.
2 - Stop being discouraged in the pool. Since my debacle in the water at Bassman I've been frustrated by lap swimming. I just don't see how I'm preparing myself for open water swimming by training in a controlled environment. I'm going to look for places near my parents house in Putnam County this week to practice open water swimming on the weekends. I know I just need to prove to myself that I won't drown when the water is cold; but that is easier said than done.
3 - Hydrate more, especially on the bike. I saw Lauren last week and she is still worried that I'm not taking in enough water. Both Lauren and Brian have stressed to me that electrolyte/ carb drinks are not hydration sources; endurance athletes need to take in pure water to hydrate properly. I may buy one of those damn aero-bottles/ jet streams this week and try it out on my 100 miler this weekend, hopefully that will keep my legs fresher towards the end of the ride.
And a huge congratulations to Coach Eggers for her strong performance at the Gulf Coast Half Last Weekend!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Pre-Workout Basal Rates
Over the past month and a half a smaller percentage of my workouts have been cut short by exercise induced lows than the percentage of workouts cut short in my previous 10 months of training. In addition to using PBN's Ironman Cocktail and EFS I've experimented with my basal rates. This experimentation has led to much more stable blood sugars during exercise.
Under the advice of my previous endocrinologist I was reducing my basal rate to 5% or 10% of the hourly delivery 90 to 120 minutes prior to exercise. This effectively reduced the novolog in my body to zero, meaning I was exercising with no insulin in my system. After reading a few articles on sports medicine and nutrition it occurred to me that insulin was necessary to help move carbohydrates from your stomach and blood stream to your muscles. Without insulin the carbs I was ingesting sat in my digestive track and were not transferred to the body parts that required energy. I think this is why when I'd return my pump to normal settings after an exercise low my blood sugar would sky rocket.
After 6 weeks of experimentation I have settled on turning my pump down to 30% of an hour's full basal rate and maintain that delivery rate of insulin for the duration of exercise (except swimming when my pump is detached). This change has allowed me to maintain a blood sugar of 150 to 190 during exercise while more importantly transferring energy to my muscles. Granted my fitness improves weekly but over the past 6 weeks I have not had the fatigue, cramping or bonking issues I ran into over the winter. From both a diabetic and nutritional standpoint I'm in a much better place now.
All this experimentation does not solve the most annoying issue about insulin pump therapy however. Why doesn't the pump allow us to set an advanced rate reduction?!? If I plan on working out in the morning I need to change my basal rate pattern from pattern A to pattern B. Pattern B is a carbon copy of Pattern A except I manually calculate 30% of whatever basal rate I would have an hour before exercise (or in this case before I wake up). I'm constantly changing Pattern B's time intervals or basal rate. This extra step probably takes more calculation than any other I've had to make as a diabetic. It would be alot easier to program my pump in advance 5am rather than having to calculate the correct basal rate and time interval.
Under the advice of my previous endocrinologist I was reducing my basal rate to 5% or 10% of the hourly delivery 90 to 120 minutes prior to exercise. This effectively reduced the novolog in my body to zero, meaning I was exercising with no insulin in my system. After reading a few articles on sports medicine and nutrition it occurred to me that insulin was necessary to help move carbohydrates from your stomach and blood stream to your muscles. Without insulin the carbs I was ingesting sat in my digestive track and were not transferred to the body parts that required energy. I think this is why when I'd return my pump to normal settings after an exercise low my blood sugar would sky rocket.
After 6 weeks of experimentation I have settled on turning my pump down to 30% of an hour's full basal rate and maintain that delivery rate of insulin for the duration of exercise (except swimming when my pump is detached). This change has allowed me to maintain a blood sugar of 150 to 190 during exercise while more importantly transferring energy to my muscles. Granted my fitness improves weekly but over the past 6 weeks I have not had the fatigue, cramping or bonking issues I ran into over the winter. From both a diabetic and nutritional standpoint I'm in a much better place now.
All this experimentation does not solve the most annoying issue about insulin pump therapy however. Why doesn't the pump allow us to set an advanced rate reduction?!? If I plan on working out in the morning I need to change my basal rate pattern from pattern A to pattern B. Pattern B is a carbon copy of Pattern A except I manually calculate 30% of whatever basal rate I would have an hour before exercise (or in this case before I wake up). I'm constantly changing Pattern B's time intervals or basal rate. This extra step probably takes more calculation than any other I've had to make as a diabetic. It would be alot easier to program my pump in advance 5am rather than having to calculate the correct basal rate and time interval.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sports Nutrition Meets Diabetic Thought
I was reading through some of the triathlon websites I visit and came across a great article on xtri.com. Essentially the article discusses the evolution of sports nutrition over the years and how much glucose the body needs for a given activity level. Some of the stuff in the article is pretty technical but alot of the general principles can be used for treating lows or really just going about each day of a Type 1 life.
One passage in particular really struck my interest however:
"For instance, could protein make carbohydrates drive into their metabolic garages even faster? The answer was yes, says Portman, who has since gone on to carve out a growing niche of sports-nutrition research and commerce dedicated to the question. "They realized that protein strongly stimulates insulin release." Insulin speeds muscle cells' absorption of blood glucose by as much as 50 percent, so when you're burning stored carbohydrates at a break-neck pace, speeding up the entry of blood glucose is vital. Insulin also moves amino acids into muscle, blunts the release of the stress hormone cortisol, and stimulates blood flow to the muscle."
We have been taught by our CDEs to turn our pumps down and reduce the level of insulin in our bodies prior to exercise. For people who no longer produce any insulin they need to maintain some basal rate during exercise; however for someone like me who is still "honey mooning" my body produces insulin from time to time. Since I use sports nutrition products that incorporate protein and carbohydrates I wonder if alot of my exercise induced lows are due to insulin stimulation. Further if by turning my pump down too much am I limiting the absorption of blood sugar into my muscles and forcing it to stay in my stomach? This is a mystery that will require further research.
One passage in particular really struck my interest however:
"For instance, could protein make carbohydrates drive into their metabolic garages even faster? The answer was yes, says Portman, who has since gone on to carve out a growing niche of sports-nutrition research and commerce dedicated to the question. "They realized that protein strongly stimulates insulin release." Insulin speeds muscle cells' absorption of blood glucose by as much as 50 percent, so when you're burning stored carbohydrates at a break-neck pace, speeding up the entry of blood glucose is vital. Insulin also moves amino acids into muscle, blunts the release of the stress hormone cortisol, and stimulates blood flow to the muscle."
We have been taught by our CDEs to turn our pumps down and reduce the level of insulin in our bodies prior to exercise. For people who no longer produce any insulin they need to maintain some basal rate during exercise; however for someone like me who is still "honey mooning" my body produces insulin from time to time. Since I use sports nutrition products that incorporate protein and carbohydrates I wonder if alot of my exercise induced lows are due to insulin stimulation. Further if by turning my pump down too much am I limiting the absorption of blood sugar into my muscles and forcing it to stay in my stomach? This is a mystery that will require further research.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Physiology, Sports Nutrition & Diabetes
I met with Lauren (my sports nutritionist) for about an hour yesterday to go over my bs logs from the past couple weeks. I took more care to document everything I ate and tested more often over the past 2 weeks than I ever had before. Lauren was able to utilize all this information and came up with some pretty awesome answers to my questions yesterday.
As she was reviewing my logs with me she kept punching numbers into her calculator and giving me firm suggestions of how many grams of carbs or protein I needed at specific intervals throughout the day. Two items of real interest were:
1 - On Saturday I woke up a bit later (ok alot later) than usual and ate a bacon, egg and cheese for breakfast at like 10:50. From 10:50 until 12:30 I went pumpless and thought I would have no problem getting through my trainer ride with some accelerade. Lauren asked the simple question "when do you normally have lunch?" Although I had eaten a substantial meal an hour and 1/2 pre-workout my body's muscles were craving food at 12pm (my normal lunchtime). Since I rode straight through lunch and didn't eat until 2pm my blood sugar was screwed up for the rest of the day. Essentially even if I didn't have diabetes I would have been cranky and miserable but since I have diabetes the symptoms manifested in a low.
2 - On Sunday 45 minutes before my 10k was to start I had a blood sugar of 198 which I thought would hold for the next 55 minutes prior to my first accel-gel. However, 10 minutes before the start of the race or 30 minutes after I was 198 my bs was down to 115. This one really confused me but Lauren's explanation made perfect sense. Due to my body's physiology I burn sugar pretty efficiently (high muscle mass) so while I had a "perfect" pre-race breakfast that breakfast was 2 and 1/2 hours before the start of the race. I need to ingest up to 80 grams of carbs for that period and the clif bar I ravaged before the start of the race actually gave me the perfect # of carbs to start.
All the information she provided was based on some equation that incorporates body weight, % of body fat and activity level. I'll let her master's from Berkeley figure all that stuff out and pretty much just obey her like Pavlov's dog.
In other very exciting news I received my interview invite from the Darden MBA program at the University of Virginia. One of the biggest hurdles in getting into an MBA program is receiving the interview invite - the schools extend invites to about 40% of the applicants. The wait for the invite is probably the most stressful part of the whole process; yesterday it was like 1,000 lbs were lifted from my shoulders when my status on their webpage was updated.
As she was reviewing my logs with me she kept punching numbers into her calculator and giving me firm suggestions of how many grams of carbs or protein I needed at specific intervals throughout the day. Two items of real interest were:
1 - On Saturday I woke up a bit later (ok alot later) than usual and ate a bacon, egg and cheese for breakfast at like 10:50. From 10:50 until 12:30 I went pumpless and thought I would have no problem getting through my trainer ride with some accelerade. Lauren asked the simple question "when do you normally have lunch?" Although I had eaten a substantial meal an hour and 1/2 pre-workout my body's muscles were craving food at 12pm (my normal lunchtime). Since I rode straight through lunch and didn't eat until 2pm my blood sugar was screwed up for the rest of the day. Essentially even if I didn't have diabetes I would have been cranky and miserable but since I have diabetes the symptoms manifested in a low.
2 - On Sunday 45 minutes before my 10k was to start I had a blood sugar of 198 which I thought would hold for the next 55 minutes prior to my first accel-gel. However, 10 minutes before the start of the race or 30 minutes after I was 198 my bs was down to 115. This one really confused me but Lauren's explanation made perfect sense. Due to my body's physiology I burn sugar pretty efficiently (high muscle mass) so while I had a "perfect" pre-race breakfast that breakfast was 2 and 1/2 hours before the start of the race. I need to ingest up to 80 grams of carbs for that period and the clif bar I ravaged before the start of the race actually gave me the perfect # of carbs to start.
All the information she provided was based on some equation that incorporates body weight, % of body fat and activity level. I'll let her master's from Berkeley figure all that stuff out and pretty much just obey her like Pavlov's dog.
In other very exciting news I received my interview invite from the Darden MBA program at the University of Virginia. One of the biggest hurdles in getting into an MBA program is receiving the interview invite - the schools extend invites to about 40% of the applicants. The wait for the invite is probably the most stressful part of the whole process; yesterday it was like 1,000 lbs were lifted from my shoulders when my status on their webpage was updated.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Nutrition Energy
On the day before Thanksgiving I have something to be very thankful for. I've searched high and low for a sports nutritionist that could meet my complex needs as a diabetic and as an athlete. Some programs I found like fit4d.com sounded fantastic but the fact that the nutritionist wasn't local made me a bit hesitant. Other nutritionist I spoke with were famous in their industry but didn't have the expertise required to deal with a diabetic athlete. But yesterday I had a close to 2 hour conversation with Lauren Antonucci, of NutritionEnergy.com.
Lauren has completed 3 Ironmans (Lake Placid, Wisconsin and the now defunct Utah); finished countless marathons and is very active in the triathlon community. She has the education credentials I was looking for including a Graduate Fellowship from Cal Berkeley in Nutritional Biochemistry. This fellowship is really impressive, the Haas program at Berkeley is one of my top choices from an MBA program and getting any sort of grant from them for research and education means you're pretty freakin smart. And most importantly she is a CDE who in my initial conversations displayed a real knowledge of diabetes (yesterday she even told me that she hates that Type 1 and Type 2 are under the same umbrella!)
Anyway, I met with Lauren for close to two hours yesterday. She took detailed notes to comprehend the challenges I'm facing and make better sense out of the nutrition logs I created. She took the time to get it right and understand my needs, for the first time in all of this I felt like I wasn't alone. I've had many people help me along the way but all of us including me were just "guessing" at the right answer - Lauren laid out a plan. Walking out of that office knowing I'm supposed to eat 50 - 60 g of carbs before a run or swim mixed with 15 - 20g of protein lifted a 1,000 pound weight off my shoulders. This plan may be no better than the suggestion of "just eat a bagel" but for me having numbers makes all the difference in the world. Thank you Lauren.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Lauren has completed 3 Ironmans (Lake Placid, Wisconsin and the now defunct Utah); finished countless marathons and is very active in the triathlon community. She has the education credentials I was looking for including a Graduate Fellowship from Cal Berkeley in Nutritional Biochemistry. This fellowship is really impressive, the Haas program at Berkeley is one of my top choices from an MBA program and getting any sort of grant from them for research and education means you're pretty freakin smart. And most importantly she is a CDE who in my initial conversations displayed a real knowledge of diabetes (yesterday she even told me that she hates that Type 1 and Type 2 are under the same umbrella!)
Anyway, I met with Lauren for close to two hours yesterday. She took detailed notes to comprehend the challenges I'm facing and make better sense out of the nutrition logs I created. She took the time to get it right and understand my needs, for the first time in all of this I felt like I wasn't alone. I've had many people help me along the way but all of us including me were just "guessing" at the right answer - Lauren laid out a plan. Walking out of that office knowing I'm supposed to eat 50 - 60 g of carbs before a run or swim mixed with 15 - 20g of protein lifted a 1,000 pound weight off my shoulders. This plan may be no better than the suggestion of "just eat a bagel" but for me having numbers makes all the difference in the world. Thank you Lauren.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
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