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!

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!

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.

The Psychology of Diabetes - When Do You Tell

A striking thought came to me at Darden Days this past weekend. Darden Days is the University of Virginia's admitted MBA student "sell weekend," so I was around about 300 of my future classmates for the first time. Several of the future students know me as the guy who is training for an Ironman (we have an on-line triathlon group) but few know the reasons behind why I signed up for Lake Placid. As I held my hands under a desk to test before our mock case and hurriedly gobbled up 1/2 a clif bar to treat a low I realized; I'm not always forthcoming about my disease.

It isn't that I hide my disease (obviously; I blog about it and let the JDRF write an article about me) but when I introduce myself to others I don't let Type 1 diabetes define me. Two future classmates are quickly becoming close friends of mine, I've hung out with each twice in NYC and spent the majority of the weekend with them at UVA. Neither knew that I had Type 1 and as fate would have it, Rob's older brother has juvenile diabetes (a future classmate who knows how to recognize lows is a god send). Jacki had originally thought that my pump was a cell phone and Rob hadn't a clue until he saw me test in our hotel room late Friday night.

Those that know me as a Triathlete asked if I "win my age groups," or "if this will be my first Ironman." To those that don't know the motivation behind my triathlon training I'm simply a guy chasing glory or athletic challenges. When I expose the reasons behind this crazy dream the attitude of the conversation changes to one of inspiration from pure athletic pursuits. It was a great feeling to have 3 people whom I let know my motivation for the Ironman pause and say something to the effect of "that's really cool." I guess more than anything this past weekend let me realize that diabetes will never define who I am but will push me to make sure it never does.

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-

And It Begins.....

On Sunday I will compete in my first triathlon of the season. The Bassman triathlon is an Olympic distance event at Bass River State Park in New Jersey. For a 1/2 mile swim, 28 mile bike and 4.2 mile run my training, endurance, nutrition and blood sugar management will all be put to the test. I have been awaiting April 27th like a little kid awaits Christmas. Competition drives me, beyond my desire to inspire others is a slight lack of confidence in everything that I do. The fear of failure, the fear of not living up to expectations has always pushed me to work harder, work longer, work better. This desire to prove myself on every level is what pushes me to accomplish more, it is what drives me towards success. Sunday will answer all those questions of doubt. Sunday is the first step in my goal to crossing the finish line at Ironman Lake Placid; Sunday is the measuring stick that will let me begin to prove to myself that I am still the athlete I was prior to my diagnosis; Sunday is my first true test.

The Search For A Perfect Shoe

I'm the type of person who will research until they are blue in the face before they buy something. My manical desire to find the product that best fits me has created some arguments in relationships in the past and well has driven me close to insanity. While this method works great for finding the perfect TV, car or other normal consumer good it does not work for running shoes. Reading reviews of running shoes is like reading a parents review of 5th grade play. The details will be there but in the end the reviewer won't tell you what is really good or really bad about the shoe, the only way to know what works best is to try them.

Since I was bitten by the triathlon bug I have tried no less than 4 pairs of sneakers. I've fallen victim to technology, I've believed in the latest fad and betrayed better judgement by listening to some salesman in a running store; below are the shoes I tried and the stories behind them:

BROOKS GLYCERIN

My first attempt at finding a shoe that worked with my body mechanics was the Brooks Glycerin. A Manhattan sneaker store determined that I was a mild pronator with a medium arch and had me give the Glycerin a go on their treadmill. This shoe was really comfortable and kept my knees and back feeling fresh but the honeymoon was short lived. About three weeks into wearing these sneakers my big toe on my left foot swelled up and would wake me up at night as it throbbed. Turned out that since Brooks promotes more of a mid-foot than a forefoot strike the sneakers had a tendency to put too much pressure on my big toe causing the joint to become inflamed.

End Result: Sold on slowtwtich for $50

NEWTON GRAVITY TRAINER

Newton Running has produced the most controversial running shoes in the past few decades. The sneakers are unlike anything I had ever run in. To promote forefoot running the shoes utilize "lugs" underneath the balls of your feet making the heel higher than the toe area. This is supposed to mimic barefoot or natural running. I found the Newtons to be incredible. Without question they were the fastest shoes I have tried and my easy pace was an 8 minute 30 second mile, with tempo runs breaking the 7 minute mark. However, the shoes had a fatal flaw for me. A big reason why I was unable to run in the Shamrock Marathon was becasue of the Newtons. For each run I did over an hour I'd start to get cramps in my calves, after 10 miles these cramps would become dehabilitating and at one point I fell down in Central Park to crawl over to a bench. Originally I had believed that this was due to nutrition and hydration until I realized that the Newtons were forcing my ankle to flex too much during my stride, never allowing my calf to relax (the muscle was contracted the entire time). Since ditching the Newton my calf cramps have gone away.

End Result: Pain > Results, sitting in the bottom of my closet

SAUCONY HURRICANE 10

A new Road Runner Sports opened up in Paramus, NJ recently. The opening was pretty well aligned with my ephinay about the Newtons so I hopped in my car, headed across the GW and met with them for a shoe fitting. Road Runner Sports has all sorts of fancy gadgets to figure out arch type, stride type and all that - they even have you run barefoot on a treadmill to see your natural running style. Similar to Jack Rabbit the RRS guys recommended a slight stability shoe but one with some beef for longer training runs. The Hurricane 10s have been great, I feel like I can run forever in the shoes and have no calf, knee or back pain. The shoe is a bit heavy for a race shoe but for training they are tremendous. My long distance mile splits at an easy pace are around 8 minutes 40 seconds and in tempo runs I can easily hold a 7 and 1/2 minute pace - a bit slower than the Newtons but without the pain I can run longer and more often.

End Result: Great training shoe but I wouldn't wear it for racing

SAUCONY FASTWITCH 3

I may be jumping the gun on declaring my run for this shoe but my god is it AWESOME. Last night I did my first long training brick of the season and these shoes felt simply incredible. The outer mesh provides just enough stability to keep your foot from sliding around but is so light that the shoe feels like a feather. The sole is firm and very responsive. These shoes are fast - very fast. Coach Eggers had me run 25 minutes at an easy pace last night then I was to "lay it down" for the last 5 minutes. For the first 25 minutes of the run I maintained an 8:30 pace and in the last 5 minutes I upped the speed to a 6:30 pace, no calf problems, no knee issues - I think I've found my racer. Plus who can argue with the orange color - they simply have to be fast, right?

End Result: This seasons racer and thus far my favorite shoe