Transitions & The Arctic South

In case you haven't heard the Mid-Atlantic is the new North Pole as we have received about 400 feet of snow in the past couple of weeks. Having grown up in the Northeast, snow normally doesn't bother me but since the Charlottesville plowers like to leave snow banks in the middle of the road it is a considerably less enjoyable experience here than it was up North. Last weekend the Darden folks headed out to Snowshoe, West Virginia for a weekend of skiing, I had planned to return home on Saturday to get my weekend workouts in but opted to leave Friday since I thought dealing with the start of the blizzard would be better than dealing with the aftermath. Six hours and 200 miles later I finally got back to my apartment and was set for my weekend workouts – well the ones I could control.

Last weekend I had a 70 mile bike ride and a little self-directed indoor triathlon with a 2,500 yard swim, 45 minute bike and 1.5 hour run with tempo intervals. Due to the weather the 70 mile ride was changed to a wonderful 2.5 hour trainer ride that totally kicked my butt, at least I could control what happened inside my apartment; a different experience than I would have the following day. On Sunday I woke up and headed to the pool at 10:30 am (it doesn't open till 10am on the weekends), got in a solid swim and then came home for my 45 minute trainer ride, then the fun started. I realized that the roads were in no condition to run on Sunday so I decided to go to the gym to try and get in the 1.5 hour run. There was only 1 treadmill open at the AFC and when the speed got above 4 mph it squeaked uncontrollably, so I opted to get off of that one and wait. 5 minutes of waiting had my blood sugar soar to above 350 and at that point I realized it was time to head home.

Timing is a key component to training with type 1 diabetes. If I wait too long to take in carbohydrates during a training session or race, or take in my nutrition too close to exercise I'll have a low blood sugar event. Conversely, if I take in nutrition too far out from exercise or take in too much during a training session or race my blood sugar will shoot too high. Normally the turnover time for a training session with a brick is 5 to 10 minutes, however the lag time between riding and running on Sunday bordered on 25 minutes. The extra 15 minutes of down time caused my blood sugar to spike to a level not safe to workout with. A quick bolus brought it right back into line but missing the workout was still frustrating.

And it's snowed again last night – hopefully I'll be able to get a run in on the roads today as I really can't deal with the dreadmill.