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.

Trusting Your Body

Yesterday I made one of the scariest decisions I've had to since having diabetes in regards to working out. I trusted that my nutrition, pump settings and preparation would allow me to strongly complete my workout even though my meter readings indicated otherwise. My triathlon coach wanted me to do a 3 mile speed test which required me to have optimal blood sugars for performance. About an hour and 45 minutes after lunch my blood sugar was 90, I had turned my pump down to 5% about 45 minutes before that and after the reading had a clif bar. I headed to the gym 10 minutes later and after changing into my running clothes I gobbled up a hammer gel. I stretched and warmed up for 5 minutes, tested again and had a bs of just 99.

I knew I had just ingested over 65 grams of carbs and trusted my nutrition. I figured there was no way I needed more carbs and if I had anything else without a bolus I risked going into DKA (bs over 250). With great trepidation I set the treadmill to a 8:30 pace and finished my 3 mile run in just over 24 minutes (upped the speed each mile). By mile 2.5 my stomach felt like it was in a vice so I knew I was risking going low but I didn't have blurred vision