All this sugar...

...and still got a low 35 miles in to my Saturday ride. What's it going to take? Not pictured - 1.5 bottles of Ironman Perform lemon lime which also has a fair amount of sugar.

Gorgeous Winter Ride

Had a nice training ride today. Showed up to find a big group of folks that wanted to show up for such a gorgeous day in January. Some were getting in their first ride since Ironman Arizona! Also got to hang with Sasha, one of my favorite training partners from the past couple of tri seasons. 


Easy 40 miles and despite the wet roads that kept reminding us that it must have just rained before we got there, we never got rained on. Fantastic because I really hate to ride in the rain. 


Blood sugar was mostly in check though I did go low within the last 5 miles of the ride. I have to remind myself to just keep on sucking in the sugar even if it's an easy ride and I'm almost done. Had a couple of slight mechanical issues with my saddle and handlebars (yikes!) coming loose. Fortunately had Sasha and Sarah around to stick with me while I worked those issues out. Looks as if my last re-fit didn't quite torque those bolts down enough. Oops.


I wish all training rides were this easy and fun! I know this weather won't hold up so I better relish it while it's here.

My Diabetes Arsenal

As I touched on in a previous post, the most difficult part of healing after my pancreatectomy was learning how to manage my diabetes. There is so much information out there pertaining to Type 2 Diabetes and constantly hearing those messages got me confused about how I would or wouldn't be restricted as a  Type 1 Diabetic. Technically, I am a  Pancreatogenic Diabetic since I have no pancreas at all, but trying to explain that to people is even more difficult than explaining the differences between Type 1 and Type 2.

I'm happy to say there are some tools and technology that make being an insulin dependent diabetic a lot easier to cope with - my insulin pump and my continuous glucose monitor.

BTW - sorry about the orientation of the pics below. The blogging software isn't very friendly for orienting and editing photos.

I use an Omnipod Insulin Pump. This pump is the only one on the US market that has no tubing which means I can swim and shower without having to remove it. 

Clockwise from top: Omnipod Pump, Blood Glucose
Test Strips, and Omnipod Controller.

Every 3 days I take the old pod off and 'prime' a new pump with insulin. I then stick it on a good, fatty place - typically my butt - activate the pump and *pop* a cannula gets inserted in my skin and I start getting my insulin. Overall I am really happy with this system though I would appreciate a smaller pod. I'm surprised that more people don't ask what the lump on my butt is. Surprised, but thankful I suppose that I don't have to explain.

I was very reluctant to begin using a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) - I already felt a bit like the bionic woman with one piece of technology attached to my butt - but my endocrinologist kept pushing and I eventually gave in after doing a trial and seeing just how powerful it is to have a constant view of how my blood glucose is trending. I use a Dexcom 7 CGM:

CGM applicator and CGM sensor.

Every 2 to 4 weeks I change my sensor out with the applicator. Wish I could say the application process is as easy as the pump - it's not - this one really hurts when it goes in because the needle in the applicator is bigger and it needs to insert a wire. Typically I put the CGM on my lower tummy where I've got an inch to pinch. A CGM monitors your blood glucose based on interstitial fluid rather than blood. This is not as accurate as blood and your actually blood glucose (BG) can vary as much as by 30 points but generally mine is within 10-15 points of my actual BG. I love being able to follow my BG trends visually and I'm pretty obsessed with checking it throughout the day - even when racing. It's a little less reliable when training or racing than a normal day so if I see it saying anything less than 140 I like to start shoving in some sugar.

You'll notice that in the picture above that my BG was 203 when I took the picture. *Sigh* That's what happens when you eat your breakfast starting with a BG of 80 and don't want to bolus and make your BG even lower - so I forgot to bolus. That's been happening a lot lately - gotta get that figured out.

I carry both my Omnipod and Dexcom controller with me when training or racing over long distances. If I could tell these companies anything it would be to make these things smaller. I had to buy new purses after my surgery just to accommodate all this stuff! I particularly look a little silly running with all this gear. In a future post I'll show you how I accomplish that.

Researchers are getting closer to actually integrating pumps and CGMs together so that they 'talk' to each other and would effectively act as an artificial pancreas. I'm very excited about that possibility and am crossing my fingers it will be soon though I really shouldn't get my hopes up since the pace of FDA approvals is glacier like. I suppose that's fair as a malfunctioning insulin pump will - there's no way to be delicate about this - kill you. 

I'll spare you the PG13 pics of what these devices look like once they're actually attached. :)

Starting IMCA Training

So here it is my first week of no excuses, I am now seriously training for an Ironman. I wanted to record the plan in order to have a baseline on what I started with compared to what I will be 'ending' with before I start tapering in late July/early August. 


For readers who are unfamiliar with tapering, this is the period of time several weeks before an event in which the athlete drastically cuts the volume of their training in order to allow some rest and recovery time. I will also get a few 'rest' weeks during the course of the next 8 months so that my body and mind have time to recover.


Monday
45 min. Strength Workout
45 min./2000 yd. Swim - focusing on form (i.e., Masters)


Tuesday
60 min. Run or Cross Train


Wednesday
45 min./2000 yd. Swim - faster


Thursday
45 min. Strength Workout
90 min. Cycling (i.e., Indoor Training Class)


Friday
Rest


Saturday
2hr. 30 min./40 miles Cycling - long, slow ride w/ some hill intervals


Sunday
40 - 60 min. Run - long, slow run w/ some intervals


Thoughts:
This I can do! I'm so lucky to have Mary Doyle coaching me this season. Mary was my very first triathlon coach back in 2008 when I did Irongirl Atlanta. I met with Mary a few weeks ago to talk about my training goals and I told her it was important to me to have one rest day a week - TGIF! I am very fortunate to have had very little injury in the past but my mind tends to break down before my body does so I very much need a rest day each week just to get my head right. Mary is working with me even though it means I won't be getting in 3 swims a week. Honestly - it will be a feat to get me swimming 2 times a week consistently. I don't mind being in the pool but really dislike the fanfare of getting ready to go to the pool, jumping in when it's cold, and getting out when it's even colder. 


I also have what I assume is a temporary mental block with long rides. I am more than happy to jump on my trainer any day of the week but getting out in the cold to do a long ride is not something I'm enjoying right at the moment. It likely has something to do with the cold and possibly doing El Tour de Tucson in November which had me on the bike for longer distances than I'm used to later in the season. I hope some indoor work doing some hard intervals will get me excited again. 


I may have to move Thursday's strength workout to Wednesday. I will be doing an indoor cycling class on Thursdays through March that truly kick my butt so strength workouts might be better paired with swimming. 


Here we go!