Challenges

Since the marathon, I’ve been having trouble keeping my BG in check. I’m not sure if it’s BECAUSE of the marathon, but the timing seems suspicious. I’ve been running a bit high – higher than I’m comfortable with (and I’m sure my endo would agree!). In trying to adjust insulin dosing to compensate, I’ve found myself hypoglycemic a number of times. UGH. Hypoglycemia is THE WORST! For me, it comes on suddenly: I begin to shake, sweat, feel hot. I can’t think straight and I feel confused. I am irritable and cranky – a lot of fun to be around. Typically I start to feel bad in the low 70’s, but recently I’ve missed that range and found myself in the 50’s or even 40’s. It’s so frustrating! I really hope that this stablizes soon because it’s creating some additional challenges for me right now. I’m hopeful that this week will be better.

Saturday my triathlon club had a group training session then a picnic. We all meet at Mentor Headlands Beach, the location for the Greater Cleveland Triathlon in August. There were three loops of the Olympic distance loop (~24 mi.) planned, and people could work their training into however many loops they wanted to do, throw in a run and/or a swim if they wanted, then have a great picnic to follow. Many braved the water of Lake Erie … I was not so bold. My plan was to do two laps of the Oly course then throw on a 10 K run. Little did I know …

It was raining – raining a lot! We forged ahead. I’m a bit nervous riding on the roads, but that’s getting better as I do it more, and is much better in a group setting than alone. To think I did ALL of my training alone last year is kind of a bummer. Anyway, throw in a healthy downpour and wet roads, and I was a bit on edge. I couldn’t hang with the lead group for more than a few miles and settled into my own pace. I missed the turn. I got lost. WAY lost. I went back and caught the turn after a few miles, but lost the course a second time. I figured I knew enough of the area to forge ahead and get back to Headlands Beach without backtracking, so I did. I ended up on a “near-highway-like” road. I found myself at 30 mph along side cars traveling the posted speed limit of 60 mph. NOT IN MY COMFORT ZONE! Couldn’t wait to get off of 44 North and cut back through Mentor back roads to get to our start.

Two episodes of fishtailing ☹. I have a bad habit of using only the right gears and breaks. I was warned of the dangers, and I am working to break this habit and use both brakes to slow and stop.

All in all I rode 30 miles – less than I wanted, but I was fine with that considering the circumstances. Much to my chagrin, on this day, I forgot my phone. Very unlike me. I’ll be sure not to let that happen again. When I arrived back at the park, I found my running clothes – SHOES – to be locked in a friend’s car … said friend was still cycling, and would be for another … oh, hour? Dang! No running in LOOK cleated cycle shoes, and I’m not brave enough for barefoot running. So, I was left with … socializing! ☺

We had a great turnout for the CTC picnic and it was nice to finally “meet” some of my Facebook friends! Funny how many times I heard “yes, we are FB friends”. Also was able to put names and faces together, and catch up on what’s going on with other team members. A fun time, for sure!

The only other significant event was that about 2 hrs after lunch, my BG was 330. UGH. I took 8 units of insulin – an amount I thought would cover safely, however, within an hour, my BG was 34. I missed the drop zones and found myself shaking as I drank a can of coke (29 carbs) and TWO gels (27 each). I figured that would help me pretty quickly, and I felt better in about 10 minutes. However, about an hour later, I was in a grocery store and felt just as badly as I did at 34. What is going on??? I was disoriented and shaking as I found my items, paid, and then downed a glucerna shake and an EAS protein bar. The fog began to clear and I felt better. Dinner was right around the corner. I was having venison burgers, corn on the cob and quinoa. That meal left me feeling much better and postprandial BG a lot more normal.

My take-home lesson? Err on the side of “less is more”. In hindsight, I would take HALF the insulin I took and re-test in an hour, redosing if necessary. The challenges of knowing what is the right amount to bolus, is an inexact science! A friend of mine refers to the extra units you give when you see that TOO HIGH BG number as a “rage bolus” – I think that is SO appropriately termed! I’ve taken 8 units before, and haven’t had any problem, yet on THIS day, it caused a pretty significant problem.
Getting a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) is a very likely possibility, and I think that will help me a lot. Clearly, these wide swings aren’t ideal, and they will be even “less ideal” in a race situation. This, my friends, is one of the biggest challenges I have in training for endurance races. I felt like I got it right in both the recent marathon and the Knoxville, Oly triathlon, yet, on this, a simple training day, I got it oh, so wrong!