Brandywine Du

Well it is in the bag! The first multisport raceat the Brandywine Du. Started the day waking up at 120 and feeling like I was dropping. Leaving my home at 4:20 am, I ate my oatmeal, I gave myself 75% of my normal bolus and drove sipping water and coffee on the 2 1/2 hour drive to Coatesville PA. Prior to the race, I switched out my normal road bars to tri bar set up and race it for the first time. I was surprised at how comfortable the new set up was and my propensity to stay in the aerobars longer. Not sure what I will do for Ironman, but at least have some options. The vibration and buzzing of my DexCom reminded me that my initial hunch of racing low was apparent as at 7:50 am before the race, I registered at 60. A quick downing of ClifShot Bloks and I was off for my first run. I felt the previous days 1 hr and 50 minute (33 mile) ride in my legs. I pushed but stayed within my self-prescribed limits. I completed my Pre-Preformance Plan highlighting my desire to race relaxed and paced with taking no risks physically. That said, I plodded along and got to my bike with a less than stellar first run. The bike was cold, windy, and technical with more climbing than I originally thought. The end result was my bike legs came to me at mile 10 and felt good rolling through the final 3 miles. Then the last even less stellar run bookended the day. Oh by the way, a gel and second round of shotbloks, suspending my pump at the start of the bike, and a second gel topped off a end race blood sugar of 72 , I left my DexCom attached to my bike. UGH! All in all, not at all wasted from the race and should have a decent week of training

The best part of the race was seeing Triabetes teammate Brian Foster! He recently moved from PA to upstate NY, where Polar Bears seem to make their home. Unforunately I wasn' t able to connect with him earlier due to cell issues, but caught him in the transition area after the race. He too seemed to be facing lows. I was also forutnate to meet his wife. I met Brian in Madison at sign ups and really am inspired on how he takes running to a higher level. He will be sucessful in this journey and as with all my Triabetes teammates, I will enjoy the results!

Tough Days

Despite having some good days when it gets tough it gets tough. Saturday night had one of those nights where the blood sugar fairies pushed it to the limits of the low's. We had our annual Christmas party and I ate and bolus'd what I thought wisely until about 11:30 pm. That's when it felt like the bottom fell out and I began feeling like I was going to pass out. I am fortunate my wife doesn't panic and we began testing and I dropped into the 30's and still dropping according to her. I was out of it but responsive to her and drank oj and ate a bunch of carbs to bring me up. The next "moment" I remember was about 12:50 am and began to shake the low off. Yuk part of diabetes. In looking back, I ran before the party along with my increased activity level at our party (playing with the kids and numerous games of air hockey, etc), and my trying to be responsible probably was my downfall as I didn't take into account the rebound effect exercise has on blood sugar, and I got "caught." Felt terribly drained Sunday and was worthless the whole day. I appreciated that e are not in full training tilt and decided to take a day off from training. Today is much better and will get on the bike for a few hours today. As I said before just when you think you got a handle on Diabetes, it comes back to keep you honest and keeps things interesting.