Tag Archives: bg

5K – Finally, a fun event.

July 16, 2012 – 7:09 am

Sunday was the day for the annual Pikesville 5K run. It’s a very low key event, featuring hundreds of runners, most of whom live within a 15 minute drive of the course. We live about 5 minutes away, and I have to say: it’s nice to sleep in your own home the night before, wake up about an hour and a half before the start, and still have plenty of time to get ready.

So how did I do?

Race-wise, about as well as expected. Better even, considering I hadn’t trained very hard for this one. And this is a tough course. It’s almost entirely downhill for the first half; and since it’s an out-and-back course, it means the second half was almost entirely uphill. My time was 27:42 (did I mention I’m a slow runner?), 150th out of 541 runners. Sixteenth out of 47 in my age group. As I’ve said before, my goals in something like this are the same: 1) Finish the race, 2) Finish better than half the field, 3) Finish better than half the field in my age group. Based on that criteria, I did pretty well.

How ’bout BG-wise? Well, um…. not so good.

My morning reading was 68. That’s too low for me before vigorous exercise, so I had to eat something before the race, which I hate to do. But I got myself up to 152 before the race. I set a temp basal (0.55 units) for an hour. But then I definitely over-carbed at the post-race spread. A bagel, an apple, and some orange juice. Without bolusing. I paid for that later when I shot up to 323(!). So I had to go low with the carb count at lunch, and with a well thought out bolus, and I was back at 90 before dinner. What is it that I’ve read about? The Glucocoaster? Yeah, I was on that.

But the nicest part of the event, and of the day, is that Maureen and Rachel were able to be there to cheer me on. Also, I was able to run with several friends who also run every year. It’s a low-pressure, high-fun get together that makes me feel good. And I have to admit that I think I needed that right now. I’d share some more photos, but no one got a photo of me actually running in the race. So I only have this to share with you:

With our friends Jill & Iris after the race. Feels like a reunion coming to this event every year.

Hope your week is great!

By StephenS | Posted in Exercise | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Random Glucose.

June 26, 2012 – 6:50 am

This doesn’t happen very often. Or first thing in the morning:

Something like this, on a beautiful 55 degree June morning (breakfast on the porch!) makes you feel like anything’s possible.

I can do this!

Now get out there and get crackin’, you knuckleheads!
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Random Glucose | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

100 Miles. Stick a fork in me.

June 11, 2012 – 7:15 am

This past weekend was my big event for the year. Bike Ride. 100 Miles Saturday, 50 miles on Sunday. Or maybe just 100 miles on Saturday…

After finishing my 100 mile ride (!) in sunny, 90 degree, 75 percent humidity weather, I stopped to receive my medal for finishing, and then collapsed. About 15 minutes later, I hurled. About 15 minutes after that, The Great Spousal Unit decided that I needed to go to the ER. So I spent a few hours at Chester River Hospital Center getting nearly four liters of intravenous fluid pumped into my body. On top of that, I had a potassium count that was way too high, and that had to be remedied.

Needless to say, we decided to bag the Sunday ride, pack up our stuff, and drive home Saturday night.

How did it get to this? How did I finish the ride, then fall apart? Let me count the ways:

1. I only got about an hour and a half’s sleep on Friday night, thanks to a scummy dorm room at Washington College. Great to get riders hooked up with low price housing for the event, but the dorms were awful. I expected typical college dorm room ambiance, but these rooms were nasty. We were afraid to sit on the furniture, let alone sleep in the beds. Made our decision to leave a day early much easier.

2. I was part of the largest team in this event. A friend of mine was volunteer of the year last year, and since this was about the fifth year she asked me to ride, I finally decided to do it. What does that have to do with it? Well, early on a lot of us (10 or 11 of us) got into a pace group, where the person at the front helps pull the line of riders along, then drops back, and the next person takes over for a while. It really helps everyone behind the leader conserve energy. I planned to stay with this group until mile 80 or so, especially since they were making decent time early on. But here’s the problem: when you have 10 or 11 riders, of different levels of fitness, your group can’t maintain a workable pace for long. On top of that, when that many people go into rest stops along the way, they take a long time leaving. Too long. As the day wore on, it was clear that their pace wasn’t working for me. I left them around mile 45. (Note: many in this group dropped out of the ride along the way, and only about 5 of them finished about 1/2 hour behind me).

3. I stayed very hydrated… all day… really. Drank one bottle of 1/2 water, 1/2 Gatorade between each rest stop; and a full bottle of water after arriving at each stop. There were rest stops about every 12 or 13 miles along the route. I also had a banana at every other rest stop. When we were talking about it later, it became obvious. I had pretty much eliminated the salty carbs from my diet the past two weeks. And I skipped all of the salty stuff they were handing out during the ride. Because it was a hot day with a minimal amount of shade, no matter how much I drank, it wasn’t going to be enough. I was just sweating it right back out again. Some extra sodium would have helped me hold some of that in longer. Four liters of fluid post-race told me that. Sorry to be gross, but here’s the evidence: At the stop at mile 49, about 11:00, I stopped to pee. I didn’t pee again until about 9:15 that night.

4. I tried too hard at the end. Mile 90 was the last rest stop. I made a quick stop, then I was back at it to the finish. I knew I was tired, that my quads were barking, but I just felt that this was the way you felt after 90 miles. Also, I was running way later than I thought I should be. I didn’t want to have the embarrassment of being pulled off of the ride when they closed the course (turns out, I was way ahead of that). But I was definitely thinking that the sooner I got going, the more mileage I put behind me, the better my chances were that I would finish. Add to that the fact that I am always a strong finisher who’s fastest hundred yards are often the final hundred, so to speak. I probably pushed way too hard in the final few miles.

So that’s the story. I loved doing the ride, but in the end, it’s probably my last 100 miler. Metric centuries (63 miles) are probably all my 50 year old body can handle now. Here was the exchange between Maureen and I Saturday night:

The Great Spousal Unit: So what have you learned from this experience?
Me: One Hundred miles? Never again.
TGSU: Damn Skippy.

Now, a few more points about the experience:

– Maureen was fantastic again. She was up with me at 5:00 a.m., she volunteered all day at the 80 mile rest stop, she stayed with me at the hospital, and then she drove all the way home Saturday night. She’s right when she says, “I get first refusal on your next big exercise thing”.

– The local medical staff on hand for the event? Not so great. One helper (I think he was a helper), who was nice, helpful, but couldn’t do much, because he didn’t have any authority. And one doctor, who, while I was convulsing in the grass after the finish, wanted to explain how I probably don’t have type 1 diabetes at all, because they probably didn’t know enough about it then, and if I exercised enough and maintained a proper diet, I could probably go off of the pump, and possibly wean myself off of the insulin. Really? Now, while I’m gasping for air and my quads are spasming? I looked at him, and gasped six broken words… “21 years. Type 1. Trust me”.

– Temp basal rate for the event: 0.575 units per hour, for 9 hours. Worked great. BG at mile 49 (lunch stop): 140. BG at mile 80: 130. BG right after the ride: 160. Thank you Dr. Pao.

– On the other hand, the medical staff on hand that were hired by the event promoters? They were great. Asked the right questions, gave me the right answers, without a lot of medical double-speak crap. Even helped transport me to the ER, which I’m sure is not in their job descriptions.

– By the way, at the hospital I learned that there were 5 or 6 other riders who were being treated upstairs, all worse off than I was. Doesn’t make me feel any better about my experience; but yeah, it sort of does.

– Okay, seriously… I know how bad I felt when they wheeled me in there (literally). I really, really feel bad for those people if they were worse off than me.

– The staff at Chester River Hospital Center were Sen..sa…tion…al. Sensational. Very attentive, very helpful, asked all of the right questions. We were definitely in good hands. Thanks.

– All of the volunteers at the rest stops were nice, and helpful, and giving, all day long. Sometimes in the direct blazing heat with no shade. That kind of job is way harder than you can imagine.

– When you do a long ride like that, the crowd gets pretty thin at the end. In the last 40 miles, there were a few times where I would go 30 minutes at a time without encountering another rider. Just going along by myself. For the first time, I really had to rely on my cue sheets and the signs volunteers put up at intersections. Again, thanks volunteers.

– I always seem to forget until I’m out there, but Maryland’s eastern shore is just beautiful. Early on in the ride, I saw an eagle at one of the rest stops. A golden eagle, I think. Later, a blue heron flew right over us. And near the end, around mile 85 or so, a big bald eagle swooped down over a farmer’s field and up into a tall tree. I think that picked up my spirits enough to keep me going the rest of the way. Coming back into Chestertown at the end of the ride, you ride along the river, past the marinas, and through their beautiful little downtown. Definitely worth the visit anytime.

So when I think back, I think, “Wow, I can’t believe I did that”. But I’m also glad it’s over. I was going to post some pictures, but this post is long enough. So I think I’ll put those up tomorrow.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Exercise | Also tagged , , | Comments (4)

Beautiful Weekend.

June 4, 2012 – 7:43 am

After a lot of rain Friday night, the weekend turned out to be fantastic weather-wise. All of us in the household (three of us) were very busy this weekend. Lots to do. The Great Spousal Unit had a few dog walks this weekend (that’s what she does at this point in her career), and The Live-In Niece was busy doing what 26-year olds do these days. I just know that I didn’t see her a lot until her and her boyfriend cooked for us on Sunday night (great, by the way).

For me, it was getting my pond in the back yard cleaned up again, which took a lot of time on Saturday afternoon. And preparing for the ride next weekend, including a last-minute replacement of my seat collar– the clamp that holds my seat stem in place. I was replacing the seat Saturday night, and I overtightened the clamp to the point that I broke the bolt. So I had to find a new one (that was actually the same size), and get it on and test it out on a ride. Which was way shorter than I wanted. But at this point, either I’m ready for the ride or I’m not. More on that later in the week.

Despite all of the madness, Maureen and I found a couple of hours on Sunday morning to go out to Fort McHenry for a breakfast picnic. Fort McHenry has to be one of the best picnic places on the east coast. It’s at least one of the best urban picnic spots on the east coast. Basically, if you want to visit the fort itself, you have to pay an entrance fee. But if you want to hang out anywhere on the property outside of the fort, it’s free of charge, every day. Lots of green space, right on the harbor as it opens up to the bigger part of the Chesapeake Bay. Anyway, it was a lovely time, with coffee, delicious fruit salad, and a small amount of yummy pastry. Best of all, my BGs stayed in line all day.

And we got to bring the dog along too! Like any dog, he loves going anywhere with new sights, smells, and dogs. Don’t believe me? Take a look:

All in all, a great way to recharge for the week ahead. Oh, and by the way, I did get a new seat collar, and it works fine holding my seat stem in place. I hope your weekend was great! Best of luck to you on the week ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Disclaimer
I have no medical training. If you consider anything written here as medical, legal, financial, or any other kind of advice, you’re out of your mind. Please speak to a learned professional before making any changes that might affect your health. Any of the original content found on this site is my property and should not be reproduced, copied, or otherwise used without the author’s expressed written consent.

By StephenS | Posted in Additional Inspiration | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Visit with My Endo.

June 1, 2012 – 7:27 am

Wednesday’s DSMA Chat was very timely this week. We all spoke of our feelings about, and tips and tricks surrounding, doctor visits. I had my quarterly visit with my endocrinologist yesterday. I always cringe when I read about someone’s bad medical care experiences: either a doctor who has no time for them, or someone who makes them feel like crap for yesterday’s issues, instead of helping them look toward solving the future. My endo is great. I had to go through three doctors to get to this point, but I’ve finally got a keeper. I mean someone who talks to you, who asks the right questions, who lets you ask questions, and then gets you to adjust what you’re doing rather than telling you to scrap your entire plan of attack for something that’s comfortable for them, or for something that big pharma is paying them for.

So on to the appointment, or as much as I can divulge of my appointment over the internet (tongue firmly in cheek).

First, the big number. I expected my A1c to go up this time. My last one was 6.3. It’s been going down steadily for over two years, so I figured the streak had to end sometime. And I haven’t exactly been on a starvation diet over the last three months. So imagine my shock when I found out that my latest A1c is: 5.9

WTF?

There has to be more to this story. I mean, I’m trying my best to take care of myself, but this is too good to be true. “Have you been having a lot of lows?” asks the doctor. Why, not more than usual, I say (what is usual anyway?). So we look at the Medtronic readout. The chart for the last two weeks tells me everything I need to know about where I need to focus, and why my A1c is good, but not a definitive snapshot of my glucose levels over the past three months:

I know it’s hard to read, so I embellished it with a couple of lines of my own, only to help point out where my trouble is. Right in the middle of the day! My okay to slightly high morning and evening readings over the last two weeks (with a couple of exceptions) were counter-balanced by almost universal lows around lunchtime. It made my average BG over the last two weeks: 106.

The page also suggests three things that I already knew about. One, I eat too many carbs at breakfast. Two, I eat too many carbs at lunch. Three, I eat too many carbs at dinner. Which suggests, without a look in the mirror, that I’m managing my glucose better than my waistline right now. Even though I’ve actually lost a few pounds. Good thing the lettuce will be ready in the garden soon. I have a feeling there will be a lot of salads in my future.

So what do we/I need to do going forward? As you can guess, I’ve already ratcheted down my morning basal a bit. And we talked about how to manage my 150 mile ride in a week and a half. I’ll have the pump on the whole time for this, which makes it different from any other event I’ve entered. I’ll use a temp basal of 50% of my normal rate during the ride, then 60% to 70% of normal for about four hours after. And the carb thing is my problem. Only one way to fix it, and we all know what that means.

Here’s hoping your next visit with a medical professional goes well. Feel free to tell me about it, good or bad, by leaving a comment below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Disclaimer
I have no medical training. If you consider anything written here as medical, legal, financial, or any other kind of advice, you’re out of your mind. Please speak to a learned professional before making any changes that might affect your health. Any of the original content found on this site is my property and should not be reproduced, copied, or otherwise used without the author’s expressed written consent.

By StephenS | Posted in Endo | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)