Diabetics Can't...

Who is ripping off who?

2011-10-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

We all know that the health care system in the United States need some work. I am of the opinion that things aren't all as terrible as the media would make it out to be, but clearly there are problems that must be addressed. The Obama administration is trying something new with their changes and I guess we will all have to see if they help things. So far the only impact it has had on me is that my insurance policy is changed.

Every year my small company assesses the costs of their insurance. Every year the price goes up from 12-60% so they often have to jump to a new insurance carrier or new package under the same carrier. Every year this means less benefits. Recently this has meant I have to pitch in since my employer simply can not afford these cost changes. And this year, now that some of the Obama health care changes have taken affect my company has opted to stay with the current "grandfathered" policy. It will cost and additional 16% and offers some extra benefits guaranteed by law, and some loss of benefits so the insurance company does not have to change their profit margins. I use my insurance policy so I am not complaining, because without it I would not be able to afford my needed health care at all.

My issue is with the costs. Are they all necessary? Who is to blame for ridiculous costs? Is it the insurance companies, doctors, or drug companies that are gouging the prices? Or is it simply that costs to keep people healthy are prohibitively high due to the earth's population boom? I don't know the answer, as it may be all of the above and some other factors I have not discussed. What I can say is that I am surprised at some of the things I see.

Recently I purchased an Animas Ping, and they set me up on an automatic renewal service so my supplies are shipped to me every month. Since the purchase reached my insurance deductible of $2500 the supplies are now 80% covered. I get charged $118 a month which is something I can afford. With my insurance change this year I will have to pay out of pocket so in my research to find out what I am going to pay I see this:
$13.00 I.V. Prep wipes
$146.00 Cartridges (10 pack) x3
$ 540.00 Infusion sites (10 pack) x3

WOW! that totals $699 a month.

I was literally stunned and started sweating bullets. You see, my new insurance has a $10,000 deductible to meet, so I will be responsible for this amount every month. My heart starts racing, and I can't get to sleep. I decide I will have to go back to Lantus/Humalog injections as that cost is prohibitively high. After a couple of restless hours I get up and check online for store costs. What I saw on the Animas eStore?
$13.00 I.V. Prep wipes
$109.50 Cartridges (10 pack)
$405.00 Infusion sites (10 pack)

$527.50 Total

What? The NORMAL price for these items on Animas' own web site is $171.50 less than what they are charging the insurance company? On the one hand I am happy that I can afford this cost. On the other hand I am amazed that they can get away with this!

The insurance may have some kind of deal going that lowers their cost, but the fact that this is the price on paper is purely unethical.

Do you see similar things going on in your insurance bills? Hopefully this is a mistake, but I can see it clearly here in print.

10/10/11 - Note: I edited numbers to reflect prices for 3 moonths as shipped by Animas instead of 1 as I had done in error yesterday. The prices are now closer, but still deceptive.

2011-02-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder where companies get their marketing claims? After a recent visit to Mojo Froyo - a frozen yogurt establishment in town, I did notice this patently false claim. "Proven good for diabetics"

Now, what exactly about this yogurt is proven to be good for me? They don't cite any scientific research so all I can do is analyze the nutrition information. A 1/2 cup serving (which incidentally is about 1/6 of what I ate when I stopped in) has 18g of carbs (or 108g for my serving). Looking at 1/2 cup of Breyer's strawberry ice cream there are only 15g of Carbs. Mojo wins the fat content competition with 0g, while Breyer's came in with 6g. Armed with this information I must conclude fat control is the key for diabetics - not sugar!

Ok, back to earth. Be wary about what you read. The statement Mojo claims is completely false. Don't fall victim to ridiculous marketing claims, as I am sure you have all seen even more blatant lies in advertising. If you have more examples of this type of crap please comment!

It's time we part ways

2011-01-29T17:33:00.000-08:00

You have been there for me as long as I remember. Every step I have taken you have given your support with almost no complaints. How is it that I have always been so unfeeling, uncaring, and taken you for granted.

I remember when I was just a child we used to play for hours in the grass. Sometimes my mom would complain about your smell, but I wasn't as concerned about that kind of thing though I did hide you away most of the time.

AS I grew older you were always right with me at my high point and the lows. You helped me shoot my first (and only) basket in my youth basketball league. You took the abuse of my first dance steps right with me. You were even there when I had my first kiss!

How hard it is after all this time that it looks like we are at the end of the road and must soon part ways. For you most valliantly helped me attain a PR at the Carlsbad Marathon last weekend. You ran with me every step of the way, and when I was struggling you just kept pushing me along. I can't imagine doing the race without you but I fear the next one I might have to do so. After 3 hours and 40 minutes of grueling pounding your sould blackened and you decided to threaten to leave me.

Farewell dear toenail. It looks like the Carsbad Marathon was too much of a burden to bear!

Preparing to start anew

2010-12-10T07:07:00.000-08:00

As much as I love competing in Triathlons, the last one I did was Ironman AZ, 2009. For a number of reasons I had to scale back. My employer suffered a great deal in the current economic climate, and their troubles trickled down to me as well. But after cutting back fr a year thinks are looking up again and I am contemplating competing in 2 triathlons this year. One small, and one large one - of which I may like to travel to.

The small triathlon will be a good way to get my brain back into the mindset required to compete again. Also, it will be a good gage as to what my fitness looks like. I have been doing a lot more run training, but my swim and bike have taken a back seat of late. So I am looking at doing one of the two following races:

The 6th Annual Bartlett Lake Triathlon. I raced this once before and won my age group. It was a relatively small field, but the scenery was an unbelievably awesome mix of golden desert mountains and water. There is a massive hill on the first half of both the bike and the run, but since they are short distances the pain of the 20% grade (I am likely exaggerating) is relatively short.

The marQuee Triathlon. This is the inaugural race, but it is put on by my favorite race direction company. The guys at Red Rock Co. always put on a well organized event, and share ownership with Ironman legend Tim DeBoom. Not only this, but they have actually put their support behind Triabetes financially and with offers of help in promotion. Not to mention the race is at the Ironman AZ venue, which is right in my back yard.

I would also like to take on a larger race, in the half iron scale so some of my options are:

SOMA. Again put on by Red Rock Co. in my back yard.

Ironman 70.3 Austin. I love this town, and I have a friend who I can stay with while there.

Or maybe another large event later on in the year instead of these options. There are of course many other options out there. Maybe you know of a great after summer race I should consider. If so, let me know and maybe I will travel to that one!

Other News

As you know I love to review tech nerd stuff. So look for a review of the Samsung Vibrant coming soon. A smart phone which I see has a great deal of potential. I have some thoughts on the future of these devices in regards to Diabetes management, if we can get the manufacturers to work alongside the medical device manufacturers.

Lazy Bones

2010-09-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

As I watched the live feeds for Ironman Canada and tracked fellow Triabetes members Casy Boren and Sebastien Sasseville I realized that I have not competed (officially) in any event's since the Ironman last November! I have kept regular workouts, although not on the level of Ironman training all this time, and my fitness level is still reasonably good. I have my excuses for not competing, financial mostly, but none that make me very happy about the situation. This may sound odd, but I want to pay off my credit cards before I sign up for another race. The exception being the Carlsbad Marathon which I plan to run with the Glucomotive crew again next year.

In the mean time maybe I can help others attain their athletic goals. With this in mind I am volunteering for a Special Olympics triathlon taking place near here on Sept. 11th. As a self professed triathlete I am part of a group well known for wielding a fair bit of conceit and self importance. So it's only fair that I let someone else give me some of my own medicine, and who better than a Special Olympics athlete? This should be interesting for sure, and I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday. Gone are the days of going on a week long bender for my birthday it appears.

A new Pump!

I have got some incredible friends out there, and with their help (Thanks Jim, Jerry, and Denise) I now have an affordable option for using a pump. I received a Medtronic 712, sadly due to the untimely death of another diabetic. I used it for a good month and in that time was able to lower my A1c from 7.4 to 7.1. This has sold me on the benefit of an insulin pump.

With this I was motivated to see what other options are out there. So for the first time since being diagnosed with diabetes I visited an Endocrinologist. His knowledge was enlightening and suggested that a newer pump would benefit me. Financial constraints and limited insurance make this an unlikely scenario for the time being.

Lisinopril

I don't know how many diabetics are prescribed this drug. From my reading this drug is primarily a blood pressure medication, but is often prescribed as a preventative medicine to protect your kindey function from fluctuating blood sugars. As with any ydrug there are many potential side effects, and I must be one of the 5 percent. Here is my story:

I started taking Lisinopril at a 5mg dosage last Monday night. Friday afternooon I began to have cooncern because my chest was feeling oddly tight, and my breathing was a bit restricted. Not making any connection at this point I took my pill after dinner and things got difficult. My chest tightened up more and breathing become more restricted, so much I slept very little that night and was wiped out in the morning. I had to skip my Saturday long run as I felt I had no wind in me.

My concern was very high. These symptoms are often attributable to heart problems and since Lisinopril was the only difference in my routine I stopped taking it and called the doc to let them know. Within 2 days I was completely fine. I have another appointment with the doctor in 2 weeks so I plan to go over this thoroughly and get his comments on my experience.

My belief is that I was suffering a side effect of the drug, and if I had continued it would be dangerous to my health. I guess my kidneys will have to take a beating.

Well, I know I have been lax in my blog posts as of late, but I do hope all of you blog readers out there are doing great.

Don't forget to test!

World Cup Mayhem

2010-07-16T08:17:00.001-07:00

I haven't been up to a lot lately, but the recent run by the USA in the World Cup was definitely something I got into. In fact a buddy of mine made this movie with some clips of yours truly in memory of the games.

Fresh New Ride

2010-06-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

A slow race year

This year has been a bit of a slow one - at least in terms of racing. I do feel as though I may be in the best shape I have been to compete at a higher level, life sometimes gets in the way of selfish endeavors like whooping butts on the course. Thus I haven't entered any triathlons in 2010. I may yet enter the PBR Off-Road triathlon on Oct 10, 2010 using my beater mountain bike from 1998. Also I have bandited a few run events this year (shhh! don't tell) just to keep my fitness. When someone tells this stinking economy to get moving again I will be in a better position to toss some cash in the ring for more races.

A changing of the guards (or bikes)

The Kestrel supplied to me for Ironman has long since made it's departure, but in it's place I have recovered a beater road bike in, of all places, a dumpster! Restoration of this 1985 Bridgestone 500 has been my hobby as late, and it is looking pretty good. Next on the agenda is a fresh paint job to restore it's old luster. Turns out this is an example of an early tri-bike based on their marketing materials. The photo shows the bike in it's original condition. I will post a new one when it has been repainted.

The bike has been tested for it's roadworthiness on the mean streets of San Diego and performed well so look out for it!

A new generation

2010-05-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

They are back! Today, though I don't know how many, a new batch of Triabetes devotees set forth a long journey of self discovery and sacrifice. Having spent Saturday volunteering for Ironman St. George they have by now registered to race at the flagship event for Triabetes in 2011. Jerry Nairn, a fellow team captain for Ironman Arizona 2009 is amongst them and will do the team proud I am sure. Motivating diabetics and non diabetics alike to take their personal health into their own hands and show the world that with dedication you can live a healthy, happy, long life and accomplish goals far greater than they could never have imagined.

One year seems like a long time to prepare, and at many points in training it will certainly feel that way, but it goes by so quickly and before you know it you will have me and hundreds of other volunteers cheering you on. I wish I could go through the journey again this year with you all, but it will have to wait.

To the new crop, I offer you advice, whenever you may call for it. For those that I befriended from last year, going at it again I tip my hat to your ability to keep on with the fight. I will be here for all and will continue supporting the Triabetes cause even while not a Team Captain this year. I do look forward to future opportunities to "Go Long" with Triabetes in the future. Can you say 2012? ;)

What is Type 1 Diabetes anyhow?

2010-03-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

I saw this video recently, and it really struck a chord with me. If you ever have wondered what Type 1 Diabetes really is from a scientific perspective and how someone deals with it what better way to learn than from the mouth of someone who learned in a few short years at a very young age from first hand experience.

Watch as Jesse Alswager, a TriaBuddy explains in his own words here:

After watching this video think about how Diabetes has taken away so many before their time, like Jesse. He will always be remembered as will all the work his mom does for the Diabetes community has certainly not gone unnoticed! See more of Michelle Alswager's story at her blog Triabetes Took Over My Life. Jesse, you live on in all of us!

Carlsbad Marathon

2010-02-15T05:28:00.000-08:00

With the lack of posts here since Ironman you may think I have retired. However nice retiring to a nice bungalow on an exotic island off Mexico may sound, reality is far from that case. Instead I have chosen to keep racing.

Glucomotive, a part of Insulindependence that promotes running for the Diabetic world, is an official charity for the Carlsbad Marathon held near Sunny San Diego on Jan 24, 2010 and was my first race of the year. Diabetics from all over the country pored in. There was Kerry, the runner who as a young man went blind and has been diabetic since they had to mix up pee to get a highly inaccurate blood glucose count, to Ryan, the 11 year-old who was running his first half marathon. Quite a feat for any kid his age! There were so many stories at the pre-race dinner Saturday night that I was in awe.

I was hardly trained for a Marathon, but figured I still had some decent fitness so I should at the very least be able to compete. With that in mind we all headed out to the start line early Sunday morning decked out in fresh new Glucomotivetech shirts. The gun went off! My GF was doing her first marathon so with her we moseyed along wiith the 4:15 pace group for about half the Marathon. Since we both had plenty in the tank we picked up the pace. With a few miles to go she started to show she still had even more in the tank and picked it up to a fast pace reaching 7:30/mile. I wasn't able to hang on and finished at 4:08 - a minute after her.

It was a great race. Of course San Diego is beautiful, and we got to run a stretch down the PCH with a great view of the beach. I saw literally dozens of Glucomotive shirts out there and hi-fived as many as I could find. I even caught the 11 year-old Ryan (who happens to be sponsored by Newton Running) as I approached the finish line.

Overall an experience never to be forgotten. And I kept my blood sugars under great control as well.

Coming up I have some sad news regarding the first Triabetes Triabuddy that I would like to express my feelings about. And in another post I will review yesterday's Lost Dutchman half marathon.

Flip turns

2010-01-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

After the Ironman I have felt a bit lost. Without a huge goal that I am currently working toward, and taking the advice of others that I should not focus my training for about 2 months, I feel like I am treading water. It is a weird place to be, and I often fear that I am retired from all athletic endeavors. I gave away my personal bike for my Triabetes fundraiser, and will be returning the beautiful Kestrel to them when they need it so my triathlon racing season will be pretty short this year. The difficulty is that I had grown so accustomed to doing some kind of athletic endeaver that now I feel extraordinarily lazy.

What am I doing now to deal with it?
Without having a big race coming up I haven't needed to get up early and do any pre-work training sessions, but that is not to say I have been sitting on my ass. Instead of long training sessions, I have been biking to work 1-2 times a week, swimming once a week, lifting weights once a week, and running 2-3 times a week. This still seems like a lot, but really when I compare the 6-7 hours a week I am currently working out to the 20+ during the Ironman build up phase it is a substantial drop. Instead of duration of workout I am focusing my efforts on technique. So while running I spend a lot of time trying to improve my form. Weight training is there to help build up my muscle mass - which has suffered. I bike shorter distances so I can regain the love of just biking and not look att a ride as a 6 hour ordeal. And finally, swimming I have been working solely on form.

In fact I have been practicing doing flip turns. This is quite difficult, particularly for a person like me that has to plug their nose when jumping into the pool. I watched some YouTube videos and read online instructions on how to prepare yourself prior to doing the flipturn. My first attempt at this involved a lot of standing somersaults in the pool. With that came about 4 gallons of water introduced into my sinus and by the time I was done I thought I would vomit. I still felt dizzy 2 days later but subsequent swims have gradually gotten better. I now believe I look like a cat that has been tossed into the pool when I try to flip, flailing about like I do, but I am getting better. Try it, maybe you will enjoy it.

What thee future holds
What do I do to overcome this lull? Well soon I will look at the upcoming year's race schedule. I plan to complete in several run Marathon and half marathons, the first being the Carlsbad Marathon next weekend. Catching up with all of the Insulindependence people with be fantastic, as it is always good to meet more athletic diabetics. I will have my mountain bike ready so I plan to take part in a couple of Xterra style triathlons, and I found a road bike in the dumpster that surprisingly could do well in a sprint tri now that I have it functioning - we shall see!

Movie Star?

2009-12-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

Well, not exactly, but check out this YouTube movie with a 100% diabetic cast! Watching these people, as part of the Insulindependence projects just makes you want to jump out of your chair and live life! Look for me, with a messy mop on my head filmed during last year's Ragnar Relay del Sol

I hope everyone is enjoying some time with their families this holiday season!

I will get to party with my Triabuddy, Cadhan and his family, in San Diego on New Year's day and I am very much looking forward to it.

Ironman Arizona 2009 Race Report

2009-12-25T05:27:00.000-08:00

It has now been 2 weeks since I competed in Ironman Arizona. The process from the very beginning has taught me a lot about myself and what I value in my life. Thus this blog will probably be my longest to date as I review.

Preparation
I have never embarked on anything like an Ironman in regards to it's endurance requirements. early on I realized that my training schedule filled with lots days off, and lack of direction needed to be addressed. Diabetes Training Camp taught me a lot about how to plan my insulin strategies with increased training but the training itself still needed direction if I was to avoid the pitfalls of injury which I am prone to get due to my tendency to overtrain. With that in mind I hired Gordo Byrn at Endurance Corner to set me up with an inexpensive training plan.

With these tools in hand I simply practiced my plan for 6 months. Figuring out efficient ways to test my BG's on the bike and run, learning how my stomach handled different types of nutrition on long endurance sessions, and figuring out how to swallow my pride and pace myself while letting others pass me by, and learning to bilaterally breathe comfortably while swimming were all part of this. I logged thousands of miles on the roads and tens of thousands of meters in the water.

I figured out my insulin and nutrition strategy:
Race Day Preparation 20u of Lantus at 9PM the night before the race.
A healthy breakfast at 3AM. You can see a photo of my breakfast here, consisting of a bagel with cream cheese, 2 pieces of bacon, 3 scrambled eggs, and a cup of yogurt. A banana and gatorade 30 minutes before the swim.
Swim
Start the swim with a BG between 200 and 300.
Bike
Test BG on the bike every 30 to 60 minutes as needed.
Drink 2-24 oz bottles of Perpetuem with Gatorade Endurance. (1000 calories/bottle)
Consume 100 extra calories per hour of gels, bananas, or whatever felt good at the time.
Run
Eat a gel with a cupp of water every odd mile, drink a Gatorade Endurance at every even mile.
At mile 13 replace Gatorade with coke.
Take in chicken broth whenever easily available.

I tuned up the bike, replaced the tires and tubes with a fresh set, loaded up all the provided race bags and was ready to go!

Race Day

As planned I awoke at 3AM and ate my planned breakfast. I dosed somewhat lightly with Humalog because I knew I wanted to let my BG run a touch high at the race start since I would be in the water for up to 2 hours with no source of sugar. I arrived at the venue with all of my stuff at a little after 5AM and started to calmly go through my bags to make sure everything I needed was set up correctly and somehow this calm turned into a hectic hustle to get my wetsuit on because the announcer was already proclaiming "Time to get in the water!" I performed one last BG test and was stunned to see a low reading of 84! At this point I started to freak out. There is no way I could last 2 hours in the water without a significant amount of sugar. I realized I had a flask filled with 4 servings of gel. 400 calories and lots of sugar. I downed the whole thing, hoped for the best and ran towards the lake.

As luck would have it when I ran over to the lake shore I bumped into my fellow teammates Jerry, Reid, Heather, and Denise. It was great to see so many familiar faces amongst the hordes of anonymous wetsuit clad competitors herding towards the lake entry point. As we approached the front, to my surprise, Triabetes volunteers were there to take our BG readings. Mine came out at 222. Perfect - or so I thought...

Literally seconds later I was herded into the water and was told to immediately start swimming toward the start line. The sudden shock of being submerged in 62 degree water was numbing. It was not so cold that I couldn't move though, so I swam out alongside Heather, Denise and Jerry still nearby. I wished them all good luck and the gun fired off. time to race!

The Swim
All of my long hours spend in the pool seemed to pay off. I was comfortable, and did not once start to feel short of breath. My main problem was that my goggles seemed to have more water in them than the lake. I squeezed them on so tight that I felt as though my left eyeball was being suctioned from my head, and soon gave up realizing I only needed my right eye to see ahead anyhow and pressed onward. I found it stunning that I could comfortably swim bilaterally here since every other race I've done I am forced to breathe on my right every stroke or I will run out of breath. Halfway through the swim the swim I had my first taste of what would be my main problem all throughout the race - gastrointestinal mayhem! Although I had averted the potential race killer of a low BG number before the swim with a quick mass dose of gels, my gut decided that it was not a good idea. I struggled for the next 45 minutes to keep from having a diarrhea attack in the water but by the end of the swim it subsided. Still I managed to beat the 2 hour time limit I had given myself
Final Swim Time: 1:37:24
T1
A poor decision prior to the race to wear my race kit underneath my wetsuit was becoming apparent as I began to freeze my ass off. Denise had told me that I may want a dry change of clothes, but I figured "How bad can it be?" As I hovered over the tiny space heater in the changing tent I realized just how bad it can be after all. After a loooong first transition I had the volunteers smother my pasty white skin in sunscreen and I ran to the bike with the clippity clappity noise of my cycling shoes slapping the pavement.
Final T1 Time: 11:56 (ouch!)
The Bike
The fist half hour of the bike was miserable. I was shivering in my wet clothes, and could not seem to loosen up my shoulders at all. I started my BG testing to see i was in the 200's and took some Humalog on board. Once I hit the Beeline HWY I started to loosen up and saw a couple of my fast teammates, Casy Boren and Bill Carlson tearing down the other side already. I knew they would both be killing me so it put a smile on my face as I climbed the slight hill for thee first of 3 laps. The earlier gastrointestinal problems from before had come back - with a vengeance! I was scanning to find anyplace I could to use a toilet. It seemed every porto-john was in use and had a line up to it so I kept passing them by. Eventually it got to the point I liteally could not sit in my bike seat so when i saw a bike rack and 3 porto-johns I jumped off and waited in line for what felt like an eternity. I assume everyone there was in dire straits like me though so after sitting there for 10 minutes I finally dove in and took care of business. Once I hit the road again I was able to focus on my nutrition, insulin strategy, and heart rates for the rest of the bike. As planned I completed the bike with negative splits but always staying at a relatively easy heart rate. I felt strong at the finish but was somewhat dismayed that it took over 6 hours to complete this leg and I was certain I could have done it in 6 flat. The struggle I had freezing and the break for the bathroom will have to take the blame!
First Bike Segment: 17.13 mph
Second Bike Segment: 17.92 mph
Third Bike Segment: 18.01 mph
Final Bike Time: 6:20:01
T2
The second transition went much better. I stretched out my legs and was able to successfully do the "flying dismount" and knew at this point I was in good shape. I threw on my running shoes and hat, then shot out of the changing tent. Oddly what felt super fast doesn't reflect in the time but such is life.
Final T2 Time: 4:46
The Run
I had planned to split this run into 4 parts, and everything worked out pretty much how I wanted, aside from the half dozen pit stops to deal with the continuing gastrointestinal distress. At about mile 13 it finally cleared up, and I was able to run all the way in without any other significant delays. Early into the run I realized that I had forgotten to grab my Humalog pen, and worried that my BG may run high I borrowed a bottle of Novolog from a volunteer (Whoever you are, I still owe you some fast acting insulin!). As it turns out I didn't need it, and only dosed 1 unit of Humalog at around mile 22. Other than that one time reading 180 my BG stayed in the 100-130 range for the entire run. It was good to see that the trends of my blood sugars during training runs seemed to match what I was seeing on the course that day. My only complaint is that I feel that I held back too much on this run. I always hear about everyone breaking down midway through the marathon and such, but I felt better as the run went along. I negative splitted the marathon by a far greater margin than I really should have, but I got it done, and had plenty of energy to spare.
Final Run Time: 5:02:54
Final Race Total: 13:17:03

Post Race
I was expecting to be totally wasted after a race this size, but instead I was still excited about the day and wanted to see the rest of my teammates through to the finish. Also, I found that although I can't say I was at 100% in the days post race, I did feel rather good. Bill Carlson even challenged me to a "squat thrust race" at the awards ceremony the next morning (that I rode my GF's bike to) and I had no problem jumping around. In the past after smaller events like half irons, or a marathon I have been so disabled that I could barely even move.

Well that pretty much sums up my race. In a follow-up post I will review what I have learned in teh process, and what I will adjust as I look forward into the next season - as I am now officially in the off-season mode! I hope you were able to glean some good information from this. If you have any questions at all about my preparation, or my experience, or even what flavor of gels I prefer feel free to ask via a comment, email, or if you have my number give me a ring and I might use it for another blog posting!

Ironman beginnings

2009-11-29T19:48:00.000-08:00

The journey started a year ago when 14 type 1 diabetics got together for the first time. We had been asked to join Triabetes as team captains for 2009 and in doing this we signed up to compete in Ironman Arizona. We all took to each other quickly and had a great time trading stories of our lives with diabetes. We volunteered to work at the run aid station with TriSports so we could gain priority entry into the following year's event and as quickly as they appeared they all went home. But after this wekend we had started to formed bonds. The kind you can't form with your coworkers, friends, or even relatives. We all had a couple of things in common: We were all type 1 diabetics, and we all had lofty athletic goals. Although every one of us comes from different backgrounds these commonalities were enough to hold strong our bonds.

Over the following months we followed each others journeys. Anne spent a great deal of her year recovering, first from a debilitating bike wreck which took place in the sprint finish at a crit race near her hometown, then from overuse injuries preventing her from getting the run training she had wanted. Bill rode 118 mile bike rides in 118 degree heat. Sean started his race career fresh, jumping right into half iron distance races such as Wildflower and Hi 70.3. Jerry steadily improved his swimming from that of a non-swimmer through lots of grueling swim workouts. We watched Denise struggle with her lifelong battle with candy - often having it get the best of her, but she battles it all the way. Heather dealt with balancing her intense and demanding workouts with her equally and often more intense and demanding work of teaching children. Sebastien kept everyone's spirits up with NSFW images whether we wanted them or not! David humbled me by kicking my ass at several local races. Jim struggled though sickness and injury and got to represent Triabetes at the famous Escape from Alcatraz. Reid had to keep his workers in line and this made him struggle to keep workouts going while working long hours himself. Mark somehow balanced countless projects and still continued to train regularly - I don't think he ever sleeps. Casey ate up the competition on his continued quest for Kona. This only touches the surface of the things we all went through together, even though much of it was spent with us spread out throughout the continent.

Without all of these people the impact we had last weekend at Ironman Arizona would not have held as much meaning as it did. Knowing that all of them were there, whether sick, not feeling ready, or whatever the situation was we all made it to the line together that day. I am proud to be a part of this group of individuals that all understood that we weren't just trying to do some crazy race, but we were trying to spread a message with a resounding blast that could be heard far and wide. Based on the support of all of the Triabetes vvolunteers, the Triabuddies and their families, and everyone involved we have made a great and lasting impact on the lives of many that we saw firsthand, and likely many we will never know. In fact after reading the blogs of my teammates, the volunteers, and those who just saw us out there I find that being a part of this is far greater than the selfish desire to look cool because I competed in an Ironman race.

I hope that if you are diabetic, or know anyone with diabetes, you can point to us and say "See, those 15 Triabetics did it, and they had the support of dozens - neigh hundreds of others pulling for them the whole way.

Soon I will recap my race, but I wanted to thank everyone involved in making Ironman weekend one to never be forgotten. My teammates who helped me gain the confidence, knowledge, and power to come to this race prepared and as healthy as I have ever been in my life - even pre-diabetes. The staff at Triabetes, who had a vision of something that could be great, and went for it. They have truly created something special that has already and will continue to change lives. The volunteers, one of whom loaned me a bottle of Novolog when I was without insulin during the marathon (whoever you are give me you address and I will get that bottle back to you!). They did an amazing job of motivating, and from what I have read they created lifelong friendships with other diabetics along the way. And finally to my girlfriend who has been put through the wringer by my selfish demands so I could continue training the long hours required for a race like this one.

Anyhow, this is a lot of babble. I expect most will have glossed it over, but I thought it was important to express just how much the race weekend meant to me. Look for my race report coming up soon. Lots of things were learned during this race. And what is in store for me into the future...?

Looking back at my training..

2009-11-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

With only 8 days left until Ironman Arizona I am well into my taper for my "A" race of the year and finally get to slow down. Looking back I have always been unsure about my capability of completing all the distances involved in this race.

2.4 Mile Swim. Having little to no swimming background my swim performances have been quite abysmal. In nearly every race I have competed in I have been either last or second to last in my age group. During the last six months I have spent 3-4 days a week in the pool working to improve my swim abilities. This morning I did a race prep open water swim at a local lake. With this I can see that i now have the potential to beat my goal time of under 2 hours by a considerable margin.

112 Mile Bike. I had never ridden a bike this far. My longest ride was 100 miles before I bgan training for this race, but in the last six months I have logged thousands of miles. Although I don't expect to fly through the bike leg at 25mph as the pros can do, I am realizing that I will be able to finish this bike - and the key - still have the ability to use my legs for the last portion of the race...

26.2 Mile Run. I have competed in 1 marathon in my life. It was a harrowing experience that saw me struggling just to shuffle through the last 6 miles. It was one of the hardest things I had done at that point and considered quitting and walking home several times since my house was closer than the finish :P After 6 months of focusing on pacing strategy I feel I can complete this run and not want to die at the finish.

I want to be there for all my teammates. If any of them are still racing when I am done I plan to see them all in however long it takes. This group of diabetics that are all part of Triabetes are an enormous inspiration for me. Many of them have their own businesses, children, work crazy long hours, and more. Seeing them do this thing which has been so hard for me to prepare for and must be twice as hard for them will be quite gratifying. I can't wait until they start showing up in town in the coming days!

Come on out to the race - Ironman Arizona, Sunday Nov. 22nd. It starts at 7AM and runs til midnight. The course is at the Tempe Town Lake. Hope to see ya!

Triabetes Documentary

Please contact me if you would like to be at the premier of our own Triabetes Documentary. It is the child project of award winning Andiamo Productions and will be a great tol for promotion of Triabetes into the future. The show will be at tyhe Valey art Theater in downtown Tempe, at 10AM Saturday, November 21st. I hope to see you there!

My upper limits.

2009-10-31T16:58:00.000-07:00

I have come to the realization that I do have upper limits. Boundaries that are just to great to get over, but these limits are far higher than I ever imagined.

Just a few years ago the thought of doing any kind of race, whether running, cycling, or anything seemed far too ambitious for me. I was fine sitting in front of the TV watching re-runs of Seinfeld every night. After changing that and competing in several Triathlons and run races I met the guys at Triabetes, and they convinced me that an Ironman could be within my reach. Up to this point the thought seemed impossible. Once I got tother with the team, and we all signed up this barrier inevitably broke. And even after this, I saw my teammate Casy's Ironman training plan. I saw that he had to work out EVERY SINGLE DAY! This was crazy, or so I thought. Now I am 5 months in on a training plan that has me working out every single day in prep for Ironman Arizona in only 22 days.

So now that all the glass ceiling have been apparantly removed, I see they do still exist. Today's long (5-hour) bike ride was an arduous task that I just could not hold together and had to cut it short. It appears that I am at the point of burnout with all this training. The cure it seems will be that I see my workout load drops to a lower level after today. Thank god, as I don't want to cut short any more workouts, and really want to do the best possible performance out there on race day!

The image above portrays my feelings right now, but looks like it is in German so there may be a humorous message that I am missing.

FASHION SHOW
If you are in the Phoenix area I urge yo to go to the Triabetes Sportswear Fashion Show I am hosting! Tell all your friends - See the flyer below:

Oh no!

2009-10-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

While cruising along the highway like I normally do on my Saturday long rides I feel like I sometimes zone out and become unaware of my environment. I guess that is only partially true, because even though I go into a zone where time vanishes I am constantly aware of road hazards, cars driving to closely, winds, my heart rate and more.

On yesterday's ride I was clearly more observant than the drivers. I saw someone on the side of the road, but not all the way in the shoulder. There is plenty of space but they were actually putting themselves in danger parking partially on the highway, not to mention I had to ride halfway into the highway lane to get around them. As I rode by I noted that the car that was pissing me off was an unmarked police with a radar detector in hand. As I continued on another unaware drive got pulled over by this police car.

And finally, the most oblivious driver I saw was a woman making a U-Turn. This wouldn't seem all that unusual except for she was doing this particular maneuver on a divided highway. So she turned around and continued to head the wrong way in the fast lane. When I saw what she was doing I started screaming and pointing at her. She just kept on doing her turn so I swerved around in my bike right behind her screaming and flailing my arms. The driver just kept on going. After about 1/4 mile of me riding the wrong way on the highway she was out of sight and I got out of the highway as it has fairly heavy traffic on weekends like this. I had no phone and no way to catch up to her. I hope she was alright and figured out she was going the wrong way without incident. When I got home I looked to see if I could find any accident reports online and found none.

Then I noticed my heart rate was too high...

Review: Giro Havik Sunglasses

2009-10-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

Giro Havick Sunglasses
As a Triabetes team captain I get a few goodies provided by sponsors. One of those is the Giro Havic Sunglasses, designed specifically for cyclists. I have used them now for about 6 months so the following is my analysis.

Design Elements
Unlike your typical daily driver shades, these are made for cyclists. The frames are designed to blend seamlessly with your bicycle helmet. Most helmets have similar designs, but Giro advertises that the combination of these sunglasses and their helmets are ideal of course. Luckily I happen to own 2 Giro Helmets, the aero "Advantage 2" and the well ventilated "Atmos." The first is only really useful in races, and I ride with the Atmos the majority of the time with the climate in Phoenix as hot as it typically is.

The glasses come with 2 removable lenses. One clear and one shaded. Again the climate here is such that I have not even taken thee clear lens out of the package. The lenses are large! I suppose that is typical with cycling shades to give you unobstructed view for your full range of peripheral vision. Also, the shape of them matches the front of the helmet, in what appears to be an attempt to make your face more aero. I have not been in a wind tunnel, so I can not measure the effectiveness of this, but given the shape of the frontal exposed area this at least seems like a plausible claim. But I often ruin this effect anyhow by wearing a pair of regular glasses in front of them. Passers by look at me like I'm an alien, but I really hate wearing contacts. Also Giro advertises that these lenses are "Carl Zeiss Certified." I don't know what significance that has in the real world, but Zeiss makes some great lenses for photographers.

The frame is all plastic, but quite durable and does not have the cheap feel of all of my other sunglasses. Of course all of my other ones were bought for 5 bucks at a convenience store. I doubt I will ever break these things (knock on wood).

Fit
Sunglass fit is highly individualized so my advice is to go find a pair at your local bike shop and try them on for yourself and see how they fit your head shape. That said, they fit very tightly on my head. There is about 0 chance they will ever accidentally fall off me. I have heard that the Irish have big heads, and since I have some of that heritage maybe this is why. Who knows. I prefer not to wear these while driving for this reason. I will get a headache and pinching above my ears when wearing them. However for cycling I always wear them. They do a great job of blocking 40mph winds in your face. This leads to a more pleasurable experience riding when your eyes do not dry out, and contacts will stay put. Somehow when cycling I do not get the headache or ear pinches when wearing them, even on 6-hour training rides. Maybe the pain of the ride itself takes my mind off the glasses. I will even wear them right into the run of a triathlon and until the event is over the comfort is just fine.

Overall Impression
These glasses are very strongly made. The lenses have been abused quite a bit by me using my t-shirt to wipe off sweat, dropping them on the sidewalk, and also by the elements. Last week while riding a truck kicked up a rock that nailed the lens hard, and not a scratch to be seen! Plus I still have an eye so I am happy.

These sunglasses do a great job of helping me see and protecting me from the UV rays while I am out frying in the Arizona desert. I just wish they were more comfortable so I could use them all the time. I don't care if I look like Terminator X of Public Enemy fame, they work great!

I do wish they had some kind of way to allow clip-in prescription lenses for a blind guy like me. And the shape of the lenses does not lend well to having custom Rx lenses made for them, so either get your eyes ffixed, wear contacts, or maybe look at another pair of shades.

Overall I do like them for their durability, wind blocking, and the fact that they do not interfere with my helmet, but due to fit and limited options for those needing corrective lenses I will only rate them a 3 of 5.

Next

If you want to get faster on your bike, look out for the next review of the Giro Advantage 2 aero helmet.

The key is pacing

2009-10-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Pacing is one of the key factors in Ironman distance racing. Or so my coach tells me, and I can see it on a small scale already.

Take my weekend long ride for example. My house is only a couple of miles from the Beeline Highway which constitutes a major portion of the Ironman Arizona bike leg. Because of this many of the local tri-clubs will train there as well as individuals there just to ride the course. Many are undoubtedly training for the same race as me, but many are training for smaller races like SOMA put on by Red Rock Co.. I do a majority of my long rides on this same route. I find that going out on the slight uphill as I am trying to hold my HR at a steady 140 an awful lot of the others will pass mt by. It is discouraging to say the least when all your potential competition is leaving you in the dust. But I hold back knowing there is still a lot of miles I plan to cover. I ride out further than pretty much everyone else there and turn around. As I get closer to the end of the ride I tend to pass at least as many as have passed me before. It seems everyone slows down - even with the slight decline in elevation as I keep holding that steady 140 heart rate.

The people I am passing may not be training for Ironman, but it does instill a lot of comfort in me that my goal race will go down much like this. If I can hold a steady pace I shouldn't break down and lose my ability to keep moving along.

I suppose this applies to living as a diabetic as well. The goal is not to be healthy for a short time with some crash diet and magic pills that supposedly will cure diabetes. Rather it is to consistently practice behaviors that will keep you steady and healthy over the long haul. Frequent testing, exercising, and eating a healthy diet are all things that must become habitual and practiced regularly. The more consistently we do this the better off we will be in this long life that similar to Ironman, isn't really a race - but a plan executed as best we can to allow us to reach our potential.

Coming up

I am nearly done with my review of the Giro Havic Sunglasses. I'll post in the the next day or 2. Also if you are in the Phoenix area I will encourage you to come see the Sportswear fashion show I will be putting on in early November. Details comgin Soon!

Iron Nightmares

2009-09-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Typically I am calm and collected at the start line of a given race. The race morning buzz is always evident, but I seem to be able to keep my heart rate low, and not get overly excited as the race start approaches. My dreams however are quite different. Take for example the dream I woke up to last night that caused me to sit up and yell curse words out loud. This is something of a recurring dream I have now had a few times...

I started my race in some sort of huge warehouse that held an Ironman distance lake. I swam out of the side exit of the building then ran around to the front where my bike was. Absolutely everyone in the race had beat me and my bike was the only one left so I was in a hurry to get moving out of transition. I realized that I had forgotten my testing supplies and freaked out. After cursing a couple of times I realized the tester was already attached to the bike. Then I realized I had no shoes. And even worse my tires were flat and I had no pump! Somehow I figured out a way to continue on the race and I looked up to see my bike was gone. Someone told me it was in the car and I said "Why the %$#$@ would you do that?" and they said they thought I had given up. So I pulled the bike out of the car and realized they had loosened up all the bolts for the aerobars to fit it into the vehicle. At that point I thought "I will use my multi-tool to fix it, even though my bike fit won't be correct"

Then I realized my multi-tool was missing - ARRRGGGHH!!!!

Hopefully my Ironman experience is not like this.

Fundraiser News

If you haven't yet done so, please consider donating to Triabetes. We are working to complete a documentary that will take our message to thousands, maybe even millions of people worldwide and help to fund it's completion by the schedules premiere of Nov 21, 2009. It will be the beginning of preparation for Ironman Arizona, in which we will compete in the following day.

Of course your donation is tax deductible AND makes you eligible to win my bike as, so it is really a win-win situation! Please Click Here or look at my fund-raiser button at the top left of this blog for more details. Donations of all sizes are appreciated, and in these times of lean budgets your donations are even more appreciated. Those of you that have already lent your help, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart (Why is the bottom of the heart the best part anyhow?)!

Respect the Ironman

2009-09-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

I have honestly grown a bit of a cocky attitude lately. With all of this training and listening to everyone around me in awe of the long workouts I can do and still go out the next night I began to think Ironman would be something I will tackle like a cowboy dropping on a calf and quickly roping its legs at the rodeo. Last weekend made me step back...

I was't particularly looking forward to my 6-hour bike ride but figured it would be over by the time I used to get up on Saturday mornings anyhow so no worries. As the hours went by, the heat slowly crept in. By hour 5 I was completely out of water. I had a backpack with 3 litres of water, an aero drink bottle, an extra 24 oz. water bottle stuffed in the backpack, and two water bottles filled with Hammer Perpetuem and water. That was over a gallon of water and 48 oz of my caloric drink mix. I had to stop in a convenience store and supplement with another 1 liter bottle of water and that too was gone by hour 6. Then to the "transition run" as my coach calls it. Basically I run after every bike ride and this one was only 1/2 hour. But at 14 minutes I was toast. Normally I can attribute this to my blood sugar going low, but no, I had pretty much perfect numbers all morning, and was at 127 right then. I began walking. After eating a gel I was able to continue running on home, but I realized right then that Ironman is no joke. If I were to have to run another 23 miles I would not have made it. My head was killing me and I was suffering from obvious signs of exhaustion caused by overheating.

Although I had followed a good nutrition plan, and had kept my blood sugars right where I wanted them the heat simply became more than I could bear. In the future it will do me good to have enough water on hand that I can actually pour it over my head frequently when hot, and this weekend I am actually leaving town to ride in the mountains of Flagstaff so I can avoid the 100 degree temps entirely for my planned 5 hour ride. Plus I get to use my wetsuit in the cool waters of Lake Mary which will be a nice change.

New Stuff

I have a couple of Reviews under way. The Giro Havik sunglasses, and the Giro Advantage 2 aero helmet will be reviewed, although from my biased viewpoint of Giro being a Triabetes sponsor. I will still attempt to remain fair. Reviews of supplements such as PureFit bars and Hammer Perpetuem are also on the horizon.

I will be competing in a relay fashion at Nathan's Tempe Triathlon. I will only have to do the 10k run, so it will be exciting to watch some of my friends compete for a change.

My last dollar (And other flat tire tips)

2009-09-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

So my trusty latex tubes are certainly not infallible. It appears that once my bike tire has been penetrated the latex tubes are doomed. This is still far superior to my experience with standard butyl tubes suffering from snakebite and other flats not related to the destruction of a tire. If this makes no sense to you be sure to read my blog reviewing Latex tubes and why I still wholeheartedly recommend them.

Saturday I rode for 4 hours along the beeline and was reminded about all the tricks used to get you home when you run into trouble while biking. This particular day was the heaviest rain I've yet ridden in and didn't begin until I was as far from my house as I would get. Of course with this weather a flat tire would make it more interesting. On long rides I do several things for flat tire preparation I will review here.

How to prepare for the inevitable flat tire.

I always carry a tiny CO2 pump, cartridge, and spare tube in a bag under my seat. Some will use a bento box but they basically do the same thing - hold stuff. I have a Genuine Innovations "Microflate Nano." The benefit of this pump is it is the smallest pump I've seen, and is great for stuffing into your bike bag for minimal weight and space usage. It requires a threaded CO2 cartridge that you screw onto the tiny pump to penetrate the the end, and unscrew slightly to release the air to fill your tube.

This is the most basic and lightweight option, and can quickly get you back on the road, but sometimes may not be enough! I can't stress enough that I ALWAYS carry this with me when I ride.

If you have strong hands you can get by without the next device, but many struggle removing an reattaching tires so a tire lever or two can be handy. I keep a pair in my bike bag ass well. They make installing tires so much easier, but there is a higher risk of pinching your tube when using one so many choose not to use them if possible.

Bring a spare tire with you if you have the space to hold it. I have a foldable clincher that is somewhat used but still works good for emergency situations. Also if you have a backpack like me put a hand pump in there as well.

Cut a segment of an old worn out tire about 2" long to keep to place between your tube and a tire that has considerable damage from a flat on the road. Failing that, you can slip a dollar in the space as a temporary liner for small tire penetrations.

My Saga Continued

As noted I was riding in the pouring rain and rode over some debris in the road. "Pffffffft." I knew I was toast when I heard that horrible sound. Also I could feel the tire pressure hitting my calf, so I knew the tire was actually torn. I pulled off to the side of the road and began replacement of my tube and tire.

Woops, my backpack which is usually filled with a spare tire and a tire piece seemed to not contain either! And to make matters worse my hand pump was broken. Ok, so much for option 1, 2, & 3! Luckily there was a dollar in my backpack so I slipped it into my tire between the tube and the tear in the tire. Just then my Triabetes teammate Jerry Nairn pulls up wearing his aero helmet and riding his sweet Kestrel. My CO2 cartridge had been spent due to my own ineptness with that type of pump so he loaded me up with air, gave me another spare just in case, and I was off.

So the moral of the story is that you should not only prepare for the worst. Make sure you regularly check your equipment to make sure it hasn't been used up at a previous time like I had!

WIN my bike! (And help a great cause)

2009-08-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

That's right, you can WIN the Cervelo P2SL I reviewed earlier this year! Click Here to see it. All I am asking is for you to donate at least $50 to Triabetes, a Title C non-profit. You benefit in 2 ways:

1) You will be helping a great organization to spread the word about fitness and help diabetics everywhere become healthier.
2) You can get a tax deduction on your donation.
3) You have a very good shot at winning a bike known for many Ironman wins over the years. Not by me of course, but by others! I will update your odds as time progresses. This will last only 3 months!

I will have the bike professionally tuned up to tip top shape, and will ship it to whoever wins, wherever they may be, out of my own pocket. You can do whatever you want, ride it, give it to someone who is about 6' to 6'4" tall as a gift, or sell it. This bike still sells at my local bike shop for $1700 and you can find it all over eBay.

All I ask is that you commit to donate at least $50 to Triabetes through my FirstGiving account by clicking here. First giving is a fantastic way to donate to any cause you love, and they make sure the monies get to the organization. Also, you will see a link on the top left of this page showing my progress in creating donations for Triabetes.

Triabetes is a Title C non-profit and you can get a receipt for your records for making your donation tax deductible. Contact your tax advisor for more information. Your donation will help keep Triabetes around for the future so they can continue projects like "Triabuddies" - in which young diabetic kids are paired with diabetic Ironman athletes to inspire them to be active, healthy and take charge of their diabetes. Also, it will help support those Ironman athletes like myself to continue competing, create new friendships, and improve our ability to manage diabetes by giving us something to work for. That is really only the beginning, and our goal is to inspire and encourage every diabetic out there to get healthy and live a better life.

Please feel free to email me if you have any concerns. I am always around and eager to talk to anyone who wants to get involved, in whatever way they can.

Thanks, and good luck winning my baby (The famed Cervelo P2SL)!!

My Secret Goal

2009-08-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

Diabetes is something we can choose not to deal with every day. We can choose to just eat those Twinkies, disregard our insulin, and toss our Blood Glucose monitors in the back of our closet to collect dust. Really, this is a viable option! But as you know, this behavior does have it's implications. It will typically cause extreme fatigue, limited blood circulation, and organ failure over the long haul. Due to this most of us diabetics have made the choice to avoid those, and to varying degrees avoid Twinkies, use insulin, and test on some kind of regularity.

I am very guilty of having days where I don't follow the routine as strictly as I should and paid the consequences. Days when I have been extremely sick, or when I was hospitalized for a broken femur, I really did not want to take the effort to manage my diabetes.

What I am getting at is that to remain as healthy as possible, Diabetes management is something we must keep up with every single day. Diabetes is not leaving us, and does not ever give us a "break" unless you are a medical anomaly or are in the early honeymoon phase.

Ironman training is a lot like this. I have a program built up by my coach that requires I exercise every day in preparation for my race in November. If I don't to my training I will pay the consequences. Things like bonking on the bike, hyperventilating on the swim, or injuring my leg on the run are all real possibilities if I am not prepared.

The training is HARD, and requires a lot of hours and sweat to complete. Trying to balance a 20-hour workout week with a 40+ hour work week, and keep your girlfriend from dumping you is quite a task. Not insurmountable.That said I feel that if I can complete every workout given to me until the actual Ironman, it will (in my mind) carry a symbolic relationship to the struggle that all diabetics deal with every day to manage their diabetes.

My secret goal is not so secret now: Complete every workout and not miss any by Ironman and I will know I am coming to race as prepared as I can possibly be. And I will be sure to not let a single day go by in which I do not think of how to improve my diabetes control as well. Both are hard, but attainable, and the payoff is worth it!

99 days...

2009-08-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

Back in March when I met the entire crop of this year's Triabetes team captains Heather Warren showed me how to set an Ironman countdown on my Polar RS-400 Heart Rate Monitor. Yesterday I noted a small milestone. The countdown has switched to 2 digits left. Only 99 days to go until Ironman!

I see that another co-captain, Casey Boren has just 2 weeks until his next Ironman event - Ironman Canada, in which he hopes qualify for Kona. He has been training for several years, improving steadily, and this could be his year to knock out all the non-diabetics in his age group that have slipped in front of him to claim Kona slots in the past. I highly reccomend you do like me, and follow him as he races on August 30th by visiting and watching his progress at Ironman.com.

As the time approaches for us all the excitement and anticipation steadily grows. I can't wait to see everyone at the finish line!

News
Take note that I plan to make a big funndraising announcement soon. I will apttempt to make the promotion muti-faceted in hopes it can make a big splash. Triabetes is a great organization, but they can use your help to grow and continue inspiring people the world over.

Triabuddy revisited

2009-08-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, as a team captain for Triabetes I have been mentoring a 9 year old type 1 diabetic by named Cadhan. This is one of the most rewarding parts of being a team captain, although there is a lot that is rewarding in Triabetes.

I traveled to San Diego last weekend where my Triabuddy lives, and paid his family a visit. Cadhan's parents prepared a backyard BBQ so we could all hang out and chat. It was great setting to get to know each other as my other visit was during a baseball game in which Cadhan was playing, his dad was coaching, and his mother and sister were enthusiastically cheering him on.

Since I was leaving the sweltering heat for the weekend I brought my bike and put some miles in. This worked out well because I was able to show off the team bike, a rare Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL Special Edition. His parents are triathletes from the days of styrofoam egg helmets and speedo swimsuits so they were interested in the new bike. Cadhan was eager to jump on it and try it on for size - and based on the photo it looks like he has a bit more growing to do before he can actually ride this one!

His parents really hope that all they are doing for him will motivate him to be a healthy, active person for his entire life. Not only does he have the potential to participate in sports, he could truly excel at the highest levels if he puts his mind to it. Their devtion to him, and to the cause is fantastic, and I am sure will show through in Cadhan as he grows older. They have gone as far as eliminating all glutens from their house when they learned Cadhan also suffered from Celiac disease. His little sister Shea is a hoot as well. So very inquisitive and obviously cares a lot about her brother.

Anyhow, I have to thank the whole family for being such gracious hosts, and I look forward to our next visit!

Finding the time

2009-08-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

As anyone who has seriously trained for an Ironman can attest, finding time in the day to squeeze everything in can be quite a feat. That said, I am still over 3 months out from my main event, and have a LOT more training volume to build up in that time so the stresses on my time are only beginning to rear their ugly heads.

Take for example last Saturday's training plan. I had it all figured out, I would swim 45 minutes at daybreak, ride for 2:15, and run for 45 minutes. A simple 3:45 HIM Simulation workout that the coach prescribed and I should have been done by 9am.

Just throw a tiny wrench in the works and it all can unravel - my boss' wrench in this plan was holding a "site walk" Saturday morning at 7am. The site walk consisted of walking around in new subdivisions looking at the houses we design and examining their construction process. This is something we do once every 3 or 4 months. So now my plan had to change. IT would be done by 1pm. It is far too hot out to do the workout mid-day so I scheduled a photo shoot from 2-4pm. I went to the lake at 5pm, swam, found a good spot to ride from and rode for an hour until it hit sunset. I was riding up the highway to avoid any traffic signals and turned around. I was surprised by the fact that there was no shoulder on the south bound road so I jumped to the north bound road and rode the shoulder, against traffic, in the dark. That was scary, as I couldn't see if there was any debris in the road through those high beams in my face and was nervous of any cars that may veer into the shoulder on this dark mountain road. Finally I made it back and ran - somehow finishing my workout after 10PM. I found that it is not smart to ride the mountain roads at that time of night, even with my fancy bike lights.

So I keep trying to keep up with the training regimen, and with no children or wives I have it easier than many of my teammates do, but it is still hard, and only going to get harder. I guess that is the real payoff of doing the Ironman anyhow: You get to revel in all the hard work you and your families to get you to the finish line.

This week is a light week. Next week I see a lot more volume. I'd better suck it up!

Changing

2009-07-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

I am shocked every day by the growth of Triabetes. When I first started doing triathlons a couple of years ago I thought I was a lone warrior. The diabetic trying to beat the odds and become good at a sport that only the healthiest can succeed. Ok, this was a rather self-centered and vain viewpoint, but I didn't let it go to my head. :P

During first Half-Iron race I saw a guy wearing a shirt for some diabetic organization of which I didn't make note of. As I passed I asked "are you diabetic?" and he responded that he was. So I gave him a hi-5 and said me too as I blazed along at a blistering 11 minute mile pace...Ok, so I wasn't exactly the superstar that I imagined, and I learned there must be others out there as well. Still I thought we were a rare kind he and I.

A few months later, after the triathlon bug had really bitten I met Peter and Nate from Triabetes. They had a whole team of 12 Type 1's preparing to do an Ironman! I thought this was amazing and wanted to somehow become part of what they were doing. It was awesome to know that there were a few more diabetics doing triathlons out there...

Then Triabetes got Phrendo off the ground. The pace at which it grew, and is still growing amazed me. Honestly up until this point I figured there was maybe 20 diabetics out there racing. Now I see there are 112 members (and this only included those from Triabetes that are computer savvy, not all of them) and it is still growing! How many can there be? I assume that the Triabetes registrations are only a small fraction of diabetics out there that either choose to go it alone or have not yet heard of us.

Now whenever I go to a race, I find diabetics are everywhere. From the guy asking what we are because he just competed in his first sprint tri and he is Type 1, to the aid station worker who's husband is Type 2, to the Native american who tells me she trains with a bunch of Natives that are diabetic, to my gym! All of which now have free Triabetes orange wristbands. In fact the last case is a funny story...

A couple of weeks ago I dragged my lifeless body to the gym at 5:30 AM for a 90 minute swim. As I approached the front counter the girl working the front desk said in an eager and lively way "Nice shirt!" Confused, as I definately was not dressing to impress by any means, I looked down to see I was wearing my Grey Triabetes tech T. Quietly I thought to my syself "It is her job to be flirty, so creepy 33 year old guys like me will keep coming to the gym," but said "uhhh, thanks?" and went on my merry way to the pool.

A couple of days ago I saw the same girl workign the front desk, and said in my best Triabetes promotion voice "Since you liked my T shirt so much, here is a Triabetes orange wristband for you." Her eyes lit up and she proclaimed "I LOVE IT!" and tells me that SHE is a diabetic, and got the job at the gym so she could do swim training for an upcoming triathlon she wants to do. And then pointed to her coworker at the desk and said "She is diabetic too!" So I gave them both orange Triabetes wristbands and told them we are all over the country, and to look up the web site written on the wristband. Finally this morning the second girl was working alone at the desk this morning and told me that she hasn't taken her wristband off since I gave it to her.

It feels great to be helping out this wonderful cause, and feel like my participation is making an impact for the greater good of diabetics everywhere. With any luck the guy that did his first sprint tri, a bunch of Native Americans, the aid station worker's husband, the girls at the gym, and many more join us in growing this community I am proud to be a part of.

My perception has changed.

Race Report: Mountain Man Triathlon

2009-07-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, fellow Triabetics David Bourdon and Jerry Nairn joined me to race in the famed Mountain Man Triathlon in it's 25th year as one of the oldest races in the Southwest. Jerry opted for the sprint race to help him acclimate to his first open water swim, and David and I raced the Half Iron distance. David had a score to settle, due to the unforseen problems he encountered with a flat tire and low BG in our last race.

Mountain Man is set in the high country of northern Arizona in the city of Flagstaff. Pine trees are abundant here, and snow in the winter is commonplace. In fact Arizona's largest ski resort is located a few miles from the race location - Lake Mary.

The following is the race report I provided for my training coach Gordo Byrn over at Endurance Corner:

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Once again I had a terrible swim time, coming in 2nd to last in my AG. I am not sure why I didn't give myself any warm-up and started cold. Struggled the 1st 1/3 and lost my ability to breathe bilaterally even though I have been doing it consistently while training over the last month. I was able to get a rhythm about halfway in, but kept breathing to my right side. Final swim time was 56:09. At least I felt fine just a tad winded at the end of the swim.

I kept right on the program for the bike until about mile 50 when I veered a few miles off course. When a volunteer corralled me in I got got back on track but I suddenly forgot about my HR and hammered away to get back and let my HR go up to 180. Then a flat tire slowed me down with 4 miles to go and allowed me to still have an average HR of 151. Bike time was 3:14. Felt good for the run.

The run was good, and I had to try and keep my average 162 HR by feel because in my frustrated state on the bike I forgot to transfer my garmin to my wrist. Also, I suffered a low blood sugar of 50 on mile 6 and had to take in extra food to get myself back up to pace. I completed the run in 2:24. Since 6-7 miles of the run was uphill this is normal for me. I had more energy than I normally do in a HIM for the last few miles and ran down some people that were doing the Oly distance I think.

Even though I suffered a little derailment I was able to stay somewhat on track. I just wish I had real HR results from the run.

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To make this more relevant to all you diabetics out there I will add my BG's to the mix. Should start with the fact that the day before the race my BG's were all running high. In and around 200 all day long. The night before the race I apparently ate far more carbs than I thought with my giant burger and fries. Thus resulting in a 240 when I awoke. Realizing this was too high before breakfast I used 4u of insulin and ate a medium breakfast of half a bagel and a cup of yogurt. I tested again just before the race and saw I was sitting at a whopping 384! I assumed it would drop some, but didn't know how much so I went ahead and started my swim.

As mentioned before I had a miserable swim time, possibly in part because of my horrible BG control, but I tested again as soon as I got on the bike and read 200. This was something I could deal with. I took 2u of humalog from the pen and went along using my planned diet of Perpetuem and Gatorade Endurance. 45 minutes later I tested again to see I was climbing at 230. I took 2u more of Humalog. Again 45 minutes later I tested and saw I was up to 250 so again I used 2u of Humalog. When I hit the run I felt pretty good but tested at mile 2 to see I had a 236 so I took yet another 2u of Humalog, and stupidly decided to cut my calories and just drink water until I tested again, but I was nearly out of test strips so I also had to be sparing. Around mile 6 I noticed people started passing me, and my vision was blurred for a moment so I used my last test strip and saw I had dropped to 50. I immediately ate a Hamer gel and some Luna Moons and decided that every 2 miles I would eat another Hammer gel that they provided on the course. This woke me backl up and allowed me to finish. At the finish I tested again and was once again at 220.

Overall my BG's sucked all day long. Even the day before they were far too high. I used 8u of Humalog in the race, which is a ridiculously large amount for me considering 2u will often drop me from 300 to 100 in half an hour during training, even with food. I guess I will have to chalk it up to my body being more insulin resistant that couple of days or something. 2 days after the race I returned to normal and my BG's continue to be much easier to control.

I guess what I can take from this is that even if my numbers are not good, the fact that I can constantly check, adjust, and check again to keep my body from going ketonic during a race while continualy consuming calories can work. Even when things are not necessarily good, I can make do and still perform reasonably well.

-----

I almost wrote a portion of this blog chastising the race organizers, but I found some of the things I stated may not have been fair, so let's just say I was not particularly impressed with it. The race itself was beautiful, and covered great scenery, I just wish the organizers who are quite experienced having run this race for 25 years would have made it a better experience.

This is likely my last full triathlon until Ironman Arizona - which according to my countdown watch is exacly 120 days away. Teammate Casy Boren is winding down his training for the upcoming Ironman Canada and I am eager to follow his progress. Be sure to check in on his Twitter Page for updates.

Working out EVERY DAY??

2009-07-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I would have thought this behavior was a brain disorder. I had been lifting weights trying to bulk up due to my natural proclivity to be skinny and the rule of thumb was to only work out 2-3 times a week. Then I signed up with a real Ironman coach - so much for that train of thought!

For the last 3 weeks I have been training a lot more volume than ever in the past. The kicker is that with this training program I do not get a single day of rest! In fact, I am going to race in the Mountain Man Half Iron race up in Flagstaff next week and coach has me doing small workouts the day before and after the event! I trust his years of racing and coaching experience far outweigh my knowledge on the subject. The result of all this is that I sleep a lot more, and have a voracious appetite. I probably eat the equivalent of my own body weight every week.

The Scary Moments of being a Diabetic

2009-06-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Insulin is a funny thing in that a Diabetic needs it to stay alive and avoid major organ and circulatory issues over time, but also can cause more apparent and immediate problems when injected. Often I hear stories of people who don't wake up on their own and must be rushed to a hospital. Or the guy my dad worked with who was a Type 1 diabetic and addicted to Hershey's kisses. He would eat the candies all day, and dose heavy insulin all day. Thus causing extreme fluctuations in his blood sugars. He drove a motorcycle and would get to feeling funny, pull over and pass out. When he awoke he would mow down another bag of chocolates. On occasion he would wake up in an ambulance. This cycle continued and over time my dad recognized the decline in his coworkers overall health. Hopefully he changed his habits or I would expect he is not likely to be with us any longer.

I have either been a lucky Diabetic, or have kept the disease under good control for the 7 years that I've been using insulin. I have felt blood sugar lows. In fact when I was in the lobby of Diabetes Training Camp, I was embarrassed by the fact that I dropped to the 40's and broke out in a profuse sweat. A couple of weeks ago I noted that my BG was 240. So with that in mind I took 4u of Humalog - and ate a light snack figuring all would be well. I took an afternoon nap and when I woke up I seemed to be in some kind of haze, and could not understand anything. It was as if My thoughts were all truncated and I could only understand the surface of any subject. After laying on the couch bewildered for some unknown amount of time I finally gathered enough thought in my brain to test. 32! I have NEVER been that low. I was babbling incoherently and stood there for about 5 minutes until I heard myself say the word "Sugar." I opened the refrigerator door and spent several more minutes looking at food and not knowing what to do with it. Suddenly the extreme hunger that can hit you when you are low set in and I grabbed a cup of yogurt, pulled off the cap frantically and swallowed the whole thing in one gulp. Next I ate all the cheese I could find. Neither of these had much sugar in them, and suddenly I thought of those glucose tablets I bought several years ago and had only eaten 3 of. The problem was that my brain could not complete the thought and tell me where to find them even though they were in the cabinet directly in front of me. Then finally I saw a bundle of bananas on the counter. I ate 3 of them, each in one bite. The 4th one fell on the floor, and I did after it as well. Another 10 minutes or so of laying there trying to contemplate why I was there I got up, washed off the last banana and swallowed it whole as well...

I have never experienced anything like this before and to be in the situation was quite scary. My roommate was at work, my girlfriend was at her house, and my brain did not function well enough to think of calling paramedics. Luckily the flashes of brain function I did have pulled me through and I felt great the rest of the day. But I wonder, if my BG was just a tiny bit lower, what could have happened?

I know I made a lot of mistakes here. Most of it was due to lack of preparation for an episode like this. Since I have never found myself in such circumstances I was caught wholly off-guard. Just in case, I will get the Glucagon kit the doctor told me about when I was first diagnosed, but forgot to prescribe. I will keep glucose tabs handy. I will be more vigilant in making sure I am not dosing heavily on insulin without a significant food buffer in my system.

My ability to keep the blood sugars in better control since this incident is much better. Maybe I am just more aware and thinking about the consequences of my actions. Whatever it is I will have to keep this up!

Review: Michelin AirComp Latex Tubes

2009-06-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Ask any road cyclist what the most common problem they encounter is and they will invariably answer "Flatting!" without any hesitation. I have blown countless tubes over the last couple of years of riding. Everything from a simple snakebite caused by my hastily mounting the tube and tire ever so slightly off to a caribiner that ripped through my tire tube, and damaged my rim have left me stranded on the side of the road. Michelin AirComp Latex tubes to the rescue!

The Good
For those looking for the slightest advantage when racing this tube is one of the best options out there according to literature found across the net. From what I have read, the following is true:

These tubes are lightweight. At 65g you are saving up to 30g compared to standard road tubes. Continetal makes a butyl "Race Supersonic Tube" at 50g, but they are so thin that the likelihood of flatting is very high.

The rolling resistance of latex is lower than that of butyl. Less rolling resistance means you will not be working as hard to keep your speed.

Higher elasticity than butyl tubes. More elasticity means they are more compliant to foreign objects and will not flat as easy as a standard tube.

The Bad
The valves are not particularly impressive. They only come in 2 sizes that I have seen. 38 and 60mm. Neither are long enough to fit on a pair of Zipp 404's without the use of valve extenders. And the 38 is so short that many standard floor pumps can't even clamp onto it on a standard WH-R500 Shimano rim. Also they are not threaded. So you can not clamp down the tube onto the rim like I am accusotmed to. Although I do not know if there is any benefit to having a threaded valve stem at all.

The latex is porous. If you like to jump on your bike, without a care in the world, this tube may not work for you. If you are like me however, and check your air pressure before every ride, this is fine. Because the latex is porous, they deflate rather quickly in comparison to butyl. The pressure will last as long as you can ride in a day, but after 2 days I generaly have to put about 10-15 lbs. of pressure back into them.

The Verdict
I love these tubes. I may be dooming myself to a terrible onslought of flats by stating this, but I have not had a single flat on my latex tubes while riding. The only flat I have suffered from them is when I mounted the tube wrong and inflated the crap out of it wondering why the air pressure was staying low. Once my tire came completely off the rim the tube exploded. I have been riding with them as my main tubes for about 6 months now - and that is quite a feat!

In contrast, my new Kestrel came with butyl tubes, and one flatted the first day! Needless to say I have since outfitted the bike with latex tubes and have been quite happy.

I gave the latex tubes only 4 of 5 syringes because I have to pump them up pretty much every single time I ride them. On race morning I am forced to pump the tires up. An added step I'd prefer to do at home. Otherwise I won't even ride butyl tubes unless I have to (or just too lazy to swap them out)!

Getting a coach

2009-06-18T20:20:00.001-07:00

After months of considering all of my options, I came to the conclusion that I need a coach. I felt I have reached a sort of fitness plateau with my current unstructured workout routine of simply going out for a long bike ride, a long run, or swimming 30 laps in the pool. Don't get me wrong, this does work to keep me fit, but I want to actually improve, and become a more competitive athlete.

On the recommendation of several others in the Triabetes program I signed up at Endurance Corner. This main coach is Gordon Byrn - or for those in the know "Gordo" and staffed by several experienced coaches. He may be best known for co-authoring "Going Long" with possibly the most well known author in the sport of triathlon, Joe Friel.

So far I have learned that even my current base training has been too fast! I have been doing my slow run with a heart rate in the mid 150's and now I dropping it down to the crawling rate of 140. I've seen his results, and those of the other athletes he has coached so I have faith that if I follow his philosophy I will improve.

So far so good...

Triabetes Podcast!

2009-06-17T08:11:00.001-07:00

For those of you out there that may not be aware, Triabetes Team Captains Casey Boren and David Bourdon host a Podcast all about diabetes, life and training. Hear their experiences and and opinions about all sorts of subjects, as well as interviews.

Episode one they interviewed Denise Ricci - an incredible woman that has competed in several Ironmans. She gives the good, bad and ugly about her experiences and what she has learned along the way.

Episode two they interview Peter Nerothan, Triabetes Manager extraordinaire. He explains what Triabetes is all about, and tells what he is up to himself (including his training for a 100 mile run!).

Be sure to check them out at Triabetes Radio

Trials of the PHARMACY!

2009-06-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

Anyone with an ongoing condition, whether it be Male Pattern Alopecia or Type 1 Diabetes, will be able to sympathize with these words.

WHY IS IT SUCH A PAIN IN THE ARSE TO FILL A PRESCRIPTION?

Wal-Mart's Pharmacy is one of the very worst I have ever dealt with, but nearly every Pharmacy seems to want to keep your medications from you. Read some examples of my experiences:

We will stop hardcore drug users!

Years ago I stopped into Osco Drug because I was out of lancets for my testing device. I figured I could pick up a box over the counter, but for some reason the Pharmacist had them in with all the meds. So I asked him for a bix to which he replied "I need your prescription."

"Prescription? These are just LANCETS!" I replied.

"You must have a prescrition, otherwise drug addicts could come in here and use them." He stated. I thought maybe, just maybe he had an argument if I was buying syringes to use for my Heroin habit (even then I believe they should distribute the syringes with no prescription to prevent transmission of blood borne diseases through the use of dirty needles) - but not lancets! I can't think of any possible way a drug user could make use of lancets.

Fax YOU!

Recently I had my doctor fax a prescription to the pharmacy. When I called the pharmacy they said they never got the fax. So I asked my doc to fax it again, and also fax them to me at the same time. When I called the pharmacy they claimed they never recieved the fax. So I suggested I could fax it to them, or even bring in the duplicate I had my doctor fax me. They said "No, it has to come from the doctor." How could I win? So I used the doctor's cover letter, faxed it as if I were the doctor putting nothing that showed it was actually coming from me and they finally accepted it.

How many trips does it take to get one script filled anyhow?

Wal-Mart Pharmacy is the worst I have ever dealt with. I have literally gone to the pharmacy 6 times to fill one script there in the past. Every time I would call ahead and they would tell me my script was filled. Every time I came in it was filled with the wrong amount of insulin, the wrong type of syringes, charged me the wrong amount, or in the first two attempts was never filled at all saying they needed some more verification from my doctor or insurance company.

I don't believe I have ever filled a prescriptiion with them in one visit. It always takes at least 2. And they default to generic syringes even when the prescription is very specific in my preference of 31 gage BD syringes.

How about you?

I'd be curious to hear your stories of Pharmacy idiocy. I am sure my stories pale in comparison to some of your's out there. Mail your story to me, and I'll post them up in another follow-up blog sometime. My email is kemp772@cox.net - I know, posting that I am ready for the onslaught of spam that will inevitably follow.

Testing and Training

2009-06-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

During my training over the course of the last few months I have noticed a couple of things that make testing while training or racing a tad bit easier and more accurate. You may wish to incorporate some of these into your own personal training routine as you see fit.

1) Test with one hand, grab drinks and food with the other.
When you go on long rides and runs you need to bring food and drinks to keep you alive. Gatorade, gel packs, and protein bars sure can get messy! All of this mess can cause sugar to get into your blood sample, resulting in inaccurate test results. I use the fingers on my right hand for testing, so I make a point to grab all fuels with my left.

2) Clean the test site with water.

Sometimes Gatorade just blasts all over the place if you hit a pothole on your bike. Other times you may inadvertently use both hands for ripping tops off of gel packs, or opening food containers. If you think you may have something on your testing hand, use regular water and rinse it off. I always have a bottle of plain water for just such an occasion.

3) Set the tester to it's brightest setting.

If your tester has an LCD display set the contrast as high as you can, if it has LED display like my Accu-Chek Compact Plus, turn up the brightness as high as possible. This really only applies in sunny areas like AZ, but what you should do is go outside while wearing your training sunglasses and set the display to be as visible as possible. It can be quite difficult to read those displays in your typical weather conditions.

4) Squeeze copious amounts of blood from your finger.

When running this isn't as necessary, but while biking it is very difficult to place that tiny blood droplet on your test strip. I typically have my entire fingertip covered in blood to ensure enough of a sample will make it to the test strip and just rub it all over the test strip. Of course this can be messy, but it keeps you from having to jump off the bike and test on the side of the road while all of those people you just passed up whip by you again.

5) Practice!

The first time you try testing while in the middle of a run or bike you are bound to end up with an ERR-5, drop a test strip on the ground, or some other unforeseen problem. The more you test while training, the easier it will become.

Deuceman and renewed inspiration

2009-05-31T12:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday teammate David Bourdon and I competed in the Deuceman Half Iron distance Triathlon in Show Low, Az. David had prearranged a campsite near the race so accommodations would be inexpensive, the location was only 3.5 hours from home, and the elevation (6,347 ft.) made the climate very favorable for a great race day.

Preparation
Having not focused my training around this race I did not have the highest of expectations. Typically a racer will set up a workout regimen for the months leading up to a race and call it an "A" race. My "A" race will be Ironman Arizona so my training has been sort of non-existent with the expectation that I will work out a program after the Deuceman to put me in the best shape I can be for that. With that said, I fully expected to be a train wreck by race end, as I have been in both of my previous half Iron distance races. Other than this, my prep for the trip was quite well, with one minor caveat. I had packed my tent, and some how neglected to bring my tent poles. So when I went to lay out my fancy 5-person Coleman tent I realized I only had the outer shell, with nothing to hold it up! Luckily David was doubly prepared and had brought an extra tent "just in case."

The night before the race the Accu-Chek Compact Plus monitor I had prepped to use for the race decided to abruptly stop functioning! Odd, as I have 4 of them, and two have suddenly died in the last week. Due to this I had to go to a 24-hour Walmart and pick up a replacement. Luckily the regular charge without insurance is only $18 so it didn't break the bank. I thought I was screwed imagingin doing a race without knowing my blood sugars for the entire day. Now my race was saved!

We all awoke early race morning after freezing our asses off in the 40 degree temperatures overnight and headed out to the race site. For some reason, probably due to limited sleep freezing throughout the night, I was not in the correct mindset. I saw my awakening BG was rather high, at 323. I ate breakfast of a bagel and a cup of yogurt and took 7u of Humalog thinking a smaller dose would be good. Wrong! I had wasted so much time wandering around that suddenly I was in a rush to get to the race site and prep! On the way, I stopped in to a convenience store to put on my contact lenses, possibly leaving my glasses in their bathroom. I got to the race site, set up my bike, and started putting on my wetsuit. When the legs were already on I remembered I needed sunscreen.

"Dummy, you need to put on sunscreen before you put on your suit!" I thought. Oh well, my legs don't burn too bad so I just applied the spray on SPF 30 to my shoulders, middle of my back, and neck. After pulling my wetsuit all the way on and walking over to the start area I realized I had neglected to use any body glide. DUMB MISTAKE if you value your...erm...valuables. Just before leaving I noticed another dumb mistake. On my final BG check before the start I was now at 408! I decided not to eat the banana I had on hand to get me through the swim and put a little Potassium into my system. I promptly jumped into the water and the race began!

The Dreaded Swim
I loved the swim start. It was easily the most brutal crowd of triathletes I have shared the water with to date. Early on I got a fist to the chin, and was overall pounded by guys in just about every part of my body with open hands and legs. As stated before I am a slow swimmer, so once the crowd left me in their water dust I came out smiling. The fact I came out unscathed gave me more confidence. At around the halfway point the second wave started to overtake me. I thought this to be odd, as normally they overtake me much earlier. As I got out of the water I noticed that the zipper on my wetsuit was all the way down already. This must be what kept my neck from chafing as it normally does when wearing the suit.

Official 1.2 mile swim time: 45:23. My fastest half-iron swim yet, and 12 minutes faster than my last miserable Olympic distance swim 2 weeks ago and only 15 minutes behind the first guy in my age group. I was very happy with that result.

The bike has wings!
Once I jumped on the bike I waited about 10 minutes and checked my BG. 274 - it had gone down, but I knew I would need to eat to be able to keep my body going for the rest of the day. I opted to just drink water for a bit and test again. A half hour later it was still 264 so I decided to try injecting 2u of Humalog from a new pen injector I had procured 2 days before. I slowed down, stopped pedaling, and shoved the tip in my thigh. Perfect! Except I had now bent the needle tip and could not reuse the needle. Mental note: I need to practice removal of the pen needle so as not to destroy it. Also, take heed that the manufacturer advises to use each needle only once, but in race conditions changing a needle tip would be a pain in the rear. I then started eating my gel packs. I had brought 4 for the ride, and felt as though 5 would have been better to keep me from getting too hungry. Also, I was drinking Gatorade Endurance, with its high levels of Sodium and Potassium I hoped it would help me from cramping up later on in the race. The next test was 193 - I was happy to see it decrease and continued eating and drinking as I had planned. Just before I jumped off the bike I tested one last time. 117. WOW! I was perfect to start running. While still in transition, Peter Nerothan asked me "How's your blood sugars?" To which I replied "GREAT!" and "Oh yeah, I better grab the monitor off my bike!"

Official 56 mile bike time: 2:51:54

Running it in
With great BG numbers showing I ate what my body told me I needed, which was a pretty good amount of food. A mix of Sport beans, Gu gel packs provided by the race, and Luna Moons. Although Luna Moons are created for women, I like them and just hope they don't cause me any hormonal changes...lol. At the 7 mile marker I tested again. There was an aid station worker that asked "Water of Gatorade?" to which I replied "I'll let this meter decide." She went on to say she knew exactly how it goes, as her husband is Diabetic. The result was 157 so I took both water and Gatorade. I started to lose my pace and it took everything I had to keep running up the hills but I did. I am not sure if it was simply the fatigue of racing all day or my final BG result of 259 at the race end that slowed me down but probably a combination of the two. The last quarter mile I decided to up the pace, even though there was no one in front of me, and right then my calved both started cramping up. In agony I kept the faster pace and ran through the finish line.

Official 13.1 mile run time: 2:06:22. Not the fastest I have done, but this was a rather hilly run course and was pretty much what I wanted.

Official finish time of 5:49:15

Race analysis
This is the closest to a balanced race I have been in thus far. There were 19 age groupers in the 30-34 year old range. I placed 14th on the swim, 9th on the bike, and 9th on the run to end with a 9th place finish. Looking at all of my competitors times I was the first of the group that would not be considered blazing fast. So if you look at it through my rose colored glasses I was first place amongst all of the people that I had any chance against. 8th place was 35 minutes ahead of me with a 5:15 finish - a time that realistically I can not do without another year of hardcore training under my belt. The top 8 were lightning fast, and before the race I had looked up my competition on Athlinks and knew that that they were competing at a whole other level as they were multiple ironman finishers with posted half distance times that were under 5 hours.

This was the first race I had ever used insulin. Also, it is the first race I had taken regular BG tests. The result was that I finished without the wheels falling off the wagon. A first for an endurance event of this length for me. It renewed my confidence that I will learn enough over the next 6 months to successfully complete Ironman Arizona and look good doing it! Using the insulin pen made insulin delivery much easier than a typical syringe would have been. With practice I should be able to deliver my insulin without destroying the needle, but in longer races I should consider loading 2 pens up just in case. I purchased a Duo Pen Wallet from Cooler Concepts and shoved it into my saddle rails with the opening facing the rear. This made it easy to pull the pen out, but putting it back after use was a little difficult. I will work on this setup to make it easier, but I think this will work perfectly once I iron out the bugs. I will of course include photos of the final position for you blog readers out there. Knowing my BG and taking action during the race, instead of after, opens my eyes and helps drastically to improve my performance.

The race kits provided to the Triabetes team by Kestrel and Giro are awesome! Out of the water I was 14th place. I passed 4 of my competitors on the bike leg of this race and kept a 19.5mph pace. Given the course, altitude, and my previous races my time would have averaged under under 18.5. Those bikes, wheels, helmets, and sunglasses realy do make you a touch faster - and even more they make you feel like a predator out there taking out competitors 1 by 1. The last guy I passed by was on the run. He looked horribly uncomfortable, but the Sugoi tri-suit (that you too can get your hands on at the Triabetes Store) I was wearing not only looked great, but kept me comfortable the entire race. I really do recommend the Sugoi gear.

The Gatorade Endurance that I had procured at REI is thus far the best electrolyte replacement drink I have used during a long ride. The flavor (Lemon Lime) was good and did not seem overpoweringly sweet. My legs didn't cramp up in the run portion of the race which is often attributed to low Potassium and Sodium levels so for now I will use that product. The formula of this product was similar to other endurance powders like CytoMax and Heed - but the quantity in the package per cost of the container leaned heavily in the favor of the Gatorade.

Things I learned
1) Take time in preparation or YOU WILL PAY! Using no bodyglide left me with a crotch burn that looks pretty heinous. Losing my glasses will cost me a couple hundred dollars. Forgetting sunscreen on parts of my body leave me more susceptible to skin cancer in the future and Diabetes is enough to deal with!

2) I am sold on the Insulin pen. The ease of delivery while biking made my $40 (after insurance) well worthwhile. It seems to be good to just have handy too, so I don't have to keep syringes in my pockets. Combined with the Frio bag for cooling, this is a great way to travel.

3) The importance of remaining in the aero position on the bike. Everyone I passed on the bike seemed to be in and out of their aero position a lot. I made a point to remain tucked away as much as possible. In fact, look for a future blog about the aero position and the advise given to me directly from the mouth of Steve Hed - of Hed Wheels fame.

4) And most importantly, that proper insulin therapy while racing is very important. Even if your numbers don't remain exactly at 107 the entire race, doing what you can to correct them makes a huge amount of difference in the ability to compete at a higher level.

So what's next?
I see the Mountain Man Half distance Triathlon is coming up in July. David is competing there, and registration is $180. Time to reassess the finances!

Thanks go out
First off I must thank TriSports Racing, for putting on such a fantastic event. Their events tend to be some of the best organized and fun events I have competed in. Plus they are a Triabetes sponsor, and without them I wouldn't be writing this today! Also the support of Peter Nerothan, Erica, and Lara. Without all of them the race would have been much more arduous, and not as much fun for David and I!

Keeping up

2009-05-25T17:50:00.001-07:00

Tweet
I haven't been keeping up very well on this blog, but I do have a Twitter page if you are dying for information. Be sure to check it out Here! I will be posting prattle about my daily goings on whenever I get the urge. I can actually text message my Twitter posts so it's quite easy.

The New Bike
Well as stated in my blog about the Tempe International Triathlon, it finally arrived and wow is it a beauty! I decided to set it up in my photo studio just before I dropped it off for the race. It is oufitted exactly as it was for the race, with my BG tester, syringe and water bottles attached. The only things missing are the 2 gel packets I taped to the rear of the top tube.

Memorial day weekend in San Diego
This was a fantastic trip for me. I was hoping to catch some others on the team and ride and run with them but alas, their lives got in the way. Nonetheless I got some great biking and running in along the coast. Also my own stupidity made me miss a run with Peter, where he took on a 12 hour run. For some reason I thought it was in San Diego, even after he told me he was in LA and I was surprised to find out it was actually taking place in Riverside, CA so my limited time there wouldn't allow me to make it. Can't wait to hear Peter's story of the run on his blog though!

Triabuddies
I got to meet my "Triabuddy" Cadhan while in San Diego as well. I went out to the ball park and watched his team, the Angels, take apart the Orioles 13 to 3. He is only 9 years old, but he is quite an athlete. He pitched 40 pitches, played short stop, and catcher. Then he knocked in the final RBI. Though only 9, his genetics handed down from mom and dad show through. He is quite tall, and possesses everything a doting parent dreams of for their athletic child. Well, aside from Type 1 Diabetes, and Celaic Disease. I learned that Celiac disease requires Cadhan to be even more stringent with his diet than a type 1 diabetic - and he is doing remarkably well with it.

It was nice to show his parents through my own example that Cadhan will be able to take care of himself when he moves out of the house as I have lived alone for the majority of my time as a Type 1. This fact alone seemed to ease his mom's worries, even if by just a small bit. I do hope that my time spent through Ironman will set a great example of what we are all capable of, and inspire Cadhan to keep up his active lifestyle. Cadhan also finally convinced me that I will talk to my doc about trying the Omnipod.

What goes up must come down
Sadly, I had to leave the Mecca of Triathlon, and return home from San Diego. I do plan to return as much as I can, as my hosts were fantastic. But, next weekend I will be competing in the Deuceman Half Iron Triathlon hosted by TriSports in coniferous Slow Low Arizona. I can't wait!

I forgot to paddle!

2009-05-20T15:13:00.001-07:00

That is the only explanation I can derive from my swim time at the Tempe International Triathlon last Sunday. Other that forgetting to paddle my arms and coming in with a abysmal 57 minute 1500 meter swim time the race went well, with a few things I still have yet to overcome.

Race morning I awoke with a good BG of 89. I ate a decent breakfast but forgot the salty bacon I typically have tons of had all been eaten so that was not a part of my balanced race day breakfast. I went to the transition area and set up my space. Like all of the other diabetics I saw out there (Jerry, David, and Julie) we remained in transition as long as we could to get a last second BG test. 120 - a little low for me to start a race so I brought a banana I had for just such an occasion.

The Dreaded Swim I had not been looking forward to this swim because I knew that since the outside temperature was forecast to be 105 that wetsuits would not be allowed. Sure enough they called it a no wetsuit race because the water temp was 79 - 1 degree too hot per USAT regulations. I knew i could swim the distance, as I do it every time I hit the pool, but without the crutch of a wetsuit I would be even slower than normal.

Calmly I hopped into the water and waited for the start and off I went. Without a watch I had no concept of time. I felt the second wave swim over my back, then the third, and so on... I drifted off as my eyes are pretty bad and saw that I was a couple hundred yards off track and had to correct. I finished in what seemed like a long time, but as a very slow swimmer I am used to that feeling. When I got out of the water - I was dead last! Sure there were a couple of stragglers from other age groups in there, but I was last for my age group and would have been close to last in the 70-74 age group as well!

Odd, considering I swam that race in 35 minutes last year, and swam 37 minutes at Las Palomas only a few weeks ago. Both slow times - but not as slow as 57 minutes! I did go a bit off course, but not 20 minutes - maybe 3-4 minutes. Can my wetsuit make that much of a difference? I guess we will have to see what I do at the upcoming Deuceman Half Iron in a little over a week.

Minor Bike Frustration
The bike split was my fastest ever. I averaged a pace faster than any race I have ever done at over 20 mph. Even faster than flat sprint races I had competed in. The main difference? This incredible Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL. Let me tell you, the Triabetes team bikes are beautiful, light, aggressive, and FAST! My only problem on the bike was the fault of my BG tester. I attempted to test with my fancy schmancy setup and all all I got was "ERR-1". It may have been the Gatorade that sloshed out of my aero water bottle and got on the tester, but whatever it was I was frustrated. finally, at the end of the bike I tried again. 224 - too high! But I have yet to get the insulin pen so all I had was a syringe. Instead I opted to just drink water and go light on Gu's until the race ended. Not a well planned strategy I know - and that is something I need to work on. But in the end I was very happy with my bike split.

Run Forrest!
I ran a respectable pace of 7:54 for the 10 portion of the race in which I was happy. Knowing my BG was still high I only had one Gu. Since it was probably already 95 at 9:30 that morning I took 3 waters at each aid station. ! dumped on my head, one thrown into my front, and one tossed in my face catching whatever I could in my mouth as I ran through. On extraordinarily hot days like this one you must dump as much water on yourself as you can to combat heatstroke and I finished feeling great.

The best part of the run was Finding David and Julie. At the very end David and I sprinted to a photo finish in which he took me out by 2/10th of a second! Amazingly it was all caught on fantastic video by David's wife. Make sure you check out David's Blog to see it!

Coming Soon
The new Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL from TriSports is AWESOME! I will soon do a review of it, but in this case I am WAY biased, so please don't expect any impartiality.

Testing on the bike

2009-05-11T21:08:00.001-07:00

Long bike rides tend to make insulin management difficult, but with a little alternative thinking it doesn't have to. I have seen other's setup for testing while riding (see Casey's Blog) and wanted something that works well for me. I will show you the setup that works on my cervelo, and should work with any bike having a round top tube so you can test without ever having to jump off your bike.

I asked for an Accu-Chek Compact Plus testing kit from my doctor because it holds test strips in a drum and holds the finger pricker all in one tidy setup. The size of the entire unit is not really suitable for taking on a run, but the ability to mount this to the bike's frame makes the extra size more tolerable. Also the layout is good for the method I use. The drum holds 17 test strips, and the tester automatically dispenses them so you needn't fuss with finding a loose strip to shove in.

Monitor Setup
All you need is two simple zip ties and a pair of scissors. The body of the Compact Plus is rubberized and shaped in such a fashion that the side fits snugly on the top tube. Use 2 ties and strap that sucker on. You can rotate it down into the frame when not testing, and rotate it back up to perform the test. You will have to wiggle the tester a bit, and adjustment of the zip ties is needed on a fairly regular basis. When testing my strategy is to pop a finger tip with a lancet and squeeze until I have the whole finger tip covered in blood. Then I can reach down and just rub my finger all over the strip until it beeps. This is because it is difficult to keep the hand steady enough and allows me to keep my eyes on the road. Things to look out for are the sharp parts of the zip ties scraping your leg, and false low battery notifications. For some reason this tester does not seem to like being squeezed with zip ties much and will sometimes fail to test because it falsely believes the batteries are low. You can easily slip the two zip ties off if you need to maintain, replace, or simply use the tester off the bike. I leave the zip ties hanging on my top tube when the tester is elsewhere and it hasn't caused me any issues.

Insulin Setup
I use a simple velcro strap designed to bundle up computer cables to hold a syringe filled with Humalog to the top tube as well. If my test indicates my BG is far too high, I will stop and inject the needed amount of Humalog. I have not yet found it to be easy to inject insulin while riding. I have asked the doc for a pen injection system that I would use specifically for this purpose but have yet to get the pharmacy and the doctor on the same page to actually recieve the pen. Aother caveat is I have not found a way to keep the insulin cool when riding. This will become important as I train over the summertime with temperatures reaching 115 degrees so I will let you know what solution I may come up with.

Is all this even necessary? I want to train as if I am in Ironman. That said I do not plan to stop the bike's forward motion at all if I can help it. I will test, adjust insulin, eat, hydrate, and whatever I need to do to keep it going. With this in mind going in, my training will have the same philosophy. This setup allows me to know, rather than guess, if my BG is dropping too quickly while on a long bike ride. In the past I just kept riding and would get home only to see my numbers in to 40's - which is dangerous! Now I check every 1 to 2 hours on the bike. It also is giving me a better picture of how my body responds to long endurance workouts.

Changes
I reccommend making all sorts of tweaks to this system to fit your personal needs. I plan to find a new layout entirely on my new bike as it has a carbon frame that has all sorts of weird bends and angles that won't work in the same way as before, but I plan to experiment and find what works best.

Final (Technical) Note
Just so you don't have to worry, the photo showing my BG at 39 is a weird mechanical phenomenon that is caused by the shutter of my camera being too fast to capture the left side of the display during it's flicker cycle. Thus you can't see the "1" in my 139. So worry not, I don't need to load up on carbs right now - LOL!

Why are we promoting endurance exercise?

2009-04-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have read that before the days of insulin therapy many diabetics would starve themselves skinny, and exercise relentlessly just to squeak out a few more years of life. This was because they had learned through personal observation that large amounts of food combined with a sedentary lifestyle made them feel miserable and become sick more often. I can not vouch for this as it may have been totally fabricated but my experience in life has been similar, so I tend to believe it could be true.

My personal experience fits this mold well. All through my life I was excessively skinny. At age 13 I actually went to the doctor and asked if there was a medical reason I was so emaciated looking. He laughed it off and told me "wait until you are 30." Surprisingly he did not actually try to check and see if there was anything wrong with me, otherwise they may have known I have had blood sugar issues for a very long time, and just suffered through them until it became unbearable at age 27. I was only 117 lbs after high school, and at 6'2" tall this was dangerously thin. Slowly I was able to build up to 140 lbs at around 26, but lost 10 lbs. when I first discovered I was a type 1 diabetic.

Fast forward to now. I have been training 6-7 days a week. I have lowered my Lantus usage from 24u to 18u, and lowered my Humalog sliding scale dosage from 1u/20g carbs to 1u/40g carbs and this seemed to work pretty well. Once I got sick with this (f'ing) cold, I became very sedentary and my blood sugars are running very high. My Humalog dosages had to return to the old sliding scale of 1u/40g carbs. So what information can I infer from these results?

Heavy endurance exercising requires me to use considerably less insulin overall. With the usage of less insulin also comes the benefit of BG drops and spikes less often and less severe. Since my body feels good during this time I don't feel that it is harming me. But what I do need to do is be aware of what phase I am in at any given time. If I take a week off of exercise I need to make sure that I adjust my insulin dosage accordingly. Also I notice that this change is not instant, it takes a couple of days for my internal insulin usage engine to slow down. So in summary, I know that all I can really do is test very regularly, because although these are my observed results in my own body, they can and will change. Also, note that if you are diabetic your body will likely react in a completely different way, so do not make changes to your insulin regimen based on my experiences, as they are bound to cause you trouble.

What you should do is test regularly, and look for trends in your own biology that will help you manage your own diabetes as best you can. From my personal experience, endurance exercise has improved my overall health, and ability to control my diabetes. But clearly you can't simply just exercise, and expect things to improve. You must constantly re-analyze your results and adjust to fit.

Next weekend I will head out to Vegas to watch our very own lovely Triabetes ladies kick some asses at Irongirl. Road Trip!

Don't do this

2009-04-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

Last week a friend had me sign up for a 5k. The Run for the Cheetah held in Phoenix. This race benefits the effort to save Cheetahs from extinction. I was feeling great when I hit the button to register. The next morning I awoke with a touch of a throat scruff. Shortly thereafter I realized I was heading into the territory of a full blown cold but figured this since this was only a 5k I would run it and take it easy the rest of the day. I had been advised my chance of winning this race was high per the results shown from last year's results.

Anyhow, race day came and I was feeling pretty bad. I got myself out of bed and went out and raced with an official time of 21:18 which was a PR. Sadly a mess of really fast people showed up demolishing my dreams of winning my very own Cheetah (assuming that was the prize) and I landed 4th for my age group. After the race I spiraled into a horrible chest cough and generally miserable state. For a moment I considered the possibility I brought the dreaded Swine Flu with me from Mexico, except that there is no fever, bodyaches, or vomiting associated with this. I guess I just have a bad cold now.

Lesson learned: If you are sick, don't race! Duh.

Post race: Las Palomas Triatlon

2009-04-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

That's right, Triatlon. I checked in Google translator and that is how the Spanish spell triathlon so my new race tech shirt is actually spelled correctly after all. The Las Palomas Triatlon is a somewhat famous race for Arizonans. Held every year in Rocky Point Mexico it is the closest beach to most of Arizona - even closer than San Diego. I've vacationed there many times for spring break over the years and each time was spent as a complete drunken haze. This trip was a bit different, as I was registered to race an Olympic distance triathlon, so the boozing would have to wait for the finish line.

The swim was in the sea of Cortez and the change in tides made it quite a task for the race organizers to set up the buoys as they had to do it minutes before the even instead of the day before like many of the lake swims I have raced previously. The bike was through some very well kept roads through the new resort area, and the run was a rolling golf course. I prepared well for this event, but I intentionally and unintentionally handicapped myself.

On the drive down to Mexico my driver suddenly said, "Oh shit" and explained he had forgotten his swim goggles as he planned to swim 750m in the sprint event. I had 2 pair of goggles, one with prescription lenses I use for training, and one I wear with my contact lenses. I told him he can use my non-prescription goggles and I would just race the event with my glasses and sunglasses stacked again as I did in the Bartlett Lake Triathlon. This is a weird look, and a little cumbersome, but leaving my buddy with no goggles in the ocean swim would have been miserable for him. A few minutes later I realized I had left my heart rate monitor strap at home, so I was going to have to do this race by feel rather than numbers. Actually, my Garmin Forerunnuer 405 was malfunctioning, and I took it out of my bag to replace the batteries in hopes it would stop reading a heart rate of 250 when I was sitting down (alas, it still doesn't work right) and in my haste to pack, forgot to put it back in the bag!

So race morning we are pretty much ready. The race had a 9am start (I LOVE a late start times) and we were staying in the same resort that hosted the event. Life could not be simpler! My swimming still sucks but I stretched my wetsuit onto my body and wandered out in the Sea of Cortez for a short warm-up. The water was perfect, so I made it short and headed to the start line.

The swim was fun, I was 3rd to last in my age group, but still felt my swim has improved. at 37 minutes it was easily my fastest Olympic swim I had ever done by like 7 minutes. They actually called out my split as I ran into transition (still wearing my prescription goggles) which made me shout "fastest swim yet!" Although I have been limited in my time at the pool due to my current lack of a vehicle the things Celeste taught me at Diabetes Training Camp are what I have been focusing on and it is slowly paying off.

I jumped on my bike and rocketed off on a fairly rolly course. There were hillsm but nothing major to speak of. I felt great on the bike. I tested twice and saw my BG would not drop below 280 so I was a bit bummed, and only had 1 Gu - in fact the only gu for the whole race. I need to balance my BG better at race start in order to keep myself able to keep ingesting the proper amount of nutrition - also I want to get a Humalog pen that will allow me to dose a tiny amount, maybe 1 unit of insulin in cases like this. After 24.3 or miles on the bike (averaging 20mph) I leaped off and prepped for the run.

I paced myself well for the 10k. Although it took me a minute to get my legs moving I was able to average a 8:08 pace. The only problem was that I came upon the finish quite fast. There was a problem with the course marking causing everyone to miss 1.8 miles of the 10k, so instead of DQ'ing all the fast people they simply removed that part of the course so my run was only 4.4 and I had way too much energy at the end.

Overall I was happy. I took 14th of 17 in my age group on the swim, 6th on the bike, and 4th in the run. Final result: 6th place. The competition in this race was MUCH stronger than the Bartlett Lake Triathlon I had raced a couple of weeks before so I was not expecting to destroy anyone. In fact I feel better taking 6th in this field than the 1st place at the last race. Although an award is always nice...

If you ever get the chance, do this race. It was the most fun I've ever had racing. They had an amazing party afterwards in which triathletes drained 18 kegs of Corona in just a few hours. Plus Rocky Point is a place like none other on earth. Finally, we stopped in at Manny's bar after the race and enjoyed some fake Cuban cigars.

Viva la Mexico!

2009-04-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

I am just about to embark on a series of firsts for me.

My first time competing in an open water swim that takes place in a natural body of water! The Las Palomas Triathlon (or Triatlon as they say in Mexico) swim takes place in the Sea of Cortez.

My first time traveling into Mexico with my bike! My car was stolen several years ago and never recovered. It most likely ended up within the borders of Mexico, as do a large number of stolen vehicles in border states like Arizona. I'm bringing my mega lock that looks like a cross between handcuffs and a chainsaw just in case.

My first race in another country. It should be interesting, even though the race organizers are from America, and I will likely have all english speaking officials.

All this so I can compete in an Olympic distance triathlon. It will be a great training brick weekend, and I have no pipe dreams of coming home with another podium finish because the competition I expect to see there is FAST!

Well I had better get off this god forsaken computer if I plan to hit the road in time. See you all monday!

Review: Thorlos Socks

2009-04-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

First off let me say that this is not a wholly unbiased review. Thorlo is a sponsor of the Triabetes team, and sent me 10 pairs of free socks. Free stuff is always better than all things paid for in my mind and I am sure this will have some bearing in this review as well. However I will attempt to make this review fair.

Initial Impression
All the new socks out there have fancy colors, multiple pieces of fabric sewn together, and claims of supersonic speeds. Well come on guys, a sock is a sock. Really, its function is simply to protect your precious tootsies from rubbing all over the seams of your shoes, keeping sweat from causing irritation, and (in my case) keeping your shoe from smelling like a rotting deer carcass found in the forest. So these simple socks, though lacking in fancy colors and design to fit one specific foot, focus their energies on the real purpose of a sock.

Construction
The first thing you will note, is that they are considerably thicker than other running socks. The thickness is mainly apportioned to the bottom of your foot - where the most impact damage will be felt on your foot while running. Even the thin sock is about twice as thick as my wool socks. The tick socks are FAT. To be fair, Thorlos does offer fancier socks designed for those that need technical looks in their Experia line. They seemingly discourage people from purchasing them in their web site though.

The materials are all synthetic. No cotton here. Thorlos claims that it helps pull moisture away from the foot, unlike natural fibers which tend to simply absorb all your sweat and cling to your foot. They are quite durable, as I have washed them in about 10 cycles and have seen only minor degradation - mostly with the thick cushioning fibers getting a little loose, but nothing that affects the integrity of the socks. They look as though they will last a very long time. The thinner socks made by competitors do develop holes a lot faster than these will, and often cost more.

Sizes and Shapes
They offer many different styles to choose from. I have some of their mini-crew, micro-crew, and rolltop socks in both thick and thin formats. I tend to prefer the roll top socks, as there is minimal material involved in their construction. Typically when doing a triathlon I want to have have my socks be as easy as possible to slip on quickly for a fast transition, and thus I somehow end up wearing this type of sock pretty much everywhere I go. Whether to the track or to the dance club I typically always wear running socks and my trusty Mizuno sneakers. The longer socks are better for cooler weather use, but I live in the desert, so it isn't much of a concern out here.

Do they work?
I must be honest. I did not do as the Thorlos rep suggested and pair my Thorlo socks with a custom orthotic footbed in my shoe. I just run in whatever the shoe has built in, so I may not be getting the full benefit. I do get blisters on my feet, and regardless of what sock I use they appear in the same place as always. I have a spot on the inside of my big toe, and the tips of all my smaller toes that always blister. Using these socks I still have these same blisters. It does seem that the the blisters are smaller and take more time to develop, but I can not directly attribute it to my use of these socks, as I have developed substantial calluses in these locations already.

I do not like these socks for cycling. The fit of them is not as snug as a typical cycling sock, and thus they tend to bunch up under my foot uncomfortably. There is no literature from Thorlo suggesting these would make good cycling socks, so I can not hold thia against them.

For normal everyday wear, these socks are awesome. The cushy feeling of the thick bottom is quite comfortable. I wear these socks every minute of the day that is not spent in a pool or shower. Yes - even in bed ;)

Analysis
As much as I would like to recommend my sponsors for everything, I can only recommend these socks for training runs and for casual wear. They will help you keep your feet in better shape while training, but I prefer a lighter sock when racing. I do plan to order a pair of their Experia socks to see if they would work for me in a race. The main problem I can foresee is that in my hot desert climate these thick socks will become totally drenched in sweat. As it is, with the weather only beginning to warm up I see they are already nearing their capacity to stay dry, and boy do they ever smell! Luckily the sock is the smelly part and right after a run they can be tossed in the washer, saving your shoes from retaining all that odor. To be fair it is not yet 100 degrees, so I will have to wait to give you a definitive answer whether these socks are a good choice for hot summer training.

So get a pair, and see how you like them. Socks can only do so much for your run, but these socks definitely add an extra bit of protection. As a diabetic I fear having open wounds on my feet because the doc tells me they can cause complications.

These rate 3.5 of 5 syringes. I doubt I will ever rate any socks higher than this, but if I find the perfect sock, that can be worn for all things (business, running, cycling, fishing, spelunking, lounging, summer, & winter) it will get a 5.

Become a member of Triabetes and you will get 50% off your first order of Thorlos - not to mention all the other great perks you will get. Sometimes it is great to be a diabetic!

The long run

2009-04-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

I decided to go heavy on BG testing on a 2 hour run Saturday morning. I awoke in the morning with a 224 and figured that I would eat a english muffin, some fresh pineapple, and dose with 3 units of Humalog. A light dose for me, as in the past this would require 7 units without even factoring in the pineapple and english muffin. An hour later, as I was preparing for the run, I tested and it was already down to 64! With that I ate a pice of bread with 39g of carbs and downed 8oz of chocolate milk. Off I went with dog in tow.

My dog can barely handle 3 miles so I took her on a 2.5 mile loop. When I returned I tested and say my BG had increased to 234. I was OK with that, figuring it would drop over the course of the run. at 1/2 hour in I ate a Gu. At 1 hour I tested again, 280 kind of surprised me. I decided to skip the Gu I had planned for that 1/2 hour. at 1.5 hours I ate another Gu, but forgot I had planned to test (doh!). And at the end - 2 hours I was down to 240.

My analysis of this information has to be weighted with my changes in my insulin routine. I was using 24 units of Lantus at about 10am. Dr. Corcoran suggested changing my dose time to dinner. I switched it up to 6pm. I then found myself chasing low blood sugars. I stepped down to 22 units with no change. Now I am using 20 units and still struggling with lows overnight. I have yet to do the 'skip a meal and see where your bg goes' test with 20 units, but at 24 and 22 if I skipped a meal my BG dove so fast I would drop from 200 to 50 in 2 hours unless I ate at least about 50g of carbs.

Still my BG is running low until noon. From noon to 6 it seems Lantus does pretty much nothing. So I like the morning Lantus dosage to keep my BG from dropping at night, but I like the evening dose because it seems to help in my workouts. Looks like Dr Matt will be getting a call from me Thursday.

Phase II
That night I decided it would be a good idea to run a 5k race. 13 miles in the morning in heart rate zone 3 shouldn't hinder me in a li'l 5k race right? Wrong! I felt great for the fist mile, keeping the top 2 running with sight. In facat I felt so good I thought I could just hang 25 meters back and possibly overtake them in a spring to the finish. After mile 1 I realized this wasn't going to happen as I began to fall apart. By mile 2.75 I was stricken with a wicked side cramp and watched as I ran, hunched over, holding my side, as I went from 5th to 6th place. Not to mention the first female that ripped past me, but she was banditing the race and bailed just before the finish so I didn't fall back any further in rankings.

So I learned that although I have some kick left in me, I should probably run 5k's with fresher legs if I plan to do well.

Well I hope that was enough filler for you since I don't have any substantial topic to discuss today, but tune in soon for my review of the Thorlo line of socks.

Time (or lack thereof)

2009-04-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at my teammates. Pretty much all of them have more responsibilities in their lives than I do. Everything from running their own businesses, raising children, keeping their marriage fulfilling, teaching hordes of kids, hauling trash, traveling to speaking engagements, and saving lives in the ER. They are all totally amazing.

Yet here I am, single, with only a dog to take care of - and I find it nearly impossible to keep things in order and train as much as I need/would like to. My biking is strong at the moment, but I have done very little base running which will be necessary to survive the Ironman marathon. Also my swim is suffering due to my lack of a car to get me to the gym and hit the pool. I could complain for literally HOURS about how many things I am juggling and still trying to get in some good workouts. But when I think about all the others in Triabetes - and really all the people we will be competing against and their lives which are even more stressed than mine I wonder - How do they do it?

I guess it is all in time management. I really need to put together a training program for the year so that I am not just 'winging it.' Carmichael Training Systems offered me a deal nearly impossible to pass up to help with this, but with the sudden need to buy a car I am holding off on pulling the trigger for their coaching services. Part of my problem is reading what other people are doing and feeling I am lagging behind. I will get back to the pool soon, I will plan out my base running program, and I will try not to beat myself up about missing some workouts due to time conflicts.

Coming up
The Las Palomas Triatlon (Yes, it is spelled Triatlon in Spanish) on April 18th will be my next Triathlon. I will be competing in the 30-34 age group at the Olympic distance. Based on last years times the competition I will face is MUCH tougher than my last race so I plan to find all my competitors the night before and buy them so many Tequila shots that their hangovers keep them from posting a 30 minute 10k. The swim will be in the Sea of cortez so it is my first open water swim in a body of water that is not manmade. So if you happen to be in Mexico, look out for the Triabetes orange jersey! Drug wars, murders, and drug crime be damned.

Starting the season off RIGHT!

2009-03-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

The first Triathlon of my race season was the Bartlett Lake Triathlon. The terrain in the area is quite hilly, and I only own my trusty Cervelo tri bike, so although I was not outfitted ideally for this race I wanted to take it on. I was l ooking forward to another racer decked out in Triabetes gear as well, but I missed her. Regardless, I came out to show how diabetics do!

Sadly, my trusty vehicle became not-so-trusty the other day and found it's way into the repair shop - and repairs will cost more than the value of the car but that is a whole other story. As a result I garnered a ride from my dad at 5am to Bartlett lake. One of many manmade lakes in the valley. A couple of weeks before I was told this race was 2nd only to 'Silverman', a famous iron distance event that is said to be the hardest out there. I did not believe these guys, as this was only a sprint or olympiic distance race and went on...

After the 1.5 hour drive I was ready - sort of. I purchased a new pair of Tri shoes at Triabetes sponsor TriSports.com last week and practiced mounting and dismounting my bike with the shoes remaining attached. I was going to rock those transitions! My BG monitor was strapped to my top tube as described in my Sierra Vista Century ride blog. One problem, I had forgotten to bring my contact lenses! This meant I would be blind on the swim portion, and have to wear sunglasses and my spectacles together onthe bike and run. Being blind on the swim would be interesting...

So as the clock approached 8 am I had set up my bike and transition items perfectly. I squeezed into my tiny wetsuit abd checked my BG. 192 - perfect, I like to be in between 180 and 200 when I race. I hit the water and flopped my arms as fast as I could without hyperventilating. I struggled with the fact that I simply could not see the 2nd buoy at all. It was small, far away, and directly in the sun. All I could do was swim with the people around me. Because I was afraid to leave the main group I slapped all sorts of people in the back, and was kicked nnumerous times but I had to stay with them or I'd probably swim down to the dam or something. Somehow I stayed with the main group and was amazed to see most of the bikes were still in the transition area when I got there. Now it was time to show off my new bike mounting skills!

I expertly stripped from my wetsuit, looking somewhat like a spaztic Tazmanian Devil flopping on my ass. Strapped on the helmet, glasses, and sunglasses and took off to the mounting area. I jumped on the bike and took a few pedal strokes. I reached down to slip my foot into the pedal, but since i was going uphill my bike stopped before i had a chance to slip my foot in. I tried this several more times, and finally jumped off the bike and shoved my left foot into the bike shoe. Stubbornly I had to make this method work, so I refused to pull the shoes off the bike. This last method got me in with one shoe, and the second was much easier to slip in. After wasting probably a minute with that I was passed by several racers. In all my practicing I didn't take into account that there could be an uphill slope. Live and learn!

The bike was awesome. Riding up Mt. Lemmon a couple of weeks back, plus doing the 100 hilly miles in Sierra Vista and Bisbee last weekend showed me that I can be strong on hills. So I cranked away, the entire first half was uphill with a huge slope. I passed numerous people struggling up the hill, and some even resorted to walking their bikes up it. I can only imagine how long that must have taken them. When I started passing people with fancy bikes and Zipp wheels I knew I was doing well. At the turnaround it was all downhill so I flew at about 40 all the way to T2. This time my practice paid off and my flying entry to T2 went off without a hitch. I was in and out of there in what seemed like 20 seconds. Probably a little longer, but I have not seen the official transition times. Off to the run...

Similar to the bike, the run was uphill out and downhill back. There were a few people shuffling along in a near walk pace so I zipped past them in my breakneck 14 minute mile pace. Once I hit the turnaround I went down to the fastest pace I've ever run in a race at times under a 6 minute mile pace. God bless downhills! I ran to the finish making a slight detour as the people at the finish line gave me weird instructions to run around a trailer that didn't exist. So at the finish I realized that there couldn't have been more than 15 people ahead of me. I was done!

Results were posted on the men's room wall so IO looked at the bottom of the list - my typical location. I wasn't there. So I scrolled up until the 11th overall spot and ther I was - listed as first in my age group! So in the end, I am happy I started my season here. It gives me great hope for the upcoming season - not that I will win all the events I join, but that I can be competetive. Realistically I will not be on the podium at Ironman, but I am going to train this season as if I plan to be there, and see where it takes me.

Diabetes - A Blessing in Disguise?
Had I not become a diabetic 6 years ago I would still be the same lazy, out of shape, junk food eating, stick thin guy lacking self esteem and motivation I had been most of my life. Having my doctor tell me I likely could die, and in a short amount of time, really motivated me to change. So much so that now I can actually help others become heatheir through my activities with Triabetes. Winning a race would never have crossed my mind, but doing it, and with what some would consider an impassible obstacle is truly satisfying. Knowing that if I can do this, other diabetics that have better athletic genes, and a leg that is made from REAL bone instead of a titanium retrofit, can really rock the world makes me very excited. So I hope to see more of you diabetics out there kicking my ass in races, and showing the world that we don't have to become a part of the stereotype of a diabetic.

Review: Spinergy Xaero Lite

2009-03-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

Recently I drove by a garage sale and saw a pair of bicycle wheels leaning on the wall. It enticed me to stop in and see what they were all about. The guy told me $70, but I noticed the bearings on the rear wheel weren't particularly smooth and talked him down to $50. I ordered some new wheel bearings, both fronts and rears, and rebuilt the hubs. This is how I came to have my new wheels and I will give you my honest opinion.

The Design
Spinergy decided they have to be different, and did this by using what they call "Spox." Spox are really just spokes, but instead of the typical steel or titanium used in most current wheels they are a material Spinergy calls PBO. These Spox are round, and much thicker than a standard spoke, and they feel like plastic to the touch. The benefit being weight for weight reduction, but as I will explain they have other benefits. The rims are purportedly aero, but the profile of them seems very similar to my cheapo wheels and is by no means a deep dish aero wheel at 24mm. The rim and axle are made of aluminum, no carbon, but for $50 (or like $400 new) you aren't likely to see the high end materials.

The Fit
The front wheel slipped right onto my Cervelo Wolf TT fork. The rear wheel however required that I adjust the screws in the axle mount of the frame for it to fit all the way on. The Axle in the rear hub must be considerably larger in diameter than my Shimano wheel. After adjustment it slipped right on. The rims are narrower than the stock Shimano R500's so I had to adjust the tension on my brakes. I removed the 9 speed Dura-Ace cassette and put my 105 10 speed cassette on without any issues.

The Ride The first ride I would have on these wheels was to be a century ride - the longest distance I had ever done. Typically people advise not to change things and try something new in an event but holy crap I am happy I did. Riding down the rough roads of Sierra Vista I soon realized that these wheels absorbed a LOT of the road vibration that normally is absorbed by my crotch. After 25 miles of riding my nuts feel like they are on fire during most rides, but after 100 grueling miles on rougher than usual roads my junk came out unscathed!

Analysis
I figure that wheels that absorb that much vibration must have some drawback. Maybe hooking up a power meter would show that they rob some power from you but I don't have one so i can only theorize. They are nearly a pound lighter than my stock Shimano wheels weighing in at 1535g. This becomes quite evident when climbing high grade hills. In fact, I won my age group for the first time on a course that was very hilly using this wheelset so I am happy with them.

Be wary though, I have read numerous reviews of people complaining about the customer service of Spinergy, and of the products performance on heavier riders. I am a relatively lightweight guy, at 170 lbs, and have seen no problems thus far in the materials or performance of these wheels. I am not able to cash in on any warranty service since I picked them up at a garage sale, but do some research and decide for yourself if it is a good idea to purchase these wheels new. For me, I have found my new training/racing wheels. For the A races of the season I will still consider renting some Zipp 808 fronts and Sub 9 disk rear instead though.

By the way, the wheels came with a 9 speed Dura-Ace Cassette, if anyone out there needs or wants it email me your address and I'll mail it over to you. Of course Triabetes teammates get first dibs, but this goes out to anyone that may need it.

Overall I rate these a 3.5 of 5 syringes. They are lighter than my old wheels, but are still considerably heavier than many competitor wheels but oh so smoooooth! And somehow perfectly true. Pretty good for a garage sale find!

On a Sad Note I just received an unfortunate email form the great guys at Fluid recovery drink. The company president, Ken W. Brown passed away last Friday. This should not affect their plans for growth and sales, but I was really impressed with these guys so I thought they deserved a mention.

Base Building

2009-03-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend a coworker of mine, also an avid cyclist suggested we go back to the part of Arizona he grew up in and do a century ride. The one selected was the Sierra Vista Classic. There were many distances, 35 mi, 60 mi, 85 mi, and 100 mi that you could complete. He and another coworker had decided that the 85 miler was the one to do. I agreed, but secretly planned to change our game plan when we hit 85 by saying "You know - to hit 100 miles all we need to do is this short 7.5 mile out and back. What is 7.5 miles anyway?" It never came to this though...

The ride started in Sierra Vista. A small town in Southeast Arizona near the Mexico border. I planned on making this my very first endurance ride (or event for tht matter) with insulin 'on board.' I took my normal 24u of Lantus with Dinner the night before. The next morning I tested with an 84, and ate a hearty breakfast with 3u of Humalog. I packed 7 Gu packs and 2 protein bars, one bottle filled with Gu2O, and one with plain water. So off we went onto the desolate roads ahead.

I have mounted a Accu-Chek Compact Plus BG Monitor to the top tube of my bike with 2 zip ties. This was to be able to practice testing while riding. It worked out fairly well, but there are 2 problems with this system. The first problem is that the display is pretty much invisible when wearing sunglasses. The only solution is to dial up the contrast as high as posible, slide the sunglasses down my nose, and view the screen while shaded by a sign, tree, or mountain. Straight on sunlight pretty much obliterates the display as well. The second probllem is that I am looking straight down at my top tube to read it, and holding my fingertip to the test strip. This leaves me blind to obstacles in front of me, and slows me down a bit. Otherwise, it seems to be an ok method and I will practice a lot over the course of the year to perfect testing on the fly.

My fist test with the meter showed 254, and I cursed myself for taking such a low Humalog dosage with breakfast. Those apple eggs, and 2 servings of hash browns were catching up to me. Instead of dosing I figured I would test again in 20 or 30 minutes to see the trend. The next test was promising, as it showed 210. So I snacked lightly and keppt drinking the Gu2O. As the day went on my BG kept dropping. The more it dropped the more I ate. I probably had at least 6 Gu's, 11 various bars, 2 bananas, 1 apple, and one orange. Clearly my estimate of my colorie needs was way low.

At the decision point for 60 miles or more, my coworkers decided they were done. So I went on my own for the rest. Since I was solo I saw no reason to stop at 85 and went the duration of 100 miles. The ride was awesome, LOTS of climbing, and huge fast downhills as the payoff. Bisbee was quite a beautiful town to ride through, it's a shame I did it at nearly 50mph!

Anyhow, I completed the century ride, very happy that I had ridden near the Ironman distance of 114 miles and still felt good enough for a 2 mile run. Clearly that wont cut it and I need a lot more endurance training, but I'm just building the base right now, and that base seems to be coming along nicely. I finished with BG at 154. My fears of dropping blood sugars are starting to wane. As long as I prepare witth enough food I should be ok, and will perform much better. Normally after a ride like this I would be wasted for the day. I am liking these changes...

About the Photo
I found this photo that someone shot just before the event. It makes me realize how nerdy I look, and why people catcall when I ride by.

The Big Lemon

2009-03-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

In between Diabetes Training Camp and TriFest there was an organized ride up Mt. Lemmon in Tucson, AZ. Team Triabetes had all of our bikes there so we rallied up and joined in on the fun. It seemed like forever to ride the 16 miles to the base of the mountain, but when we got there everyone was in good spirits and ready for an adventure.

Preparation
To prepare for this huge endeavor I packed a few gu packs and a bottle of water. I overheard some guys talking about how the first 5 miles of the MT. Lemmon descent were cold, but I am tough, and it was like 75 degrees Fahrenheit out. I wore my flashy new Triabetes bike jersey and a pair of old bike shorts. I was ready to climb the monster! Or so I thought...

The Climb
After riding from downtown Tucson and stopping to refill water bottles we were ready to make the ascent. 2 miles of constant uphill climbing were making me wonder how far up I would actually get. Mile after excruciatingly slow mile went by at a snail's pace and I was starting to wonder when I would be hitting some kind of peak. The fantastic guys from Fluid (one of my team sponsors) provided a SAG vehicle and stopped for me at least 3 times to refill water, and their friend from Etonic shoes even loaned me his jacket when I made it to the halfway point, and where the SAG vehicles would turn around and head back to TriFest.

If for no other reason than the pure generosity and enthusiam of these guys I am inclined to buy lots of Fluid recovery drink, and Etonic running shoes. I do plan a review of Fluid later on, but I must actually use more than a shot glass worth before I can give a fair account of it's recovery benefit so I will pick up a bucket in the near future.

The REAL Climb
A little after the halfway point I stopped to tighten up my seat as my bike was making creaking noises the whole way up (not knowing that my crank arms were the actual culprit - I may have to replace my bottom bracket). I ran into Casey and we decided we'd head back and round up the rest of the team, then convince them to go back down the mountain. I caught Denise and when I suggested we turn around she looked at me with disdain and said "Nope, we are going to the top." As simply as that I changed my mind and we started climbing. The mountain slope seemed to get steeper and the miles counted off even slower with each pedal stroke. After hours and hours of churning away we made it to the summit. 26 miles and over 6,000 feet of ascent to reach 8,800 feet. Surprisingly we were at a Ski Lodge, and surrounded by snow! Brr...

The Return
We ate hot food, and had about 40 cups of hot tea with the team mechanic, Grant, who as it turns out was one of the only other people of our group to summit the mountain that day. Denise, out of the goodness of her heart and fear that Grant and I would die from the frigid ride back, purchased some warm goodies for everyone. We rolled down the monster, enjoying the beautiful rock formations, city views, and fresh air all the way back to the hotel, 44 miles away.

Reaction
up to this point, My longest ride was a flat 80 miles, on my future Ironman AZ course. So conquering a mountain that I really didn't think I could do during an 88 mile ride really gave me confidence going forward as I train for the Ironman. The confidence from this ride allowed me to do a century ride the very following weekend - of which I plan to chronicle in another blog coming up soon. I can't thank Denise enough for a great time, and really getting me past the barrier in my mind that was screaming "It's time to go home now."

Also, I stupidly thought the ride would take a few hours so I did not bring Lantus, and it ran out early in the ride. This is something I will work on in the future as I now know I perform better if I do not let my insulin dwindle. I did bring Humalog along in case I stopped in for some food, which came in handy and I think allowed me to survive the ride back with at least a little insulin, as Dr. Corcoran of Diabetes Training Camp puts it "on board."

After completion, Triabetes team captain Denise titled this epic ride as the F-ing Big Lemon. If you are ever in tucson, this is a ride that can't be beat - even for an F-ing Lemon.

TriFest 2009

2009-03-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

As a fledgling triathlete last year someone from TriSports.com (one of the Triabetes team sponsors) suggested I come to TriFest. I figured it was only a 1.5 hour drive away,, so I'd go check it out and if it looked interesting I'd fork over the $99 entry fee and stay for the weekend. When I got there I saw a tent with about 4 cyclists and I thought 'Time to go home' but luckily I asked the people in the tent if that was Trifest and they said "No, we are doing a group ride to Queen Creek." So I went to the actual location. Feeling a bit intimidated because I was alone and knew noone I sat in the parking lot contemplating driving home. Then it happened. I saw this smoking hot brunette casually walk right up to the entrance. I was sold. I registered right away knowing that I was going to be surrounded by a bevy of triathlon babes.

Well reality was a bit different, and I was surrounded by a bunch of Triathlon geeks, which was definitely worthwhile as I was right in my element. I later found out that the stunner was actually Kristen Hilger, a new pro that was on the cover of Inside Triathlon Magazine (see image above).

Well, on ot the meat of this story. At Trifest '08 I met Peter and Nate. 2 of the main players in the Triabetes concept. They had a small booth set up and seeing that they had a team of inspiring Diabetic athletes competing in Ironman Wisconsin made me realize I needed to be part of this organization in some way. Fast forward to last weeeknd, and I am a Triabetes Team Captain, helping to man the booth at the Expo for TriFest '09. Proudly sporting my Triabetes cycling jersey and talking to people about the project. It is amazing to see how many people are affected by Diabetes. Whether for a friend, relative, or coworker people were eager to get on our mailing list and forward the information to those we can help most. Even those that professed to not know any diabetics would comment things like "What you guys are doing is really cool." It made me feel like I am actually doing something that is helping the world around me.

Aside from that, the expo this year grew at least 4x the size of last year's, and filled the convention center floor. I rode my aluminuym frame Cervelo in and quickly realize that I had the only alumin frame inteh entire building! All others were either carbon or titanium frames. There was a smorgasbord of gadgets, clothing, nutrition and more all relating to triathlon and was somewhat eye-popping for a tech nerd like myself. I did not have the chance to attend the classes this year as I did last so I can not comment on how they were. Last year was fantastic though, as I got to hear from aerodynamics expert Steve Hed, Mark Allen, and several elite coaches and pros. I even got pointers from Any Potts, Half-Iron superstar on how to do a seamless and fast transition from swim to bike.

So to sum it up, everything at this year's expo was bigger and better this year and left me with only one complaint: Kristen Hilger was nowhere to be found!

VO2 Max Testing

2009-03-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

Dr. Matt Corcoran arranged for the local University (The UofA) to run VO2 max testing on all the campers at Diabetes Training Camp last week. It was actually a trade, they would pump our lungs full of various noxious gases like arsenic for their study on Systic Fibrosis, and we would get a printout of our VO2 max test results. Seemed fair to me, because this information is important in determining your fitness levels and how your training program should be designed to best suit you.

So off I went with Heather, a co-captain for Triabetes. She went first, and the researchers asked a few questions such as 'What is your average wattage when cycling?' or 'What is your average speed when cycling?' Heather's response, "I don't know, I don't have a bike yet?" confounded them. I could see the dismay in their eyes as they were resigned to the fact that this test would produce no value to them since they expected she would have to stop the test early as many who are not particularly fit will do in a VO2 max test.

Once she got really cranking on that bike I could see the researchers amazement as their eyes opened wide and their jaws went slack. She was tearing that bike up! When complete, they told her that she had 170% of the average fitness of someone her height and age. They actually asked her (once they pulled the tube from her mouth) if she was sure she didn't have a bike. I could tell that they now believed she had what it took to attain our team's goal of becoming an Ironman.

Then came my test. Not as impressive of a story, as I guess there are a lot of fit, tall, skinny 33 year olds out there. I don't have the papers with my but I believe my VO2 max was 46 (or thereabouts).

Diabetes Training Camp

2009-03-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

Diabetes Training Camp

Last week I spend 4.5 days in Tucson at Diabetes Training Camp. My excitement for this event was twofold. The first benefit I saw was that no one had ever educated me about diabetes. I have a family doctor, but her knowledge of the disease is very limited, and she would refer me to a specialist if I had any questions that were harder than "can I raise my lantus dosage?" With a real Endocrinologist on staff in Dr. Matt Corcoran I thought this would be a good opportunity to find out what was actually happening, or not happening, in my body. Second, I was going to get the opportunity of a lifetime to train with elite coaches who had shining resumes of championships, olympic appearances, and having coaches major stars.

Upon arrival I started filling out the forms. Then it hit me - I had not eaten anything on the 2 hour drive over, and I was feeling the effects of being somewhat Hypo. I was ashamed - here I was at a training camp, with a bunch of athletes, and I can't even keep my BG under control for the first 5 minutes. I snuck out to my car and chowed down a yogurt and a cheese danish. I was sweating profusely even though it was a dry 80 degrees out. After the danish took hold I went back in and finished the orientation. This was the last time I would feel ashamed about my BG control - possibly forever. Not because I am now super-diabetic and will never have a Hypo episode again, but rather because I realized that every one of us deals with the same trials and tribulations. Telling someone how far off my numbers were felt good.

Diabetes training camp takes place in different locations of the country throughout the year. Luckily for me this one in Tucson Arizona was only 90 miles from my house. I believe the format of this particular camp was created to suit the needs of the Triabetes team captains, so other camps may vary the experience somewhat.

Camp started off with Celeste, the certified Total Immersion swim coach filming your swim stroke, then led into camp introductions. The camp staff did a great job of making everyone feel included, and really helped campers and staffers to get comfortable with each other. Goofy games and such were used which seemed corny, but did a wonderful job of really helping to remember names, and learn a bit about everyone's personalities.

The next 4 days were scheduled pretty tightly. Starting at 6:30 am we had workout options to choose from. I started a cycling class with Nicole Freedman, 2000 Olympic Cycling Team Member. Other choices were to swim with Celeste, or running with Missy Foy - the only diabetic to ever qualify for Olympic trials for the Marathon. Learning from coaches of this caliber was incredible. Mixed about evenly with the training sessions were classes about Diabetes control and how to build a good training program while simultaneously understanding how, and why your BG numbers can be difficult to control.

Training

Admittedly, I am a horrible swimmer. So my focus was to get a lot of drills to practice from Celeste. This cut back my available time on the sports I have more fun at, running and cycling but I figured it was important to me to get some direction. Celeste could not "fix" me per se, but she gave me a lot of pointers, and drills to work on to improve my swim stroke in training. When I arrived, I was at about 24 to 26 strokes to get across the pool. That is a horribly large number for someone with my height and slim build. By the end when she was videotaping again I had brought my stroke count down to 18 for the same length. With practice I plan to get down to 14 without winding myself, but I realize this does not happen overnight. I can feel the difference in how I flow through the water now, and can directly attribute it to her direction.

Nicole helped me with some techniques that allow me to be just a little more confident on the bike, and that means a lot when you are barreling down a hill at 40mph. Also, she gave lots of tips on how to handle training over the course of the year leading up to Ironman. Important things to consider are that going out at the same pace every time is not constructive. My tendency is to ride at threshold all the time, going pretty fast, but leaving no room for my training to actually improve. I hear a lot of the campers learned how to ride with no hands as well, which can be difficult on a TT bike especially. She was amazing in how she controlled traffic, without even noticing cars honking at her and swerving around, to protect us campers from getting squashed.

Missy Foy gets extra kudos. Not only did she show a lot of training tips and methods to help us prepare for marathon distance races, she does it from the perspective of a Type I Diabetic. This type of intimate knowledge of what we have to go through in training in invaluable. Without even knowing it she would toss out golden eggs for us to use in our training programs. In fact I plan to experiment with stretching. She finds that stretching before she goes to bed helps her from experiencing low blood sugars at night. I don't know if my body will react the same way, but for her it works.

Informative talks

There was a huge amount of data for us to try and squeeze into our brains in between training sessions. Dr. Matt Corcoran, the Endocrinolgist is incredibly knowledgeable about what is actually going on inside of a diabetics body - particularly one with a heavy training regimen. His insights have helped me to understand why letting my insulin peter out and trying to keep my BG numbers down by simply running or biking hardcore does not allow me to attain peak performance.

Rick Crofford gave us great stories of his days training Lance Armstrong, and helped us to understand how we can form a strong foundation to build our training upon. His understanding of what we face in the coming year is unmatched, and although he is not a diabetic, his experiences training others applies well to our trials. His analysis of my VO2 max test was very informative as well, and I think that information will help me to keep my training on track while knowing my limitations without killing myself.

Lyndsay Riffe, the nutritionist drilled into my brain that proper diet and recovery after workouts was very important. I have always skipped the recovery part of a workout and just laid on the floor pooped. Carrie Cheadle, of the Performing Edge Newsletter went over the psychology of how to successfully embark on a mission such as ours. I can see that she has a great impact on campers as well through an experience I had listening to a former camper talk with her on the phone. After his conversation he confided that she was the reason he was able to have self confidence again after suffering great setbacks from diabetic complications and general life problems. All of the staff was great, and increased my knowledge of diabetes and training by 100 fold.

The Campers

Of all the people I learned the most from my fellow campers. Unless your family has a lot of diabetics in it, you are likely to be the only diabetic you know. Beefore becoming part of Triabetes I can only recall ever meeting 2 other Type I's in my life. One was my buddy's wife who has since passed, and the other was this kid in school who was a serious fuckup. So being immersed in a group of diabetics we had a lot in common to share. Simple things like the fact I had been carrying around a chilled lunch pail for 6 years with my insulin in it, and finding this was not necessary. Insulin does not immediately go bad if it is room temperature. Also the fact that I can use both my Humalog and Lantus insulins at the same time. For some reason I had the notion that I had to wait two hours before taking an opposing insulin. All these little things added up to a huge amount of information I can use day-to-day living with Diabetes.

The Experience

This was one of the best weeks of my adult life. It not only reinvigorated my drive to remain healthy, it helped me feel part of a community. I was not the outcast. I feel that I formed deep bonds with the entire team, and the few campers that were there just to learn and were not yet a part of triabetes (and I do hope they soon will be). It was good to get away from reality for a week and focus on things to improve your mind, body, and soul. This camp achieved the lofty goal of doing just that for me. I would highly reccommend this for all levels of diabetics. Whether you have been diabetic for 40 years, or 40 days. You will learn far more from these few days than at least I have in the last 6 years I have been coping with this affliction.

Other News

The Triabuddies program appears to be in full swing. Most of the available slots have been accounted for, so if you know of a child with diabetes be sure to let them know about it right away! They will have the time of their life on a wilderness trip, gett their very own Triabetes team captain as a mentor, and have the rare opportunity to cross the Ironman finish line with their mentor. Be sure to visit the web site for more information

Blogs for weeks to come!

2009-03-09T14:43:00.001-07:00

10 days of altered living

My god, so much has happened in the last week and a half that I can't begin to write about all of it in one blog. Luckily for you, and for me, this means I will have fresh material to blog about for quite a while. Everything from the amazing Ragnar Relay del Sol (that we rocked), to Diabetes Training Camp, to Tri-Fest, and all that fell in between there is a lot of material to cover! So to make it easy on my limited brain, I will start blogging in chronological order, beginning with Ragnar...

Ragnar Relay del Sol

The name may sound funny, but it is rooted in history. You see Ragnar was a pirate, explorer, conqueror, raider, and all around wild 9th century Norse King. In this spirit the Ragnar Relay was created. Cover model Jerry Nairn assembled a team of 12 Type 1 diabetics to run this relay, consisting of 204 miles of running from Prescott, AZ to Mesa, AZ. Having never heard of such an event I was eager to join up and thus Glucomotive was born.

We rallied the team together from all over the country and headed out in 2 vans the night before the race. One of the participants, Bob, hooked us up with a huge house to crash in before we set off. I was the first to run, so the excitement of hearing the starting gun and running as fast as I could through my first leg was intoxicating. My lungs left me gasping for air, as the altitude was much higher than my hometown, Phoenix. In fact there was sparse snow piles around but I didn't care, I wanted to come in FIRST! well, after a half dozen guys and girls past me and my pace slowed to something that my lungs would accept I finished my leg. But there was still 200 miles to go, so off went our second runner Bob. There were 6 of us in the van, not including our driver, and we all took turns running legs. At exchange point 6 we took a break and let van 2 take over for a while.

We all ran, ran, and ran some more. Through dirt roads, trails, neighborhoods, and highways. Finally, we finished in 42nd place overall, and 11th in our division. Not bad if you ask me. And we bonded with some fantastic new friends all along the way. I always learn so much when hanging with other diabetics. Simple things that I am on my own to figure out come up in conversation regularly and help to make my health care just a little easier. Everyone in the van has convinced me that I need to see a endocrinologist. All I have ever seen is a family doctor, and her diabetes knowledge is not really adequate.

Anyhow, I do hope to see, and take part of, more Glucomotive events in the future. Test, Run, Test, Test, Run, Test, Test, Run and test. What away to complete an event successfully! My next blog will go over Diabetes Training Camp. What an incredible week, and I have barely gotten started.

Check out some of the photos of the Ragnar HERE.

Post Ragnar

2009-03-01T22:51:00.001-08:00

What an amazing race the Ragnar Relay del Sol turned out to be. I had an amazing time destroying my legs with the 11 (12 with driver) others. With a good mix of newer and seasoned runners we performed very well with a place of 44TH overall. Considering there were hundreds of teams that is quite a feat. I will give a detailed recap of the event soon, but for now I must get some sleep, for a busy day of training at Diabetes Training Camp awaits me starting bright and early tomorrow morning. For now, enjoy this video of the Ragnar Relay starting line filmed by teammate Gary. I am the guy whipping by with the black tights and a grey ski hat on. Yes, black tights, it was COLD!

Ragnar Relay

2009-02-27T00:21:00.000-08:00

Check out my Twitter Page for updates on our Ragnar Relay team's progress. Race starts at 10 AM and I will update whenever I get near a wifi hotspot. Sleep well everyone.

The Longest Day

2009-02-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

My Fancy All-New Ragnar Kicks!
Everyone has been sitting in their office waiting for the day to end a time or two. Today is certainly one of those day. In 2 hours I leave here and will meet up with the rest of the Glucomotive team to ready ourselves for the Ragnar Relay del Sol. I am eager to get moving - in more than one sense.

First, I want to get the hell out of the office! My sort of vacation starts as soon as I step out that door. This anticipation is making my day draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag on, but if I sit tight it is survivable.

Second, I want to see just how fast I can run this race. I replaced my sneakers (Mizuno Wave Alchemy 8's) with a fresh pair yesterday, and bought a new pair of running shorts. I need multiple pieces of running gear so that I do not kill everyone aboard the van with stanky already-ran-in shorts. So now I am ready to try and try to best my fastest recorded paces for all three legs of the race.

My (Lofty) goals:
Leg 1. 3.5 miles. 6:30 pace
Leg 2. 6.3 miles. 7:00 pace
Leg 3. 8.7 miles. 7:30 pace

Last year I promised myself that I would purchase a pair of Zipp wheels if I could run a 10k with a 7:00 pace. Currently I don't have the funds, so it will actually benefit me not to meet this goal tomorrow. All of these goals are substantially faster than my best paces, but when racing with this team I feel I will have more motivation to crank it up. We shall see...

Countdown to Ragnar and Diabetes Training Camp

2009-02-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

This week will be my last lazy week of the year. Well lazy comparatively to what the future brings anyhow. Here's a breif summary of the coming tw weeks.

Ragnar Relay del Sol
Thursday the 26th I will be headed out to Prescott. I plan to leave straightaway from my office after work having already packed and cruise on up to Prescott. One of my teammates has booked us a fantastic log cabin so we can get a good night's sleep before our 201 mile race - the Ragnar Relay del Sol. I am scheduled to be the starting runner on Friday morning - and I expect our team should fiunish around Noon to 2PM Saturday. It should be a race of epic proportions and I am excited to see how I can handle multiple runs in a 24-hour period. Typically I give myself recovery time, but recovery time on this race is spent in a van cheering on your teammates until you run yet again.

Diabetes Training Camp
After completion I have to head home and wash my laundry. I am sure all of my running gear will be stinky, and I will need it because I head to Tucson for a week at Diabetes Training Camp! This week is designed to help the Triabetes team members really prep themselves for the Ironman race. Here we will learn a lot about proper training technique and of course diabetes management. It is headed up by world class coaches and diabetes specialists so I am thinking this could be one of theose "life altering" times in my life - thus I am really looking forward to it.

Trifest '09
Right after Diabetes Training Camp I will already be in Tucson so I will help man the booth at Trifest '09. I actually met Nate Heintzman and Peter Nerothan at Trifest last year and loved what they were doing to promote fitness amongst diabetics, so I joined 'em. Trifest has an expo for products related to triathlon, and several classes ranging from coaching techniques,. to aerodyamics, to training technique. I am sure they will have a completely new array of sessions this year. Also many pros will be on hand. So if you find yourself in Tucson March 6,7, and 8th don't miss Trifest! Not only will you get to meet me and severl others from the team at the Triabetes booth, but you can learn an awful lot. I was talking with Steve Hed - yes the Steve Hed of "Hed Wheels" fame and he taught me a lot about aerodynamics. He has worked with Lance Armstrong in the windtunnel a lot over the years so he is truly an expert. He actually convinced me that blowing $2000 on some top of the line carbon wheels for my bike would actually slow me down! I found that if there is a crosswind of as little as 6mph at the speed I average carbon aero wheels would actually slow me more than my el-cheapo Shimano wheels I have now. anyhow, where else do you get a chance to chat with someone like this?

In Other News
I purchased a netbook. You know those tiny laptops for under $300 they are selling these days? It looks like a toy because it is so small. But this will help me to update my blog while on this weeklong endeavor. My thought is that I can better express my thoughts and feelings about the events as they happen rather than a week later. This is particularly important to me regarding Diabetes training camp. I will try to do a daily blog update while there. Also, check out my Twitter Account for more frequent updates. That is assuming I figure out Twitter between now and then.

Off to the races!

2009-02-15T14:51:00.000-08:00

Lost Dutchman Half

This morning I ran the Lost Dutchman Half Marathon. They had several distances I could choose from including a 5k, 10k, 2 mile family run, and an 8k trail run. Since I have neglected to do any runs longer than 8 miles (11 if you add the Idiotarod to my morning 7 miler last saturday - but more on that later) I selected the 1/2 marathon distance to use as a training run for the Ragnar Relay coming up in only 2 weeks!

Last night I saw my BG was holding steady at 125. Not too shabby. I figured eating a cup of yogurt just before I went to bed would suffice. I was sadly mistaken. I don't know exactly why I made this false assumption, because every time I eat a cup of yogurt just before bed I awake mid-dream and have to eat at 1 or 2 am. Regardless, this mistake was made.

Due to my obvious low blood sugar I awoke and ate a granola bar at 2am then promptly fell asleep. At 5:30 I checked my BG again - 54!?!?!?!??! I thought "Oh crap. I have a half marathon to run, so that can't be good!" I chowed down some bacon, cereal, and cranberries. I realized this would probably push me too high but I preferred this over too low. So Off I went to run the half.

The scenery was incredible, but while I am in race mode I miss most of that. What I did notice was that this was to be my first hilly race. Since it was configured as an out-and-back race I strategized I would take it easy the first half and adjust my pace for the second half accordingly. So I started a steady, very easy pace. I had a couple of people I ran with for the first 6.5 miles at a leisurely 8:53 pace. This was too slow, but I knew I wasn't going for a PR.

After I dropped off to pee in someone's front yard (sorry neighbor) I cranked up the pace to 7:49. Quickly passed my friends, and continued to pass every single runner I saw until the end. My thoughts were that either I was running far too slow onthe first half, or that no one else had ever heard the term "negative split" before. I saw my BG was running high, a little over 210 (I forget the exact number) but figured it was due to my leisurely pace in the first half. Again, WRONG.

After completing and taking 24u of Lantus I saw my BG had increased to 275. So I went home to eat and dose with Humalog. I have found that if I dose with Humalog without eating any food, it invariably drops me too low, too fast. Another thing I have found (by reading another blog) is that a diabetic can be hypersensitive to insulin after a race, and even the next day. I have definitely found this to be the case for myself, as I often suffer severe lows the day after a hard race. Tomorrow I will be wary of this phenomenon and take it into account with my Humalog injections.

Oddly, even with my retarded blood sugar control I still ran a respectable 1:49 half marathon and my legs feel pretty good. I should be able to do my group run tomorrow without much if any pain.

Idiotarod

It is likely you have heard of the Iditarod. Those husky dogs pulling a sole person for hundreds of miles through the artic snows. Well in Phoenix, there is no snow. So instead (stealing a page from the San Francisco book) the Idiotarod was born.

Being the longtime purveyor of alcoholic beverages and my penchant for running I compiled a team of 5 runners and drinkers (Including myself) to to push a shopping cart from bar to bar. Along the way much hijinks and drinking occurs.

I chose a Walgreens cart due to it's diminutive size. I picked one up next to the dumpster, with a broken wheel and figured Walgreens wouldn't mind - since I planned to return it. We dressed it up, and dressed ourselves up as well to look as ridiculous as possible.

You could not begin to imagine how difficult it is to run a cart through a city. At least with countless beers and 4 shots of Tequila in your system. Anyhow, we finished 5th place. I believe there was in excess of 30 teams so it made for quite a sight. everyone driving by asked "What the F are you doing?" To which we replied "GET OUT OF THE WAY!!! WE ARE IN A RACE!" as we pushed our tiny cart down the middle of Central Blvd.

All ended in fun times and (as usual) limited glory as we didn't make a podium finish. If you can't tell I am the one with the big Afro in the blog photo. I'm thinking of making that hairstyle permanent. What do you think?

Opportunity of a lifetime for young diabetics.

2009-02-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

The Triabetes IronKiDz Project from Andiamo Productions on Vimeo.

I've hinted about this program in several blog posts before, but now the time has come to push for entrants into "Triabuddies." You may be familiar with last year's "IronKidz" program that Triabetes sponsored, and this is the same thing. The name change was brought about by necessity after WTC purchased the "Iron Kids" tradmark from Sara Lee.

Nonetheless the program is pretty much the same as before. We, as Triabetes team captains will each take a young diabetic under our wing in a mentorship program. My goal will be to instill the same desire I have to control my diabetes through diligence, a healthy lifestyle, and staying as fit as I can. The youngster will also get to go on an expedition in California with all the rest of those selected to participate. The grand finale will be when our mentored child will get to run through the finishing chute with us as we complete Ironman Arizona. That should be a great rush for both of us.

If you have, or know any kids that fit into this niche let them know about us, and hurry up and get your application in! I can't wait to get this thing rolling. See the Triabuddies Web Site for more detailed information, as well as the application for acceptance. The video above goes over the experiences from last year's team of Triabuddies and really pulls at your heart strings.

Well now it's time to visit the doc for my quarterly checkup. I already know what she will say...

"Kevin, your A1C has gone back up to 7.2. You know we want to get that down to 6. Has anything changed with your routine?"

To which I will respond, "Well yeah, this is the Triathlon off-season. I've been extraordianrily lazy, I know. Wait 'til you see my A1C in Novemeber after months of relentless Ironman training though!"

Coming to a southern state near you soon!

2009-02-09T20:22:00.000-08:00

I am getting excited about a the upcoming opening of general membership for Triabetes. I will be the liaison for the "South" region. I may live in AZ, but I have family in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas so I might be the best suited to...well...do whatever my role will be as everything has not been made clear to me quite yet.

Often I have considered moving to Austin. I love the big town feel shoved into the small city of Austin. They have a great downtown area with several blocks shut off to traffic. You can be in your rental car within 2 minutes of departing your plane at their simply laid out airport. And their economy is not as much in the crapper as my current abode of Phoenix. Austin is famous for having a great running and triathlon community to boot. Believe me more than a few of the firms in that area have seen my resume. And I do get down there for a visit at least once a year. I am really considering entering a race there this time. Any suggestions for a good one?

Just know I will do my darnedest to represent the south the way it should be, whatever my tasks are. And I do hope to travel to Missouri sometime, as it is the only state in my region I have yet to visit. In fact I visited Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas just a few months ago. I went to Louisiana well before Katrina, so I do hope the vitality that I saw has begun it's return. So keep your eyes peeled, and get ready for the general announcement from Insulindependence. By the way, if you are not on the Insulindependence email newsletter list, you should go do that right away. There is a link at the bottom of the main page and from that moment on you will from then on be aware of all the things they have going on. Everything from Triabetes information, to fantastic trips, parties, and meetings.

Bike Fitment: Part 2

2009-02-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

A while back I went over how I fitted myself for my first road bike. You can see the story at Bike Fitment. Now there is a new chapter to the story!

Our uber lucky team is getting outfitted with pro bikes to use for the training season leading up to Ironman. As I understand it the bikes will be available as auction items with funds benefitting the Triabetes organization and all the good they do, but details will come at a later date. Make sure to check in though, because you may be interested in a way to get a smoking deal on a bike and benefit a great cause at the same time.

Anyhow, on to my story of fitment. I was passed along a memo explaining all the measurements reqired with a suggestion of checking in at my local bike shop to have them done accurately. Such measurements as my inseam, thigh length, shoulder span, hand size and more were required and I was concerned that I woudl give the wrong info so I followed the suggestion. The first shop was a small Triathlon store in Scottsdale. I stopped in and asked them if they could help me get these measurements and they sent me away saying to check with another standard bike shop that has all sorts of bike fitment tools.

"Tools?"

I thought you just needed a tape measure! Anyhow, the guy seemed more concerned with continuing his phone call with his girlfriend so I went to the bike shop down the road. When I told them what I needed they actually told me "Just have that guy you came in with measure you." They refused to actually look at the list and realize terms such as "Manbrium" and "Acromion Process" were not ones that computer nerds like myself are particularly aware of. They went on to show me their lab and gave me a flyer for a $310 "3-D Bike Fit" that they were selling.

I told them "I really don't need all that, can't you just take some basic bike fit measurements?" Their response was thus:

"If we don't do a 3D bike fit, we can't halp you."

So I gave up on the bike shops. My time is limited so I can't make it to my local shop that I frequent regularly since it is far away from my office - and closed pretty much any time I am not working. I am certain that they would have been eager to help me. But instead I just had a coworker (who's wife has experience as a tailor) bring in a tailor's measuring tape and we got the numbers required.

Regardless, I am excited to get down to Diabetes Training Camp and taking a look at this rig.

Triabuddies

I am currently researching the Triabuddies program and will fill you all in on the details in a post coming very soon. I am excited about having the opportunity to mentor a diabetic child in their formative years. I hope I can have a poositive impact on whoever they may be but I have to get cracking to get the word out!

Help us out!

2009-01-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know that I am part of Glucomotive, as well at Triabetes. Both a part of the Insulindependence network. Gucomotive is taking part in this year's Ragnar Relay del Sol, February 27-28th. For this race Glucomotive consists of a team of type 1 diabetic runners. 12 males and females to be exact. We will be doing a nearly 200 mile relay race from Payson, AZ to Mesa.

"200 miles? You are CRAZY!"

Well not realy, since it is a relay race I will only be asked to run 18.7 miles total myself. And to make things a bit easier it is split into 3 separate runs, so we get adequate opportunity to recover.

I would LOVE for all of you to come out and cheer us on, but the question is "where would I go to do this?" Instead, how about volunteering for the event! The race staffers will direct you where to go safely and in comfort. Our team is required to supply 3 volunteers for the event and I am going to start my hunting right now ;)

Imagine, cheering on runners, directing them into their transition area, and seeing your favorite diabetic wave as they whiz past you at breakneck speed (unless it is me). The like of Peter Nerothin, Jerry Nairn, and Bill Carlson will be there.

So check out this page to see what posts are available and respond to this post with your desire to be a part of Glucomotive by helping with the race! And don't worry, if you are busy washing your hair that day I have some friends and family I am going to lean on.

The rebuild

2009-01-25T17:56:00.000-08:00

PBR Off-Road Triathlon

Last tri season I raced in the PBR Off-Road Triathlon. It was somewhat suited to me because the swim portion was very short. I am a terrible swimmer and typically I finish either dead last or second to last on my age group. It is miserable getting swam over by just about everyone in a competition, but here is one benefit: After falling so far behind in the swim I get to pass huge numbers of slower people on the bike and run stages.

Well this race started out very well. In fact I was 8th out of the water this time. Never had I swam that well, and I thought I might be on my way to a podium finish if I biked and ran strong! My 10 year old low-end mountain bike had other ideas. Admittedly my technical bike handling skills are terrible. So nearing the end of the first of three lap I wrecked. It was pretty ugly. My hands, elbow, and shin were quite bloody. My front brake handle snapped off. But I figured "what's a couple of scratches" and went on. I struggled with my gears as my chain kept falling off all through the second lap. I repeatedly had to flip the bike over and yank on the chain which was wedged into my bottom bracket to release it and reroute it. Just after the third lap my rear derrailleur fell off. I tore apart the chain and just ran with the bike. I was probably one of the last 3 to finish the bike course. My run was respectable, but obviously running a few miles with a bike on my side slowed it down a bit too.

Once the race was over I realized my bike was a disaster. Completely unrideable and I thought forever destroyed. Slowly I began picking up parts for this bike. A new dropout, XTR rear derrailleur, SRAM 9-speed casette, SRAM chain, Mavic rear wheel, Aerus carbon handlebar, and XTR shifter/brake lever combos. This was all that was required to bring the bike back to life. And just today I put it all together and took it out for it's maiden voyage. I still need to adjust the shifters, but all parts are functioning. Still to be replaced is the bottom bracket, front wheel, front shock, and headset. But these are not required to make the bike go. They will just be to improve it's handling and performance.

I may consider doing the PBR race next year too....but before I make any rash decisions I will discuss my schedule with the Ironman coaches at Diabetes Training Camp coming up the first month in March. This is because the race is only 1.5 months from Ironman, and I will be doing my heaviest training at that time.

The first Marathon

2009-01-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

Sunday I ran in the P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll Arizona Marathon. My entry was free since the race lost all of my belongings last year when I ran the half Marathon. My phone, car keys, and warm clothes were all in the race bag which somehow disappeared on it's journey from the start line to the finish. This year I was smarter, leaving nothing to chance I decided to not use their delivery service.

If you have been reading this blog you are aware I've been sick, so I was aware that my optimistic goal of a 3:30 Marathon was not going to happen. I race with my heart rate data, and it does a good job of keeping me from killing myself. But my heart rate for the last couple of training runs was far too high for me to sustain a fast pace for more than 45 minutes. True to form, when I started running my heart rate was in the high 160's. A bit lower than the 172 I was seeing in the days coming up, but far higher than the 158 I knew I would need to keep going for 26 miles. But I am getting ahead of myself here.

In prep for the race, I dosed my Lantus at 1PM the day before. I wanted it to be nearing it's end of usefulness about an hour after the Marathon completion. On race morning I awoke 2 hours before I had to leave the house. My BG was 154, which was pretty good, but I wanted to get it right around 130 when the race started so I ate cereal, a banana, a cup of yogurt, and 2 slices of bacon. I used 4 units of Humalog with this meal. I eat so early because I want to get a chance to digest the food and use the restroom to clear my system before I go. And finally, I forgot to get a BG reading just before the start gun.

I started at an 8:45 pace for the first 6 miles. eating a Gu every 5 miles was my plan. At mile 6 I picked up the pace and pushed an 8:15. Although my heart rate was nearly 170 I thought "well maybe I can keep it there for a while, and push it into the 170's near the end" - I was mistaken.

At mile 13.1 I was still feeling good. I whipped out this tiny BG meter I puchased for $10 at Walgreen's the night before. It is so small that it fit snugly in my SPIBelt along with 2 Gu's, and 2 packs of salt. The main pic for this blog actually shows how small it is. The thing is so simple I was able to take my test while running - I didn't even have to stop! At this point I was thinking about the elevation chart. It showed that after mile 20 the rest of the race was mostly downhill. I figured that was where I'd make my move and crank up the pace!

Sadly, I noticed that I simply could not get my legs to turn over any faster. All that running with a high heart rate was taking a toll on me. I kept trying to force the pace, but I simply could not get moving. At mile 15 I was starving. I had eaten all of my Gu's and was downing their Gatorade alternative like crazy to keep some calories coming in. It seems that in the future I will need to eat at least every half hour, as doing it every 45 minutes left my stomach grumbling.

Mile 20 finally came and my pace actually got slower. I was pushing with all I had, and could not keep better than a 9:30 pace. I resolved that I would just beat the chick wearing that horrible Philadelphia Eagles jersey. I almost stopped to walk several times due to foot cramps, but thought to myself "why are you going to walk, there is like 3 miles to go?" and just kept going. At this point my run was more of a shuffle and I tried to think about anything other than the miserable pain I was in. Finally at the last 1/4 mile I got a rush of adrenaline and cranked the pace up to 7:00 mile again and passed everyone in my path.

The Numbers

154 - BG before the race
142 - BG at mile 13.1
144 - BG after the race

3:53:34 - Chip Time
1,100 - Place amongst males.
3,454 - Total male finishers.

There were 4 other Burgesses (no relation to me) that competed. And I beat them all! I am the fastest Burgess! Ok, so I had to try and derive something good...hah.

Synopsis

I was really hoping to come in around 3:30 but after this I will just look forward to bettering my time in the future. I learned that my BG control strategy worked pretty well, but it did not allow me to eat enough. If I had eaten what my body was telling me it needed I am sure my BG would rise. More practice needed. But I expect I will get a lot of opportunity to practice over the next year. Also I realize my strategy will absolutely not work in an Ironman. I will have to bring insulin with me in any event that is that long. A marathon is about the longest I can go using this strategy effectively.

It was a great event, and even though I felt beyond miserable for a long time, I am excited to run another one. Next on the agenda is the Ragnar Relay del Sol. Here I plan to redeem myself and run, run like the wind!

And finally, that tiny BG meter was really cool for 10 bucks. It came with a tiny lancet pen as well. I may have to add it to the BG monitor review I did a while back...

Help the cause!

2009-01-17T15:05:00.000-08:00

Give-A-Latte

As I have noted before, Triabetes is not just a team of people that want to do Ironman. Though that is our goal, the real reason we are doing this is to promote the health of diabetics all over the world by inspiring them to do the things necessary to help them live a longer, happier, healthier life. Being a part of this project will most certainly help me become much healthier and I hope anyopne who sees this change in me will think "if that schmuck can make a difference in his life, why can't I?"

But simply blogging and racing are not enough to get the message out. This is where Give-A-Latte comes in. With a tiny donation, less than your morning Latte, you can help us spread our message. Funds will help team support, documentary production, and the IronKidz project continue. Check out the web site at http://www.give-a-latte.org for more information. We can't do it alone, and your help is always appreciated.

Race Update

Tomorrow at least 2 of the Triabetes team, Jerry Nairn and myself, will be running in the P.F. Chang's Marathon. If you happen to be running the event yourself Jerry will be easy to spot. Look for the guy holding the 4:15 Marathon pace sign, as he is leading the pace group. I will be the guy coughing up a lung at mile 11 as my cold has not completely left my system. If there are any more teammates I am unaware of them, but I hope they win :P (Tiny marathon joke - everyone asks "did you win?" after a marathon not knowing you placed 15,000th and never had a chance to win!)

If I can make the walk upstairs to my computer after the race tomorrow I will post my results!

Review: Spibelt

2009-01-15T17:47:00.000-08:00

If you have ever competed in a race, be it a 5k, Marathon, or Ironman Kona you have had a race number. Often the race director will supply you with safety pins to tack it to your shirt, but a much better solution is to use a race belt that you can attach your race number to, strap on , and run (or bike)! The Spibelt is one of many solutions you can get. Now I must be honest and disclose that Spibelt is a sponsor of my team, Triabetes but I will attempt to give you an unbiased review anyhow.

My first belt was a simple elatic band with a plastic clasp on the end, and snaps that you could attach the race number too . That's all it was. It was a pain in the ass having to actually cut small holess into my race nembers to use this belt because the spacing of the snaps was not the same spacing as ANY race number I had ever used in my life. This was dumb, but being a natural cheapskate I stuck with it for many races after my friend gave it to me for free.

The Spibelt is similar. It weighs about the same as my plain Jane race belt, but has adjustable metal hooks you can loop the holes in your race number through. Also, there is a unique expandable pocket on the belt. This pocket tucks away when you have nothing in it to be no wider than the belt itself, but the kicker is that you can put rather large objects into it and have them fit snugly against your body. I shoved my phone, ID, a Gu, and a few bucks in there the last couple of races and did not even notice they were there. Since the pocket on my running shorts is loose, I was always feeling uncomfortable with my phone flopping around, and this solution easily handles that problem.

While it is great that you can fit a large amount of items into this small pouch, a diabetic like myself can actually fit a glucose testing kit and syringe loaded with insulin. After running about 100 yards with these items stwed away they will seem to disappear, yet you can use them to test yourself when on long runs, and if you BG gets out of hand you can actually correct it with insulin!

The SPIBelt sort of reminds me of those horribly ugly fanny packs. Let's face it, when we wore one we looked like a goon. On the other hand, this belt easily hides on your waist, just under your T-Shirt so noone even sees it. A must for the fashionable runner.

I love this thing. It does not hold water, which means that during the summer here in the desert the SPIBelt will gather dust, but for cool weather long runs and races if you ask me to lift my shirt you are certain to see this on. I even wore it to a hockey game last week, to keep an extra dose of Humalog on me so when I inevitably ate those terrible chili fries I would have a way to beat down those carbs!

4 out of 5 syringes. If they invent a SPIBelt that has some small water bottles that work well it could earn a 5!

SPIBelt

The taper

2009-01-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

Typically every racer goers into "the taper" whenever they are in the last week or two of prep for an endurance race. My tapers seem to be atypical since I often get sick just as the taper begins or in this case a week before.

So now I am in sort of a long taper, hoping my fitness returns by sunday. I ran 4 miles last night, blood sugars starting at 110, and finishing at 108. The problem was that even at an 8:30 pace my heart rate was far too high. I am just crossing my fingers that my heart rate will be back to normal so I can run an 8:00 pace with my normal heart rate around 159, instead of the 171 I am experiencing now.

I have decided that my current condition is caused by the following: Getting sick, with bronchitis like symptoms. A horrible phlegmy cough. During my sickness my blood sugars were far too high. These two things together seem to have really wrecked me. My lung capacity is the likely culprit right now. I still have a light cough, but it does produce phlegm. Anyone have a cure for clearing out the lungs?

Slow return to health

2009-01-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well being wrecked the last couple of weeks has definitely had it's toll on me. I went on my first decent run in 1.5 weeks on Saturday morning. At breakfast I had a 185 BG, and was accustomed to seeing these higher numbers. I dosed 6 units of Humalog with my food thinking it should get me somewhere in the 150 range when running. After running 8 miles I dosed my daily 24u of Lantus. A half hour later I tested and saw exactly 100. Not to shabby.

The only problem with my run which concerns me a lot, is that my heart rate averaged about 15-20 bpm faster than normal at a 9:00 mile pace. If I try to run next Sunday's P.F. Chang's Marathon with a heart rate of 170 I will blow up an hour in! Hopefully this week of recovery will get my heart rate back into the range I am accustomed to. I attribute it to the chest cold that I had really bad a week ago, and am still feeling the trailing effects of. Hopefully I am 99% by race day!

I hope all of you out there have had a great weekend. Mine was spent running, going to a hockey game with my dad, and picking up parts to rebuild my destroyed mountain bike. I have a new XTR rear derailleur and a 9 speed SRAM cassette. Next will be to hunt down some good quick shifters and brake levers.

Also, look for my review of the SPIBelt coming SOON!

The training black hole

2009-01-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

I feel as if I have fallen into a black hole of training. I have a chest cold, and it is keeping me from doing my final race prep for the P.F. Chang's Marathon, In my mind I envision myself blowing up right at the start line due to this week of no training. However I realize that all those consecutive months of rigor will probably get me through the event just fine.

I have noticed that it is nearly impossible to get my blood sugar to stay low while in this state. I guess I am so used to working out almost every day, that I did not recognize my body does not handle blood glucose levels anywhere near as well when I am sedentary. So pretty much what I have believed all along really must be true: As a diabetic it is imperative that I keep a very active lifestyle for the rest of my life. If I don't the "rest of my life" will probably be shortened considerably.

With this thought I may have no choice but to continue after I reach this single Ironman goal to continue doing more races of the like. Good lord this lifestyle is going to be expensive!

Triabetes News
Sorry, I had very little to discuss today, as I have been sidelined, but I hope this look into the deep reaches of my brain functionality will at least keep you entertained until I write my next review. On that note it looks as though Polar, a sponsor of Triabetes, is going to supply us with thier RS400sd Running Computer. I currently use the Garmin Forerunner 405, and you can read my review of it HERE. It will be quite interesting to do a review on this new Polar gadget. Expect 2 reviews. One on my initial reaction to this device, and one a few months down the read after I have really been able to test it out in training.

One of us is featured on the New York Times! Dave Shack, a Triabetes athlete that triumphantly competed in Ironman Wisconsin is famous! It is a very interesting read about his struggles with Diabetes and his life change. It is great to see someones life change so drastically, and I am sure his story will motivate countless others who can see themselves in his shoes. Read more of his story HERE.

The team at Andiamo Productions did it again with a short documentory about the IronKidz program that is part of Triabetes. Each team captain mentors a diabetic child, and from what I am told these children teach the mentors nearly as much as the mentors teach them. Seeing this video gets me excited to meet my future Ironkid (or whatever name they will have legaly when the program is started). I don't have any children of my own (that I know of) and really look forward to being able to give a youngster with diabetes the hope and motivation to live the best life they can. Watch more about the IronKidz HERE.

Training
Hopefully I will be back on track Saturday. I am planning to run 8-10 miles. I have to look at my training logbook to see what the plan actually is but I do recall it is in that range. Maybe even shorter since it will be 8 days out from the Marathon.

Sick AGAIN?!

2009-01-06T08:12:00.000-08:00

I went for a year without catching a cold. Quite a long stretch for me. But now I seem to be falling back into my old routine of getting sick multiple times in a row. Currently I am suffering from a chest cold that has put my training on hold ONCE AGAIN! Hopefully after this one I can go another year without any illnesses!

With only 12 days left until the P.F. Chang's Marathon I am derailed. Luckily I completed my longest run just before I started to fall apart again. At the very least I will hope that my nasty sounding cough will subside by race date. I would hate to sound like a smoker hacking up a tar covered lung as I pass the mile 2 marker. At best it will clear up by thursday and I can at least finish all the small runs I had planned for my taper that should actually begin about now.

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On another somewhat related travel note I went on a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico this weekend fully expecting to get in a great ride and run, had this chest cold not come to snarl me. Thankfully my hosts were extremely accommodating and instead we just had a fantastic time anyhow. I was escorted to some beautiful spots such as Sandia Peak (via the world's longest Tramway), Santa Fe (via Train), and many of the favored local bike routes.

This first photo is from the Tram as we approached Sandia Peak. A wonderful spot where, after we arrived at the peak, we watched as skiers and snowboarders as they flew down the opposite side.

The second photo is of a feeble looking tree that is at the turnaround point of a local AlbuquerqueTime Trial race taken at sunset. It made me think how I sometimes feel halfway through a particularly grueling race. The point where one believes they are done for, and have nothing left to give. But much like this tree, you just keep going and as the season changes, or as you progress to later stages of the race, the drive within will sprout new foliage and allow you to keep on going. Okay, my fuerte may not be figurative writing =)

What have I learned from this trip? That I am going back soon, and next time I will take 4X my normal level of vitamins in the weeks approaching it so I can remain healthy!

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On a diabetic and still related note my BG numbers were completely uncontrollable. I tested about twice as much as I normally would on any given day at home and yet I still could not get my Blood Glucose to stay reasonable. Numbers ranged from 250 to 470 (ouch!) during my time there. Factors that played a significant role in this:
1) My cold. I often find it difficult to keep my numbers in the proper range while sick.
2) The cold. It actually snowed during my visit, and since the day I was diagnosed diabetic, I have not once ever been in really cold temperatures.
3) The altitude. It is considerably higher in Albuquerque than in Phoenix. This may actually be the same as reason 2, but I will need to visit higher altitudes in warmer weather this summer to really test it.
4) My diet. When I travel my meal plan goes right out the window. I think I should start putting together meal plans that work for me when traveling, so that when food is not nearby I will have something to eat, and so I can partake in dining on location as well.

Review: Blood Glucose Meters

2009-01-01T22:15:00.000-08:00

I have used many Blood Glucose monitors over the last several years and thought I would give you my opinion on the ones I have used. Here you will find basic information about the monitors I have used (aside form the old style monitors no longer in production). The retail prices I garnered from Walgreens Pharmacy web site, but my doctor actually gives me a new meter in her office whenever I ask for one. Thank god for the freebies the Pharmaceutical reps dole out!

Freestyle by Abbot
Retail Price: $99
Backlight: No
Multiple testing sites: Yes
Blood Sample required: Very Small

Overall impression: This is a very small device and requires a smaller blood sample than any other I have used. I would prefer to use this while running for both of these reasons but I suppose the boys clubs at my insurance company doesn't like to play with Abbott - Only Accu-Check and OneTouch, thus in order to use this one I must pay full price for the test strips. Instead of the end of the strip, this one allows you to apply a blood sample on either side

Compact Plus by Accu-Chek
Retail Price: $74.99
Backlight: Yes
Multiple testing Sites: Yes
Blood Sample Required: Medium
Special Features: This tester comes with a drum dispenser holding 17 test strips. The lancet device is removable, but allows for what they call "one handed operation."

Overall impression: I would like to see someone actually use this one handed as that is nearly impossible, but the design is quite nice nonetheless. If anything if you leave it attached you won't be digging through your bag trying to find where you placed you lost lancing device! I have attached this tester to the round top tube of my bike frame with 2 medium sized zip ties and found this works amazingly well. The side grips are rubber, allowing the device to stay where you put it on the bike, and the placement makes it so you can do a quick test by hitting the middle button, compressing the lancet trigger, popping it on your finger, and placing your blood sample on the automatically dispensed test stip. After you get your reading (which actually does come in 5 seconds as they claim) you hit the middle button again and it releases the test strip. Pretty cool for use on a bike.

I am not as sure about running with this meter. Although it is called Compact it is far from this in reality. I suppose they needed to add bulk to allow it to house a motor and a test strip drum. It does fit into the SpiBelt, but barely. Testing seems to work pretty well. I get a lot less ERR messages on this unit than on others in this review. Overall I do recommend this meter. It is currently my favorite one, probably more because it looks cooler than the others :P

Aviva by Accu-Chek
Retail price: $72.69
Backlight: No
Multiple testing sites: Yes
Blood Sample Required: Medium
Special features: This unit has fancy stickers that can customize the monitor look, and a drum style lancet device.

Overall impression: The stickers will probably be more appreciated by younger diabetics, as I found no use for them. Mine came with a football theme that quickly found it's way into the wastebasket. The lancet has an interesting design which I found to be the best I have used so far. The drum allows the user to easily draw blood and get a good sized sample for testing. The test strips are pretty huge compared to others, but that is still the smallest part of the device.

I do like this tester, and would recommend it for use during running. Of course you will have to stop to use this but those are the breaks for us diabetics until insurance companies will get their heads out of their butts and cover CGM devices! Ok, off my soapbox :P

Ultra by OneTouch
Retail Price: $69.99
Backlight: No
Multiple Testing Sites: Yes
Blood Sample Required: Large

Overall Impression: This is a smaller meter, probably the smallest of all in this review, so it could be used for running and fit into your belt or pocket quite easily. I had a lot of ERR messages using these meters. It requires a larger smaple of blood than my body often wants to distribute, thus causing the aforementioned ERR messages. One of these testers had bad battery contacts, and I got pissed and threw it across the kitchen after wastine 4 test strips in a row. The glass front cracked, but it survived! I bent the battery contacts and it has worked like a champ since. So I can attest to the durability of this meter.

Overall - any of the monitors works. My monitor of choice is the Freestyle, but I am a cheap bastard and since the Insurance wont cover my test strips I am using the Compact Plus currently. The Freestyle wins this review because of it's relative size, and the extremely small blood sample requirements. The Compact Plus comes in second, for it's innovative design, and the fact that I can use it on my bike while flying down the highway at 20+mph without having to stop! Honorable mention goes to the Aviva because the lancet device is the best among this group, and also to the Ultra for it's ability to survive my rage.

What have you learned? That you too should ask your doc to give you a monitor that you actually want, and don't just take whatever you get. They seem to have heaps of them laying around so you might as well get em. I also have like 2-3 of the same monitor at any given time. One for my kitchen, one for the office, and sometimes one for the road!

Have a great weekend folks, I am heading out of town for a few days but expect another blog installment Tuesday!

Avoiding Running Injuries

2008-12-31T12:48:00.000-08:00

I am the last person that should solicit advice avoiding injuries, as I seem prone to calf trouble, but hopefully my experience and thoughts can benefit someone out there...

My first calf injury happened when I had just got started a running program to train for my first Triathlon a little less than 2 years ago. I was building my miles every week on the treadmill at a very fast rate. When I got to 7 miles my left calf suddenly gave out and I could barely walk. I continued this way for about 2 weeks before I gave up and went to a Sports Medicine specialist. He diagnosed my problem as a "Pulled Lateral Soleus" and gave me a prescription of Physical Therapy. They gave me a stretching routine and after several weeks of stretching and sessions with them my calf recovered - I was great for about a year.

After chasing down a particularly fast runner for 8 miles one day my other calf came down with what seemed to be the exact same injury. I recalled hearing from the PT, "Keep doing these stretches to avoid future injuries of this type" and held my head in shame knowing that I had definitely not held up my stretching routine. After all, who has the time to spend 15 minutes walking backwards in the living room with a huge rubber band on your ankles? So I nursed this one back to health slowly on my own (I don't have the $1200 that physical therapy cost in round one to blow) by using the same routine they gave me in the past.

Fast forward to now. Both of my Lateral Souleus muscles are just fine, BUT - after a 6 mile run in which I felt extremely tight and sore following my 20 mile long run my calf began hurting again - only in an all new spot.

From all of this I have drawn several conclusions.

1) Wear compression socks for recovery. After a long run I will wear a pair of compression socks that seem to aid in a quicker recovery for me. I can not definitively say that this will help prevent injury but I do note less soreness the day after a long run when I wear the compression socks afterwards. Also, being a diabetic I am aware that vascular blood flow to the extremeties can be an issue. Considering that the compression socks aid in blood flow through the calves this would be another benefit.

2) Do a stretching routine regularly. When I am stretching regularly I do not get injured. It seems to only occur when I have been lax on my stretching routine. I have rubber bands and a foam roller that I should use daily, but I am stubborn and seem to prefer calf injury over stretches. This will have to change for me to make it the Ironman without injury.

3) Don't break you femur. Mine shattered a few years ago and now I run with a huge titanium rod instead of a femur bone. I can see the musculature in my quads is unbalanced, and my running style is a bit out of whack. So yeah, protect that femur! :P

4) When you feel more pain than normal in a specific part, give it the necessary time to recover! Often I have had a slight pain turn into a debilitating pain in one run - but if I had given that pain a ccouple of days to subside I probably would have been fine.

Now I don't think everyone is as prone to calf injury as I am, so do not get descouraged. In fact even when I have a pain that makes it difficult to walk I can still do slow runs to keep my fitness level so all is not lost. I am just unable to do fast track or tempo workouts until the pain subsides.

When I began this blog yesterday I could barely walk up the stairs. Today I have some spring in my step and should be ready for my 14 mile run by Saturday!

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And before I forget. HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2009 promises to be a year of great things so make the best of it!

Light Rail Pub Crawl

2008-12-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

First of all you may be asking "Pub Crawl? Aren't you a diabetic and shouldn't be drinking at all??!" To clarify I will tell you a little story and explain my hypothesis.

Back in college I was one of those binge drinkers. I would go on week-long benders in which I would knock out a 12 pack every day. Shotguns in the dorm showers were the morning ritual. Obviously this was not good for my education, but that is an entirely different discussion. Thankfully as I aged and became more "wise" my alcohol consumption diminished considerably. So much so that I normally would only have a drink or two whenever I went out.

When I was first diagnosed as a diabetic I spent hours, days, even weeks on end reading about the disease. Much more information than I could ever actually retain, but one page in particular stood out to me regarding alcohol consumption... This page explains many things about proper alcohol consumption, and from it I saw the recommendation of no more than two drinks a day for me as a diabetic male. Then the key sentence "This recommendation is the same for people without diabetes."

Wow, suddenly I realized I really don't have to change my drinking habits because of the disease. If they changed, it was because of my overall health. This was much easier to swallow, and now I can do a pub crawl! Or something like it...

So back to Saturday. The new Light Rail system in Phoenix held it's grand opening celebration. The plan was to hit every bar along the train route. I had 3 hours and all was golden. Little did I realize that I ride my bike at least twice as fast as the train - so before we even reached the first bar I had to jump trains and return home. It took 1.5 hours to go about 15 miles. Ridiculous. I guess my bike uses even less resources than the Light Rail system anyhow so I will continue riding and saving the environment :P

Oh, and luckily I did not end up in a situation like LEGO man.

The last long run!

2008-12-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the day I had planned to do my last long run of 20 miles in preparation for the PF Chang's Marathon on January 18th. So far this winter has been extremely mild, with the temperature never dropping below 45 Fahrenheit. Today was a bit different. There was actually frost on all the cars and grass, reminiscent of a light snow.

The first thing I did was test my BG and eat. 186 - a little high and since I am I took the Lantus about 21 hours ago it will have little to no effect on me so I took 6 units of humalog with my bacon and oatmeal.

I actually brought my tester this time, an Accu Check Compact Plus. The name aside, it isn't really all that compact. It is however very simple as everything needed for testing is incorporated into one peice. Amazingly it fit into my SPIbelt as well as a syringe with 5u of Humalog and some cash.

Because of this I was able to test my BG at mile 7. 128 - looked pretty good. I downed a Power gel and kept moving. At around mile 12 I tested again. 108 - "Wow, it actually is dropping," I thought. I downed another Powergel and moved along. At mile 16 I downed yet another Powergel. Either I was just eating more goo packs than my stomach could handle, or I was not drinking enough water. Finally, at mile 20 I tested once again, and it was at 86. "Odd," I thought. I was expecting it to steadily increase as I was definitely clear of any Lantus by this point in time. My urine was very dark yellow. This meant that my stomach issues were more likely caused by inadequate water.

The run was a good one. I ran about a 10:00 pace for the first 10 miles, and returned at an 8:00 pace. The start was miserable. All that cold weather (It was 36 degrees when the ran started) made my legs feel simply like they did not want to run that day. At mile 2 I was ready to quit, but somehow after mile 10 they felt great.

Lessons learned from this run:
1) I can eat more Powergels (goo) to keep my appetite under control and it should not raise my BG faster than the exertion is lowering it. So during the race I plan to eat them at 1/2 hour intervals.
2) I need to drink more water. This should not be much of an issue since there will be water stations every mile or so.
3) Since it seems to show different results than before, bring a very small bit of insulin in case things are completely different race day.
4) I feel a lot better when I know that my BG is in the correct range while running. I can't use it as an excuse for being slow either!

Review: Cervelo P2SL

2008-12-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

I purchased my first road bike with the intention of racing in the SOMA Half Iron Triathlon in May of 2007. This bike was my trusty Cervelo P2SL. So after a year and a half of racing I feel prepared to fairly review this bike. Since I have never ridden another bike I will only be able to review what it has, and can not compare it to any other bike so please take this into account.

This particular P2SL came equipped with a Shimano 105 group and wheels, and a Profile Design aerobars and seat.

I spent an incredible amount of time researching bikes, looking on eBay, Craig's List, and a buttload of resellers looking for the bargain of a lifetime. It seemed that most people were selling their used bikes for about what You would expect to pay for a new bike so I bit the bullet and used my entire tax refund to get the Cervelo. After deciding what size of bike I needed (using the method described in THIS BLOG ENTRY) I placed an order for a Cervelo Dual with a Shimano Ultegra group set ar SBR Multi Sports. Well they called to tell me that since I was ordering last year's model they could not get the 58cm size frame I needed, BUT they offered me the next step up - the P2SL with a Shimano 105 group set for the same price. "Smokin' deal" I thought, and approved the transaction.

It was shipped to me very quickly and packaged well. I took it to my local bike shop and had it assembled. My new toy was ready! I was so excited to get on the road that I bought shoes and pedals right there, not researching anything.

Getting used to a road bike was odd for me. I flopped over with my feet planted firmly in the pedals several time before I got the hang of it. Dropping into the aerobars was effortless for me, and I felt that I had made teh right choice.

The Bike
This bike is all aluminum, with a carbon fork. It looks pretty menacing with all the aerodynamic forms. The paint is different than any other bike I've had - typically bikes have a glossy smooth finish but this one is more of a rough paint. I kind of like that it isn't exactly like all the other bikes, and sometimes I wonder is a slicker finish might slice through the wind easier, but I doubt that the coefficient of friction is large enough that I would notice any drag unless I rode 80+ mph. I did buy mine in 2007, but it looks exactly like the current 2008 model. If they have made any changes I certainly can't see where they are.

Ridability
This bike is not a standard road bike. The frame geometry is designed to function well as a Time Trial bike. Meaning that you forego a bit of handling in favor of aerodynamics for straight line riding. Sitting up, like you would in a standard road bike is a bit tiresome, and can cause excess fatigue in my wrists, so for the most part I ride everywhere in the aero position. Also, trying to ride with no hands is really difficult, because the seat pushes your waist so far forward that you don't have a stable platform to balance on. I have read that carbon frames are a little more yielding to the vibrations of the road than an aluminum frame. I can tell you that after riding hard for about 50 miles this bike can be a serious crotch killer. My fingers are crossed that a carbon framed bike can be ascertained for this season and I can either A) save my crotch from imminent destruction and allow me to have children one day or B) tell if carbon frames actually make a difference in this respect (thus losing my ability to bear child).

Components
I do feel that I suffer with the Shimano 105 component set. I often have to push the gears up two, then back one just to get the gear I want. Also when I crest a hill and shift from the little ring to the big ring it often throws the chain. I have found that I must shift to a gear in the middle of the casette before chainging main rings to keep this from happening. I have had the derailleur adjusted 35 ways from Sunday by my local bike shop and have never been able to alleviate this problem. I hope to try out an Ultegra, Dura-Ace, SRAM, or Campy set in the future just to be sure that it isn't just "the way it's supposed to work" but I have a hard time believing that Lance Armstrong fights with his gears like I do when cruising up a 12% grade on the Alps du Huez.

The crankset is the Gossamer made by Full Speed Ahead. This is one of their less expensive models but has held up perfectly. The one I use is a Compact design 50-34 with 175mm length crank arms. I have powered it over hard enough to break 2 chains, but this crankset has performed flawlessly with very little wear to show from it. After a year and a half and over 5,000 logged miles the bottom bracket still has no play. When I polish it up before a race it looks almost like a new one would. If this is a representation of what I can expect from FSA's entire product line I would highly reccomend them.

The aerobars the bike came equipped with are Profile Design T2. This is an inexpensive set with S-Bends. I find that they are not very comfortable on my wrists, as they force me to bend my wrists down towards the ground whenever I am using them. I haven't found this so bad that I need to replace them, but I feel something with a bend that went upwards would be a tad more comfortable. To be fair, Profile design offers a whole line of aerobars that can suit just about any rider, but I am limited to only the parts that came with this bike. Also the construction of the elbow rests is not particularly strong. I have broken two of them so far, and in fact the right side one cracked just last weekend. I am only 170 lbs so I am not putting them under any extreme pressure so I just believe they are inadequately constructed.

The Profile Design Tri-Stryke CroMoly Saddle has what seems to be about an inch of gel protecting your crotch from the pounding of the road. It has a cutout that is also designed to save your privates from extreme damage, and the cutout is covered over with the gel coating. I believe the current model has the gel removed over this cutout. I find the seat very comfortable for rides of up to 30 miles. After that it's a whole new ballgame and I spend a lot of time readjusting and standing up. The seat design makes tossing your bike on the transition rack simple as it has a catch under the nose that balances it quite well. The main drawback of this saddle is that it makes an awful lot of noise. I have actually been asked why I was shifting so much by a roadie drafting off me. It turns out that the shifting noise he kept hearing was just the sound of my seat flexing. Again, to be fair this seat has had a lot of use. It will be replaced when I begin doing long ride training again. I will consider using another Profile Design saddle for the replacement.

I purchased some Look Keo clip-in pedals that I really despise. I have used them for a year and a half and still at least 50% of the time I struggle getting my toe to clip in. The single sided design is really a failure in my opinion and I would absolutely reccomend a different brand that offers at least 2 sided clip pedals. On my (recently deceased) mountain bike I used Crank Brothers Egg Beaters and I really enjoyed being able to blindly clip in. With these Looks it is required that I look down at them so that I can flip the pedal over with my toe then slide in. This is an impossible task to do by feel. The Shimano pedals have a similar design so I will stay far away from them whenever I get a few bucks to replace these horribly designed yet somehow industry standard pedals. Crank Bros does make a road version of their Egg Beaters that I will consider as well as any of the multitude of others out there.

Overall Impressions
This is a great entry-level Triathlon bike. I paid only $1400 for it (which is inexpensive for a bike of this type, even if it cost more than my car) and believe I got a great bargain. In fact my local bike shop has one almost exactly like mine for sale at $1700 today.

If you are looking to purchase a Triathlon bike, but don't have $3000+ to spend on one of those carbon framed ones this is a great option. Other manufacturers such as Quintana Roo, Guru, Canondale, and more have similarly priced bikes that look to be as good as this one, but any comparisons will have to wait until all of these companies start sending me samples to test. :P

Cervelo P2SL

4.5 out of 5 stars, or syringes. This rating is based in comparison to other bikes in it's category. I would not rate this so high if it was being compared to a Kestrel Airfoil but since they don't reside anywhere near the same price point it would be like comparing apples and oranges. Hopefully I can review a Kestrel soon though ;)

Working Xmas Eve

2008-12-24T15:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas: I may be a sad case, alone in the office on Christmas eve. Blogging about really nothing since I did no training yesterday and will do none tonight. I am planning on doing a Christmas morning track workout. Saturday I will do my final 20 mile run before the P.F. Chang's Marathon. I had a chat with a good friend last night and she reminded me that we must be grateful for everything we have in our lives. Sometimes when working Christmas eve (like she had to do as well) we can become spiteful and angry over our situations, comparing them to better times. But we can't complain, because we are still employed, we have our health, we have our friends and family... And no, I do not consider diabetes an adverse health condition. For so many of us it has actually helped us improve our health a great deal more than we ever imagined.

Upcoming Races: Of course I have the aforementioned marathon to train for. I was contacted by the promotions director for the race, and there is a slim chance I will get to compete in the "Race within the Race." I am keeping my fingers crossed, because it will allow me to meet some media folk to help promote our message at Triabetes. Details will come at the beginning of the new year if I am selected.

I will probably do the Desert Classic Duathlon, and then a week later the Ragnar Relay del Sol. Other races for the year are undecided. I have an option to take a slot at the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon June 14th. They have a lottery for entrants because it is so popular and I was excited to learn my number came up. The only problem is that it is a $400 registration. Wow, that's almost as much as Ironman! So now I must think long and hard about how/if I can pay for this event by January 9th. Our current economy certainly isn't helping me out any! Reviews: Maybe I will get something for Christmas that I can review for the blog. My fingers are crossed! Hmm, that is twice now - I am running out of finger to cross. Also I am planning to do a review of all the assorted BG testing meters I have used. Well, at least the ones they are still selling today - I won't waste your time with a review of some old Walgreens brand meter the size of a brick with test strips that can double as popsicle sticks.

I have a couple of other reviews that are near completion, but require a tad bit more research. Look for them very soon!

Have a great Christmas everyone. Or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Fetivus... or whatever you celebrate this time of year. Woot! It's time to go home!

Tips for running in the rain

2008-12-23T11:32:00.000-08:00

The weather has been a bit on the rainy side here over the last couple of weeks. I know, I can't complain - everyone else is dealing with 30' of snow covering their houses in the rest of the country. So instead of moaning that its rainy out and I can't train, I take the opportunity to run.

There are several reasons that running in the rain can actually be BETTER than running on a great day.

1) Everyone else stays home. You don't have to deal with nearly any crazies trying to sideswipe you with their H2. For some reason humans are afraid of water, so you get to run wherever you want with very little traffic compared to a bright and sunshiney day.

2) You spent a bunch of money on that waterproof windbreaker. Now you get a chance to use it!. Pull that old jacket out of the closet, dust it off, and test it out to see just how "weatherproof" it is.

3) You get a fresh new look at everything. The smells and colors of nature come alive, the puddles collecting here and there, the sounds of the drops pelting everything around you... These are all things you normally don't get to see on your regular run. You can run a course that you know like the back of your hand, and suddenly all is fresh and new!

3) Everyone thinks you are insane. This is probably the biggest benefit. When that rare person does drive by and sees you slogging along with soaking wet shoes, a grimace on your face caused by cold raindrops getting in your eyes, and a look of extreme dedication they will mutter under their breath "Damn, they are hardcore!"

Actually, all of this applies to those of you buried up to their eyeballs in snow too. Strap on your snowshoes, get out there, and RUN! It doesn't snow here though, so I will be splashing about in the rain myself.

Inaugural Zombie Santa Bike Ride

2008-12-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

Sunday I participated in the first annual Zombie Bike Ride in Tempe. It was quite the event and oddly enough I seemed to be the only one with a Time Trial Bike.

A makeup artist was creating some very realistic undead Santas and elves. As with any event there were a few hitches. I was misinformed about the start time, so I arrived at my local dive bar, the Yucca Tap Room, at noon. Unbeknownst to me everyone else was told the ride would start at 1:30 so instead of heading home I ordered up a Heinekin and watched the downright depressing Cardinals game.

Hours later I was zombified and ready. There was quite an assortment of bikes. Everything from tricked out trikes and cruisers to a BMX. I ran into a couple of road bikers that were impressed with my Cervelo. In talking with one named Tim, I discovered that he is yet another diabetic that manages his disease through endurance training. It seems we are taking over the world! I do hope he remembers to check out Insulindependence and sees all the things they are doing to help out the diabetic community. He was so positive about

It is weird, but this event was a great opportunity to spread the message about Triabetes as well. Several people asked about my bike, in particular about what races I do and of course Ironman came up. I should keep my Triabetes flyers handy in case of opportunities like this.

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I wanted to take a moment to thank teammate David. His efforts got us a mention on the Podcast Zen and the Art of Triathlon. I am a regular listener to this Podcast and as it turns out the hosts wife, Emily, is a diabetic triathlete. Maybe she will be a member of the team in the future herself. We'd be proud to have her! The podcast is sort of a life exploration from the perspective of an earthy, fitness driven soul, with a bit of light Zen philosophy sprinkled into the mix. Be sure to check it out - I download this as well as many other podcasts onto my blackberry and listen to them on my long runs and bike rides.

Of note is that Brett, the host of Zentri (for short), has recently completed a Ragnar Relay. It was great to hear some of his insight and experiences because I am prepping to do the Ragnar Relay del Sol with a team of Type 1 Diabetics in February.

Hmm, I should probably devote an entire blog post to the podcasts I listen to regularly. There are a lot of great ones out there. Well, I'll save that for another time, right now I'm going to cook up my late night dinner!

WTF? BG Confusion

2008-12-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

I awoke this morning at 5:30, dragged myself out of bed (actually off the couch I fell asleep on while watching some tube), and got ready for a medium sized run. As I prepared a breakfast of generic cereal and yogurt I tested my blood sugar. 193. That meant I should dose 5 units of Humalog. I loaded up my gear, including a BG tester and took off to my run start point.

Today a 14 miler was on my plate. I felt great this time. At mile 6 I tested my BG - 168. Pretty much what I expected. I downed a Green Apple PowerBar Gel and went on. I thought "Damn, I forgot I planned to bring 1-2 units of Humalog along to use at the halfway point" and went on.

After completing 14 miles with a negative split as planned I tested my BG. 103 - "What???" I wsa fully expecting to have a 200+ reading at this point based on the last long run but no, it was absolutely perfect. I thought that maybe it was a while after the run that the spike came so I tested again when I got home an hour later. 87 - I am still dropping? I don't know how, because this was 24 hours since my Lantus injection so my numbers should be going the opposite direction.

This leaves me perplexed. But the lesson here is that I can not figure it out perfectly. All I can do is keep on testing and yo-yoing myself as close as I can. Or better yet the more I test, the more likely it will be that I find a pattern that takes place more often than not. I suppose shouldn't expect definitive information on 2 runs - that is hardly scientific.

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Tonight I am off to the office Holiday Party. BG be damned! I hope all of you out there in the ether of the WWW are having a fantastic Holiday Season!

Honesty

2008-12-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

Reading about other's experiences with Diabetes has done a great deal to help me. One of the main ways it has helped is allowing me to realize that I can talk about my disease in all honesty and not have to feel stupid. You see, I realize that I am not honest about my disease with anyone - not even the doctor - and I am not sure why.

When the doctor asks "How have your Blood Sugars been?" I will generally respond with a noncommital phrase like "Fine I guess, I range from 100-200 most of the time".

Afterwards I think, "What about the 384 you hit yesterday? Or the 64 you woke up to in the morning last week?" Am I being honest? I guess I really don't know how to respond to her question without going into a long drawn out conversation in which I feel like I am failing myself and should be ashamed.

I want to be the best, and keep my BG at 107 exactly all the time with no variance. Often I feel like I am failing when it fluctuates all over the board due to my own stupidity (like yesterday morning when I loaded my syringe with Humalog and forgot to actually inject it - but did not realize until I felt like crap several hours later), my laziness (like the times I don't feel like digging out my tester), or to weird circumstances that seem to make no sense.

I used to be better. I would input all my meals into a spreadsheet, along with calories, carbs, proteins, and BG's. At some point I stopped doing this, as I found that my numbers did not seem to improve or get worse as time went on and I began to learn how different types of foods would affect me.

So really, this is the only place where I am honest. You get the real deal and know exactly when I am screwing up. I feel I don't have to hide the fact that I am not perfect. Why is this? Simply put, it is all the other blogs I have been reading from my teammates at Triabetes and I now know that all of us diabetics are struggling with exactly the same types of issues. I am not alone, and no one is looking down on me for not being at 107 (which I am actualy at right now - go figure). So I thank you, Casey, Peter, Heather, James, David, Sean, Sebastien, Jerry, Brian, Denise, Bill, Anne, Reid, and everyone else I forgot for helping me stay honest with myself, and helping me to not give up on this struggle to attain perfection.

BG the day after

2008-12-16T06:43:00.000-08:00

As I have discussed in my last couple of blog posts I did a half marathon last Sunday. Well on Monday I wanted to do a slow 6 mile run to help loosen up some of this lactic acid that has built up in my calves and quads. And after discussing things with several of my Triabetes teammates I have been testing my BG's a lot more than I have in the past.

My typical routine for Monday night training runs is to grab a bite to eat after work and meet with a running group at 6:30. Most of the time I will just eat and head out the door. Yesterday I tested my BG to see it at 54.

54??? I was shocked - normally I am shaking and struggling to speak in sensical statements when the numbers are in the 60's! So I ate a Powerbar with 40g of carbs, and about a 1/4 cup of cottage cheese with some fruit in the mix. I drove to the running group's meeting location and attempted to test again. "ERR-1" GAH! I was running late so I just jumped out of the car thinking I should be fine since the BG test had failed.

About 3 miles into the run my legs started feeling like rubber so I immediately turned around and headed for a convenience store thinking that if my BG's were low I could grab a soda or something. One problem - I was wearing a different pair of shorts than normal, and had no cash stashed away in them. So instead I shuffled back to the start point of the run at a very slow pace. When I returned to the car I tested myself again - 58! What the heck is going on?

On any other day I would not have had such a low number to begin with, and the Powerbar would have shot me up above 200. But today was different. The only thing I can think of that may have caused this was the half marathon exertion I put out the day before. My diet is pretty regimented, and I eat nearly the same every day (at least on weekdays) so I can be comfortable with knowing where my Blood Glucose numbers are.

So this makes me ask: Do any of you out there notice erratic BG numbers the day after a very hard workout? Or can I just attribute this to one of those days that just doesn't make sense....

The Numbers Game

2008-12-15T10:21:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you out there are as bad at number crunching as I am, but I spend hours analyzing my race results, playing games with the numbers. For instance in last Sunday's half marathon results I placed 131st overall out 476 males. 23 of 51 in my age group of 30-34 year old males. Also, 35 of the 407 females racing beat me.

What does all this tell me? Nothing really, but if you dive into the numbers some not-so-interesting tidbits can be gleaned.

There were 883 competitors, of which I placed 166th. So I am faster than 80.2% of everyone, faster than 72.4% of all the men, and 54.9% of men in my age group.

If I would not have stopped to pee, and doubled over in cramping pain I would have saved 1.5 minutes. This would have moved me up to 115th in the men, 21st in my age group, and with only 25 women ahead of me - 140th overall.

I have similarly analyzed other races in this manner and some key things that I have noted.
1) My age group (30-34) is friggin' TOUGH!
2) Half Marathons have a lot of women. Good info for an eligible bachelor ;)
3) The women in Scottsdale are SLOW! Races I have done in other cities tend to have much faster women. I am not sure why, but I have theories that I won't delve into here...lol. (e.g. how much does silicone affect wind drag?)
4) The run is definitely my strongest sport. I've never thought of myself as a runner, and I find biking a lot more enjoyable, but I fare much better against my peers in running.
5) They need a diabetic category. I mean shoot, the granularity of the rankings is already so specific they may as well add this information, and maybe someone could actually use the data for a study on health benefits for diabetics. Plus then I would know how I compare to other diabetics. Damn my competitive side!

The unexpected drawbacks of being diabetic

2008-12-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

Today I ran the Runner's Den/Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon. I have been sick since Monday with a pretty substantial cold and thus I didn't get carried away with my expectations of a blistering pace. The weather was forecast to be cold and rainy so I assumed I would have Pneumonia by race finish. Well as luck would have it, the temperature was just about PERFECT, with some overcast so the sun did not burn you out either.

One thing I have noticed about being diabetic is that when I allow my blood glucose numbers to go high I tend to run fluids through my system. In other words I have to piss a lot. As usual I pushed my BG high before the race - only 140 this time (usually I push it to 180 before a workout) but since it had been near 24 hours since my last Lantus injection I knew this was safe. I was a bit chilly just before race start, but once I was moving I felt perfect. My goal 8:00 pace went out the window pretty quickly as I felt fine running a 7:45 for the first half of the half. A small yet EXTREMELY annoying side stitch had me walking for about 30 seconds - "Dammit, that will slow my pace!" at mile 6. Then at mile 7, the curse of the diabetic bladder hit and I ran off to the side to take a quick whizz.

After this point I felt like I had more than half my energy left in the tank so I pushed the pace a little faster than 7:30. Knowing I had lost about a minute and a half peeing and hitting myself in my rib cage I wanted to make it up.

Mile 10 came along and I was feeling great. So I pushed the pace to 7:15. At mile 12 I knew I was wearing down, but with only a mile left I again pushed it to as close to 7:00 as I could and at less than a 1/4 mile - as I usually do - I decided it was time to not care how bad I felt and turn on the afterburners to a 5:30 or so.

As usual my Garmin told me the race was a touch long at 13.28 miles and a 7:37 average pace. My official time was 1:41:45, at a 7:45 pace - and a 14 minute PR. I guess I am improving after all.

Of course after the race I wonder such things as:
"What if I had drank enough water that I didn't get that sidestictch"
"What if I could have just held my damn bladder"
"What if I hadn't been sick all week and missed a few meals"
So there is definitely room for improvement.

I did see another diabetic runner, wearing a Team Diabetes T shirt and hi-5'd him as I passed him on mile 10. Now out of respect to Triabetes I could not let him stay in front of me!

As soon as I got back to my car I shot up my Lantus, but dammit, I meant to check my BG and forgot to bring my meter. Argh - you would think that after having diabetes for 6 years I would remember simple things like that.

This run gave me high hopes for my first marathon, the P.F. Chang's Rock'N'Roll Marahon next month. We shall see how close to a 3:30 I can pull out of my rear. Any of you Zonies look for me, I'll be wearing my styin' white Triabetes 2009 jersey again!

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EDIT: I took my BG after writing this blog and saw it was a whopping 284! Hmmm, strategy must change. I wonder how much skyrocketing blood sugars affect my performance....

How Lucky I am

2008-12-13T08:57:00.001-08:00

As each day goes by I realize more and more just how unbelievable lucky I am to be part of Triabetes 2009. It stated weeks ago by just meeting so many other like-minded athletes all dealing with Diabetes. Everyone's knowledge and experience with the subject varied substantially, yet every one of them had a lot to offer.

After emailing back and forth about Lantus usage a Matthew Corcoran, MD, CDE posted an unbelievabley well thought out analysis of it benefits and drawbacks, as well as how many people use it. If given permission by him I may post it here in my blog for those that haven't had the luxury of reading it. Dr. Corcoron is a part of the team leading Diabetes Training Camp. He is the only member that I have had any contact with, but if he is representative of the team I excited to see what the future Training Camp brings! Basically his analysis use helped me realize exactly why I am using it, and gave me lots of insight into how it works, and different strategies to use in dosage. I may try taking half doses, twice a day instead of the standard once a day dosage and waytching it's effectiveness peter out 5-8 hours before it should - but of course I will confer with my doctor before making any changes to my insuling regimen.

Being a part of this team will easily be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I expect to take far more than I am able to give from this, and it makes me feel quite selfish, but that is all part of the luck I guess. If anyone reading this is ever given a chance like this one to become part of a team that is spreading a positive message (and many of you are already!) make sure you make the time to commit, it will be worth it.

Being sick since Monday has not been good for me. My blood sugars are all over the place. Partly because I am not exercising like I normally would during the course of a week. Maybe partly because I have let my diet slide the last month or two. I am nearly done with this cold, but I am concerned about tomorrow's Runners Den/Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon. I haven't run since Monday - and somehow whenever I take a few days off I mentally think I am back to square one. When I reviewed some of the people taking place in the Ragnar Relay del Sol I get a bit discouraged seeing the likes of Bill Carlson (the legend) estimating a 6:20 pace for a 10k, when I am 40 seconds slower than that in a 5k! I suffer that desire to have everything NOW - yet realize it takes years of dedication and hard work to get to that level. So I must just grit my teeth, train what I can, and keep on going. The results will come.

I have been working on a couple of new reviews. I figure I can make them a weekly installment of this blog. Next week's will be a review of my Cervelo P2SL. I do love this bike though, so as I try to be unbiased the veil is pretty thin ;)

And finally, Congrats to Triabetes Teammate David Bourdon - he is getting married in an hour and a half! Scary for me, but he seems happy about it...lol. Now we must find my bride. Anyone out there happen to be looking for a diabetic that hates the razor, has a propensity to drink too much, and has one good leg?

Review: Profile Design Aerodrink System

2008-12-13T08:11:00.000-08:00

If you have raced any triathlon longer than a sprint you have doubtless seen many of these Profile Design Aerodrink Systems. Really it's just a fancy water bottle, with a price tag of about $30. When you can get a regular water bottle for 5 bucks, is this one worth the extra cost? Well here is my analysis.

The package
There are two pieces to this system that are purchased separately. The bottle itself supposedly comes with everything you need to install it on your aerobars. A water bottle, straw, sponge, and a rubber band. Also there is a plastic mounting bracket that can be purchased separately. The bottle itself holds a substantial 32 ounces of fluid, making it attractive for those long rides.

The problem
Unwittingly I bought package 1 alone. I took out the instructions (which in my opinion need revisions for clarity) and successfully installed the bottle on my bars. As simple as it was, using the confusing instructions it took me about a half hour to get it installed. With more clear directions this would have taken 4 minutes, as I only managed to install it after I tossed the instructions. I took it for a spin and you could hear the bottle rattling all over on my test ride but I figured I was good to go. I used this setup for Nathan's Tempe Triathlon in 2007. I noticed a LOT of their yellow sponges laying on the ground after points on the course that had substantial bumps, caused by a change in road surface. Mine didn't jump out, but I watched it to make sure. Also I was saw a few of this exact type of water bottle on the ground and thought that was odd. About halfway through the bike I hit a bump and sure enough my water botlle released and went sliding across the road. A small tear entered my eye as I bode farewell to my brand new Profile desin Aerodrink system.

A year later I realized that since my bike only allowed for one smaller water bottle on the seat tube, and I had a bag with spare tubes behind my seat I would give the Profile system another shot - only this time I got the mounting bracket pagkage as well. Once again I saw the instructions had changed, but were still totally inadequate and thus I ended up just installing it the most secure way I could with the given pieces. I loaded it up and took it out on the SOMA Half Iron in 2008. This time, it stuck in place! It rattled a little bit and made the ride a tad unnerving, but the bottle was secure, even on very rough surfaces. Good thing too, it was 90 degrees and hot as hell out there so I probably ended up drinking a gallon of water.

So the moral of the story, DON'T buy just the bottle with the rubber band. It is worthless. I figured since I had Profile Design aerobars, that the Profile Design Aerodrink bottle would work but I was sadly mistaken. Don't make the same mistake yourself!

Usability

Leaning over to grab a sip of water without having to change your aero position is really quite nice. It makes it so easy to drink that you actually drink more - which is a great thing for me racing in the Arizona heat. Refilling the bottle is simple too, as you just pull the top off a regular water bottle and pour it straight through the sponge top in a few seconds. Much simpler, for me, than reaching through my spinning legs to shove the bottle into and pull it back out of my seat tube bottle cage all day.

You have probably seen the little yellow sponges that are the all over the road during a race. Those are the ceiling card of people who use this drink system. If you wish to keep yours you must take some alternative measures. I used a small piece of Velcro tape to attach the sponge to the lip of the water bottle. This worked OK, and kept my sponge in the bottle, but the water eventually caused the bond of the Velcro to release. I will look at other methods to make sure the sponge stays in place, yet remains removable for cleaning in future events.

Overall Impression
As I said, make sure you get BOTH packages before using this bottle. It makes drinking more comfortable, easier, and is somewhat aerodynamic. This means that if you are faster than I am this bottle may actually save you a few seconds. The main benefit of a slower rider like myself is just the ease of use. Thus I do recommend the Profile Design Aerodrink System and think it is worth $30.

4 out of 5 syringes.

Profile Design Aerodrink System

Cough cough

2008-12-11T18:08:00.001-08:00

So here I sit, when I feel as though I should be out running. I am quite tired of nature telling me when it is time to slow down. If it isn't an agitated calf muscle it is a cold - or something else that keeps me from keeping up my training regimen.

I often wonder how the pros manage to remain healthy throughout a year's time since I find that as soon as I get myself ramped up to a good routine I come crashing down with an injury or sickness. When I really analyze it I see that I do not spend all that much time sidelined. In fact my time off has been very minimal and I recognize that I am getting down on myself for no apparent reason.

Knowing this does nothing to help me RIGHT NOW. I was sick Tuesday, but chose to ride 35 or 40 miles anyhow and because of this over zealousness I have now sat through a swim, another bike, and a run workout (which incidentally is going on as I type this). All I can do is sit here, blog, and listen to my neighbor's annoying dog bark at nothing. Hearing this dog makes me think the owners should really take it out for a long run to calm it down. But then imagining this dog out running makes me miserable again that I can't be out there!

Good news though, I hear I might be getting my hands on a Polar watch soon. I most certainly will be adding that to my list of product reviews to be coming in the near future!

Review: Garmin Forerunner 405

2008-12-10T17:08:00.001-08:00

The latest wristwatch GPS unit from Garmin is the Forerunner 405. I have had one since late July so I feel I can make a fair assessment of this device.

The most noticeable feature of this wristwatch is the size. It is the closest you will find to an actual wristwatch with the GPS reciever actually built in. Earlier releases by Garmin felt like you were wearing a laptop on your wrist. Looking at the photos online you would think it is exactly like a wristwatch, but I can attest it is definitely much bulkier than you would expect. It is very noticeable when mounted on a slim wrist such as my own. Slimmer men and women will find it to be somewhat uncomfortable because the shape seems to be more suited to the larger wrist size. A friend of mine that has the same watch, and is 50 lbs heavier than me, fits this watch perfectly.

A weird feature of this watch is the bezel/buttons. You have two regular watch buttons on the side, but the entire front bezel controls many of the watch functions. It takes a while to get used to touching and sliding the bezel to react the way you want it to. It can be a pain in the ass, especially if you are sweaty, as when it is wet it can start jumping around all of the functions driving you crazy. This is particularly troublesome in the midsummer Arizona heat. You can disable the bezel quite easily, but then you lose the ability to turn on the light, thus making a sweaty night run difficult.

The functionality of the GPS is great. Once you have linked up to satellites in your area the first time subsequent links are very quick. If you change geographic regions you will notice it takes upwards of 3 minutes to link up, but on your next run in the same general area (50+ miles or so) you will link up very quickly. Often in under 30 seconds, but typically not longer than a minute. Often before a run I see people with their older Garmins set their watch on the hood of a car and leave it for 5 or 10 minutes to make sure they will have a satellite link. I get a smile on my face when I just hit the button, often inside a building, and the watch is ready to go before I even step out the door. Also I have had no problems when trail running in forested areas, or in heavily clouded stormy nights, though I have spoken with others who are not seeing the same results.

You can track your pace, heartrate (with optional heart rate monitor), and bike speed (with or even without the cadence sensor). The display is completely customizable to show whatever data you like, with up to 3 categories of data per screen and up to 4 screens to choose from. So you can view things such as your heart rate zones, heart rates, speed, pace, time spent, cadence, distance, and more. One of the screens is a "Virtual Partner" that I suppose you can use to compete against, but I find this feature pretty useless. My virtual partner only has one pace, so if I vary my pace during a workout intentionaly (which I do in nearly every run or bike ride) the data becomes irrelevant.

I did purchase the optional Heart Rate Monitor and Cadence Sensor to go along with it. My previous HRM was a Timex, and I can definately say this one is much better. It seems to be very accurate, and I have only once seen it go crazy and tell me my heart rate was 240 bpm. Whereas my Timex would often give me impossibly low and high values, causing me to just roll my eyes when looking at the numbers. This watch consistently gives me values which are believeable and match up to how I feel when running or biking.

The Cadence Sensor is a simple install, being that it is completely wireless. Just strapping a magnet on your crank arm, a magnet on your spoke, and this weird looking device (the reciever) onto your bike frame. Installation only took a few minutes, but linking it up to the watch was another story.

The HRM linked up to the watch almost immediately, but it took a lot of trial and error before the watch would recognize the Cadence Sensor. It fooled me several times into thinking it was working, because your speed values will appear even without it. But once I got it working, other than one time when the watch flipped out and required me to fiddle with it and perform a hard reset to get the sensor working again it has been pretty dependable.

The software that comes with this the 405 is pretty cool. A USB reciever comes with the watch that will automatically sense the watch when it is nearby and attempt to download workout data you have accumulated. The "Garmin Training Center" allows you to view all of the data accumulated by the device, in a very user friendly format with graphical charts, and even maps showing the routes you have taken with specific data for points all along you path. With it you can get your averages for an entire workout, or find a point during your workout to review. Also you can view workouts you have done in the past viewing by date.

There are some features of this watch which have left me clueless. Apparently you can program in "Courses" and Training programs, but the instruction manual is EXTREMELY lacking information in this department. I get the feeling Garmin wanted to be able to market this as the MAC of wristwatch GPS's and thus decided that it was soooo simple that insructions aren't needed. Sadly they are mistaken and a manual that actually explains how to use it would be highly beneficial. I am a MAJOR tech nerd, and have gone through all the features of it countless times, yet there are still many features which leave me staring blankly at it having no clue what it is for, nor even the knowledge of where to look for adequate instructions on it.

Can I use the Garmin Forerunner 405 for a Triathlon?

Being a diabetic Triathlete, I like to really know how my body is working. This device helps me track my heart rate and try to understand why I am either underperforming, or performing well. If I could hook up a CGM to this device and see the graphs together I would be in heaven, but I don't think that the technologies will work together that closely for quite some time yet. I have worn my Garmin in several races but I have not found it to be incredibly helpful in these cases for the following reasons:
1) It is NOT waterproof! How could they overlook this simple feature is beyond me. I have read stories of people slipping it into a ziploc bag and wearing it under their swim cap during the swim portion of a triathlon but I prefer not having a huge chunk of bulky plastic squeezed tightly to the top of my head when trying to concentrate on a 1500m or more swim.
2) I am too preoccupied to hit the start button in transition to the bike. I will run into transition thnking about all the things I need to accomplish as quickly as possible and blast out of transition. Once I am about 1/4 mile down the road and mentally into the next phase of the race I will remember "Oh crap, I need to hit the start button!"
3) Due to (1) and (2) I can not time my entire event. I will have no clue what the time spent swimming was, and my bike will be off as well. I have tried to use the timer to time laps as well, but again, I miss hitting the lap counter button when I should thus messing that up as well.

I have found it quite useful in keeping me from running my heart rate too high causing me to blow out too early, and watching my pace on the run or bike so it has proven beneficial enough that I will still wear it for future events. One major exception is Ironman. Since the battery is rated to only last 8 hours while in GPS mode it will die before I am halfway done with the marathon. I will have to figure something else out for that I presume. Possibly I will borrow a friend's Garmin, and just use it for the run!

Overall I am hapy with this purchase. At $400 for the watch and the options it is on the expensive side, and you could eat a LOT of powerbars with that money, but what are you left with after that? Yes, a plugged up toilet, and I will be starving but running by checking my pace again for the 87th time in the last mile. In the future I would hope that Garmin makes their updates to this watch to include: WATERPROOFING, eliminating (or at least improving) the goofy bezel interface, and software fixes. There has been many times when this watch will spontaneously reboot itself while in the middle of a run. Also, it seems to go into auto-pause when I am biking at 30+mph on a fairly regular basis. These I attribute to bugs in the software on the watch itself, and they may be items they are working on, or already have patches for.

Garmin Forerunner 405

3.5 out of 5 stars, or syringes. :P

Okay, I hope you enjoyed my review. More to come!

Reviews?

2008-12-09T17:49:00.000-08:00

I am a tech geek by nature. This leads me to spending more than I have on gadgets and toys. Lately my toys have been fitness related, and I figure that if I have to go bankrupt I may as well do it in good shape right?

So I have a few toys that some out there have expressed a desire to steal. I'm not giving them up (except to maybe the collections agents when they realize the abuse I have put my charge cards through) so don't even ask! But what I can do is start giving my honest reviews of these items. If the items are sponsoring me I will still review them honestly!

Current items I can give in-depth reviews of are my Garmin Forerunner 405, Cervelo P2SL Triathlon Bike, my new Spibelt (care of Triabetes), Profile Design Aerodrink System, the Zipp 606's I rented for my last big race, and whatever other items I can't think of at the moment. Also I will review new items as I accumulate them over time, like the CGM I am currently trying to ascertain. In fact if I can find several of them for trials I will do a comparison review from a diabetic triathletes perspective.

Other than that I now have a cold. I am going to head to Walgreens as soon as I hit post to find whatever drug there is that will kill a cold fast because I have a half-marathon race on Sunday, the Runner's Den/Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon, I need to be ready for. And if I feel anything like I do right now this will be a miserable race. Jerry tells me he is under the weather too, but hopefully we clear up and can slaughter the competition. I suppose that if I can only run a slow pace that will actually be better for my training program, but when in a race I tend to forget that I am supposed to be taking it easy!

Anyhow, *cough cough* time to load up on dope. Look for the first product review COMING SOON!