So, I have been training….and spending most of my time on the bike.  Due to the fact that I have the Challenge Triathlon Relay next weekend.  I am the 112 mile bike leg.  Just so happens that I am going to complete this with two of my favorite training buddies:  my wife is going to kill it in the 2.4 mile swim, and my college team mate and good friend, Zach is going to drive it home with the marathon.

Over the last two months, I have tried something new.  I’ve been racing with the Action Wheels race team in criterium and road races.  It’s been a great group of folks to ride and race with and I’ve been having a ton of fun while hanging with them.

Here’s the interesting part….it’s another new athletic thing to tackle.  Train, recover, fuel, hydrate, and manage blood glucose levels to do this all effectively.

We’ve all seen the statements on FB, LinkedIn, and Twitter about failure.  These statements, in my world, are true….and false all at the same time.  A necessary evil, if you will.

If you have T1D and want to try something new, it means insulin level adjustments and fueling adjustments.  Not just for right now, but for the next 24 hours.  If you stack your workouts daily, or get to 2 a days for the multi-sport folks, then the off workout time gets tricky with balancing insulin levels needed now for recovery fuel but without over doing because you just had a hard workout.  Then, what if you want to go to sleep and your blood glucose level isn’t right?

I’ve heard people say that managing T1D is the only disease you manage where you deliver a drug (insulin), multiple times a day, that if you make a mistake, it could kill you.

THAT’s a strong statement.

There’s a reason I like cycling….well many, really, but it compares to T1D.  Racing a bicycle is all fluid motion.  Constant change in the group, with the dynamics on a razor thin margin just waiting to fall one direction or the other.  You have to be ready, at a moments notice, to chase a wheel or attack of the front, and then know when you need to sit in and recover.

Sometimes you feel like this (Giro Del Cielo Creiterium):

But other times, it’s smooth, and the plan comes together and your team comes home with a win (NJ State Criterium Championships).

Cycling is constant learning.  Pitting yourself against the other riders to perform your role for your team.  You miss a wheel here, gap a rider there, attack and stay out to long.  But these moments are banked away to be used again, so that the next time you face this situation, you adjust and make it work in your favor.

Management of T1D is the same way.  Built on experience.  Trial and error.  Failure.  Make the adjustment, try it out, make a mistake, make another adjustment and gain some success.  These incremental successes are where good T1D management occurs.  You have to be a grinder, constant learning, constant change.  If you’re a fan of cycling and know about Rule #5, it applies here.  Show me a family that lives with T1D, and they inherently know about Rule #5.

How does this work?  Have a good team.  You need to trust your physician.  Communicate your goals to your family.  Have a plan, and have a back up plan.  Test the plan.  Test it again.  Be gritty.  Don’t back down when the first failure occurs.  And it will, so have a plan. Adjust, and try it again.

Failure in T1D management is going to happen.  The plan doesn’t work, so it has failed.  But here’s the most important fact about failure:  it puts you one step closer to success.  Don’t use it as judgement, use it as data, because the data doesn’t place blame.  There shouldn’t be any.  The data will point you in the right direction, so follow the data.  Failure should not be an emotional response, it should be informational in nature.

So, next week is the culmination of many failure’s over the last two months.  I’m not going to tell you that I didn’t get frustrated, because I did.  But I’ve been training since winter for this event, so I am going to use every bit of failure as data points to make this weeks event a success.

This (Philadelphia Marathon 2010)

2010 Philadelphia Marathon

Plus this (healthy fueling, a constant for the last two years):

This (blood work 3-4 times per year):

and this (a lot of training):

All went into the preparation that will equal the effort.  And that’s just for the 112 mile bike leg.  Wish us luck!  More to come next week after the race……

Week #’s 13-14, by the numbers:

20.2 miles run on the road. 6.6 miles on the treadmill. 133.8 miles on the bike, 3 time on the trainer, and 5,916 yards (2.5 hours) in the pool.

I had no two/day workout days. A lot of rest days.

Average Blood Glucose: 134

No significant pattern of low blood glucose.

No significant pattern of high blood glucose.

Comments about training for the past two weeks:

I feel like I have found a balance between training, work and family life.  I am not getting 2/days in, but I feel I am getting stronger, faster and am able to go longer.  It’s a good spot to be in, with that balance.

Barge Bustin’ – Let’s Make it a Race Boat:

I never thought that when my daughter started swimming a couple of years ago that I would be in the pool training for Ironman…..

For the last eight weeks, I have fought the water.  Every stroke was a struggle, every breath I had to fight for.

But then, this week, it was almost like I was a swimmer.  Not a meathead, or a sinking ship, but a swimmer.

I changed my basal rates two weeks ago and I’m not chasing low blood glucose levels.  It’s not perfect, but its getting close.  There’s been some bumps along the way, but its close.  My average blood glucose level was up, but not a lot.  However, I have not been chasing low blood glucose levels and I have had more energy.

You sink, or you swim.  It’s not always perfect, sometimes gasping for breathe, but sometimes, you get just enough that you can get into a rhythm.  And then one length turns into two.  The flip turn temporary slows you down, but back at it down the lane.

Managing Type 1 Diabetes is not a sprint.  It is not easy, but by taking one step at a time, one stroke at a time, managing gets easier and you get down the lane.

Week #’s 9-12, by the numbers:

51.3 miles run on the road. 15 miles on the treadmill. 86.8 miles on the bike, 0 time on the trainer, and 3:10 hours in the pool.

I had no two/day workout days. A lot of rest days.

Average Blood Glucose: 114

No significant pattern of low blood glucose.

No significant pattern of high blood glucose.

Comments about training for the past four weeks:

I spent my training over the past month getting in quality vs quantity.  My knee had hurt in January, from what appears to be either a quad weakness, arch drop in my foot on the bike, or both.  So, I spent the time getting in quality workouts, allowing for proper recovery, stretching and foam roller.

I have to admit, too, that my focus has dropped off.  Sore knee, “bad” A1c, and the variability in winter training…..all exposes any lack of focus/drive and impairs consistency.  Time to get it back, though.  Shooting for a 1/2 marathon PR at the April Fools 1/2 in April, and my first 1/2 distance tri in May.

I also started swimming……my only comment is that this barge needs some “reshaping”.

Every 3 Month Anxiety & The “Bad” A1c:

Every 3 months, those with T1D get blood work done to analyze for their “A1c”.  This is more formally known as the Hemaglobin A1c and is essentially a long-term blood glucose test.  This is what it looks like:

So, the results showed this:  Hemoglobin A1c: 7.2%

And I was livid!

Imagine my surprise when my last A1c was a 6.5% and my average numbers for the last 90 days show an average blood glucose of 118.

I had worked too hard for this!

Once the blood work is complete, then I, and those with T1D visit their Endocrine…..and this is where the anxiety starts.  “What’s my A1c?  How’s my endo going to react?  What changes is he/she going to make?”  These are all legitimate questions that run through our heads…..questions about how we are going to be judged…..

What we, the T1D community, don’t do, is use the numbers as tools.  I heard this this past weekend at a Riding on Insulin Camp, “No number is a bad number, we need the number to decide what to do.”

Endo’s, parents, and those with T1D, have a hard time remembering this…..however, it is important to keep the right mindset.  Making good choices without judging…..

So, what do my numbers tell me?  There are enough BG readings above the 140 level that have impacted my A1c.  The trick over the next 90 days will be to lower the number of outliers without increasing the amount of low blood glucose I experience.

It is only through the proper mindset that I will succeed in my triathlon goals.

The numbers are a tool to my success.

So, I’ll keep “tri-ing” and use the tools I have to improve.