Ironman Arizona - November 17, 2013
Karyn Brown – Type 1 diabetic for 23 years
Since completing Ironman Wisconsin in 2011 - - I had a better idea of what to expect and knew what I was working towards correcting from the last race.
I arrived in Phoenix the Wednesday before the race to get settled (and I couldn't work because I was so obsessed with thinking about the race)
Thursday morning we went for a quick run/jog - 2.25mi.
Friday I did pretty much nothing except check in for the race and hang out.
Saturday (the day before the race): We all went for a quick dip in the lake on Saturday morning and I was pleased to find out that 63 degree water didn't bother me - BUT a 10 minute swim as opposed to ~ 2 hour swim on Sunday morning.
Next the ladies got their bikes and checked them in. We went back to the hotel where I got my bike ready to check.
**Tucker and Tony went mountain biking
Tony and Tony's phone - post riding.....
I had carefully set a RACE basal pattern and planned to start it on Sunday morning. I calculated my 100%(swim), +220%(bike) and -30%(run) basals and labeled the basal pattern as 'exercise'. I felt ready.
We had a team dinner at the hotel and then some of us headed to the pool to socialize and have a couple of beers before retiring at 8pm.
*RACE DAY GOAL - BG UNDER 200 ALL DAY*
Sunday- Race Day
4:05am Woke up; blood glucose=214 - correction bolus - 1.5 units of insulin
4:50am BG = 172
Eat Breakfast – 2 whole wheat Eggo waffles, 2 Tb of peanut butter and 8oz dark chocolate almond milk (57 CHO). FULL bolus of 3.00 units of insulin. I WANT insulin on board at the start of the race because race anxiety/nerves drive my BG through the ROOF.
5:40am BG=73, Arrive at the start, body marking, dropped nutrition and CGM at T1/bike and nutrition at T2. Discover a leaky valve stem and a flat tire. Take bike to technicians. New tube, filled tires and 'pinky' back on the rack. *flustered* and forget to drop salt sticks in T1 bag for bike.
Head to body marking. Take off Team Wild jacket and find that my tri top zipper has failed. It is attached at my belly button and my chin. It is flapping in the wind. I cannot do this for 16+ hours. I have a spare tri top if I can get a hold of Tucker in time.
6:10am - BG = 73 - out of transition and freaked out. No tri top means naked biking and running - well, sports bra but come on. I use Karen L's cell phone and call Tucker - he hasn't left the hotel and assures me he'll make it with the tri top - or Susie can give it to me in T1. I'm calmed but not much.
I eat a gel (27g CO) cause I have a lot of insulin on board and don't want to get in the water like that.
6:25am Headed to get into the water, and checked my blood one last time, 111. Confident in my plan and the insulin on board (approx 1 unit) and knowing my usual habit of going low in the water but going high with stress (like race starts) I let it go and headed down. *New to my plan this year was to eat a banana going into the water since I was going to spend ~2 hours without food or water - this worked!
7:00am - Swim 2.4 miles= 1hour 53 min - this swim had A LOT of body contact the ENTIRE time. It freaked me out but not a lot. I also started out about 200 yds behind the finish line when the canon went off so that was part of my swim time. I probably did the 1:45 I had expected but race timing says 1:53 and so it is.
T1 (10:02) - I got out of the water and my friend from high school's brother is my wetsuit stripper. I say 'Hi Brian' and let him and the other volunteers get that wetsuit off. I run up the 'beach' toward transition and realize that I have completely forgotten to pee before getting out of the water. So, I head to the porta potty - probably accounts for how much longer this transition was compared to IMWI. I go into transition and my BG=189. I do nothing insulin-wise, trust my plan and head out on the bike.
Bike- I felt pretty good for most of the bike. If you look at the CGM data I went high about 1 hour in. I took .5 unit of insulin at 10:25am for this. At 11:15 I noticed that my CGM showed me above 200 and in my effort to keep BG below 200 for the day I take an additional 1.5 units of insulin. I have now stopped to pee 3 times. In IMWI 2011 I didn't stop ONE time to pee. I realize that I need electrolytes. I get some Perform (IM branded Gatorade type drink) and count on that insulin to cover the extra carbs in the electrolyte drink. At 11:50 I finally check my BG and it is 202 - I'm going to call that 200 just to meet my goal.... that and the +/- of the meter technology.
My carb intake on the bike is 60 CHO/hr. This is done through a concentrated mixture of Carbo-Pro with TheRightStuff (electrolytes) mixed in. I take a drink every 5 minutes as my watch timer alerts me to.
Aid stations were every 12-15 miles, I was able to grab a water bottle at EVERY single one and consume it before the next aid station!
I had a glucose meter with me on the bike but did not use it. I trusted my CGM instead (which appeared to be correct)
At 3:50pm I look at the CGM and again it is over 200 - I take .5 units of insulin to bring it down.
Bike 112 miles
T2 (3:56) Again, a FAST transition. The volunteer that is helping dumps my bag and sees the meter and asks me if I'm diabetic. I say yes and she asks what my blood sugar is. I tell her that I'll need to use that meter in order to tell her anything. She smiles and waits for me. BG = 187. WHOOO HOOOOO!!! So glad to see that number!
Run 26.2 miles = The first few miles go great (14:00/mi or less) and then I just start fading. I don't think I've pushed to hard on the bike..... I should have more in the gas tank than this. It's fine. I walked almost the entire marathon at IMWI and finished. I maintain a walk/jog until about mile 14 and then I start to REALLY fade. Becky and Jake appear about mile 15 and walk/jog with me until 1.5 miles before the finish line. Thank goodness. I needed that support. I DID NOT want it but I DID need it.
At 1.25 before the finish line Tucker rides beside me on his bicycle and tells me that Kathleen is less than .25 miles behind me. Would I like him to push her to catch up with me? um, YES! I slow down to walk and wait for her to arrive. She gets there and starts walking - because I am. She starts jogging because she says she can't keep up with my walking speed. I start to jog because she is but I can't keep up with her and go back to walking. We can hear the crowd and see the lights and Kathleen turns to me and asks 'is this it?'. I say yes and she speeds up (and tears up with the realization that she is about to be an Ironman)!
We round the corner on Rio Salado and I see Becky and Jake right before and then I don't remember much. I know that 'YMCA' was our finish line song.... .I know that we finished at 11:30ish (turns out to be 16:30:18).
I'll post 'official' pics as soon as I can but it was an outstanding day and while I did NOT meet my goal of ALL blood sugars less than 200 I am sooooo pleased that I don't even know what to do. My teammates gasped when I said I was running a 220% basal on the bike (I was afraid to do it) and it was a huge success. In addition to my basal adjustments I took 4 units of bolus insulin for high blood sugars and Perform sports beverage.
11:30pm FINISHED! (16hr 30min 18sec)
About 5 minutes after finishing, I checked my blood, 208!
I had already started on my chocolate milk which probably attributed to this BG. I took a 50% bolus which proved to be too little.
Conclusions -
- Follow the plan. Nutrition and racing plans (and diabetes, in this case).
- Cross the finish line with a friend - I can't believe this worked out and am soooo happy it did!
- It's almost ski season... I gotta get my gear out and wax my skis.
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