About to "trot" a half marathon.... I

My friend and I are going to walk a half marathon this weekend. I feel I’m in pretty good condition to do this, although we are mostly doing a run/walk combination. I’m on metformin, but not insulin. Can any runners out there recommend if/how I should fuel myself before and during the race?

Hi Elizabeth,
i am a runner, one piece of advice is be careful with the famous carbo loading, i have learned that pasta in big amounts is not good for T1D which is the one i have.
carbo loading is good but it is advisable to monitor your glucose levels (always, but specially before dinner, and 2 hr or a bit more after it) so you wake with optimal glucose levels for the competition,
another thing is carry your BGM to the race and on mile 6 or 7 check your levels too.
another thing carry a energy gel just in case you need it
hope this helps
let me know how you did.
best regards
Salvador

My experience for long exercise (in the 3- 4 hour plus range) is that i go high during and extended low after.

In such case i would reduce my basal by 50% during and for 24 hours post and just do corrections using fast acting if and when required. Check bs more frequently than usual until sure all is back to normal.

Hi elizabeth31,

I run too but i am on insulin, t1. i like mountain races and do btwn 10 and 15km races. ive yet to get to a half marathon. i find that i have to make sure i have glucose tabs with me, as i go low with all the running.

i think you could probably use your previous experiences for a good idea of bg ups and downs. i wouldnt do anything really different to that. if you can check your blood sugar every 5km or so, that might be a good way to keep things in control. if youre running/walking, i dont think going high would be a problem, but maybe going a bit low might happen? testing is key.

Good luck with the half!!

No one mentioned having a CGM. That could be a blessing or curse depending on how well it tracks BG during the walk/run. My experiences is that when I run slow and cool (spring 5ks and slow summer workouts wth walking breaks) it tends to track BG well. But hot and fast (summer 5ks and workouts) it can be wildly off. You definitely need to run a lot with a CGM before you would rely on it during exercise…and still take you BG meter.

Forgot to mention, there is a diabetic runners group here too. I forget their actual title but you might search for running or marathon runners, etc to find them.