Hi everyone,
My daughter is a High school freshman this year and is participating in High School Cross Country and Club Soccer. We have been really struggling to keep her BS numbers steady. Going from lows below 60 to highs above 350. I am looking for any advice or how others manage it.
Thanks Everyone!
Hi Russ,
For exercise there are a lot of different factors. What happens to your BG is affected by the intensity of the exercise, the duration, and what fuel sources your body has available.
For things like long endurance runs, a reduction in basal prior to and during the run is vital. But for things like short intervals and 5k races, BG spikes happen because the activity will cause cortisol to be released, which will in turn cause liver glycogen to be released, and a BG spike is inevitable.
And I know that people love CGM’s and they are a useful tool. But for competitive activities, their value is greatly diminished because the delay in them can make the data useless. For me the CGM is usually about 20 minutes behind (about 2.5 to 3 miles behind). Not a big deal when I am sitting around, but a huge difference when I am running.
For XC races, the strategy will always be the same, and we can discuss that. But for XC practice, does she know ahead of time what type of workout they will be having? That information will be very useful if she can get the plan from the coach ahead of time.
Also, tell me what basal adjustments she is doing, and what her general daily carb intake is (just an estimate).
Hi Eddie, thank you for the response! I was not aware of the increase in cortisol during activity. I will take a look tonight at what we have set. She starts practices around 2:30 so we have really lowered her basal rate starting at 1:30. We do that same for games and meets.
Soccer is a bit of a challenge because you are using different energy systems throughout the game. but a basal reduction is helpful, with BG testing and carb or insulin corrections used when possible.
Definitely do a BG check at halftime, and at any sub opportunity.
What type of pump does she use? If the pump is tubed and she removes it for games, reconnect at halftime to do the correction.
And XC practice would probably be a reduced basal for most days. On occasional days of speed intervals, you might see a BG spike.
But for a 5k race, I would not reduce basal. The trick is to have flat stable BG, and then right before the race take a small bolus.
I see about a 100 point increase for 5k races, so I always take a small bolus right before the gun.
It takes guts to bolus before a 5k race, because you may not see BG spikes a lot at practice. But races are different! Most anything run at lactate pace will cause a spike. (Your body breaks down glucose for energy (a process called glycolysis). One of the byproducts of this process is lactate. At an easy pace, your body recycles this lactic acid back into energy. At easy paces, the production and clearance of lactate can remain relatively constant. But as the pace increases and there is demand for more energy, the production of lactic acid will slowly increase. At some point, the amount of lactic acid will go beyond what your body will be able to convert back into energy. That is the lactate pace, and you will see BG spikes at that pace! A 5k race is generally run at a high enough pace that you will see the accumulation of lactate.)
Now, if she is running a race at a slower pace and not pushing into the lactate pace, she may not see the spike. But if she is putting a high amount of energy into the race, and giving it her all for 5k, then you would see it. If she crosses the finish line with absolutely nothing left, I would expect to see the spike.
If her coach is doing any time trials before a meet, you can see it there. Just try to be flat beforehand, and be amazed at the spike you see when you have finished.
Hi, @rpwils.
Have you logged any information and have you noticed any trends? My son is 15 and is involved in other sports. We’ve seen big swings as we learn new environments. What Caleb needs for a 45 minute tap class if different than a full day of intensive classes, which is different from a baseball game. We’ve had to put some effort into analyzing data and planning and then being prepared for when things don’t go as expected.
Eddie2 has provided great advice. I’d be happy to offer any experience that might be comparable if I had a better sense of what you’re seeing.