I just became a Red Rider for the July 31 Portland Tour de Cure!

Healthy Living Physical Activity
1

Hello! I just wanted to share in my excitement :slight_smile: and to encourage those
who can to check out my page http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?type=fr_personal&fr_id=7041&px=5844589&post_id=43431&bpg=rlist&pg=personal
I will be riding for Tommys Team (check it out here as well: http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=7041&team_id=440369
I live in Arizona, but am making a trek of it to be in Oregon for the
ride :slight_smile:



I have a few questions for other Type 1s out there (I will post this in
the Athlete pages, too :slight_smile: Sorry if they seem kinda silly, but I was only
diagnosed T1 on Jan 23, 2010, and this is the first time I have trained
since being diagnosed. :slight_smile:



How do you handle exercise? I have asked my CDE repeatedly about ways to
approach working out (especially something as cardio heavy as the long
distance Tour) but I will be honest- She doesn’t really give me and
really good advice, just generalizations about exercise (I think I am
one of only a few Type 1 patients she has) I generally do my rides after
breakfast. I have been cutting my morning insulin in half and letting
myself go high in anticipation of the ride (I have dropped my BS 100
points with a 10 mile, rigorous ride) But I don’t know if this is the
right approach for this:


  1. I have been waiting two hours after I eat to leave for the ride so
    that the Novolog peaks. Is this necessary? I am cutting that dose in
    half, so I am higher to begin with, but do I need to wait? I just fear
    that those two hours I’m off in High BS Land can have a negative long
    term effect. Can I just start soon after?


  2. I also notice that I can get these dramatic declines in my BS
    depending on the length and difficulty of my ride. I test constantly
    while I ride. But I have noticed that when I finish, my BS begins to
    climb (slowly, but still) without eating anything. Why is this?



    Thanks for any insight/experiences!
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Hi Devon,

Sounds like a fun road trip. I spent a little time in the Sedona area for work many years ago, and spent a bit of time in Phoenix/Tempe too. Lovely, and the winters are so much nicer than up here in Dakota.

For exercise, I highly recommend you read Dr. Sherri Colberg’s various works:
The Diabetic Athlete’s Handbook, 1999 edition.
The Diabetic Athlete, 2001 edition (my personal favorite)
www.shericolberg.com

From what I’ve read and seen, it’s a lot of trial-and-error. You can take the general suggestions from your CDE, Dr. Colberg, etc., and then you’ve got to put it to the test using yourself as the guinea pig. You can vary how much you eat, what you eat, how long before you exercise, how intensely you exercise, what you do/eat after the exercise, etc. Log it and track it all…those trends will help you see patterns to how affect cycling affects your body.

For me, I usually reduce my basal insulin (pumping, 2.5 years) by about 50%, and ignore bolusing for all the food I eat during the ride. I have a similar post-ride blood glucose (BG) spike. I usually treat it with a bolus of 1-2 units of fast acting insulin.

Cheers and good luck, Mike

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Hi Mike! Thanks for the reply! :slight_smile: I love Arizona (I moved here 5 years ago from NY, so I appreciate the desert winters immensely!) Although we are heading into the summer heat, which is why I kind of look forward to riding in Portland this summer :slight_smile:

I am not on the pump so I wonder how I should approach my background insulin. The unfortunate thing about it (I take Lantus at bedtime) is that once you take a dose, you are stuck with it for the full 20-24 hrs. I see my Endo for the first time in a few weeks- I plan on throwing myself at his feet and BEGGING to be put on the pump :slight_smile:

Do you bolus for what you eat before? I did my ride today about a half hour after I ate breakfast (instead of 2) to see what effect it will have- It is just like a giant science experiment, huh?

I am heading to the library now to pick up the Sheri Colberg books! Thanks for the heads up!

take care and thank you-
Devon

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Hi Devon,

I must be brain dead for not seeing your response until now. I’m afraid I can’t give much advice with the Lantus. I used that when I was on MDI and I spent a lot of my days in a BG roller coaster. High, low, high, low…repeat. Dr. Colberg has guidelines for how to go about dealing with MDI and exercise. Hopefully, you’ll get things sorted out. How did your last field test go? Did you survive the experiment?
:slight_smile:

As for bolusing for breakfast with a ride starting 1/2 hour later, I would definitely reduce the bolus. By how much, I don’t know. Depends on how much insulin you take and how sensitive you are to exercise. If you did your ride 2-hrs after eating, I wouldn’t reduce the bolus by much, if at all. I’d probably just eat something carbalicious just before starting the ride, to make sure the BG is trending upward, before the aerobic works starts to drop the BG back down.

Cheers, Mike