My 11 YO T1D son is joining the middle school track team. Up until now, we have had sports covered real well because ... I coach all the sports. Now, he'll be having track practice 3-4 times a week, without our supervision. The challenge I face is trying to come up with a plan that the coaches (there are like 5 of them!) can understand and follow to supervise him - he's pretty independent with things, but does need some oversight and someone to look out for him and keep him safe. Practices are on a quarter mile track, so he won't always be right near his stuff. He does not like anyone to see or know about his condition. He's on the pump but has not wanted to start the CGM (which we own anyway). Any ideas/suggestions? Anyone with a T1D kid running track or cross-country?
If he doesn't want to wear the CGM during his practices, I would at least tell him to wear it and do some running with it, so you and him, can see his blood sugar patterns.. and maybe once he sees running with it for miles around his house, he might get comfortable wearing it and just keeping it in his gym shorts pocket(nobody will know)
But the information you will see, will help you immensely to see how is blood sugars are doing while running
Great idea. He's never even worn the CGM, so it may take a little convincing.
BTW - u a triathlete (photo looks that way). Me too.
My son is T1D and is 13 and very active in lacross and track. Few things we do... We have a letter that we send the coaches that explains what to look out for (high/lows, Type 1, not to treat him any different but that if he says he needs to check himself or get a gatoraid it is important).
We also do a temp basal on pump when exercising.
Keep Gatorade handy on side in case he starts to feel low. It is an easy way to get him up fast and looks "normal".
Another thing maybe to look into for him to carry are some of the runners items like GU pouches (22 instant carbs) or Shotblocks. He can keep these in his pockets in case of a low.
Good luck to your son. I am sure he will do great!
sorry I never saw your reply.. or maybe was just busy and clicked over it.. that is a photo of me and my mentor, Konner, doing a triathlon in florida, I was part of the Insulindependence Triathlon team.. regarding your other post, I would check out a called DTC, diabetes trainging camp it is Philly area this year, and it is a week long, but the sports are mostly running, biking and swimming, and if I was going it would be soccer, because this is what I played in school..however the camp is THEY BEST CAMP FOR DIABETIC ATHLETES, BAR NONE...Dr Corcoran is knows his sh*t... he was the doctor that helped the TeamType1 pro cyclist when they won the RAAM race.. the camp is simply unbelieveable.. the problem is the age, it is mostly older adults, but send him an email and not sure where you live but maybe you can stop at the camp for couple of days
Thanks so much for the lead on the camp! They replied and said they have had some older adolescents, but might "think outside the box." I really appreciated that!
Thanks for all of the great advice and ideas.
Just wanted to provide an update. Met with all of the track coaches and the trainer. They were great. I made a youtube clip on how to check a BG and showed them. Also gave a youtube link for glucagon and showed them. They helped with some planning and all have a bag of glucose tablets on their person at all times. They were very interested and asked great questions. I feel really good about it.
No CGM yet. He hasn't wanted to take the plunge. Yet, he texts his BG before practice and any correction (insulin or carbs) he takes to get up to about 180 before practice. Trying to get him to text IOB as well from the pump so we can get a complete picture of where he might be heading. He has been told that if we dont' hear from him before track, then we'll have to text the coach to remind him. He really does not like that idea! No problems so far.
He checks right after practice so we can start noticing trends. Limited data so far, but it seems that on "long" days - runs of 3 - 4 miles, his BG trends downward right after practice and ends up low the next morning, regardless of what's happened in the evening (carbs, dinner, snack, etc.). On "interval" days, so far, his BG's have tended to rise post-practice (adrenaline?). We're still trying to figure things out because he plays tennis in class (elective) right before track practice on 2 days, so he's off the pump for a few hours on those days by the time track practice is over. Wondering if we should try giving some insulin before practice to cover the missed basal to moderate the BG's a bit in that situation. I imagine that if we had a CGM, we'd see that his BG's were heading higher. Still some guesswork here without the CGM, but it's getting better.
Meanwhile, he's loving track. Thanks again. This group is so valuable.
One more update. I'll preface this by saying that my son is unusually competent, reliable, and responsible with his self-care . . . .typically! But then again, he's 11!
I've been tracking pre- and post- practice workout numbers for a couple weeks to understand how his body reacts to the different types of workouts. I rely on my wife to forward the numbers that he texts her before practice. I was checking his glucometer last night for a number or two I had not put in my spreadsheet yet, and . . . the glucometer told a VERY different story than he did! Of the 6 practices so far, 3 of the pre-track numbers were phantoms: No number in the meter. One of the remaining 3 numbers was real. One was off by 50 points (lower than he had reported), and one was taken about an hour after practice had already started. Not quite the results I had expected!
I let him know that things were not adding up, and that he'd need to tighten things up if he wants to stay on track. No over-reactions, although his excuse was transparently weak and made me scoff -- "Oh yeah! The glucometer was 'glitching' and so I had to open the battery compartment and re-place the battery. It must have lost memory!" I would have believed that a couple years ago, but not now. The glucometer does not selectively remember things -- that's my son's job! It's all fine. Just part of the journey. He'll get with the program eventually. (If only he'd go on the CGM!).
Seems like you have some great responses here. Glad your son is doing well in track. My son is starting track soon as well he is also 11. If you ever need any advice I'm here :)
Thanks. He had his first meet 2 days ago and did great, despite having to do a pump site change at school 30 min before the bus left for the meet! Then he had a low and ate something and ended up high after the meet! Despite all of this, he had a blast. Ran the 1600m and 800m and ran well. Very exciting.