Races and keeping track of bg

Healthy Living Physical Activity
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hi, ive got questions for people who run longer distances. i put this on the regular forum and it turned into a conversation with no relevance to my questions, so im posting here hoping ill get some more focused responses.

the last year or so i have had the same niggling injury (soleus/calf) and so after seeing this racing techniques course by my park i decided to join, thinking that having a running coach with education in physiology and who knows all about training would be able to help me focus on staying uninjured.

i have learned so much from my coach, different ways of training, doing intervals and fartlek and all these things id never done before. i used to just run a nice long slow pace every other day. i got injured every other month, more or less.

anyway, im considering running a 10k and would like to aim for a half if i can. today i ran a 7k race in 33 minutes and felt awesome. i started at about 160 bg and finished at 112, which i thought was pretty good. i had an egg and sausage and a slice of toast for brekkie about 2 hours before the start of the race.

general info re my d: diagnosed 3 years ago at age 36. i eat about 100 carbs a day and take levemir (5 units am, 7 in the pm). if i exercise after eating, i can usually be under 160 2 hours later. so i dont take my apidra every day. i exercise a lot. i dont have access to a pump or cgm.

my questions are:
-if you run longer, like 10 or 15 k, do you pull off to the side and test in the middle of the race or do you just eat/drink a bit without testing?
-do you have a certain amount of carbs that you ingest per km or 5km?
-do you lower your basal that morning or do you do it that evening to avoid lows the night ofter the race? i am on mdi so id appreciate insight with regards to that.
i think i finished with pretty good bg. what bg do you aim to start and finish with?
i had a couple of gulps of the gatorade type drink afterwards and was able to walk my 3km home as a cooldown with that (i thinks about 6gr) and 2.5gr of carbs in the form of a chocolate square.

thanks!

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I am a LADA and a distance runner. I am still trying to figure out how to manage my diabetes while running so I must start off by saying that i am by no means an expert. In fact despite running 5 half marathons, 2 fulls and 3 shorter races in the last 6 months my numbers have increased but I have a pretty good handle on where I need to be to avoid mid race lows and/or highs. I tend to go out on a distance run on the higher side knowing that the running will naturally bring it down. I usually strive to be above 150 when I head out. I take 14 units of Lantus (time released) every night unless I do an evening run. Then I take a unit less. I take a Gu every 5 miles to keep my sugars up and to replace glycogen stores. During training runs I use Nuun because it is a sugar free electrolyte. However, during most races I am at the mercy of using Gatorade. I try not to take too much because of the sugar. Instead I use salted Gu and raw salt in full marathons to maintain hydration. I will also Eat a few pretzels and banana during full marathons. I finish my distance runs with chocolate milk for recovery. I try to take my BS at the end of every run and strive to be under 150. As I said, I’m not perfect and have my share of frustration managing running with diabetes but I have not had any major problems and I have not had to stop to test my BS during a race. Just remember to fuel whether you feel like it or not. It’s better to be on the high side and Allow the exercise to bring it down than be low not correct and go lower with the running. Hope this helps.

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Oh…And most important… Always Wear a medical bracelet while training and racing.

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Roberta, thanks so much for answering my questions! you sound like youre a running machine!