Also Levemir lasts less than Lantus and you could use that to fine tune your basal on your needs.
If you inject Levemir twice a day you can decide to hit a bit less in your training and post workout window and keep it still in the other 12 hours period.
BTW, many Lantus users split their dose twice a day as it doesn't really last 24 hours.
This is something i will be experimenting with yep. As for today, im 9 units lantus but can have a low carb (read 2gms of carbs) protein bar worth 100 cals, and not have to bolus.
Interesting you talk about avoiding hypos with exercise. What i have found is i need a enough insulin to race and train properly. I once had my normal lantus dose of 10 units the night prior to a race, woke up and had 1 unit bolus instead of 2 to cover the food to give me a spike pre-race. The short of it was i had a bad race and had no power. It was simply because i didnt have enough insulin on board to shuttle glucose that i was taking and i was too high. I often have wondered if i kept my boluses the same, but reduced my basal, would this produce the same result or completely different?
yep i did think about splitting i know a few who do. For me, something like 4 units during the day, 5 at night would probably work. I dont know, its difficult to say.
Yeah, in fact I see that in the post workout window I go always down but during exercise things are different.
If it's something long and light I tend to go down if it's short and stressful it's the opposite.
Brian (bsc) a few days ago pointed out the following book
Diabetic Athlete's Handbook
and also the website of the author on which there is plenty of stuff.
I did a quick search on google and you can read some excerpts. It makes many examples also on triathlon.
It was simply because i didnt have enough insulin on board to shuttle glucose that i was taking and i was too high. I often have wondered if i kept my boluses the same, but reduced my basal, would this produce the same result or completely different?
Yes, as long as you deliver the glucose to muscles through insulin. Fact is analog and basal have different timing and you should consider that compared to the length of the training/race.
Don't want to add too many variables but if need something slower than an analog and faster than a basal you could try a regular insulin.
I leave you another article posted by red1studio about exercising. Short but worth a read ;)
i have read Sheri's book front to back, it was the stimulus for my question, as i see a lot of the athletes chew through a lot less sugar than i do in racing. This leads me to think that it can be done on lower basal but with enough bolus on board. I have done a half ironman race which took just shy of 5 hours on 10 units of lantus and 3 units of novorapid 3 hours before starting. However i have to take a gel in the swim leg. I kid you not, i have a gel just before the start and after about 1km of swimming i need another that i store in my swim cap. Too much basal in my system, probably as it seems. Also im a bad swimmer so expend a lot of energy doing it.
this is something i will have to trial i guess. Is, as an example, 7 units of basal insulin and 3 units of bolus to cover a pre race meal, adequate enough to 'unlock the key' and race on without getting too high.
I tried normal basal and reduced bolus with bad results as mentioned.
Thanks for all your help Rick :)
Do try it, Timmy.I agree with bojibrdge. I am by no means a triathlete, but in the summer when I generally garden,walk and occasionally bicycle more; I always have to "turn down/tune down" my basals. Yes,I can do that alternative to lowering basal routine: "Feeding the insulin", for me, consists of the good tasting snack hypo treatment skittles/juice/chocolate milkand more food in general. Doing this instead of glucose tabs to treat and lowering the basals will lead me to weight gain, and I like staying a 5'10" size 10.:+)
God bless,
Brunetta
Also the duration of insulin depends on units. The more units the more is gonna last.
Just run some tests. Isolate variables and don't try too many things at a time. That way you can reverse engineer what's happening. If ain't broke don't fix it right?
Respect for all the work you are going through with that focused approach! Keep up the good work!
I meant to type "NOT" lowering the basals will lead me to weight gain.
In addition to all the good advice so far: with your muscle mass you might be able to provoke a spike. Athletes normally start with aerobic training and then some anaerobic parts will end the session. However the anaerobic parts - e.g. strenous muscle excercises - have the potential to release glucose causing a spike. This is a reaction of the muscles. With reversed order of training anaerobic > aerobic you would build up a spike. With the following aerobic excercises like running etc you could consume this spike - successfully preventing a low. This easier written than done I must admit.
In general sport is a delicate business for me. In 40 minutes of excercise I will burn through a lot of carbs (20 to 30g at least). In addition to that I will have to eat chocolate to prevent going low at night from the rebuilding/repairing/refueling of the muscles. The more trained you are the later this repair process of the muscles will start - making you more prone to lows late at night (around 4 am). Not the best advice to loose weight but without that I will go low. It is always challening and a balancing act.