Starting Over

It has been way too long since I have posted anything, that is going to change.

A lot has changed since my last post. For one, it is 2 years later which means I am now 40. Given my family history along with my diabetes, I have about 10 - 15 years left, unless I change that, and that is the plan.

For the summer, I am going to be documenting my rides, my nutrition, ups, downs and everything in between.

For the last month or so I have really been staying on top of my sugars. Man, it's a ton of work, but it has been so worth it. I am also stepping up my cycling in order to stay strong and healthy.

It's June 3rd, so far I have run 1.5mi and stayed with my nutrition plan. Let's keep it rolling.

Later,
Grumpee

Race 2: Cedar Hill State Park

Race: Cedar Hill State Park
Date: 9-11-11
Finish: 3rd
Previous Finish: 12th

I had a game plan going into this race. This race had a mile long start, which quite honestly had me worried just a little. I have never been a great sprinter and this was going to be a loooong sprint. So after seeing the start in person saturday morning, I altered my plan just a tad. My new plan was to ride hard enough to stay in the top five as we headed into the woods and back to the jeep road. I knew that if I could do that, then I had a real good shot at a top 5 finish.

Just like LBH, there were 40 guys in my race. I made sure I was on the front line at the start again this race. I wanted to start in the middle but ended starting on the far left. This actually worked better than if I had stayed in the middle. When the whistle blew off I went. Absent from this race was not catching my shorts on the saddle and not clipping in my left foot. So off we went and I was sitting 4th around the first turn. I could have passed for third a couple times but held back for now. Finally I enter the trail and the first turn there is very very loose. I slide a bit but keep hammering. I was right on 3rd place and I could have passed again but held back until we got back on the jeep road to head to bluebonnet prairie.

Once on the jeep road I pass third and keep trucking. First and second were still in sight so I just kept the hammer down. As we entered the downhill switch backs I kept my speed up and rested my legs for the up hill switch backs that were coming up. I started catching 1st and 2nd in the uphill sections and that felt good. By this point I was already catching guys in the flight that started before us so I was having to deal with getting by them already. Fortunately I was able to move past them quickly and cleanly each time. I held third for at least half the race. At the 8/12 split 2 guys in the flight before me took each other out and I avoided that easily as I was prepared for it as I knew that corner was really really soft. Shortly after that 4th place tried to pass me and nearly took us out and I let him know that was pretty crappy of him. I let him go shortly after this and kept on him as best as I could. I was continually catching and passing guys from the earlier flight and that was boosting my confidence a lot.

As we neared the trail head I had 3rd in my sights and was catching him. But as we entered the climbs just past the trail head I was loosing steam and he pulled me a bit. As I entered the finish straight, a guy comes up beside me to pass and in my head I said, ‘OH HELL NO, you are not passing me’, so I dug deep and started to sprint. I started to pull ahead of him and he gave up and I beat him by 30 seconds.

My official finish position was 3rd. Somewhere along the race one of the first two dropped out for one reason or another.

Things that went well: Had another good start. Rode smart and stayed out of trouble. Pushed the entire race, rested when I could and just hammered.
Things I could do better: corners. especially dry loose corners. I was very wary of the conditions and did my best to keep my speed up without going over my head.

All in all I am very happy. I finished 12th at LBH and I finished 3rd here. This race was tough. The last mile or so was mainly climbs and I was able to sprint hard at the finish.

Updates.....

I know I have left this blog alone for far too long. Going to post a series of entries from this past summer as I trained with a coach and tried several things during my training in regards to diabetes and riding.

The entries will be:
Training: the good and the bad
First Endurance Race
Ninety Days and counting...
Round 1

How I learned I had Type 1 Diabetes

I thought I would share my story of when I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

In the early spring of 1999 I noticed that I was starting to get more thirsty little by little. My legs started cramping at night and I just generally felt like crap all the time. Now, I thought this was just from exhaustion as I had recently become a father and my daughter had colic really bad and I basically had not really slept in almost 3 months.

About this same time I had developed a yeast infection down in my private area and so I went to the doctor, got treatment and it went away. Well, 2 weeks later it was back. Went back to the doctor a second time. This is when I realized I had a not so good doctor. He accused my wife and I of cheating on each other as his diagnoses of why I got another yeast infection. Round 2 of drugs and it went away.

During this time I kept getting worse and worse. I noticed my clothes were not fitting anymore and I was having to cinch my belts tighter and tighter. Night after night I was up going to bathroom what seemed like every 30 minutes having to pee. During the day I was drinking whatever I could find as I was always thirsty. Back then gatorade made a 64oz bottle and I was drinking that at least twice a day. I remember standing at the sink in our apartment filling up a cup, downing it and doing it again and again until I was almost sick from the amount of water I was drinking.

This started some time in March and now its May. I had a really really bad night where I was jumping out of bed because my legs were cramping so bad I was almost in tears. That next morning my wife who had a glucometer because she has hypoglycemia checked my sugar because she thought it might be high. Sure enough, the meter just said 'HI'. She made an appointment for that day.

Now, we did go back to the same doctors office but saw a new doctor (she was much much better). Two minutes after reading my chart and hearing my symptoms she said the words I will never forget, 'I think you have diabetes'. They drew blood for blood work, gave me glucophage and sent me home. They called the next day and confirmed that I was diabetic and that my sugar was 660 at the time they took my blood. They wanted me to go to the hospital but I refused. I said unless its absolutely necessary, I wasn't going.

A week later I saw my first endocrinologist and started taking shots.

Memorial Day weekend 1999, my life changed in a way I never imagined.

Nutrition and exercise for type 1 diabetics

As this year winds down, my thoughts drift to how much nutrition really affects the results of exercise. Most people do not realize that what they eat can sabotage their workouts more than anything. For proof, watch The Biggest Loser on NBC. Make good food choices with lots of hard work and weight loss and getting healthy is reachable, even for average everyday people.

Now, throw type 1 diabetes in the mix and things get really interesting. Why you ask? Because food is a Type 1 (T1) diabetics worst enemy. In a non-diabetic, when you eat, their pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin into the blood stream to regulate the amount of sugar in the blood stream. This is how most people can eat a giant piece of cake and still have normal blood sugar (which 100 is perfect). Now, in a T1 diabetic, their pancreas no longer (or secretes very little) secretes insulin as the cells that do this have been attacked and shut down by the bodies autoimmune system.

Take the piece of cake I described above. If a T1 ate that, they would have to 'cover' the amount of carbs (ALOT) that is in that piece of cake with an insulin shot or a bolus from an insulin pump. Some think this is acceptable, well yes and no. While insulin pumps do give T1's more freedom to eat what they want, its still not as fast a real pancreas, this is where the no comes in. I am all to familiar with this scenario.

All this to say that I believe that nutrition is doubly important for T1's that exercise. When I am doing a long ride in the summer time, I have to eat a lot before the ride so that I do not go low (a big drop in blood sugar) while on the ride. Now, every diabetic is different in this area so I am going to share my experiences, successes and failures here.

First Ride of December

Had my first ride of December yesterday. Turned out to be more of a teaching ride for a friend of mine than a workout, but it was a 2 hour ride so that part was good. We ended up riding almost 10 miles with stops along the way for me to teach him some bike skills (and a couple of crashes on his part).

I am hoping that my wife and I can ride today even though its a bit colder today but should still be a good day to ride. I always feel better after being on my bike, even if its a short ride.

Welcome to my journey

My journey started Memorial Day weekend of 1999. That was the day I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. My wife forced me to go to the doctor and after some blood work came the diagnosis. Everything changed that day. Now 11 years later things are still changing.

This past May I got us mountain bikes again. Riding helps get my metabolism to stay up which in turn helps keep my blood sugar down.

My hope for this blog is to share my experiences in order to hopefully one day help someone else who may be a on a simular journey.