Rage Basal: When Nothing Else Seems To Work

Yesterday was so hard. I think I might have entered a blog in a terrible mood. Either way it got worse before it got better. I was high all day long. After breakfast my sugar went above 300 and stayed there until late last night. It briefly fell during the night and shot right back up and I was at 250 before breakfast. I did everything I knew how to do to fix it. I started with a correction bolus using the bolus wizard. Didn't work. I quit eating anything with even a hint of carbs. Didn't work. I got pissed and threw in a few rage boluses. Didn't work. I changed by infusion site. Didn't work. Can you imagine how I was feeling? I tried to get on my bike in the basement but I haven't used that one on the trainer yet and it wouldn't attach correctly. So I got on the treadmill, in my work clothes, and started walking. It's stuck on a decent incline so I just walked a lot and ran a little. No basal change. I was trying to get low. Didn't work. After an hour I was still at 324. Veggies for dinner, yay! I was in the 200's by bedtime and supper excited. But by morning It had started again. Am I just that much more insulin resistant all of a sudden? We will find out. My new answer. The rage basal change. I just went in and moved up all my basal rates by .1 to .2, without any reason for the distinction. I am just looking for an old friend named lowboy. He makes me feel much better than the acidic sand flowing through my veins all day yesterday.

Where Am I?

media yeah, well I was just cruising through the triabetes website checking out all the new athlete blogs and thinking. Dude I need to start training. I am getting a little big again. I think I've put on like 11 pounds since Ironman. Em is trying to get some people together to do this Blue Ridge Relay in the late summer. But I need something sooner. I might do this 200 mile ADA Tour de Cure in early June. I'd have to raise a little money, but no big deal. Seriously I feel like butt. My sugar has been skyrocketing every morning. I don't even want to know how high it is right now. It hurts to type even. Training is the only thing that ever really helped but here I am sitting on my backside. I need a big push. there goes my CGM yelling at me about being high.

On a nicer note I got interviewed by a newspaper out of New York last week. Maybe a story to come out of that in earyl Janurary. Wonder when our documentary is coming out?

Did you see that machine at the top of the page. Need to find him again.

Thanksgiving Training

I had a couple great workouts over Thanksgiving. Both were with my brother, Nate. Hanging with him was by far the best part. You might know how it is being with tons of family for a holiday meal. You know a couple of those people real well and the rest of them well, I kdo good just remembering their names. They are great people but somehow it just turns out a little stressful. A twenty mile bike ride is a great way to deal with the stress. Especially when it comes between thansksgiving meal #1 at house A and thanksgiving meal #2 at house B. Throw in the fact that we didn't really know exactly how to get there and our wives did a drive by at just the point we were really getting lost and it was getting dark. excellent ride. I should also brag on Nate. It was his second bike ride and he got honked at and ran off the road. Pretty cool.
Our second workout came on Saturday. I felt like a machine. Down near Durham they have this great trail called the American Tobacco Trail. It used to be a railroad, but the rails are gone. It was flat, padded with pine straw and not quite completed. I felt like I could have run forever. It had access points every few miles and would make a great place to stage a long distance training run. The fact that it wasn't finished yet made it even more fun. There were two bridges we crossed that had no platform, just poles and supports. We ran a little over 6 miles and I had no knee pain at all. The last quarter mile we ran way fast. Nate latter told me he was trying to see if he could make himself puke. No dice.
More exciting news. Our van engine died on the way home. I got 2 extra days off because of snow, and I got a staff card for ASU that lets me park anywhere on campus and gets me into the workout facilities. Also after noting our new fatness in our Thanksgiving pics, Em has put us on a diet. I should be a machine by our race in Janurary.

A New Goal

I have a new goal. It kind of goes along with the other thing I'm working on, don't get fat again. Oh, what have I gotten myself into? Well, Em signed me, Nate, and herself up for a 10 mile trail run on Janurary 10th. It started out as all fun and games until she said she could beat me because I run 12 minute miles. Then Nate emails me and says " 8 minute miles?". Uh wow I really need to start training more seriously. I guess today's downtown run in 7 degree windchill with blowing snow is a good start.
By the way. I'm not going to let either of them beat me. All in the name of regulating Lowboy of course.

Back to the Currahee Adventure Duathlon

Once again Team Shackalarick competed in the Currahee Adventure Duathlon this year. What a difference a year makes.

I have learned so much about controling my sugar. Thanks to a year of Triabetes and Training for the Ironman, this year there were no cramps, no ketoacidosis, and no blood sugar related issues at all. In fact my sugar seems to do much better on days when I am extremely active. I should just race all the time. I stayed hydrated and finished feeling great even though the course this year was substantially harder. We had to run about 10 miles of the course including the climb up to Curahee's Peak. The biggest problem was finding one of the check points hidden out in the woods off of the trail. We passed it 4 times before someone else found it for us. Endurance is no issue now. I just need to work on getting faster. Maybe next year we will do the Solo course. It was twice as large. At least 5 people got lost and almost noone checked in at all the checkpoints. Sounds like some even better torture. So, that picture is actually from last year. New ones to come. Man I need something big to train for. It helped so much this year.

Into the Gorge

I had a really fun weekend that almost ended bad. Well it did end poorly from a diabetic perspective, but other than that it was amazing. My church took about 25 guys down into Linville Gorge on Saturday and most of us stayed to spend the night. I took the chance to take my 4 year old son, Elias, on his first backpacking trip. He's been a little scared of bears since our first father son tent camp out at my brother's house, but he got through it and even asked for a bedtime bear story. This place really is a wilderness and a great place to seek God. But its also a place you have to be on top of your diabetes management. I did pretty well during the actual trip and then totally messed up the rest of the day Sunday. My meter was in my backpack, and I didn't feel like getting it. My Sensor was recharging and I just didn't put it back on as quickly as possible. I ate pancakes for dinner and took what was later obviously way too much insulin. After tucking the kids in bed for the night I went out to the car to grab some paperwork and woke up on the couch. I haven't talked to my wife to figure it all out yet. not sure how long I was absent from the land of the living. I'll tell you one thing. Lowboy absolutely kicked my tail. Maybe it was more of a strangle hold. As I started coming to, I could here Emily talking to Nate on the phone about when the twitching started. I tried to ask a question but she told me when the watch I was holding beeped she would get back to me. Sounded pretty bad so I passed back out for a while. Can I say thanks to Nate and Em? Thanks! Most everything this morning has been a little slow motionish. Note to self, CHECK YOUR SUGAR! Well it could have been worse, like the night before.

Nate's Birthday

So, I went to Asheville last minute this weekend to meet my brother for his 30th birthday. Last minute means I called him at 6:30 and met him at 10:00 Saturday night. He sold our boat and I got the check that afternoon as a total surprise. It just seemed like the thing to do to return the surprise. I gave him these instructions. Be there with running gear. We didn't end up running at all.
After watching some football Saturday night, we woke up late and ate at Huddle House Sunday morning, then went to a couple of bike stores to look for "rental bikes", but I bought him one instead. It was so much fun. Then he clipped in for the first time ever and climbed 1800 feet up elk mountain above Asheville. He was even able to mostly keep up with me on the decent. He's a beast. It was cool to be able to give back to someone who has been such a supporter. Giving away stuff is really exciting. If I had more money I think I'd give away more stuff but I can't because I give it all away. Kinda cool. Check out the route,
So, I went to Asheville last minute this weekend to meet my brother for his 30th birthday. Last minute means I called him at 6:30 and met him at 10:00 Saturday night. He sold our boat and I got the check that afternoon as a total surprise. It just seemed like the thing to do to return the surprise. I gave him these instructions. Be there with running gear. We ate at Huddle House Sunday morning, then went to a couple of bike stores to "rent bikes", but I bought him one instead. It was so much fun. Then he clipped in for the first time ever and climbed 1800 feet up elk mountain above Asheville. He was even able to mostly keep up with me on the decent. He's a beast. It was cool to be able to give back to someone who has been such a supporter. Giving away stuff is really exciting. If I had more money I think I'd give away more stuff but I can't because I give it all away. Kinda cool. Check out the route, So, I went to Asheville last minute this weekend to meet my brother for his 30th birthday. Last minute means I called him at 6:30 and met him at 10:00 Saturday night. He sold our boat and I got the check that afternoon as a total surprise. It just seemed like the thing to do to return the surprise. I gave him these instructions. Be there with running gear. We ate at Huddle House Sunday morning, then went to a couple of bike stores to "rent bikes", but I bought him one instead. It was so much fun. Then he clipped in for the first time ever and climbed 1800 feet up elk mountain above Asheville. He was even able to mostly keep up with me on the decent. He's a beast. It was cool to be able to give back to someone who has been such a supporter. Giving away stuff is really exciting. If I had more money I think I'd give away more stuff but I can't because I give it all away. Kinda cool. Check out the route,
Dude I got carried away with this one, might just blog it.
Life is good,
Dave
Dude I got carried away with this one, might just blog it.
Life is good,
Dave
The currahee adventure race we do every year is coming up in two weeks. I am actually prepared this time.

thanks for making an awesome video nate

Ironman at Last

I did it! Over the past year I went from being an out of shape, lazy, sit on the couch, out of control diabetic all the way to Ironman. I will be posting some pictures sometime in the near future. Until then let me just tell you. It was a brutal pain fest. My 2.4 turned more like 3 mile swim was great. I got a little low and a little off course and still made it out of the water in an hour and a half. Right at 2 hours I was on my bike and made the 112 miles in 7 hours. That was a pretty fast pace for me. The course wasn't near as bad as I had expected, but apparently it wore me out because when I started the run I had a way too familiar feeling in my knee. That IT Band was acting up again and within a few miles of the marathon course I was walking faster than I could run. I was devastated and praying to God to help me finish. About that time I found Ems, my wife, and she let me know real fast that if I kept up a brisk walking pace I would have plenty of time to finish. Well I walked for miles pretty fast, but by mile 19 my feet were severely blistered and I was just creeping along. Dude it was so lonely those last few miles. Every step was excruciating. But at 16 hours and 15 minutes I crossed the finish line. I am an Ironman.

the Ironkid

I have been extremely blessed to be part of this Triabetes project. Training is great. I'm in good shape and better than all of that taking care of myself stuff is the impact I am having on others. Most of that influence is probably unknown to me, but there are a few cool cases that I do know about. One of these is with the Triabetes Ironkidz program. I am supposed to be helping encourage a young athlete named Matthew. I hope that I am but in reality this kid is the one who is encouraging. Like me he is a diabetic and has to face all the challenges of this disease, but man he has such an amazing attitude. I don't think he knows what the word impossible means. While talking to him on the phone I thought "Man, the world needs to hear what this kid is saying and asking." So, I am going to let him ask me some questions and shoot some back at him right here on my blog. So Matthew fire away. Tell people your story and ask me some of those questions.

I am a machine

Training has been pretty intense lately. I am in better shape than ever. Which is good because race day is only 18 days away! I never would have believed I would be this skinny again. People that haven't seen me since last September are going to freak. It is absolutely amazing what a person can do once we decide on something. For a while I was a little worried about finishing on time but I am over that. I am going to do this thing. The next question is what's next? Back to the couch? Maintain some semblance of fitness? Do another race? Do I fatten back up for winter or buy a smaller coat? I've been freezing all summer. The cool thing is I am already thinking past the race. Training starts to taper off soon. I'm so ready

Dealing with D's

Here's what I've been dealing with.
Tons of Data entry- it takes forever and I'm sure the research will bring new light into exercising with diabetes.
Dora the Destroyer- that's what I named my bike. She is killing me. I am building up endurance on some long rides. I got in a 50 mile race, a 78 mile ride back from a camping trip which really hurt and another 50 miler earlier this week. All the jokes about guys in tight bike shorts sitting on a tiny bike seat now apply to me.
Dehydration- this one i've got to figure out. planning a little better would help. like last weekend Steve asked if I would pace him in his marathon for a while and I said sure. Well I went to a wedding the night before and only got 5 hours of sleep, woke up low and late (alarm didn't go off) and didn't feel like going but couldn't pull a no show on Steve. I met him 2 miles in and couldn't come up with a decent way to get back to my car without aid and no road id so I decided to just keep running. I was feeling awful about at mile 14 and Steve asked if I'd had enough water. Well i had a cup at each aid station. He was having at least twice that and it worked because I never saw him the rest of the run. Steve and family picked me up at mile 24 of the course. there were no questions about do you want to keep going or anything other than me sticking out my thumb and getting in the van.
Tomorrow - Hydration Training

Experimenting with Endurance and Diabetes

With around 80 days to go til Ironman Wisconsin, this Triabetic has decided to do some experimentation. I read somewhere about other athletes being upset that we could inject extra insulin to keep the lactic acid at bay.
If only it were that easy. I've been exercising with less insulin too keep my bloodsugar in a respectable range and I have also been feeling that ketone feeling a little too. So, I'll just take extra insulin and eat alot i decided. this was a great recipe for the diabetic rollercoaster.
I ran 14 miles with Steve the other morning and didn't have that ketone feeling because I was wasted low and couldn't feel much of anything. As the plan went I was supposed to increase my basal gradually throughout the run and eat a bunch. But before the run I got high so I shot like 3 units and well if you know a diabetic you know where this is going. I got low and hungry. So I ate tons of gels, and my sugar stabilized in the mid 60's. Then I went home and took a nap. Got a monster calf cramp( i swear my calves have doubled in size) which woke me up and after working it out I checked my blood. 310 is too high so I took a bunch of insulin. An hour and a half later I am starving because all i've eaten all day is gel. But my number says 366. At least it wasn't 666. I can't stand it anymore and am about to take tons more insulin but I call Steve and ask for advice and he says eat lunch and take just enough to cover it. It worked. A few hours later I was down to 200.
I should have learned something from all this right? Well yesterday I went to go swimming but was at 310 so I took a big dose and got in the pool. 45 minutes later I swimming at 51 so I go and eat lunch at BK (should of gone to mcdonald's) I eat one of those combo meals take less insulin than I thought I needed and then went for a ride and drank most a scoop of perpetuem. Never got my sugar back above 70 but my legs were feeling great so I got off the bike and went for a run and drank a cocktail of vitalyte perpetuem and tropical gel. My legs feel so strong sometimes when I'm low. I ran fast. Went home and guess what I ended up getting super high again. Go figure.
Well here we go agian. I'm off for a swim.

Some new and old stuff

I just found this online and thought I would share it with those of you who don't read all of the team's blogs. Anne already has it posted. I just got this and some pictures from Ray and Nella of time spent in California at Diabetes Training Camp. Which was awesome back in March. training continues to build. Me and Steve rode 65 miles yesterday and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly to do about my insulin and food intake. Experimentation is on the way so be prepared for some more lowboy stories. I don't take this stuff lightly. All this really made me think about what we are doing. It just makes me want to work harder and smarter. By the way my tan is better now. Oh, Today I finally ordered a CGM! Bring on the Ironman.

Backyard Half Ironman

This vacation has been packed full of training for the Ironman. After feeling so good about my swims, I decided to see what a triathlon really feels like. I signed up for Ironman Wisconsin 9 months ago and except for the 5 minute triathlon we did at Diabetes Training Camp I hadn't even swam biked and run all in the same day- until 2 days ago. So with all the family support I would need I picked out a route starting at my mom's house and spent a full day tapering for my big event. It was a record breaking day. I did all three events, I set a new high speed record on my bike, I biked farther than I ever have, and I finished up in the highest heat I have trained in up to this point. And my bloodsugar? Rock Solid. My worst number was 204 when I woke up that morning. I dropped to 71 during the run, but other than that I was between 90 and 12o all day. The swim was easy except for a little trash in the water. The bike course was tough. I climbed a little more than a thousand feet up the cumberland plateau, stayed up there long enough to get an excellent sunburn, and then hit 48 mph coming back down. I have been wanting to do that drop ever since I was in high school and biked up it and got caught in a thunderstorm and didn't get to ride back down. I was tired when I got off my bike and it was only just starting. The heat was on. 94 is no joke. And to make it worse my mom and stepdad were following me with water but got stuck in a ditch and I had to leave them behind for a while. I tried to run in the shade when I could, but for some reason shade trees meant yards which meant dogs. I don't like dogs. It didn't take long for me to figure out that actually running the whole thing was not going to happen. Yes, I walked a bit, but dizzy and shivering in the heat I finished and that's just what I plan on doing in September. If I get fast enough to finish or even start the run in the blazing sun I'm ok with that, but I bet the sun won't be much of a factor in the run. Most of my running has been in the dark or twilight anyway.
Oh how long did it take? 7:13 worth of exercise and 45 min of transition and staring at a stuck vehicle and listening to a cop say he couldn't help even though our tax dollars pay his salary- good thing I don't teach his kid.

Endurance Swimming with Diabetes

Maybe that title will get some hits. I've been on vacation for almost a week now. Me and the fam have gone to see my dad in Nashville and stayed several days at my mom's. It's officially summer and training for Ironman has been a top priority. All winter long and even most of the spring I have been somewhat concerned about swimming 2.4 miles. The two big issues were dealing with my bloodsugar for over an hour without my pump and actually being able to swim that far. Well, this week has been amazing. In fact the swim is probably the most comfortable leg of the race right now. Me and Dr. Matt have been wrestling with exactly how to deal the insulin part of the swim for quite some time, and it is all coming together. In the pool I have felt a little pathetic using a pull buoy even though everyone said the wetsuit would help float me anyway. Well the first day I was here I swam about 3/4 mile in my wetsuit and was blown away with how much it helped. The next morning I woke up adjusted my pump and swam over 2 miles while my brother followed me in a canoe. It didn't even wear me out too bad. I had a little hammer gel half way and my sugar was around 1oo when I got out of the water. I am so pumped.

Rock Island Tennessee- a great place to train run out of test strips make crazy breakthroughs do a backyard half.

More to come.

Were you out walking Mr. Shack?

Ever feel like you had an awesome achievement and then been totally killed? I was on a run the other morning before school. It is a route we run frequently with a good sized hill right in the middle. I had always had to walk just a bit right at the top of the hill where it gets steep, but not this day. This day I ran the entire way up to the top and kept on trucking I was so proud of myself. Later that morning I was monitoring the hallway at school and one of my 8th graders says, "Hey were you out walking this morning Mr. Shack?" Ouch! that hurt. Well I haven't walking it since. Except for the day me and Russ ran it the other direction. Shorter and steeper hill that direction.

Butt Tight Church Clothes

Last weekend's workout was amazing. Steve, John, and I met at 5:30 Sunday Morning and went for a 7 mile run which took forever. I was running so slow. My sugar was at 250 when we started and that just doesn't feel good. All the really fun things about running like being tired, your legs aching, getting dehydrated and feeling like the slowest person on the planet all get amplified. Well I felt like almost the slowest person except that John's sugar was doing the exact opposite. He's working on figuring out his new pump settings and was running with his sugar way too low. When he finally stopped to eat I finally got a chance to stop and rest. That didn't last too long and soon enough I was walking- no running really slow- up the big hill and then cruizing the last few miles back to school where our bikes were waiting on us. At that point we got everything set for our ride and I locked my only set of car keys in the car. Great. We rode for an hour and I bummed a ride back to town. Steve dropped me off at church in my bike shorts and jersey. He let me take some mesh shorts from his car thank the good Lord. I just don't know how people would have taken it if I had worn those butt tight shorts in there. Anyway Emily, my wife, eventually showed up with some clothes and shoes. It's a good thing my church is laid back, but you can only push the limits so far. Did you know it costs $45 to have your car doors unlocked. Oh still need to send that guy a check.

I'm Faster than my Bloodsugar

Its been a while I know. The end of the school year is monopolizing my much of my time. With the little time I've had to myself I've been training not blogging. No apologies. Current state of affairs? Well my legs/knees are doing much better. I feel strong, which is amazing. Steve and Russ have been running with me in the mornings before work which has been great, and I am having a ton of fun learning to ride my bike.
A few weeks ago I got my bike up to 39 mph, i was totally pumped. The next week I got to 41. Then 44. Last weekend I went on a ride with Steve and John before church and set a new high speed of 46.8 mph, dude I was moving. So I scared the crap out of myself (not literally) with the 44mph trip. I was alone and rode over Mast Gap which is where I must have reached 44 then pedaled about halfway up George's Gap where I checked my sugar. It was 37. It's scary enough driving a car with a seatbelt that low but being out in the middle of nowhere halfway up a huge hill on a bike with a little bit to eat was utterly disturbing. I rode real slow down the hill and real slow up Mast Gap, but then I just let it loose on the way back down. I couldn't help it. Anyway, high speed 44 blood sugar 37- not good. Obviously it wasn't my day to die. I think God has us all here for a purpose, at least for this Triabetes project. So I'm feeling pretty much invincible until September. After that I just pray He has more for me to accomplish.

Frustration

After finally getting off my rear and trying to get in shape, I have been reduced to a bunch of girly exercises. Even the pool has been closed due to some big leak. Well I just can't sit around any longer. I put my bike together over the weekend and took it out for a ride. It's a little weird riding in traffic, but I think I will get used to it. My insurance agent even asked about my bike. No he didn't try to sell me bike insurance or anything. But he did ask if he saw me out riding. When we figured out it was me he saw, he asked what I was doing in the left lane in all that traffic- Taking a left hand turn, duh. Maybe I need to learn some bike ettiquite or how to spell. Whatever. trying to write while low is a little touogh. I'm done

Medical/Training Update

Since my last post I've had tons of people call me, email me, talk about me in the pool when you didn't know I was there. Yep, I was swimming yesterday morning and stopped at the end of the pool and heard someone say, "have you heard from dave?" Noticing a guy with a shaved head talking to a skinny dude in a purple speedo, I just figured it was John and Steve. So I replied, "No." They were surprised to see me since we hadn't planned on meeting. Thanks for asking about me. Here's the update I gave. My ITband is feeling much better. I've been stretching like crazy. I can now not only bend over and touch my toes, I can bend over and touch the ground. Along with the stretching I've been taking some Advil, icing my legs, and doing some strength training to keep all this from happening again. The strength training is supposed to balance the power between the inside and outside of my legs and make my butt stronger. Great- all I need is a bigger butt.
This weekend I am going to put my bike together and try to start easing back into that. I've ordered some new shoes, which are way overdue, and when they show up I will start doing a few short flat runs per week while I keep focusing on the strenth training and swimming. It was rough taking such a devastating blow after Diabetes Training Camp, but I am going to come out of this even stronger. This week when I really needed a boost, I got some test results in from my doctor. My A1c dropped from 7.1 to 6.5 in 2 and a half months. That would make any diabetic feel good.
Just one more thing- One of the exercises I have to do is that girly machine in the weight room where you spread your legs out-sweet. Hopefully I won't end up looking like this.

Lowboy isn't my only Enemy

It's been a rough- disappointing week. I drove down to my brother's house in my old jeep on Thursday. It was supposed to be a 4 hour drive but due to traffic it took 7, which meant I was driving in the dark which is extremely sketchy in el jeepo. What was worse was Emily's drive in the new minivan with all three kids. Well I got rid of el jeepo for $750 which helped me pay off my Ironman entry fee and plane ticket money to Wisconsin I had borrowed. It's still sad to see it go.
I expected everything to get better from there and it did for a while. Me and Nate drove to the race site and spent the night in the back of the van. We watched Rocky on the way down and then we passed out.
Saturday we woke up for our first marathon to the smell of pancakes at the Ellerbe Springs Inn. I checked my sugar 177 and cut down my basal. This is where everything went wrong. I ate a couple pancakes and drank some gatorade. By the prerace meeting my sugar was 280. A couple miles into the race my legs were exhausted, heavy and I was severely dehydrated. My bloodsugar was 330. I have a feeling this is one of the many reasons for what happened next.
At about mile 5 my knees started hurting. I knew this was not a good sign. I have been having some knee pain on my longer runs around mile 17 or 18 but never as early as 5 miles. I didn't come all this way to quit so I just kept pushing but by mile 7 I was walking. By mile 8 it was even hurting to walk and eventually I was having pain just standing. At one point I even slipped on some gravel and said hey to the ground. When a race volunteer offered me a ride to the finish line I couldn't say no.
I'm sure it crushed Nate as I got into the car and left him standing there with noone else in sight.
He ran alone without seeing anyone for the next 5 miles, the hilliest of the course. I eventually came back and found him in the van. When he caught up to someone so he could at least have a conversation I left them to run and met him only at aid stations and then the finish line. Nate had a strong finish as someone came creeping up to catch him. The last little hill went all the way to the finish and Nate sprinted the last .2 It was impressive.
It took me a couple days to get over the defeat. I figure I better learn from this and be thankful that I still have months to rehab my injury and prepare for Ironman. Apparently I have upset the Illiotibial Band in both of my legs. It's going to take a ton of streching and rest at first then some strength training before I should even start running on it again. I need to stay off my new bike for at least a week too. This stinks because it is sitting in a box asking to be reassembled and ridden. For now it looks like to stay in shape I will have to do tons of swimming. I need practice there anyway.
Lessons Learned

1. Don't Ignore what seem to be minor injuries- They get worse.
2. Strength Training is extremely important.
3. Stretching is even more important.
4. Follow the advice of people who have done this stuff for years.

Diabetes Training Camp

Diabetes Training Camp was one of the most amazining experiences of my life. That's a huge statement considering some of the situations I've ended up in either on purpose or by divine appointment. Well no matter how I look back at camp it was a God thing. It is going to be one of those weeks that revolutionizes how I live the rest of my life. I don't even know where to start.

I learned so much about handling diabetes and myself. Revelation number 1. I am not terrible at being diabetic. Everyone else deals with all my issues like keeping track of their meters and numbers and carbs and just having days where you don't feel like dealing with doctors or diabetes or anyone else telling you how to deal with the one thing in your life you have a better handle on than anyone else. Your diabetes. So I don't suck. That's good. By the way I'm harder on myself than anyone else ever has been.

Revelation #2. Continuous Glucose Monitors are the best diabetes technology out there. I was hooked up to a CGM most of the week. It read my blood sugar every 5 minutes. That's the equivilent of like a billion tests a day. I don't teach math. This thing would let me know if my sugar was headed up or down and let me know if I got high or low. I took it off to go swimming and that was the only bad low of the week. Josh, one of the swim coaches had to drag Lowboy out of the pool and make him test. blah blah blah... Anyway, I started to get low in the middle of the night one night and it woke me and em up to let us know. Great Googley Moogley- CGM's are probably worth their weight in gold. I'm still going to see how cheap I can get one.

Revelation #3. There is an athlete deep inside. I'm still not sure why God nudged me into signing up for the Ironman, but he is showing me tons of cool stuff along this road. Apparently when he put me together, he made me an athlete. I wasn't a college athlete and I didn't do so much in high school, but there is some honest potential in here somewhere. It's not just that I feel different after going to camp. They actually hooked me up to some crazy contraption of a machine and tested something called VO2 Max. I did real good. I just need to put everything else I learned at camp into practice so I can start unlocking the potential.

By far the coolest revelation of the week. There are people out there that understand how to deal with diabetes. They care. And they are willing to help. Dr. Matt and his team were all on the same page all week. Everyone knew what they were doing and they all tied it together so well. It made me feel like diabetes wasn't that big a deal as long as I just pay attention and take care of myself-with help from other diabetics, real doctors, coaches psychologists, diaticians and the family members and friends back home who will actually be there when I need them. The part that is still messing me up is the fact that many of the people on staff at DTC said we could call or email anytime if we were running into problems we couldn't figure out on our own.

Did I mention all this went down in Santa Barbara California? You should go there sometime. DTC has made me believe again. It has caused a total paradigm shift.

By the way it's all about base training.

1st things 1st

Diabetes Training Camp was amazing and life changing. More on that to come.

The trip out to California was .....

I can't remember how little I slept but the night before the trip I got to bed at 11 and woke up at 2 so we could drive down to the airport. I didn't get much rest on the plane but I did beat Steve on the trivia game. Hours later and almost exhausted we finally got to meet Peter and Nate in LA. It was exciting. I got to see my new bike. It looked like it was a little close to the ceiling in the parking deck. We all flinched every time there was a noise from above. No there was a foot to spare. Until Peter took a turn and tried to exit. The ceiling dropped a foot and the bike didn't duck. Hey let's spend some time on the side of the road trying to assess the situation and extend the duration of the trip. Good call. The pictures were all dark. The damage to the bike was mostly to the seat. And the bike rack on top of Peter's car. Well at least I don't have to be nervous about falling over and scratching it.

50 hours later we made it to camp and immediately got to work fixing all issues diabetic.

More to come. It was a great week and I'm taking it easy most of this week.

Getting Serious

Training is getting intense. Last Sunday I ran about 15 miles. Today I ran 17.5 and then walked the final mile back to the car. I was hurting. It took 3 and a half hours. I actually was hurt up most of the week which took several days. Well my blood sugar was up. Today was great. My friend Kevin ran as slow as he possibly could to keep up with me and I just plodded along. There was at least a one hour stretch that was all uphill. The best thing about that was turning around and running back down.
Em, Penelope, and I are all packed up and ready to drive to the airport. Diabetes Training Camp in Santa Barbara is on the list of things to kick my tail this week. The week after that it's a marathon with my brother. I never would have considered this possible until I just decided to do it.
Good stories from this week to come.

My Bike!

I have so many people to thank it's amazing. Mostly the people at trisports and Steve Ahn. I would have thanked Peter but I think I'm supposed to be upset with him. I mean really, He's kissing my bike. Isn't that like kissing someone's girlfriend? Back up dude! OK it's more like kissing someone else's first girlfriend because that is a picture of my first road bike. Seriously though, Thanks Peter. After all you've done to get me that bike I will forgive you. The one thing that makes it a little worse is I have to wait a couple of weeks to get out to California before I get to ride it. I am looking forward to Diabetes Training Camp where I am sure I am going to learn something about myself and get to meet all the new friends I've made and maybe fight Peter- no wait I forgave him.

Training isn't quite as intense this week as last week. I even missed my swim on Monday because of a masked gunman on campus, but I have a long run scheduled for Sunday and I'm going snowboarding again on Saturday. Maybe I'll get some pictures this time.

What a Week

This has been an intense week. I worked out for more than 12 hours. I ran over 20 miles swam about 2 and a half and sat on my bike riding nowhere for more than five hours. I realize that except for the swimming I will have to do this week's entire workout in just one long day, but for now I feel like this week was a real accomplishment.

I am also starting to get a better hold on managing my blood sugar while doing all this. I have been getting high after many of my workouts which I need to work on, but I'm not having the crazy lows while I am out running. I had one day this past week when my blood sugar stayed between 90 and 122 all day. That was the same day I swam a mile and a half and ran 6 miles.

Friday was supposed to be an off day so I went snowboarding for the first time this season. I didn't get any pictures but it was a beautiful day. I put a video up on the main page to show off my ridiculous snowboarding skills. Yes, that was me that got totally buried in the snow. If I remember correctly I got low-very low- on the hike up the mountain. On the same trip a few of us spent the night in a snow cave and tried to avoid getting avalanched.

I am also getting extremely close to getting my first road bike. Just working out the details. Sometimes this whole Ironman thing seems doable and sometimes I feel like all I do is train and it will still be impossible. Anyway, I stopped my run yesterday short to work on ordering my bike, and instead of continuing when I was finished I played on the trampoline with my kids. It was a great decision.

Life Insurance

Well my life insurance account just went belly up. I applied for more and got totally rejected. You know diabetic ironmen are in way too high a risk category. Obviously I'm not taking care of myself. Guess I'll just have to try not to die.

The Yellow Jersey

It was a busy weekend. Ray flew into town to do some filming for the Triabetes documentary. My two older kids have the flu and we had to keep them away from Penelope, our newborn. What's up with the timing? Anyway, I was pumped about the filming. Ray got an interview with my brother and one with me. Somehow we got on the topic of what this project meant as far as finishing the race and it dawned on me that I won't be done with this after crossing the finish line. I'm still going to keep fighting because Diabetes isn't just going to go away, and I can't go back to that lazy Dave who never checked his sugar. I am confident that John and Steve also got on there and said things even more profound. It will be fun to actually watch what this whole thing turns out to look like and to see how it affects the diabetic world.

We also got some footage out running at Bass Lake and at ASU's pool. Cool thing about the pool is the fact that me and Steve now have passes to swim there whenever. I went today and swam a mile in 40 minutes. I guess we could even go lift weights and play raquetball and whatever else people do in there. I'll probably go exploring and really check the place out. At some point Ray told me I looked really tired- yeah- I spend most nights wandering up and down the steps right now. It's kind of funny because part of the data collection for this project involves reporting the hours of sleep I get each night. Sure I can right down 7, but it feels more like 4 when I have to get up so many times a night.

We also got some film of me on the bike trainer. I wore a yellow shirt. I had no idea it was like Happy Gilmore getting a gold jacket. When I dropped Ray off at John and Maureen's, she asked if I wore that yellow jersy. "Very fitting Dave what a statement." So I'm like what are you talking about. "you know the winner of the race always gets a yellow jersey like Lance Armstrong." Oh great now I've gone and jinxed myself or something.

Eeeeeew Problem Solved

This goggle cabinet uses ultraviolet radiation to kill bad stuff on goggles. I was showing my friend Russ how nasty my camel pak was and he recommended that I zap it in the cabinet. Since I can't seem to get all the green and yellow and blue and red fuzzy stuff out of there it just made sense to zap it and make sure it was at least dead before I ingested any more. I was taking a run the other day and when I tried to wash down a GU I got hit in the mouth with some nasty fermented juice or gatorade or whatever I had saved since my last run. I have rinsed it out since then but that stuff is still in there. Alive and Kicking- well up until this afternoon when I nuked it with vinegar and radiation. If you see me out running sideways we will have to blame it on my bloodsugar- its not what I'm drinking.

Finally

So my bike trainer is in the basement. I think I walked down there 50 times before I finally had everything ready to go tonight. Let me start by saying it was raining hard. I know you are probably thinking that this shouldn't affect a bike ride in my basement on the trainer. Do you know me? First I had to look up and write out my workout. I walked downstairs. Then came back up. I needed my meter. Back down. I need my heart rate monitor. Back upstairs. got it. Back downstairs. I need my iPod. Back upstairs and I put my shoes on and ran out to the car. I'm now soaking wet and ready to ride. My plan was to ride for over an hour and a half and looking at Ashley Ahn's bike that I have borrowed I finaly decide I just can't handle the girl seat on it any more. My seat is out in the minivan down beside the house, so in my bike shoes with the funny little clips that go with the Clipless Pedals? I go running out to the van. The back yard is like an inch deep in water. I am getting soaked. Oh great the van isn't in the driveway. It's way up by the road. Dude I am drenched and my feet are swimming. It's like a freaking triathlon here. I change socks and head back to the basement. I think getting ready for the workout is going to take longer than the actual training. I finally start riding and listen to most of the book of Matthew which apparently I really needed. My butt wasn't killing from the girl seat which was awesome but riding for almost 2 hours on a seat you haven't seen in a while taint the best of plans.

Banana Bread

I got a hold of some really good banana bread this weekend. You know how it is you start out too low to make good decisions. Well I didn't work out. Then I ate way too much lasagna for dinner and then a ton of banana bread for dessert. I went high but had it all fixed by morning, and guess what I ate for breakfast. Yep banana bread. I took a lot more insulin that time and still messed it up.

The only good thing about it was I the workout I had on Saturday. I started my run with my sugar at 259 and by the end of the 10 mile run it had never dropped below 111. The run was great by the way except for my knee acting up by the end of it.

Me and my brother ran way down the road from my house by the new river then up Ridge Road which was no joke and then back down Pine Run over the river and around back to the house. It would have been an 11 mile run but I walked the last little bit. I was taking cliff shots and tried some perpetium. I just need all these things to work right on the same day. I am supposed to be getting a bike pretty soon and I need to get back in the pool. It's been a few weeks. I have a few races looming in the not so distant future so it's time to get on it.

I Changed My Lancet

In World News today, I changed my lancet. It's a yearly event that should probably take place at least twice a year. In case you don't know, a lancet is the little sharp poker thing that you stab your finger with to get a blood sample. I think the companies that make the things suggest that you change the lancet every time, right. Cause I have time for that and I'm extremely organized. So during all this training for the Ironman in September has reintroduced me to a ton of diabetes issues. Right now I'm trying to figure out what all these pump and meter companies are doing to actually help me. I got this new meter from school that came with a new lancet device. It was infuriating. It has a lancet cartride with like ten lancets in it. The stupid issue is that you can only use each lancet once! They claim it is for hygene or comfort or some other ridiculous reason I'm sure. However we all know it is so we diabetics will actually have to spend more money on lancets. It seems that all these companies try to sell their lancet devices and meters by saying that they take less blood or have sharper lancets that won't hurt or tear the skin. They even sell these things that can test blood from parts of the body other than the finger tips. Sounds cool if you are into marketing and don't have diabetic fingers that could care less what the lancet feels like to people that don't have super calloused fingers. I tried to test on my arm a few years ago and ended up feeling the test and having a huge bruise on my arm. Kind of like the old medi injector that injected insulin with air instead of a needle. I used it for months and acted like it was nice because I figured it had cost my parents so much. At least that one was a nice idea.

So what do we really need as diabetics?

How about a meter (continous?) that would take readings and instantly send the data through satelite or cell to a computer database to track us.

If it could do that how about it could talk to my pump and graph my basal levels and boluses along with my bloodsugar.

Could we get heartrate thrown in there as well?

How about a scanner like at the grocery store to scan the food we eat too. Or at least record perceived carb intake.

This seems like all the stuff a program would need to figure out each diabetics formula and it would happen continously and learn.

Then it could adjust your pump or at least give suggestions.

Is it possible to inject glucose as well? I am tired of my meter asking "Do you need a snack?" It would be great if it was actually offering me a snack instead of asking a question that is obvously yes. I mean my sugar is low. Of course I need a snack. Who added that feature?

What about making the entire system waterproof?

I bet it would cost like 50 grand. Can you feel the love? Happy Valentines Day.

Any other ideas out there?

Em's the Endurance Athlete

The Ironman can only last 17 hours. My wife just spent 25 and a half giving birth. Wow. Check out the slideshow. There is some triathlete in her to be unleashed. Getting Penelope out included some crazy hiking, swimming (in the tub), bouncing, and weird looking yoga positions. then there is the finish line. Uh- speechless.

thanks for all the prayers and support.

Penelope Quinn Shack is here weighing in at 7 lbs and 3 ounces and seems to be in better shape than me or Emily.

That was a crazy experience.

some excuses for not training

It's been a rough week. I haven't done a ton of training and my bloodsugar has been too high.

So here's a few things that can make it hard to get in a good workout.

1. My wife Emily got sick and had to spend the night in the hospital- something about being super dehydrated and extremely pregnant.
2. I thought I was getting sick too because my sugar was high for 3 days and didn't want to come down.
3. Really I was high because my canula was bent. If you don't have an insulin pump just know that a bent canula means you are not getting much insulin.
4. There was an ice storm.

5. And yesterday after eating some fast food and preparing to take a swim I really did get sick. Isn't it great when you eat a meal, bolus (take your insulin to counter all the food you just ate) and then puke up all that food. All of a sudden there is tons of insulin hanging out in the blood stream and very little sugar. Not a good situation. Anyway I survived. I put the picture of the ice storm because I didn't think anyone wanted to see me getting sick and Emily wouldn't let me put any sick pictures of her on the web.

All that aside I still worked out more than I did last year at this time.

Train On

I finally had a decent day with my blood sugar. Maybe it was getting ridiculously high after all the food and birthday cake at Steve's last night. Anyway, I never once got low today which is amazing considering the week I've had. I actually followed all the advice from my doctor about cutting down my insulin levels before working out. Then just to be sure I ate the Hotpocket I found sitting out on the cabinet when I got home from work and took no insulin for that at all. The entire family went with me to the pool and to our surprise we found Steve's family there too.

Good things about swimming with Steve.

1. He has a glucometer and I left all of mine at home.
2. He made me swim really far.
3. I didn't want to look silly with him there so I didn't cheat and use a pull buoy.
4. Ashley, his wife, kept Emily and the kids busy while I swam for an hour.

My bs was at 170 when I started, then 140 at half a mile, and 101 when I finished.

I SWAM AN ENTIRE MILE. Steve says that's all I did but I swear he missed one of my laps, whatever.

Dudes, it was over a mile. A personal best. Oh and cold hotpockets hurt the belly.

I think I got this low blood sugar stuff back under control. Train On!

Lowboy wins a few battles

I've claimed that Lowboy won't stop me, but dang it's been a rough week. I'm working on adjusting my insulin levels and Lowboy has been attacking with a vengence. I haven't posted a blog in about a week, too low. I have barely worked out, too low. Well my definiton of a good workout has changed quite a bit since this whole Ironman Triabetes thing started. I had to quit a run early and have my wife and kids come find me after only 4 or 5 miles (26) I swam half a mile and had to quit(35). Same story on by bike trainer after half an hour on more than one occasion this past week. The only run I actually completed as scheduled recently was a short run with John. I started that one low(56) and never got my blood sugar above 65. I ate all his food and some of Steve's and If I was alone I would have ended up walking. Low boy likes likes company I guess. Anyway there's a ton of recalculating and testing going on. I need to hurry it up so I can actually train or at least pretend to keep up with everyone. I need to add a picture of Lowboy but he's no good at self photography. If any of you see him out there be sure to snap a picture and post it in the comments.

We're in the paper!
I haven't read it yet but this is cool.
Check out the article
http://www.wataugademocrat.com/2008/0121/0123runningdown.php

I Broke My Scale

Well I'm not sure if my scale is really broken but it's out of batteries for sure. It's not like I stepped on it and it blew up or anything. In fact I've been working my tail off. Michelle (the one responsible for making me and a bunch of other diabetics compete in next September's Ironman Wisconsin) told me they were going to send a film crew to get the fat dave footage as this whole process gets started. Well I hate & love to tell you this Michelle, but I think you may have missed your opportunity there. You will have to buy me one of those fat suits because there's no slowing me down right now. Here's a few things I learned recently; Snow is really cold-unless you're running. If your feet get wet, they get cold unless you're running. If you don't wear your coat, you get cold unless you're running. I honestly wish my scale was working for once cause it seems like I just keep getting bigger, unless I'm running. And I am running PLUS some. I'm running, biking, and swimming my butt off and it's pretty cool. By the way, Diabetes has been trying unsuccessfully to kill me my entire life. Even with all this extra exercise the disease doesn't seem potent enough to take me out.

Diabetes Sucks. It can't stop me.

More Lowboy Stories

I swear I will update everyone on my training progress soon, but Nate has some more Lowboy stories he wants to share. Tune in for his comments.

Lowboy

My brother wanted to tell a story so be sure to read his comments. He has such a different perspective on this whole thing.

7.1

7.1
after 5 or so years I finally went to see a doctor to start straightening all this diabetic stuff out.
My A1c was 7.1
I'm off to a good start.
so me and my wife, emily went out to eat to celebrate and the manager sent us a free dessert
so i ate it
then we got our meal for free.
yep, God is smiling at me right now.

Speed, well it was fast for me

I teach a jogging class on Tuesday afternoons. I signed up to teach this last spring to help me stay motivated to get into shape. that was before I got the chance to join the Triabetes Ironman project. Now as it works out Tuesday is a short running day on my training schedule. I have done most of my running at a ten minute mile pace. Very slow. today I was supposed to run for 30 minutes and I'm sure there were a bunch of drills that I didn't remember but that's besides the point. My class ran 2 miles and then played basketball in the park while I kept running circles around them. My first mile took 7:08. By far the fastest mile I have ever run. The second mile took 7:50 and my third took 8:26 I didn't quite finish the fourth mile by 30 min so I stopped and felt great about what I had just done. Just last May I ran in a 5k that took over 28 minutes and almost killed me. My life is changing fast.
Post Script- yesterday I was trying to swim with my sugar in the 30's. It doesn't work.

News Flash

I am going to see a Doctor for my diabetes on Wednesday! I haven't been in quite some time, like 4 or 5 years. I'm a little nervous, but I really think it's time. Last time I went I didn't even come back to get my a1c results. The doctor was just a family practicioner and didn't seem too comfortable dealing with diabetes, but the time before that the endocrinologist told me I had to go to a different doctor to get my a1c checked because he didn't do that. Needless to say I was a little frustrated and figured if I get low as much as I get high then my a1c is most likely ok. It's been a pretty lengtht experiment and this week I guess I have to check the results of my pathetic and heavily biased hypothesis. Data Analysis to come. Guess I had to become part of someone elses experiment to finish mine up.

Like Hansel and Gretel

So Thursday was supposed to be a pretty big workout day. I planned on Swimming for 45 minutes and then running for 45. It started off great. Using those pull bouys I think I could swim forever, and I am getting much better at staying afloat without them too. It just takes more work. Anyway it all started going downhill when I got out of the pool and headed to the locker room. I had no towel. No big deal. I dried off with my jeans and put on tons of running gear to head out into the snow and miserable wind chills. At this point I decided it might be a good idea to check my bloodsugar. 53 didn't seem too bad after all that swimming. Well I ate a Cliff bar and headed out. The bag with my keys, checker, and magic jellybeans was making a lot more noise than usual. I thought it must just be low on extra goodies so everything was just bouncing around more than usual. Nope. My bag had been open the whole time. About 2 miles into it I wasn't feeling great so I stopped to checked again and found the zipper wide open. This time my sugar was 40, crap. My keys and meter were there, but my magic jellybeans were missing. To make matters better it was also getting dark. Think, think, think. Ok-walk instead of run. Look for jellybeans along the path. Conserve energy eat everything you find. I found a pack of my contacts but no beans. I took a short cut off the path and through the snow, doh. Stupid birds must have eaten all my jellybeans. I did survive. I haven't taken a run since. Maybe tomorrow. At least I didn't get caught by a witch.

It's a New Year

My new year's resolution, run.

Well, I took care of that on the first day of the year.

I guess I could train for an Ironman or something, yeah that sounds good.

Check out the basement training pic. That trainer seems to get a little wobbly so I might have to put on that helmet. Huffing gas fumes while I train doesn't seem to slow me down too much but it might account for the dizziness. It might seem strange that I have on a camel pack while riding in the basement. However, after my first accident I have decided not to drink anything out of a bottle down there.

Yes I'm wearing dress socks, but they match. (miracle)

I've been training hard since my last post including a 14 mile run with John, Steve and my brother.

i swear its harder to run a mile by myself than 14 with some friends. Don't worry I'll get over it.

Happy New Year It's going to get crazy.