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.

thanks for making an awesome video nate

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.