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.

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.