Half ironman nutrition for type1.

[jimmybooth]

Hi,
I am a type 1 diabetic and in march 2016 I started joined a triathlon club and last year completed some Olympic distance triathlons, I have raised the bar for next year and entered an Ironman 70.3 it's basically a half ironman 1.9km swim 90km cycle 21.1km run this is a big jump from my previous distances and my main concern in this is my diabetes is there anyone who could offer me advice on my race diet i.e. What to carry on the bike if there are energy gels I can use etc any advice would be greatly appreciated, and Happy New Year everyone,
Jonathan Booth

 

[Samwade1]

I use these Dextro Energy gels - they taste good and are around 35g of carbs each. I haven't found anywhere in the UK to buy them from, but I generally get them from eBay or Amazon - they usually come from Germany. Good luck with the triathlon!

 

[nickoedwards]

http://i.imgur.com/rj5e5XI.jpg

Perfect!

 

[nickoedwards]

A few guys in my triathlon club carry bagels on their handle bars! A peanut butter and banana bagel would give a good boost, if you can manage to eat on the go.

 

[fletchweb]

Hi,
I am a type 1 diabetic and in march 2016 I started joined a triathlon club and last year completed some Olympic distance triathlons, I have raised the bar for next year and entered an Ironman 70.3 it's basically a half ironman 1.9km swim 90km cycle 21.1km run this is a big jump from my previous distances and my main concern in this is my diabetes is there anyone who could offer me advice on my race diet i.e. What to carry on the bike if there are energy gels I can use etc any advice would be greatly appreciated, and Happy New Year everyone,
Jonathan Booth

I've done triathlons before and be prepared to find a significant spike in your BGs as a result of the Adrenalin rush that is accompanied with that type of competition. For me anyway - I can test at 9 before a competition and when it's over I'm in the 20s without eating a **** thing. It's crazy, because you would think all the energy your expelling would keep your BGs low but I have found that this is not the case. I started inquiring about it when I made the discovery and as it turns out a lot of Olympic athletes who have diabetes, regardless of their sport, experience the same thing. But at the same time a couple of hours after the competition, be careful because you may find yourself in a hypo situation. Test yourself frequently you may not experience this phenomena but on the other hand you might. I stopped competing once I turned 52 and instead did endurance sports where I was only competing against myself and as a result the spikes were negligible. Have a good competition and I hope you do well. Oh and what I took while competing - Gatorade - which may have been partly responsible - can't say for sure.

 

[nickoedwards]

I find the the same happens to me, I come out of the water and I'm normally high, I tend to calm with the cycle but eventually drop a quarter through the run.