Half ironman

Littlesiany

Newbie
Messages
1
Hello, I’m Sian. Found out this week from routine bloods I’m pre-diabetic, I have entered a half Ironman how is this going to affect me, I’m used to loading on carbs, any triathletes here to help ?
 

Alexandra100

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,738
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hello, I’m Sian. Found out this week from routine bloods I’m pre-diabetic, I have entered a half Ironman how is this going to affect me, I’m used to loading on carbs, any triathletes here to help ?
I'm certainly not a triathlete, but I do run and I am currently struggling with a very low carb diet and its possible effect on my running capacity. I do seem to be adjusting to the diet, but it has taken quite a while, and I am only training for 5Ks! How far in the future is your race? There are quite a lot of (mostly T1) diabetic athletes around who swear by a low carb/keto diet, but no-one would claim that you can instantly switch over from burning carbs to burning fat. This takes time, and may not work at all for some people.

I find Dr Ian Lake particularly inspiring: http://type1keto.com Besides his account of his 35 day run, I found his series of 10 half marathons, in the course of which he gradually ate less and less carbs and even fasted, riveting. You can find talks by Dr Lake on Youtube. There are a lot of keto enthusiasts you can find by Googling. Most of them are young men running ultras.

Personally, knowing that I have a problem with raised bg, I would be extremely reluctant to do any form of carb loading. I would be afraid of burning out my beta cells and making my pre-diabetes a whole lot worse. Consuming carbs during a race might not be as bad, assuming they might be burned up as soon as ingested?

I suggest you repeat your query down on the Fitness, Exercise and Sport Forum: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/fitness-exercise-and-sport.33/