Hi Milly,
One very strong positive is that your exercise routine is predictable, ie. you know the timing (and presumably also the intensity?) of each class/block of classes in advance. Whatever insulin regime you start with, this is something you can plan around.
I was on basal insulin (the long-acting one) only for the first 18months and have now been on bolus as well for the past four months. There is so much to take in when you first start out on insulin....you just about get your head round the fact that there are two types (oh and mixed for some people!) and then someone kindly points out that different insulins have different timing profiles ie they take effect over differing lengths of time (lots of graphs on the Web). For example I am on Humulin basal; as I understand it this is one of the older (cheaper) shorter-lived 'long-acting' insulins, and tends to peter out after c.16hrs, whereas others will give a full 24 hour coverage. I split my dose and take 8units at 8.30pm and 6units at 8.30am, logic being that I am much more active in the day than at night. I found David Cavan's book, 'Take control of Type 1 Diabetes' really helpful on this subject. I don't want to burden you with yet another thing to worry about, rather suggest that the timing and possibly splitting of basal doses might be a helpful tool in your armoury.
A basal-only routine will be time-limited, but does have the benefit of simplicity and low likelihood of hypos. In those 18 months I only had one proper hypo, and really that was my own stupidity..... Your needs will be quite different because you do so much intense exercise. I would like to try a Libre sometime but can't justify the expense at the moment. In addition to my NHS strips, I do, however self-fund an Accu-chek cassette, which I find really helpful for testing when I am out walking, or (distant memory!!) out in town shopping/wining and dining. Lot less fiddly than strips, discrete and for some reason seems to need less blood - probably not an issue for you, but I often struggle to get a big enough blob for my test strips, and especially if I am feeling stressed about a potential hypo.
Fingers crossed for you, it really is a marathon not a sprint!
Susan x