How did everyone get on yesterday?
I finished in 1:58.
Finishing BG was 7.1 and no hypos!
Running the half marathon proved to be a real challenge for me. As some of you already know, I take injections, so my experience may be quite different from those using a pump.
The main difficulty on race day was dealing with the effects of adrenaline before the race actually started! Adrenaline really seemed to kick in early on, far more than I'd expected. In the morning my blood sugars looked like this after starting off with cereal as usual and taking my normal insulin dose at 7:30am (which I would normally reduce a bit for a long run):
7:30am - 5.9
8.30am - 12.4 - took 3 units fast acting as a correction. No trace of ketones.
9.00am - 19.8 - Eek! Took another 3 units fast acting. Still no trace of ketones.
9.30am - 16.6
10.00am - 13.1
10:15am - 12.2
At 10:15 I actually took on a little lucozade, as I already know my BG typically drops a lot in the first 5k. I've seen it drop by as much as 8, but have found that starting at a lower BG (10-12 is ideal for me) and taking on lucozade just before the start has been the best way for me to reduce that drop and stay out of hypo danger.
On a morning where I'm not running, I've been starting on a BG of between 5 and 6, and BG into mid morning and afternoon has generally been between 6 and 8, I can only put the morning race day BGs down to pre race nerves!
From 3 miles onwards I started sipping from a runners bottle of lucozade. This lasted until 6.5 miles in. I had a couple of dextrose tablets at 7 miles and then 7.5 miles.
Now something interesting happens from 8 miles onwards for me. My BGs still drop, but they drop significantly less. I think this suggests adrenaline is at work from this stage. I've seen it during the training, even when I'm running at a slower pace. 1 dextrose tablet every half mile is now sufficient to keep my BG steady. (All the more reason to keep a relatively steady pace until 10 miles, really had to watch not to start out too quick!)
At 10 miles, I picked up a bottle of lucozade sport from the drinks station and started pushing the pace. I took on about half the bottle before eventually chucking at 12 miles. (The dextrose tablets I had plus water would have been sufficient, I just find lucozade sport easier from a hydration point of view.)
Just after the race, I actually inject insulin again, as I've found BGs go unacceptably high if I don't do this after a run of longer than 8 miles.
Around 2 hours later, and as expected, I really need to eat to account for all that extra insulin I injected earlier. BGs held at around 4.9 for about 3 to 4 hours, despite taking on 12 CPs uncorrected during that time. Eventually my BG went up to 11.3, and held there, taking me out of danger.
Long story short, testing before and after exercise is really important!
