Any Endurance athletes on here ? I looking for advice.

[gogobroom]

HI - a little background on me: - Almost 50 years old, I have competed in triathlon for over 15 years including 14 Iron distance events, multiple halfs and olympics - currently racing and training for middle distance races. I regularly train between 8 and 14 hours a week on a relatively low carb diet, now aiming to go lower.

I was advised in 2014 that I was pre-diabetic at my 40 yrs NHS MOT - so have been aware of diabetes and its effects for a while, every year either have HbA1c or OGTT an duntil last month had stayed pre diabetic, now confirmed after 2 test I am likely diabetic.

Anyway - currently have the libre 2 on trial and seeing the effects of exercise, nutrition and fueling etc .

Today pre ride I ate scrambled eggs and avacado with plumb toms - I went for a 3 hour easy Zone 2 ride and about 2:30 into the ride I stopped to check my BG readings - it was 4.7. I stopped also as was feeling sluggish, had a Skinny bar. - btw 4.7 I never see as usually I am into the 6's and 7's. On return I had a forgoodness shake, then after shower and stretching I had Sausages and a fried egg (just to explain the foods)

What I am wanting to find out is how you fuel your longer rides and runs, what works for you and any tips would be grateful. Ultimately I am wanting to work out the fueling strategy for my next half Ironman so I can replicate it in training over the next several months.

I do not have a sweet tooth and have never been able to stomach energy gels, drinks or bars on long distance events, though can do on shorter distance.

Thanks in advance, be good to hear your input and talk to any other endurance athletes with diabetes.



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[lovinglife]

There is a couple of members who do this type of thing, one who comes to mind is @marty313, he is T1 if I recall and he hasn’t been on the forum for a couple of weeks but as I’ve tagged him he may see this if he logs in

 

[Antje77]

There is a couple of members who do this type of thing, one who comes to mind is @marty313, he is T1 if I recall and he hasn’t been on the forum for a couple of weeks but as I’ve tagged him he may see this if he logs in

You beat me to it, took me a bit to find the right member.

Tagging a very active T2 (in remission) for you. I think @Mbaker isn't into endurance sports so much, but he's very knowledgable on training and T2 so he might have some useful thoughts.

 

[Mbaker]

You beat me to it, took me a bit to find the right member.

Tagging a very active T2 (in remission) for you. I think @Mbaker isn't into endurance sports so much, but he's very knowledgable on training and T2 so he might have some useful thoughts.

I have focused on resistance training, as muscle is a glucose sync. Like many things in the management of Type 2, there are differing views. Below is the last 2 months of random glucose, my bench press and deadlift. Whichever modality, I would find my comfortable max then train most weeks around 80% of that, on a 3rd week 90%; at 56 this allows me to workout 6 or 7 days a week. When I feel what I call "spongy" i.e. it feels like someone else is doing the workout through my body, I just walk that day.

 

[Antje77]

Thank you I'm particularly interested in your approach to resistance training and how you've incorporated it into your T2 management routine. The idea of using a comfortable max and training at 80-90% of that sounds like a sustainable and effective approach

From your other post I take it you are on insulin?
This means that exercise needs a completely different approach than for a T2 who is treated with diet only.

 

[AndBreathe]

I'm not an endurance athlete, but for me, if I am doing something a it bonkers, expending lots of energy over a protracted period, I find the challenge is timing my fuelling.

As an example, I'll try to eat well, but eat early so that whatever I have eaten is being digested as I go. I will rarely eat on the go. I'm a sit at the table to eat sort of person.

In terms of ectreme athletes, although he is T1, Dr Ian Lake had done lots of ultra exercise on a keto diet, and even did a long, long thing over several days, totally fasted - zero calories. Obviously that zero calories for 5 days isn't a long term proposition, but it proves grazing isn't necessary.

Ian is extremely personable, and can be found on the usual social media, and onhis website, which you may find informative. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you reached out.

Type 1 Keto – Rethinking Type 1 Diabetes

 

[SimonP78]

HI - a little background on me: - Almost 50 years old, I have competed in triathlon for over 15 years including 14 Iron distance events, multiple halfs and olympics - currently racing and training for middle distance races. I regularly train between 8 and 14 hours a week on a relatively low carb diet, now aiming to go lower.

I was advised in 2014 that I was pre-diabetic at my 40 yrs NHS MOT - so have been aware of diabetes and its effects for a while, every year either have HbA1c or OGTT an duntil last month had stayed pre diabetic, now confirmed after 2 test I am likely diabetic.

Anyway - currently have the libre 2 on trial and seeing the effects of exercise, nutrition and fueling etc .

Today pre ride I ate scrambled eggs and avacado with plumb toms - I went for a 3 hour easy Zone 2 ride and about 2:30 into the ride I stopped to check my BG readings - it was 4.7. I stopped also as was feeling sluggish, had a Skinny bar. - btw 4.7 I never see as usually I am into the 6's and 7's. On return I had a forgoodness shake, then after shower and stretching I had Sausages and a fried egg (just to explain the foods)

View attachment 64227

What I am wanting to find out is how you fuel your longer rides and runs, what works for you and any tips would be grateful. Ultimately I am wanting to work out the fueling strategy for my next half Ironman so I can replicate it in training over the next several months.

I do not have a sweet tooth and have never been able to stomach energy gels, drinks or bars on long distance events, though can do on shorter distance.

Thanks in advance, be good to hear your input and talk to any other endurance athletes with diabetes.

Unless you are looking to be low carb, and therefore changing your fuelling completely, I'd just stick with what you've done previously.

After the first 1h30 or so your liver will have depleted itself (or at least stopped producing so much glucose) so you could probably then start fuelling at a normal rate. I'm T1 and tend to run high first thing for long rides (combo of dawn phenomenon and nerves/excitement, and preferring to err on under-bolusing for those to avoid an early hypo due to the massively increased insulin sensitivity), but from a couple of hours in I tend to eat between 30 and 60g/h, depending on how much basal I take. I don't take any bolus while riding. If I stop for lunch I need to get going again fairly quickly after I've eaten to avoid my BG going too high. I'm reluctant to take any bolus unless I need to (due to stoppage time) as it will almost invariably make me go hypo after I restart riding.

I don't race, so I try to eat real food e.g. a sandwich for lunch, granola bars, flapjack, biscuits, falling back to sour jelly sweets if I need a quicker fix and Kendal mintcake if I feel nauseous but need carbs. Food takes longer to be digested while exercising so I have to be careful about eating towards the end of a ride/close to a stop, and try to avoid proper food within ~45min of stopping (as otherwise I'll go high immediately, which is ok at the end of a ride, but not ideal part way through.) In this case sweets work better as they are absorbed faster. I suppose dextrose tablets would be optimal, but yuck!

Not sure how much any of that will help you, but interested to hear how you get on

 

[gogobroom]

Thanks for the replies - I am Type 2 so assume slightly different, trying to sort out what does and doesn't raise bloods but also enables me to carry on cycling or running for longer periods. Since the post I haven't done any longer rides, mainly due to the weather and now unlikely to for the next few weeks. I will try out some various low carb fueling but also be testing to check what happens with the normal carb bars etc. I am generally lower carb anyway, trying tyo stay under 100g a day even with exercise, my fat fueling is pretty good as I have practised this a lot over the last 3 or 4 years, ist just more about what can be used as lower carby fuel.

Cheers again

 

[marty313]

There is a couple of members who do this type of thing, one who comes to mind is @marty313, he is T1 if I recall and he hasn’t been on the forum for a couple of weeks but as I’ve tagged him he may see this if he logs in

I apologise for being under the radar this summer. I was busy preparing for my half ironman (Challenge Sandefjord end of August 2024), but I consider it poor karma to announce my intentions publicly before having performed.

 

[lovinglife]

I apologise for being under the radar this summer. I was busy preparing for my half ironman (Challenge Sandefjord end of August 2024), but I consider it poor karma to announce my intentions publicly before having performed.

No apologies needed @marty313 - you’re not obliged to answer , I fully understand how all your prep for the Ironman would take up a considerable amount of your time