Basal reduction for exercise - what am I doing wrong?

[ElyDave]

Good work there Dave. I'm sure the basal testing will pay dividends further down the line.

I'm also working on retesting basals after a recent insulin sensitivity improvement. I put that entirely down to losing a little weight recently.

Interesting question regarding how often basals should be retested, not sure what the answer is, personally I react if I suspect the basal dose needs to change.

I'm not sure there's a definite answere either. I suspect, same as you, that the answer is very much "it depends".

I think the useful thing here was putting it on the forum as you can be too close to your own situation to clearly see the issue sometimes.

 

[Tranly]

Pls keep it up Dave! thanks for sharing your experiences in such details I was so inspired. Was feeling like running out of solutions and needed some light and help. From what I learned here I've been sticking back to my exercise schedule and monitor my BG closely, and so far so much better. I'm learning and without a good doctor and dietitians and everything here it's very hard. But so good to learn from you. Thank you so much!

 

[ElyDave]

Well, it's not always going quite according to plan.

Three fairly successful runs this week and one complete disaster.

Tuesday run - 8km 2 laps village - pre 6.3, 17g carbs - 4km 5.9 - 8km 5.4. 3 hr TBR x 30% befroe run, pump removed during run
Wednesday run - 8km village different route, 20g carbs before pre 5.0, mid 5.9, post 5.1 - 3 hr TBR x 30% pre, pump removed during
Friday 4.8 pre run - 20g, 5km 4.7, 10km 4.5. 2.5hr TBR x 30% before, pump off during and no cannula as it was due for achange before dinner
Saturday 12km run - TBR 30% 2 hours before and during, bolus before reduced to 30% (0.45U on 35g carbs). 10.3 pre run - 5km 2.7, 17g carbs - 7km 3.2, 17g carbs - 12km 4.7, none. Plus 1 hour 6.4.

The 2.7 was felt even through the running - HR increased for same pace/effort, legs feeling slightly rubbery and a bit light headed. I knew that one was going to be low before I'd tested. Carbs in this case were a chunk of compressed dates, the kind used in coooking, easy to carry and get the BG up fairly quickly.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday were all evening runs, before dinner, so approx 5-6 hours after the last bolus.
Saturday was 2 hours after the last bolus, but looking at that, even the reduced bolus was effectively the same as not reducing basal rates. I think the morning run, post breakfast strategy needs further review. Perhaps go down to 10%TBR and 10% bolus, or go low carb breakfast.

Tonight is intervals on the turbo trainer, tends to be a BG raising session.