Half marathon hopes

Tweety88 said:

Hello!

I’m a type one and have been for 22 years (I’ll be 32 next week). I’ve recently taken up running (as well as lower carb meals) for weight loss after my 3 babies, and to fit into my wedding dress- married in August.

My Hba1c is okay- 7.2 mmol last time, but I’m hoping it’s under 7 when I go for my appointment on Wednesday- post natal hormones have a lot to answer for and it’s been a struggle since I had my youngest.

However, I’ve lost 4 stone since having my youngest 1.5 years ago.

Anyway... to my question...

I can now run 5km pretty problem free- not fast or pretty, but slow and steady. I try raise me sugar to about 11mmol before I start, with a -80% temporary basal and some fast acting carbs. Even with this I’m back to 5mmol after- which is great.

However, I’m setting my sites on the Liverpool 1/2 marathon next year in memory of my son. Arlo was born at 27 weeks in Liverpool and lived for 6 weeks and 1 day. My husband is doing this Half marathon in March.

So I need to run longer and faster, my goal is to run 10km by the summer, 15km then 20km, but I don’t know how to work my sugars, Surely if I’m down at 5 I’m heading towards a hypo... what to people do?

Any advise greatly received!

Click to expand...

Hi and congratulations on all the running and half marathon ambitions.
I am type 1 and have gone from 10k to full marathons with a half in between so it is do able especially with the pump.
As you train you will work out how far your bgs drop or don't with the extra mileage. TBRs are a good idea so why not extend the time to the time you think you will be out. You could address the post run dip with a snack or reduced bolus at next meal.
I like Adam Brown's way of planning exercise (see book Bright Spots and Landmines all about type 1):
Where am I starting from? (blood sugar)
Where's the destination and what are the 'road' conditions (how long will I be running and how hard ? (pace, hills) so if bg is going to drop 6 mmol/ after 30 minutes you could perhaps see what happens if you are out for 45 minutes (maybe 15K? From a performance point of view you don't need to carb up unless you are running for longer than 2 hours as your muscles will store enough fuel for you so it is just about deciding if you want to eat or reduce insulin to cope with the anticipated dip. Note that on race day there'll be jelly baby stations galore!
I am hoping that you do have a freestyle libre to make it easy to do the checks and it will obviously be better to run a little high whilst you tweak this.

@Tweety88 . That’s a lot all in one post.
Congratulations on the HbA1C, weight loss and success with the running.
Sympathy for your loss. I can only imagine how bad that must have been.
As for advice for doing a half marathon.
1. I’m not a runner hence anything I say isn’t actually running based info.
2. I don’t use a pump so can’t offer advice on settings and whatever you guys have to do.
My first observation would be the fast acting carbs prior to running. Have you tried eating something more complex? Food high in fat will take longer to digest and provide energy over a longer period of time. I used to do 2 hr workouts and found things like peanut butter, bananas and malt loaf great at providing energy and keeping levels steady.
It may be an idea to experiment with different foods prior to running, also experiment with when you eat prior to running. You may find that you can eat an hour or more before a run and still maintain good and safe levels.
Also worth considering what to consume whilst running, I would have water, a splash of orange cordial and a few spoons of glucose powder in a drinks bottle for the duration of exercise. A few sips on a regular basis, especially if pushing yourself.
As for pump settings I can’t help there.
Whatever happens I hope you get a great time when you do the race.

Ok i have been treated as type 2 for years but am probably now type 1 and have started basal / bolus therapy just before Christmas. I havent ventured out much but have run on the dreadmill at the gym
5k followed by fast 400m intervals and it didnt immediatly decrease BG until later in the day. One thing i will say is that distance training i found in the past trains the body not to use blood glucose so much as other reserves in fat etc. When i started running after type 2 diagnosis my bg dropped quite quickly but as i increased in training miles, speed and fitness it dropped comensuaretly lesd and less. So I've run many 1/2s and 1full with no carb loading , no gels etc.
Now on insulin itll be different but i think as ypu train longer you bg will probably not drop off as quickly as you think it might.

I'm guessing that as with most things with diabetes it's trial and error. Take your time increasing miles etc., take a phone, start off on shortish circuits so you're not too far from home etc.

Now heres the performance tip, go to 15 or 16 miles a few times in training, you'll enjoy and perform so much better on race day.