Help with running

Hey,

Check out Dr. Ian Lake, he is a T1 diabetic doctor in the UK who runs half marathons on LCHF/Keto. He has a blog, google him and you should find it.

I use SIS 60g pouches (22g of carbs) every 5k with a starting BG of 7-10 and this keeps me about right.

http://www.scienceinsport.com/uk/sis-go-gel-bundle?gclid=CKTjpJq8ydQCFaW17QodoCkM0g&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is the kind of activity for which a pump is great - you can drop your basal and not see the drop in BG.
However, if you do not have a pump, the advice I was given was to take a sugary drink with you instead of water. If you drink something like squash, you can control the amount of sugar and, through trial and error, determine the best dilution to suit your runs. Pre-mixed drinks like lucozade do not provide this flexibility.

If you choose to bring sugar drinks on a run that is your choice but there's absolutely no need to do that for runs shorter than ~90 minutes. That's just masking the problem rather than solving it.

As others mentioned, it sounds like your basal is set too high and you may consider if it makes sense to lower it or change your timing (depending which brand you use).

Either way, it's not necessary to bring sugar/glucose with you for a run as "short" as 10kms

alhubb said:

Hi all,

So I for the last few months I have started running regularly again (had an injury that required surgery last year then dx type 1 in December 2016) and to begin with I was fine with having some carbs before I went running and not going low. However, as my long runs have been getting longer (up to 10k) I have recently been dropping low half was through the run (2.4 last week) and obviously losing energy/not being able to complete the run.

Does anyone have any advice to prevent this? I don't want to eat more before I go, especially as I am trying to lose weight that I put on after dx. Does anyone use energy gels? Are they good for keeping BG up and within range?

Thanks!

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This site may be of use to you:

http://www.runsweet.com

I don't run so much any more, but I am a keen cyclist - both road and mountainbike. I use energy gels and they work very well. I buy boxes of the High5 brand from Chain Reaction Cycles as they always have good sales on.

My personal preference on the bike is to wear a camel pack with a few scoops of this stuff in it. So I have about 90g carbs across 1.5L of water, so I can get it on board pretty fast if need be.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/...s_dm|pcrid|161810673982|pkw||pmt||prd|16812UK

In your instance, gels would probably be a better option as they're light and running with a rucksack is a bit impractical.

My method of working out how much glucose I need to take on-board is by working out my average BG drop over half an hour and then taking the right amount gels every half an hour to keep my BG stable. Think last time I was taking half a sachet every half hour, around 30g an hour. You'll more than likely be different though. This approach works well especially if you're doing moderate distance running such as 10K, where the pace is typically constant from start to finish.

TorqPenderloin said:

If you choose to bring sugar drinks on a run that is your choice but there's absolutely no need to do that for runs shorter than ~90 minutes. That's just masking the problem rather than solving it.

As others mentioned, it sounds like your basal is set too high and you may consider if it makes sense to lower it or change your timing (depending which brand you use).

Either way, it's not necessary to bring sugar/glucose with you for a run as "short" as 10kms

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I agree with what you're saying @TorqPenderloin, but that approach is only really suitable for those who are exercising almost every day. As such, on rest days, hyperglycemia may become an issue if your basal dose is fine tuned around a fairly lengthy run.

Personally, I set my basal middle ground between exercise days and rest days and opt to top up with carbs. I think this is an easier approach rather the potential headaches and confusion caused by altering basal doses for days off exercising...

You are right in what you have said though, but I guess it's ultimately down to the OP's lifestyle and routine. I'm far too sporadic, last minute and unstructured to base my basal profile around exercise days. Oh, and I work on a boat so can't take my bike

I agree with @TorqPenderloin ; I think you need to tweak your basal. You should not need to be topping up with sugar for 10km runs.

Also, stating the obvious, but it can help to make sure you do not have any short-acting insulin on board when you start your run. For example, if you inject at 7am for breakfast it's best to try to avoid running until 3 hours after so that you can be sure your short-acting has left your system.

Alhubb,

Great news that you are running!

I have been fortunate enough to complete a number of ironmans and marathons with diabetes. The minute I started training regularly with any high mileage my overall insulin requirements decreased (both basal and bolus). I would definitely recommend that you decrease your basal insulin. However, the question is by how much?

I found that as I increased my mileage and frequency of training my basal insulin requirements continued to drop. If I then stopped exercising I found I had about a 3 day lag before my insulin requirements started to increase again.

Other thing to do is to reduce your bolus insulin in the meal before you run, but again you need to work out how much to reduce it by. I generally found that knocking 1/3 of the insulin off my pre-run insulin (if run c. 2 hours after injection) worked well. But I would then start the run with BG slightly higher than "normal" and run risk that if I ran further than planned I would need to have more carbs en route.

Hope that gives you a little food for thought, but remember each of us is different so you will need to work out how to make your diabetes work for your running.

Bryan

I always look when it's a running comment as I trying to improve myself! Initially I saw quite big drops in blood sugar - even a 5 k used to reduce but it wasn't long before a short run stopped lowering my bg and actually made it go up. I then used to.get an initial rise in bg and then about 45 mins into a run I would start to drop. For a couple of weeks I was able to run for about 90 mins without extra carb. I think this is because my body had adapted to running. Then yesterday I went out for about an hour and 15 the heat had a big effect I think mainly because it made my heart rate go through the roof straight away - I had dropped by half in 40 mins. I think that as you build up keep testing. This can help you identify when you drop. I only drink water but I take on extra carbs if I am going over 90 mins. In theory over time you can apparently just burn fat for running I am trying to make progress with this

In 10 years running as a T1 I have always found a jelly baby a mile to be sufficient for me. However, all of this depends on what you are doing! For a 10K I would certainly use a JB a mile probably until the 5th mile and then I’d stop. Above that and I’d be looking to check my blood regularly and react accordingly. Any form of interval training then I’d be checking my bloods during the session and probably requiring insulin to stop it going too high.


I’ve seen comments above about having no fast acting insulin on board and I’ve always believed that you should have to enable the body to use the blood glucose efficiently. Certainly reduce the amount pre and post run. Personally, I have never tampered with my basal. The most important thing is that no two people are alike and you have to test and go through a long period of trial and error. Err on the safe side until you are certain and definitely have sugar of some form on you.

Scardoc said:

In 10 years running as a T1 I have always found a jelly baby a mile to be sufficient for me. However, all of this depends on what you are doing! For a 10K I would certainly use a JB a mile probably until the 5th mile and then I’d stop. Above that and I’d be looking to check my blood regularly and react accordingly. Any form of interval training then I’d be checking my bloods during the session and probably requiring insulin to stop it going too high.


I’ve seen comments above about having no fast acting insulin on board and I’ve always believed that you should have to enable the body to use the blood glucose efficiently. Certainly reduce the amount pre and post run. Personally, I have never tampered with my basal. The most important thing is that no two people are alike and you have to test and go through a long period of trial and error. Err on the safe side until you are certain and definitely have sugar of some form on you.

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Hi scardoc dunno if it's a bit late in the day to ask but I've just booked a half marathon (eek) I've been regularly running 10 k but I haven't got a fuel plan for any further - I've run about 2 hours and had a gel about half way through (tasted grim) I am going to try jelly baby a mile but that's about 13/14 jelly babies I don't know if I want to have that many have you done a half before do you have any advice. At what point should I stop the jelly babies thanks for any feedback