Traing tecniques with type 1 diabetes (cycling swimming gym)

[martinsoton]

Hi Everyone

Ive been diagnosed as type 1 for 7months now.
I am training really hard at the moment, i am on a low carb high protein diet to try and loose weight, and spending between 1-3 hours an evening in the gym working most on cv fitness.

I as still a little unsure of the best technique to control bs levels when training for extended periods of time.

Yesterdays senario:

3 hours of road cycling holding average speed of 17 mph (quite good for me lol)
sugar needed to have a finishing bs level of 9.8 mmol/m

55 g from flap jack
17.5g from lucazade sport
72.5g in total

Total calories are 935
Total calories burnt (extimated ) 2000 cal

Should i been taking insulin along with sugar, as can the suger get to my muscles without insulin? Or would this decrease bs levels too much so i would need to increase sugar intake further. I did not seam to get tired os i guess muscles we not starved of fuel.

I am worried i have a 135 mile training race in June and i need to have good control for this race that could potentially be 9 hours in the saddle.

In September i am riding from Lodon to Paris for Diabetes uk and want to be in complete control by then.

I will increase my carb intake closer to the large rides, but due to lack of knowing when i am going to have time for training i cant really carbo load before training rides, does anyone have any ideas, about insuline rquirment while training best way to control sugar, i dont have a insuline pump or continues blood sugar monitor as i cant affort it and they are not available on the nhs

thanks in advance for all your help

 

[Katharine]

I'm sure Fergus who is a very keen type one cyclist could give you excellent advice here.

There is a site called "runsweet" which may give you some information meanwhile.

 

[hanadr]

Why would you want to have a finishing BG of 9.8? I do loads of exercise and don't allow myself to go above 6( Ok I have had a 6.3) I don't take any extra carbs. I do 2 hours in the pool and then in the gym every Monday and Thursday and snack on a few nuts between sessions. I am an oldie though and 2 hours is my maximum
Check out Fergus's posts. He cycles regularly and does it on low carbs

 

[phoenix]

The site mentioned by Katherine is herehttp://www.runsweet.com/DiabetesAndSport.html excellent site including a chart that will help you to estimate carb requirements.

 

[martinsoton]

I would not normally want to go that high, but i have done some rides where my levels dropped to 2.3. I did not feel any affects untill i stopped which scared me a bit, so i am a bit paranoid when i train now and try and stay at about the 7/9 mark, is that too high? Do you take insulin when you train?

 

[martinsoton]

That running sweet site is really good. It is just a shame the cyclist is on a pump, damm that would be sweet but cant afford it! lol

The cross channel swimmer is (copied from Runningsweet.com)

He should continue to take extra glucose but this should be in 2 forms:
He should start his exercise with blood sugars somewhere between 7-10.
If his blood sugar is below this level, he should take 30 grams of glucose immediately.
He should then make every effort to check his blood sugars whilst he is swimming, and when his blood sugar falls below 6-7, take 30 grams of glucose per hour thereafter.

I know long distance swimming is alot hard than long distance cycling but do you think i should be doint roughly the same thing. What i am still unsure of, is if i am taking all this glucose while trainnig do i need to take insulin to or is the excersie enough. Does the body need insulin to get the sugar in my blood system into my muscles, i read a of the athaleats use a higher dose of long acting insulin to do this (levimere)

what does everyone think?

thanks for your responces that website is great

 

[phoenix]

As always it is a 'your mileage will vary", thats why the runsweet site is good since it goes into the theory and gives you something to start from. You need to test frequently during your training , and be prepared with lots of drinks and gels. Hopefully you will be able to increase your long ride distances gradually so that 150miles will not be a venture into the complete unknown.

I'll start by saying, I'm not an athlete,more of a plodder. My first story is probably how not to do it, the second how I cope when training and running marathons.

This is what happened whilst on a weeks backpacking holiday. First, it was very trial and error and I went very low at times.I found that I had to cut insulin by half at breakfast and lunch whilst at the same time eating twice as many carbs
I still needed a half a cereal bar every couple of hours. At dinner I dropped the insulin but not by as much as the meals earlier in the day. Nevertheless I found that I was waking in the morning at about 3.3mmol,. On the third day I decided to cut my basal by about a quarter which helped though I was still strugling to keep my levels up towards the end of the day. By the end of the week I was in need of a rest!
My doctor told me that at another time I should cut my basal my half. This is probably about right , now I'm on a pump I've discovered that I need to cut basal by 50-70% when exercising.

I'm better at managing my levels when I'm running as I've had more practice. I tend to reduce dosage with breakfast, at least an hour preferably 2 before starting at about 6-7mmol. I drop dramatically during the first 20-30 min and it doesn't make any difference if I start with a higher blood glucose level ( possibly a very personal quirk). I then drip feed with dextrose tablets, 1 or 2 about every 30-40min min. Strangely I find I need to take the dextrose less often from about 2 hours until 4 hours. Then I need a bit more (a glucose gel or sports drink say 20gms CHO) to get me to the finish ( It takes me about 5.5hours to do a marathon because I'm slow.) When on MDI I didn't specifically reduce basal for running since the training was part of my normal schedule. As weekly mileage increased then I gradually reduced my basal.
Good luck with the training.

Edited to answer question: I think that the muscles normally only need a minimal amount of insulin to access glucose during sustained anaerobic exercise. There used to be an ultra runner on another forum that did not need any basal at all when training and running 100mile runs but as ever, you need to find out what works for you.