Type 1 & intensive workout

Hello all, I am new to the forum. I have had type 1 for about 10 years and have been getting on ok and have not had any problems before.

Recently I have started a pretty intense workout schedule; it's called "insanity" and is heavy cardio for about 45mins. My routine is test blood, do workout, test blood, eat main meal.

I have done this twice, and before I start my blood is fine but after it has rocketed- yesterday my meter just read hi. I have brought it down sensibly and waited up for a few hours to test before I goto bed. However the last 2 nights I have had hypos- fortunately I wake up easily so thru are never too bad.

I am doing this for fitness not to loose weight- I am a good size. I guess my question is how do I manage this better? As a biologist by trade, I have a relatively good understanding of *why* this I a happening- glycogen breakdown and not enough insulin to absorb the released sugars. Furthermore, I appreciate that your blood needs to be good before you start the workout.

Any tips, similar experiences and remedies would be gratefully received- thanks
 

ElyDave

Well-Known Member
2,087
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I wouldn't do anything personally, unless I were experiencing adverse effects.

I'm a lot newer to this than you , but I'm in the position of trying to fit diabetes into an existing sporting regime. It sounds like this insanity stuff is doing the same for you as a set of running intervals or cycling time trial for me, it's high intensity aerobic and dumping glucose into your body due to the adrenaline etc.

As I'm sure you know, you'll be more insulin sensitive both during and after it, so I'd personally be wary of trying to correct the exercise induced high, with the risk of a low after (as you've experienced). My strategy in your position woudl be to treat this as an experiment, monitor before a session, half an hour into a session, then at half hour intervals afterwards,and see whether the circulating insulin is doing its job.

I'd only think about adjusting if I remained high more than a couple of hours later. You don't say whether this is morning or evening exercise?
 

hels

Well-Known Member
311
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Re: Type 1 & intensive workout

Have a look at www.runsweet.com it's a website targeted at athletes with diabetes.

I'm hoping to introduce some training soon. I used to do a lot of sport but haven't done much since I was diagnosed as type 1 during pregnancy.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

kareeta

Well-Known Member
200
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Being so high I can barely open my eyes :(
Hi

I've been doing Insanity, its brilliant. I found that for the first few weeks I had the most hypos than in all of my 15yrs of being Type 1. I do it after work around 6pm as it takes me ages to recover from it (red face!) so as long as my levels were under twelve I didn't get high. The few times I tried it earlier in the day (weekends) I would end up high all day regardless of eating/not eating.

Sorry this is not really much help but keep pushing play! :mrgreen:
 

ElyDave

Well-Known Member
2,087
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Interesting experiment today, I did 1 mile easy warm up, 4 x 800m/400rest, 1mile cool down, target pace 4:00-4:10, vs target 10k pace of about 4:15.
Outcome
1) 3:18.3 /0.8km@4:08 pace /AHR154 /MHR161
2) 3:15.7 /0.8km@4:05 pace /AHR160 /MHR166
3) 3:13.8/ 0.8km@4:02 pace /AHR166 /MHR170
4) 3:12.5 /0.8km@4:01 pace /AHR166 /MHR170

So all within target pace, and could have easily been faster. But the interesting thing is the BG - tested at 4.9 beforehand, so I took 10g carbs on board, afterwards tested at 4.7. I was half expecting a rise, obviously my aerobic capacity is prett well developed.