Still gotta like him!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Michigan State Triathlon & Duathlon Championship
It’s been awhile…life, life, life. Let’s see if I can remember what happened at my last race.
What was I thinking eating Mexican food the night before a race!! It was just a veggie taco salad…how’s a girl to know it was going to skyrocket the blood sugars all night long! I had to bolus corrections every two hours until I went to bed. This was not setting me up for a good race. But it is what it is right?
I woke up the next morning with sugars in the 130 range. Not too bad considering the Mexican fiesta I had the night before. This methodical, dare I say, OCD girl ate her very same pre-race breakfast. I hate being so predictable, but ya’ll know me by now.
I was going alone to this one. Brent opted out of this race. My last, and only Olympic of the year and he is a no show…geezzzz. Good thing I know the love is there!
I got the gear in the car and headed out to the park. Pontiac Lake Recreation area is big, and full of mountain bike trails, so there were a lot of mountain bikers they’re looking at us like we were crazy. Which of course we are. Who would actually swim in 68-degree water, wetsuit or not!
Cold weather stands out the most. VERY cold that morning. I was setting up my area in gloves and a hat. I see all the usual suspects there. Gym rats and tri geeks. I saw my tall friend Steve at a distance…not hard to miss. He’s still setting up when I walk up to chat with him. We are both a bit nervous about that cold swim. I’m even prepared with 2 swim caps. You know what they say about heat and your head. I did a quick check of the blood sugars and I soared to 215 and it’s 1 hour before race time. I can’t remember what I did…probably nothing…I bet I just rode it out until the start because it only came down to 174 right before. (I found the paper I wrote my bg’s on, but I didn’t write down anything I did with the pump, or how I fueled…stupid me!)
With our wetsuits on we headed down to the beach. The sun is peaking out now and it doesn’t feel so cold. But it is still only in the 30-40 degree range. Ok, it’s still really cold to be swimming. But dang nabbit….I’m doin it! Steve goes first..then the women are off a few minutes later. I’m in up to my knees and I’m thinking it’s not so bad…what the heck am I worried about. Then I get up to my chest and now I’m thinking…oh crap…what the hell am I doing. I look at my heart rate monitor and it’s reading 100 bpm. Where’s it going to go when I really get in??? The horn blows and I physically can’t put my face in. I mean every time I try this strange impulse comes over me and keeps my head out. So I decide to breaststroke for a while. I caught a glimpse of my monitor now and it’s blinking 168! Wow! I thought it would go high, but that????
So 100 meters later my face finally makes it in and I fall into a groove. I figured the faster that can happen the faster the swim would be. I finished in 33:53…not too bad for me. I poked my finger yet again when I got to my bike and the meter read 168. That makes me happy…if I remember correctly.
I dried off as much as I could before I headed out on my bike. It was still cold and I had planned on going fast (☺) so it would be colder. I put on my long sleeves and attacked the course. There a few good climbs and I wanted to conserve as much of my legs as I could for the run. I was feeling great most of the time. My toes were frozen, but other then that everything went to plan. I finished in 1:26:07, with an average pace of 17mph.
I glided into transition with the sugars at 229. I’m sure I was disappointed here. (Funny how you don’t remember. That just goes to show you…you shouldn’t sweat some stuff huh?)
One thing I do remember is the run. The first 3 miles or so were awful! With the exception of the beautiful sun on my face warming me up! My toes were still numb from the cold, and every step I took it was like pins and needles stabbing into them. Boy if that is anything like diabetic neuropathy….I SO don’t want that! My pace was slow and my heart rate was high. Dehydration setting in? I don’t know if I was drinking enough because of the cold. In any case it was a terrible run. I remember giving a bolus for some food during…I’m just not sure what. I saw Steve around that 3-mile mark…he was on his way to the finish already….and in true Steve form asked if I was ok when he saw me testing. All was fine, still high, but just trying to get a rhythm in the run and putting the bg’s out of my mind. They let us use our ipods for the run……thank goodness for that. If I wouldn’t have had that super awesome run mix in my ears I don’t know how it would have gone!!
Finally, with the finish line in sight, I try to muster up that extra something…which just isn’t there. Maybe it’s because I feel like the absolute last person to cross, or maybe I was just spent..tapped out…toast…pick your adjective. I finished the run in 1:08…pretty poor for me. That’s an average of 10:57 minutes per mile. My sugars were at 249 now. Maybe that was some of the problem. I hate using the blood sugars as and excuse for poor performance, but it can indeed play a part.
So onward and upward as they say. From here on out it is back to base training. Long, slow, and easy. It sure is hard to keep that heart rate in zone 1-2 when all you want to do is hit it hard. But base phase of training is effective training! Thanks to Rick Crawford from Diabetes Training Camp for that! Base, base, and more base. And just when you think you’ve had enough…do more!!!
What was I thinking eating Mexican food the night before a race!! It was just a veggie taco salad…how’s a girl to know it was going to skyrocket the blood sugars all night long! I had to bolus corrections every two hours until I went to bed. This was not setting me up for a good race. But it is what it is right?
I woke up the next morning with sugars in the 130 range. Not too bad considering the Mexican fiesta I had the night before. This methodical, dare I say, OCD girl ate her very same pre-race breakfast. I hate being so predictable, but ya’ll know me by now.
I was going alone to this one. Brent opted out of this race. My last, and only Olympic of the year and he is a no show…geezzzz. Good thing I know the love is there!
I got the gear in the car and headed out to the park. Pontiac Lake Recreation area is big, and full of mountain bike trails, so there were a lot of mountain bikers they’re looking at us like we were crazy. Which of course we are. Who would actually swim in 68-degree water, wetsuit or not!
Cold weather stands out the most. VERY cold that morning. I was setting up my area in gloves and a hat. I see all the usual suspects there. Gym rats and tri geeks. I saw my tall friend Steve at a distance…not hard to miss. He’s still setting up when I walk up to chat with him. We are both a bit nervous about that cold swim. I’m even prepared with 2 swim caps. You know what they say about heat and your head. I did a quick check of the blood sugars and I soared to 215 and it’s 1 hour before race time. I can’t remember what I did…probably nothing…I bet I just rode it out until the start because it only came down to 174 right before. (I found the paper I wrote my bg’s on, but I didn’t write down anything I did with the pump, or how I fueled…stupid me!)
With our wetsuits on we headed down to the beach. The sun is peaking out now and it doesn’t feel so cold. But it is still only in the 30-40 degree range. Ok, it’s still really cold to be swimming. But dang nabbit….I’m doin it! Steve goes first..then the women are off a few minutes later. I’m in up to my knees and I’m thinking it’s not so bad…what the heck am I worried about. Then I get up to my chest and now I’m thinking…oh crap…what the hell am I doing. I look at my heart rate monitor and it’s reading 100 bpm. Where’s it going to go when I really get in??? The horn blows and I physically can’t put my face in. I mean every time I try this strange impulse comes over me and keeps my head out. So I decide to breaststroke for a while. I caught a glimpse of my monitor now and it’s blinking 168! Wow! I thought it would go high, but that????
So 100 meters later my face finally makes it in and I fall into a groove. I figured the faster that can happen the faster the swim would be. I finished in 33:53…not too bad for me. I poked my finger yet again when I got to my bike and the meter read 168. That makes me happy…if I remember correctly.
I dried off as much as I could before I headed out on my bike. It was still cold and I had planned on going fast (☺) so it would be colder. I put on my long sleeves and attacked the course. There a few good climbs and I wanted to conserve as much of my legs as I could for the run. I was feeling great most of the time. My toes were frozen, but other then that everything went to plan. I finished in 1:26:07, with an average pace of 17mph.
I glided into transition with the sugars at 229. I’m sure I was disappointed here. (Funny how you don’t remember. That just goes to show you…you shouldn’t sweat some stuff huh?)
One thing I do remember is the run. The first 3 miles or so were awful! With the exception of the beautiful sun on my face warming me up! My toes were still numb from the cold, and every step I took it was like pins and needles stabbing into them. Boy if that is anything like diabetic neuropathy….I SO don’t want that! My pace was slow and my heart rate was high. Dehydration setting in? I don’t know if I was drinking enough because of the cold. In any case it was a terrible run. I remember giving a bolus for some food during…I’m just not sure what. I saw Steve around that 3-mile mark…he was on his way to the finish already….and in true Steve form asked if I was ok when he saw me testing. All was fine, still high, but just trying to get a rhythm in the run and putting the bg’s out of my mind. They let us use our ipods for the run……thank goodness for that. If I wouldn’t have had that super awesome run mix in my ears I don’t know how it would have gone!!
Finally, with the finish line in sight, I try to muster up that extra something…which just isn’t there. Maybe it’s because I feel like the absolute last person to cross, or maybe I was just spent..tapped out…toast…pick your adjective. I finished the run in 1:08…pretty poor for me. That’s an average of 10:57 minutes per mile. My sugars were at 249 now. Maybe that was some of the problem. I hate using the blood sugars as and excuse for poor performance, but it can indeed play a part.
So onward and upward as they say. From here on out it is back to base training. Long, slow, and easy. It sure is hard to keep that heart rate in zone 1-2 when all you want to do is hit it hard. But base phase of training is effective training! Thanks to Rick Crawford from Diabetes Training Camp for that! Base, base, and more base. And just when you think you’ve had enough…do more!!!
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