When to Run - Some Things From My Experiences

   This is when someone with Diabetes shouldn't run. Anything above 200mg/dL is (1) not going to feel very good for at least a little while and (2) if it's trending upwards will probably bring your system to a much worse place. You DON'T want to exercise heavily when your glucose level is this high. I indeed speak from experience. I made my first trail marathon attempt this year with a pre-race high glucose level. A pretty bad experience and avoidable at all costs.

This is a much, much more preferable glucose level. After

talking with a fellow athlete, the founder of TeamType1 - a Pro US Cycling team, I've come to realize the great necessity of having your sugar in a very specific range for endurance training. For someone with Type 1 Diabetes their glucose needs to be between 140-180 mg/dL. This does many things, but I think most importantly is that it creates a high and low end buffer zone. As long as one is not trending too quickly towards the high or low end of the buffer zone, you should be able to maintain decent glucose levels during heavy training, of course placing the insulin pump on "Suspend" for the duration of exercise under most circumstances.

   By maintaining your glucose withing this buffer zone, you actually place yourself in a peak performance zone also. I've noticed the tank running low on fuel during endurance training and it's because glucose levels were definitely dropping. Protein bars are great long-term sustainable energy in circs like this. A faster bump would also be a gel pack. Sometimes both are needed. Of course if you're headed out of the buffer zone on the top end, then a fraction of the normal amount of insulin you would take to drop from that glucose level is needed. Be EXTREMELY cautious taking insulin to re-align your high glucose during endurance training. A little goes a long way. There is something else I've learned about this kind of training. When I'm done with some endurance training, let's say my glucose is like 133 mg/dL, I almost always have to take a "Temporary Basel Rate" of like 120-135 % for usually about two hours. This is my recovery window. This happens regardless of my having some chocolate Silk for a recovery drink and or eating something.

These are some of the tricks I've learned to use in tweaking my performance and making life a bit easier...and safer. I am stating this about running, however I follow the same practices for cycling, and for bricks or double bricks (a "Brick" is bike/run/ick! and a "Double Brick" is run/bike/run, AKA a duathlon).