Tuesday's - What's in your Bag?

   That is "What's Your Secret Weapon"?

Mine is a very sticky substance called "Benzoin Compound - Tincture". It's an oral mucosal protectant that is 77% alcohol. When I first started using a pump, I couldn't keep some of my sites attached to my person, for the life of me. I needed something stronger than your typical site prep pad that I had been using. In southern Tennessee it is very hot and humid here throughout good portions of the year. Combine that with endurance training and you can forget having sites on after a workout. And yet, this stuff, recommended to me by a good friend. This stuff is the bomb. It's not perfect, but it's as close to perfect that I've found so far. Every once in a while after a really sweaty workout I'll have to re-apply, but this is rare and usually during warmer summer weather. So....what is your secret weapon?

Sunday Trainer Ride

Ride: 21.5 miles
Terrain: Pretty darned flat on the trainer =)
Time: 01:12:34

Pre-Ride Glucose: 136 mg/dl
Post-Ride Glucose: 98 mg/dl
Intake: 16 oz Hammer - Heed
Run Pump Status: Suspend


   We've had a good bit of rain these past few days. Hey, it's spring right! Let those flowers bloom. So, flip a bond movie into the laptop and ride off. Tempo felt good, kicked it up 5-6 times to get some higher hr zones for 3-8 minutes per uptick. Glucose felt great during this trainer ride. Near the end of the ride though I felt my glucose dropping a slight bit and so I corrected with a little Heed. Sweat like a pig too close to the grill. It's nice to have that wind resistance to keep you mostly dry on the road during cooler weather. The days are coming soon.

Wednesdays Thoughts

   Well, the Tour De Cure is off to a great start this year. I'm heading up the Red Riders team as their captain and enjoying it. So far we've had 3 rides. With the assumption that my teammates are riding on their own also, everybody is getting good mileage in the bank. We century riders will be doing a little bit extra riding to hit the spot. We've been hitting the media and local events to raise awareness and funds about diabetes and just how many people it effects. Most people have no idea the size of this issue. Diabetes is the next epidemic and it's here. It feels good to spread the word, to see that person you're telling finally understand the impact.

   On a secondary note. I listened in on my first DESA conference call last night. I'm holding great hope for getting something going with a local chapter for DESA. Step-by-step I'll find those interested and in need of such things here in Chattanooga and I will plug everybody into this. I see great potential here and am excited about. Basically what a local DESA chapter will be able to provide will be an outlet for educational events/meetings in the area, a way for local folks with diabetes to connect with peers, experts and or mentors, and medical professionals who have a clear understanding about how to deal with the issues that come into question with diabetes and all types of endurance sports and exercise. THIS IS GOING TO BE AN AWESOME THING.

Sunday - Moderate Ride

Ride: 39.01 Miles
Terrain: Rollers with a few baby hills
Time: 02:12:43

Pre-Ride Glucose: 98 mg/dL
Post-Ride Glucose: 133 mg/dL
Intake: 6 PB Crackers (before start), 8 oz. Hammer Heed, 1 Hammer Gel
Ride Pump Status: Suspend

   Today, was a day all people who love to get outside hope to be able to take advantage of. It was perfect. Really. I never expect to be able to enjoy too many of these types of days each year, but man it was absolutely perfect. Mild wind, perfect temps, sunny and beautiful. So, bumping up the mileage was very enjoyable today. Got some sun too. I took some of the Red Riders out again and we just enjoyed ourselves while pushing a little too. I say "took", but really I'm just saying "hey guys lets go put some miles on the legs". No one had any issues today. I'm glad for that. I think that on any ride we do, there will be plenty of folks to help out if something does pop up. We've got a lot of knowledge in the group and probably about 100 years worth of experience in diabetes care amongst ourselves also.

   Lately, I've taken to being a good bit more observant of vehicles on the road. There have just been too many recent events involving bikes and vehicles in this area to not have it on your mind. I'm not paranoid, but I'm just upping my alertness for safety sake...mostly for riders with less time on the bike.

Saturday - First Day of Spring Run

Run: 4.5 miles
Terrain: fairly flat
Time: 0:50:15

Pre-Run Glucose: 165 mg/dL
Post-Run Glucose: 87 mg/dL
Intake: 6 PB&J Crackers
Run Pump Status: Suspend

   Today was a nice run, weather was great, the wife went with, and we decided to include our golden retriever in the exercise for the day also. Nice. All points perfect. Today, I also decided to start doing some speed work. MAN, why wasn't I doing this before. It seems contradictory when you think about it, that you would have more energy and speed after pushing yourself, but it sure was true tonight. It felt great and because of that I'll keep doing it. Note to self!

Monday - Gone Compression

   I have asked the question on DESA about compression, but nobody really has much to say about it. So, I march on without much info on compression socks except they're suppose to work in favor of diabetes. In fact, the average store carries "Diabetic Socks", but what I got is a little more taylored to need. They are the 2XU COMPRESSION RACE SOCKS. Just trying them, they feel good. But then go cycling, or running in them, or just wear them on a typical days work. Wow! You have to appreciate that hugging sensation of compression. In a word...Fresh...that's how the legs feel wearing them. So far, I've used them for a days work and for cycling. I love these things. They rock for cycling! I look forward to trying them on a brick.

Sunday - Red Rider Team Ride #2

Ride: 18.1 Miles
Terrain: Mildly Hilly (Rollers)
Time: 01:13:43

Pre-Ride Glucose: 143 mg/dL
Post-Ride Glucose: 98 mg/dL
Intake: H2O
Ride Pump Status: Normal Function

   Another average ride day. Weather is typical for spring. Hey, if you want the flowers, you've got to have the rain. Glucose levels were good. No problems at all. It was not a pushy ride. I just knind of tooled along with the group. This was just a mileage ride. All is well. More mileage this week and a Brick on Friday and maybe Sunday also.

Friday - Last Cold Ride

Ride: 18.1 Mile
Terrain: Mildly Hilly (Rollers)
Time: 1:01:55

Pre-Ride Glucose: 211 mg/dL
Post-Ride Glucose: 104 mg/dL
Intake: 3 tablespoons Hammer gel
Ride Pump Status: Suspend 2nd half of ride

   Todays ride was less then pleasant to begin with. The best part about a ride in crappy weather is when you finish and realize, "Man, that made me feel so much better". I felt not so great riding. My body has been fighting off whatever this is thats been taring people up for a week at a time here locally. It's pretty nasty stuff. I lucked out and haven't had it so bad, but it has really drug me down and the nausea and headaches I'm about over. But, I still ride and run. I ran out of time today to finish a brick, but I'll get it later. My sugar did drop a little quickly half way into the ride. I expected a drop, but not that fast nor for that long. All was well though. the gell stoppped it in advance of bottoming out. That's the glory ing trending data from my CGMS. I would have known this data without it.

I'm Sick of This

   Unfortunately, I really mean that. I been feeling my body trying to fight off some funk for like a week and a half. It's been some pretty nasty, what I call, "Underworld Black Plague" hitting a lot of people in this area. It hits most folks both up top and down below and man it's the roughest virus I've seen in a while. My Friday night last week was well, like having a large hurricane move through your GI. I'll just leave that there for safety sake. Many friends and colleagues have had the "UBP" and I've yet to see just exactly how it's passing. I have to say that my sugars have been not too bad, but I can definately feel fluctuations in glucose levels during sick sessions when I'm feeling like crap. So, I just do a temp basal rate for 30 mins to 1.5 hours to adjust for the bumps in the sugar. I'll be a happy camper when this junk is gone.

On a side note, I just got a sweet helmet (2003 Giro "Pneumo") for a sweet deal. Man I've never had a helmet fit so perfectly. Now I'm sporting all Red, White, and Blue.

2010 Honda Insight - I just had to mention this

   Well, I've been following the 2010 Honda Insight for some time now, and just yesterday two of my local dealers got some price quotes for me. I have to say, they're not bad at "Out the Door = ~24k". I was hoping for a few thousand less, but that might have been asking for too much. I don't know. If you've seen the car or read about it, you know it's straight up competition for the Prius. We'll see how this works out in the real world over the next few years. As for puchasing, they'll be in at the end of the month, and if I'm lucky....blue baby.

Tuesday Thoughts

   Well, last night our local bike club had an invitation to the new Trek bike shop grand opening, so I went. Free food and drinnks were abundant. Nice spread. Goodies included one particularly intersting thing...a flip-top Fattire Beer tire patch kit. That was kind of cool and different. At the back of the store, unknown to many, was a little competition. They were doing free 60 second Powertap tests. I had never done one of those so I figured what the heck. I'm wearing scrubbs, but who cares. My sugar was a little high when I did this, so it kept going up afterwards and I had to correct for the increases, but it was fun. 60 seconds of "how much power can you put into the peddles" can catch you off guard if the day before you pushed yourself hard for 40 minutes straight through. You only live once right!

Monday - Push Ride

Ride: 12.1 miles
Time: 0:36:13
Terrain: Fairly flat with rollers (same as 03/08/09)

Pre-Ride Glucose: 156 mg/dL
Post-Ride Glucose: 121 mg/dL
Intake: 1 granola bar
Ride Pump Status: Suspend

    I've been itching to get out and start pushing myself. So, today I left work a hair early and headed out to do just that. Man, it just feels good when you push hard. My average speed was another record for me, though not awesome by any standard, it is still better than all others for me to date. Which means I've got some great room to grow this year. I look forward to that. One funny thing I found was that I actually burned more calories Saturday then I did today, with todays ride time at 1/2 of Saturdays...it was just kind of wierd. No problems though. I love being able to use the CG for trending though. Man, that thing is the bomb.

Saturday - 1st Red Rider Training Ride

Ride: 12.18 miles
Time: 01:17:08
Terrain: Fairly flat with rollers

Pre-Ride Glucose: 90 mg/dL
Post-Ride Glucose: 109 mg/dL
Intake: 4 glucose tabs
Ride Pump Status: Normal set

   Today, was the first training ride of the year for the Red Riders. Turnout was a little low, but hey, everybody is getting in gear. Five turned out. It was a good meet an greet. No problems with bikes or with Betes. All was good and the mountain bikers got a very good ride in.

Thursdays Thought

   Well, late Saturday night on the 21st of February, I had a little surprise. The kind we don't like to get. My CGMS Sensor quite on me. The battery has been a super sport. That's not the problem. It was more of a mechanical issue. If you could zoom in on this picture..............................................




you would see that one of the metal electrical connection prongs has clearly bloken off. I'm not sure how that happened, but it has. Argghhhhh! Ok, so I call the help line at Medtronic. They, doing their job, said I really needed to contact someone during normal weekday hours who could more appropriately handle this for me. There really wasn't much they could help me with as I found out that this CG was more than 1 year past its warranty. That's right my CG was/is 1 year and 7 months old and has now kicked the bucket.

   Now, I was under the impression that there was a 1 year warranty on the CGMS Sensors when I first got this one 19 months ago. This was my first sensor. However, due to it's size and people dropping it a lot, I've come to realize the company only warranties it for 6 months. I have NEVER dropped mine. The dang thing costs too much as invaluable to me. It's unfortunate on both sides of the fence that (A) Users, you would think, would take very good care of their CG Sensor knowing what it cost and (B) the manufacturer, in its test stages probably knew about this facet, and should be working on alleviating the issue. That would allow them to give it a longer warranty. Maybe I'm rambling, but $650 is a lot of money to me for something as technical as this device and I guess I expect more longevity from it. I love this thing and both myself and my wife could almost not live without it. My wife gets peace of mind while we sleep and I get incredibly valuable trending data while staying fit training and competing in endurance sports. OK, I'll get off of the oxcart now.

Tuesday - Hill Repeats

Ride: 4.3 Miles
Terrain: Hill Repeats on a 1/4 mile hill
Time: 0:20:12

Pre-Ride Glucose: 64 mg/dL
Post-Ride Glucose: 138 mg/dL
Intake: 1.5 cup Choc. Silk
Ride Pump Status: Normal operation

   I got to start doing some of my favorite hill repeats. They're my favorite because it's the hill I live on and I can always see improvement in regular rides when doing these. I checked the sugar 15 minutes before heading out and found it a little low (64). So, I had some of my handy Choc. Silk and started getting ready. I also underestimated how cold it was going to be. As I was pushing the bike out of the garage, I was telling myself I really needed my winter gloves not my summer fingerless gloves. I told that voice though that the winter gloves would take away from the needed shifting dexterity and to stick with the summer fingerless. Oh well, I warmed up afterwards in about 10 minutes. So it wasn't too bad. I definitely need to keep doing these repeats. I've been off of the bike too long and I can tell. I kept it rubber-side down, but came close to dropping it once on the way up the hill on my second repeat. The chain popped off. This time I wasn't able to shift through to get it back on. I can say it doesn't look so great when you come into work at the hospital with grease marks on your hands from popping your bike chain back on. Most people wonder if your a part-time mechanic. Aah, so what. My lungs were burning after coughing and snorting from pushing hard up-hill and doing like 35mph down-hill. Still too cold and too easy to fall on unseen ice so I slowed it down going down-hill after the 2nd repeat. That way your nose hairs don't freeze instantaneously and fall out (of course nobody likes to see those anyway so no real lose there).

Friday - 18 mile Speed Work

Ride: 18 miles
Terrain: Indoor Trainer, incorporated some hills pushes
Time: 0:56:33

Pre-Ride Glucose: 145 mg/dL
Post-Ride Glucose: 91 mg/dL
Intake: H2O
Ride Pump Status: Suspend

   I was dying to get the rubber side down today and do some speed work, or just push myself as hard as possible for my favorite 18 mile loop. That's always "weather pending" this time of year. It's still too cold to go out wet yet. so, I hit the trainer and hard. It's never the same, but it will due for now. Gotta get those calves back into the rythm.