Wednesday Nights with the Nuts

     There are those in society who thrive on pushing themselves, pushing hard sometimes, and even pushing in a group setting. Heck, share in the pain right? Camaraderie is a great thing when you know you won't be alone in the pain cave. That's what I see Wednesday night trail runs as. The horn blows and you're all off down the trail, jibbing each other, letting the faster folks pass, trying to pace yourself or just pushing mad, monitoring your heart rate for zone limit, and waiting (OK resting for some of us) at the turns to make sure the last runner makes the right turn. Afterwards, slapping a fellow runner on the back as you laugh ridiculously at what you've just done...rock and log hopping in the dark, light-footing it down technicals through mud slop and wet rock, avoiding the lanky outstretched fingertips of the green thorn vine just waiting to draw blood, and all of this on a wet trail that's covered with freshly fallen leaves. A surprise with every footfall. Funny how this makes a person feel good.

    So, last night we did about 6 miles worth of mild trail torture. Thanks Dreama, a route well chosen (no sarcasm). Man, the fall colours were rockin' last night. The sun was going down at the beginning of the run, lighting the arms of the amber and yellow infused tree tops as if beams of sun had been absorbed by the leaves. With this above us and the broad view of the sprawling city in the valley miles below us...we had a rather beautiful run. I wish I had trails like this off of my back porch.

    I got all but one thing correct last night...I forgot my gel flask. I started with a BG of like 126 and the basal rate was at 40% of norm. So, I ate 3 PB&J crackers and started stretching out, forgot my gel and left with the group. About 1/2 mile into the run, I mentally slapped the side of my head b/c I knew what I had just forgotten. So, I monitored closely and pushed hard so that my efforts were more then typical and would get the liver to help me keep my BG at a sufficient level. Man, it worked like a charm. While I would never forget gel on purpose, the tactic that I applied worked very well to maintain my BG. When I got back and did a finger stick it was 130. Freaken perfect man. So, I bolused 3 units and bumped my basal to 150 % for 2 hours, as I could feel the BG going up already, since the liver keeps doing it's thing even when you don't need it anymore. This is the formula that seems to work for me post run. All-in-all....a great Wednesday night run...in fact the last one to be started in daylight, as time falls back one hour Sat. night.

Sunday - Atomic Duathlon

PRE-RACE:

     Today I was not optimally ready to go, pre-race. First, we were a bit late to the race location and 2nd, my bg was ~350...auggghhhh! Not a good place to start. Pre-Race adrenaline got to me more this time then last race. It wasn't breakfast that was for sure. Breakfast, along with the bolus for it, were gone about 2 hours beforehand. Oh well, I got everything set-up in trans and ran into a few familiar folks from our local multi sport/cycling club. I walked to pick-up and got my goods and numbers and then hoofed it back to my transition spot. This would be the fastest prep before a race I think I've done yet. It helped to have previous race experience. So, I was ready to go in about 5-8 minutes.



RACE:

    If I had failed to mention yet that the weather was a bit less than optimal....well it was a good bit challenging, that's for sure. So, just keep in mind that during this race the temp was like mid to high 40's and the wind was kickin from the Southwest at ~ 25-30 mph. Line-up and off goes the horn/gun. The first run was nice. I wasn't warmed up yet for it, but hey I was late. I was doing about an 8:15-8:30 minute mile for the first 2.4 miles. Transition to bike. Let me say that I had no delusions of having any stellar bike time. It was windy as heck out there no matter which direction you were headed. Once I warmed up after about 5 miles, I kept it in the big ring for as much as I could, except hills. That helped me a bit and it wasn't killing me. My hands and toes were a we bit cold and numb when I got back, but that warmed up in the sun on the second run. It took me about 23-25 minutes for the second run. Man I hate that cement leg feeling when you start your second run.



FINISH:

    This is where things were different for me for the first time in a race. I usually finish with hardly a soul around me and no one every really close to me. This time was different however. All but the last 1000 ft dash to the finish were uphill, so I kept pacing myself reserving...it was my last race of the year so for what I don't know, but I was pacing myself none the less. Up the last hill 2 guys that looked my age pass me. Then 2 women pass me and then pass the 2 guys who had just buzzed me also. The girls were moving pretty fast. So, I made a quick decision to hold the gap with the guys....10-15 ft...not a problem. Meanwhile, I'm telling myself "pace it or got for it. Pace it or go for it. Pace it or go?" Then on the last 100 ft of the hill I decide I remember I have nothing to loose here so I kick it in gear and pass the 2 guys going up the last of the hill. I'm on the heels of the first girl and were going downhill now to the finish...."that's it man...Go!Everything drop it in right now". So I did. "This is cool" I'm thinking. I pass the first gal and and on the heels of the 2nd girl and she knows it. We're flat out for the finish. She holds the gap and we finish about 1 second apart from each other. "Man that was fun". I need to get faster so I can have more of that experience more often. I finish at 01:58:...and change and a bg of 87mg/dl. I'm good with that. I finished, I didn't walk or crawl, and I wasn't injured. All was good. I got 3rd place in the beginner category. Cool. This will be my last beginner race. So, now I have to race for the prize with the big dogs, and my AG is very competitive.

Insulin Temperature - The Review

This is of course purely from the users mindset. Having come to cooler temperatures this fall, the issue of body temperature and external temperature factors effecting my insulin and its effectiveness have come to mind again.

All three of the more familiar insulins, (Apidra / Novolog / Humalog) for type I Diabetics, appear to all be on the same page as per temperature levels for storage and insulin pump use.

New Bottle to Insulin Pump Use

• Apidra-------------------- 36 - 98.6 degrees F
• Novolog------------------- 36 - 98.6 degrees F
• Humalog------------------ 36 - 98.6 degrees F

So, a poll of user issues with this is not really necessary I feel. What I do feel is necessary is to do some testing myself. So I shall proceed and write later about this when I've obtained some results later under varying conditions. The main question here seems to be in my head..."What is the percent of deterioration, in effectiveness of the insulin, over time in an insulin pump cartridge while being exposed to an average variance of daily temperatures"?

I may not be able to obtain data about remaining effectiveness for the insulin, but I can obtain data about temperature levels from environmental and body variances on the insulin in my cartridge. After all, most of us are very active individuals and throughout our daily routines I'm sure we all come into contact with environmentals that exceed the temperature limits for our insulin. Let's see what I find.

Transitions

    Well, I'm on the last bottle of Novolog I'll use for the warmer part of the year. It's cooled down significantly here and so training doesn't get so hot anymore. Time to transition back into Apidra use in the pump. I brought this issue up back in April and made some notes and changes because of it.

   I'll post a survey on here about insulin usage that I would be very interested in reading results from folks. Let me draw it out and make sure it's appropriate and it will be posted sometime today. Thanks.

Sunday - Mystery Mountain Marathon

Pre-Race:

• 04:30 - 05:00 - "Get up Soldier!!" BG was 137 "Awesome". Ate the pre-race meal that works for me (fresh ground wheat pancake topped with "peanut-only" natural peanut butter, dribbled with maple syrup, and some 2009 applesauce I made a month ago). reserved for Friday's only and race days. Bolused the normal dose of insulin before 05:00.
• 05:00 - 05:45 -Since my gear was packed the night before I did a review of gear and ran through the checklist. Good to go. I answered the phone twice before leaving home as nature calls early on race days. Packed the pooch and the wife and I left for Funville at about 05:50.
• 07:00 - 08:00 - As we pull into the park, "Fort Mt. State Park", we see a long line of cars waiting to get past the gate. Registration was suppose to start at 06:00, but the ranger responsible for opening the gate I think slept in a little. Oh well, ends up we didn't start late. The gate opened as I just finish walking to the front of the line to see what was happening...ha. Registration was moved to a larger building this year overlooking the lake and was much more suited then the smaller one used last year. My phone rang again...nature had called one last time before the start. Good that sets me in a good place for GI issues. Picked up my packet and goodie bag. Finished dressing for the race and stretched for a bit. BG check and I'm at 136 mg/dl...."praise the Lord" perfect! My buddy Ed had decided to run the first 12 miles with me....but he left his shoes in the driveway...nice. Lucky for him a fella there had a spare pair that barely fit. Awesome. I was very pleased so far..my friend was able to keep me company and my BG and GI issues were in check compared to last year. We're good to go and head to the start line. Quite instructions, a few pictures, and off goes the start gun. My wonderful wife takes a few snap shots of us as we slug by her in the crowd and I step back and give her a kiss before I leave realizing "I can't believe I almost began the most difficult run of the year without thanking her and getting a good-luck kiss". Duh.

The Race

• Miles 0-11 - The warm-up loop around the lake is always an enjoyable first mile. I'm in no rush and my buddy is running my pace. It's flat and rooty, a little wet, and crowded, but par for the course. Chatty and relaxed every one still remains. Ed and I keep a decent pace passing and being passed by a few speedies who took a wrong turn. Only saw two falls on this race and both were in the first 11 miles. No body hurt so no big deal. We carouse through rocky, rooty, cambered, and wet trails with varying elevation gain and drops...but by far not flat, yet not difficult. In fact, the first 11 miles are like any typical moderate trail run I've done dozens of times. We stop and take a look at an overlook deck that gives us a view of the cloud filled valley that seems thousands of feet below us. That was the view of heaven. Climb a few sets of trail deck steps, trudge up sections of 200-500 ft rocky uphill trail, dance a quickstep downhill many times, and in a blink we're at the half/full split aid station. The Gahuti was good to us. Sweet! Ed's got a mile left, so we say goodbye and good luck and he powers home the last mile passing many around the lake back to the finish. Just before he leaves he got a good look at what I had next. About 1000 ft of pure uphill in the distance of about 1/4 mile following a power line. Now it may be a little less then that, but from my viewpoint it looked pretty big.
• Miles 11 - 18 - The first big uphill after the break wasn't all too bad. It was however only the beginning of my fun. I thought that when I got to the top of that big hill I'd meander around it a little bit, maybe where the radio tower was, and then somehow head down and around the mountain a bit. Silly, silly boy. "Don't you remember talking and reading others notes of the difficulty of this race?" This is where I remind myself that I am a man among giants. So at the top again here I am. I turn right and maybe run 100 feet. I head up a small heavily bouldered hill and begin the ~1 - 1.5 mile downhill. Downhill that is a good bit steeper then the uphill I just did. Now, at this point I'm thanking a few friends I run with for maybe unknowingly giving me a little pre-warning about downhill running. I'd run hard downhill before past a few in our group runs on Wednesday nights and they laughed a little at me, but I knew there was more to that then met the ear. So, during the first 11 miles of the race I had adequately reserved my strength and had only powered down one small downhill section of railroad tie steps. I wanted to play it safe and I'm glad I did. In retrospect...I should have probably taken even longer up and down this section of the mountain and remained even faster and feeling better for other beautiful running sections of trial. Well, by the time I got to aid station, I think it was #5 or #6, my knees were aching and pretty much becoming hamburger meat. Dang it...that's not what I needed...but I wasn't going to let it stop me. At the farthest out aid station on the 301 loop I make the turn around and return to the top of the mountain. At this point I'm walking down hill and doing moderate running uphill. My knees are done for and my feet, which are sporting a pair of Injinji toe socks, are getting a bit sore...but they're not really the problem. It's the knees. Man I haven't seen this portion of the pain cave before.
• Miles 18 - 26.2 - At this point I should note that I was paying very close attention to two other important things. #1 being my BG levels and #2 being hydration and nutrition. In the end, I felt like I paid good attention to this and did the right things, except for forgetting to take enough insulin once after refueling and the BG getting to about 230 mg/dl. In total, I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, 1.5 bananas, 2 nutrition bars, a handful of pretzels, 1.5 oranges, 5 Endurolites, 4 oz. of Hammer Gel, and 7 liters of fluid (both plain H2O and powerade) during the whole run. Moving on...the volunteer at the 18 mile aid station was so right. The next 3.5 miles uphill felt like 5 miles. In fact, it seemed, time wise more like 6 or 7 miles. I power walked...though it probably looked like power crawling, up the distance with some occasional fits running. At the top, and now at the second to last aid station, I was told I had 3.9 miles left. Don't ask about the math here. Those are the numbers I was given. So, I refueled and headed off a little happier...thinking "Man the worst is done. You're headed to the home lane bro. Good job. Now don't stop and keep your feet running or moving quick and for goodness sake, "Don't fall or trip". I ran what seemed like the 2.9 miles I had before the last aid station and came upon an aid station, or what kind of would have appeared to be one, but things just didn't seem right. I made a quick attempt at contacting my wife again, as I knew I was at one of the higher points of the mountain again and signal strength would be good, and left her a message that I felt I was about 1 mile from the finish. Don't take everything you hear for truth Mikey boy. I ran another 1-1.5 miles uphill and came to an opening in the woods that looked familiar. As I got closer I couldn't help myself. I said it out loud like the trees would talk back to me or something..."You've got to be shitting me". I looked around almost embarrassed I'd said it out loud..yet at this point I really didn't care. I was at the top of that beautiful ~1000ft hill I had climbed earlier right at the half/full trail break. Guess what I had to go down? As soon as I got to the opening at the top the volunteers at the bottom start yelling..."Runner...whao hooooooo!!!! Come on down! Come on down!. At this point two thoughts go through this thick skull of mine. One, "they have no idea. They really don't." Two, "This is the most torturous thing you've done to your body every...to date...Mike. Don't do this one again. Once is enough. Now finish this damn thing." At this point my knees and feet were in so much pain...I just didn't care. Not a lick. Crawling down that hill I'm also thinking..."How is it the folks who did this in like 6 hours and came across the finish line smiling did it. I mean this is where I really do feel like a man among giants." At the bottom of the hill I stumble and trip through and somehow do not fall into a small creek crossing before the last aid station. I don't stop. I head toward the lake for the last mile home. There's a babe at the finish line waiting for me and someone better have saved me a bowl of that promised hot chili. I run 3/4 of the loop around the lake. I finish the run across the line to a crowd who, picks up from my wife my name and is screaming, "Come on Mike...good job!" I crossed the line. I cracked. Someone, a girl I guess, handed me a glass. My medal for finishing. I tried to say "thank you", but I couldn't breath in. I felt like a fish out of water. My face felt wet but I just thought it was sweat. I started hyperventilating. I just wanted to hug my wife and sit down. 20 seconds later I was breathing like a human again and headed for the lake. Soke those legs and then get your chili.

That was it. 7 hours, 41 mins, 56 secs, 14,000 feet of elevation gain and loss, 26.2 miles of heaven and hell, and a year of training to do it right...and here I was. I'd won a small victory on the pathway of giants. And that's really what it is. I am a man among giants. I've just not paid attention to the footprints left by them as they too have followed the same hallowed and painful path to where it is they are headed.

Wednesday - Group Run

   Tonight's run was to be an easy taper. 2 things here...#1 I ran a PR instead of tapering (I know , I know), and #2 my glucose dropped a little too low for my liking. According to the CG it hit 97, so I assume it was somewhere a little below that since I was a bit low on energy and the HR was a little too high. Downed some gel and off I went. Fixed it within a few minutes. In fact, after taking gel I realized I could PR the run, so I pushed it a little. I wouldn't have, but all felt well and I don't feel like I put in a hurtful effort. This AM I'm feeling like I do after a mediocre run, so all is good. I also tried a new sock tonight. Man I like'em so far. I'll try them one more time and probably use them Sunday. It's made by Injinji: and called a toesock. I received a pair of socks like this years ago as a Christmas gift, but hadn't thought of their possible use for trail running. Saw a friend with a pair the other day and asked where she got them. So, I snagged a pair before the run last night and tried them out. They wicked well and felt better then most of my current running socks. We are folks who not only as runners but as diabetics have to take good care of our feet and this is a great way to do that. I'll say if you have problems with blistering, these will help significantly.

Monday - Farther Between

     That is the distance in between my posts of late. This I can easily not care too much about. Why, because how does blogging about training effect my trail marathon on Sunday? It doesn't. So I care little about missing some posting as I have missed much. I do however want to post a few things to remember.


    I'm on taper. I'll run a little Wednesday or Thursday night...but a little and just as a reminder to my legs. I seem to find my body handles race day if I taper for a little longer then the average Joe.


    A week and a half ago my insulin pump died. It was like it was having a seizure of it's own. Buttons systemically quit working, etc. and it was a nostalgic weekend. From losing the pump for the day to not having up-to-date basal rates at the house. Two notes here for myself.

#1 - It's probably a good idea to be able to fall back on insulin shots if ever necessary. Don't forget where you've come from!

#2 - For goodness sake keep an up-to-date copy of your basal rates in the supply closet. Get one printed every time you see your Endo.



    So, I'm reviewing and preparing for this weekend. I've had a few daunting realizations during this period. One being the following statement on Marathon Guide dot com..."Ankle-twisting, knee-popping, quad-burning, face-planting, diabolically relentless climbing... in other words, GREAT!!!! Thanks to all of the support staff and organizers. I have run 40 marathons and this was by far the hardest course, but the most beautiful I have done!!" This along with an 3 time IM and ultra trail running friend, I run with Wednesday nights, saying that M3 was definitely the hardest on her list has me laughing a little at myself. I am not a seasoned athlete/marathon runner in the slimmest, and yet I somewhat naively sign-up for this behemoth. HA!!! That settles it...I've proven to myself that I've got more than one screw loose.

    Details, details. #1 - I WILL finish this 14,000 ft elevation gain and drop marathon. It will not kill me and my diabetes management will work. It's just a long trial run! Enjoy it.

#2 - I'm estimating 6 or less hours, but we'll just see about that won't we.

#3 - Think about this for a minute. I'll be packing about 3 qts of water, 2 (6 count) pkgs of PB&J crackers, 2 full gel flasks, Endurolite, 1 insulin pump, one full bg meter set-up, cell phone, and the bladder pack that's going to carry all of this. Now, the cell phone may be a little much, but it's a necessity in my mind. Think about what kind of weight this is going to be, roughly 8 lbs. Now think about the weight of what the average Joe will be carrying. You could easily drop 1-3 lbs depending on the individuals level of dependency on aid stations. Over 26.2 miles that starts to make a difference. So, I'm gonna have to work harder and maybe in the future learn how I could lean down a little. I may even only carry 1.5 qts of H2O and just refill between aid stations, but I need to think about that.

Any thoughts to share here?