Pre Race

I decided to sign up for Pleasant Prairie Olympic distance triathlon just to get more triathlon experience under my belt. We all know i need transition experience and open water swimming.  This meant a 3 am wake up… youza!  The race was about an hour a way and started at 6:30am.  I went to bed at around 10:30 I had given myself 2 units of insulin for my +200bg reading, i don’t really recall why.  I heard Tom come in around 2 am from his usual watering hole so I looked at my Dexcom and was surprised that i was still up at around 250.  I gave myself more insulin – 1.1 units.  My alarm went off at 3 am and  I snoozed until 3:30.  I was again surprised to see that I was still at 254bg, the unit of insulin didn’t budge it. I waited before dosing again just in case the unit of insulin decided to kick in.  Nothing.  So I bolused for my breakfast which was a almond butter and banana sandwich and coffee (of course) at 35 g and by this time my bg was 305 so bolus was 4.9 units.  By this time it was 4:30 and I was late.  So off I went like a crazy driver North on 94 towards Wisconsin all the time feeling like I could just close my eyes.  In true Gillian fashion my printed directions blew down the side of my passenger seat so couldn’t reach them and I was driving my old beetle has no gps.  I drove past my exit and ended up at 2 exits away.  Luckily I was able to take the back roads there.  I arrived at 5:30, parked, pumped at my tires and rode Paddy to transition.  Everything was going pretty smoothly considering.   I racked my bike set up my shoes etc. The whole time watching my dexcom .  My bg was on its way down and was getting into the danger zone before swim as it was in  the 100’s.

The plan

For today’s race I decided to wear my medtronic pump with the acquapac in the water.  I had planned on leaving my dexcom at my bike but since my wave was one of the last I really wanted to know what my bg was pre-swim.  I had an hour between transition closing and my swim.  I ended up taking the dexcom with me and leaving it at the special needs table.  I also planned on reducing my basil pre-swim to 40% as normal and not going with my regular basil rates for the rest of the day. 

The swim

As I said I reduced my basil to 40% at 6:30 about 45 minutes before the swim start so about 0.2 units per hour. My bg as I was watching it went down to about 80 so I took a gel.   I was 190 going into the water I handed my dexcom off as we were all lined up ready to go in the swim in chute.  I felt fairly relaxed since the water seemed calm and it was a small lake, although it was the same scenerio at Leons and where i had panicked.  I belive there were only about 50 of us in my wave.  We ran into the water and I calmly started my swim.  Of course forgetting to turn my watch on.  I only had a small amount of anxiety for a short time and it pretty much went away.  I felt pretty good. I couldn’t see squat though since my goggles were totally fogged up.   I stopped to dunk them in the water to remove the fog.  I had trouble seeing where I was going.  At one point on the first leg of the triangular swim course I found myself swimming across the middle of the triangle and it took some time for me to figure out where I was supposed to be!  I finally figured it out.  As I rounded the last bend I could see the finish  about 1/3 mile away and picked it up .  It was a straight shot and I felt good.  I think the tarzan swimming and power kicking that we have been doing in swim practice helped me out a lot this time.

Total Swim time (found out after i wrote this) 36:09 about 10th from last in my AG! ugh… I felt so good!

T1

If you’ve been reading my blog  you know that I suck at transitions.  I got out of the water and grabbed my dexcom and jogged to my bike and past my bike then back to my bike. ( yea i ran past my rack).  I actually felt a little chilly and for some crazy reason was worried about being cold on the bike.  I stripped down put my socks, shoes helmet sunglasses on then decided to wear my arm coolers. I swear I don’t know what goes through my head in transitions, but things i do seem to make sense at the time.  Well, they were so tight that I strugged to get them on, over my garmin and over my wet arms.  I must have spent a good 2 minutes trying to get them on then I ended up pulling them down anyway because they were not on fully and were all twisted and it was NOT cold .  doh!  My bg was at about 209.  I ran with the bike to bike out.

T1 time – completely unacceptable at 4:46 2nd to last … this is starting to get annoying.

The bike

Never to ride my bike without a mishap I had 4 this time.  The first thing that happened as I was running out my pump with aquapac fell out of my shirt.  I had forgotten to take the aquapac off since it was inside my shirt.  So there i was with bike and my dangling pump and aquapac, not wanting to go back i just stuffed it all  safely down the back of my pants.  The second bike mishap was as I was mounting my bike.  My chain fell off. Here I am with this beautiful fast bike and I’m struggling to get my chain on… so rookie!  Finally, I thought i had avoided my issue with my bike computer falling off by just not using it.  I was going old school.  Well I did have my garmin but didn’t look at it.  I had my blocks and my dexom in the side pocket of my jersey.  Once I got going I felt great, the temperature was great and I started to pass a lot of people. This time I was going to have a good ride not getting off, or so I thought.  Well,  I had thought too soon.  At about 5 miles in to the bike  there goes the dexom out of my pocket on to the road.  I just can’t win with this computer equipment!  So, not wanting to leave a $1,000 diabetic device on the road, off the bike I go to run back to get it only to have to wait until there was no bike traffic to pick it up… i was so mad! :-Z as all the bikers i had just past whizzed by me.  I get back on the bike and start passing people again.  There was one guy with the exact same bike that I must have passed 4 times, he probably thought I was doing loops around him! So I rode hard and fast feeling great.  Then mishap # 4, I was riding along and I guess none of the people in front of me were on their first loop or they were doing the sprint because I totally missed the turn around for the second loop.  It was not well marked and they didn’t have anyone calling it out.  I saw some letters on the road but just figured the turn around was coming up.  I ended up heading to the bike in and stopped to tell an official that I missed the turn around and where was it.  He sent me back where I came from so I had gone about 1.5 miles extra 😦 .    As I headed off I felt like I was last on the road.  There was NO-ONE!  Well I did see the guy with my bike again.   I caught up and past some people but I really felt deflated.  During the course of the ride  I ate about 6 shot blocks 260 calories 40 carbs with a basil of about 0.8 units per hour. My Bg was about 233 not great but not bad.

Bike time with extra mileage – 1:12:31 avg heart rate 143

T2

I wanted to make this quick so, I took the aquapac off checked my dexcom and I was pretty steady at around 200.. a little high but for racing I don’t mind so much.  I grabbed my marguerita shot blocks and off I went.

T2 time 3:28 only third from last – really ugh!!!

The Run

I have been having terrible trouble with my body these days see my previous injury post.  My glutes and hamstrings have been EXTRA tight and my plantar fasciitis continues to pain me.  I felt pretty sore.  I thought to myself well, it doesn’t matter anyway since you screwed up the bike results.  I kept going with small slow steps my calves were burning. My first two miles were just under 9.  As usual around my 3 I started to warm up. So did miles 3 -6 at around 7:30’s closer to my usual pace.  I grabbed gatorade at each station but that was about it and left my basil at 0.8 units per hour.  I had a good finish on the run.  My bg ended at about 185.

Run time: 49:50 avg heart rate 156ish

Here is my dexcom report for the day: PP dexcom

It took me a few days to get my results becaue they had not registered me properly and I also took my chip off at mile two because the race strap was  about to slowly cut my foot off it was so painful.  Finally the official timer found me and emailed me my total time at : 2:46:41.

My goal for this race was really to get more practice, and help me figure out all the stuff that I need to be thinking about in transitions and with my blood sugars.  I am learning! That is for sure but these tranisitions are totally killing me.  It was fun seeing coach Jay and his partner Rob cross the finish line together, Jay went step by step with Rob for his first triathlon! It was also fun seeing the VisionQuest team win prizes and to see Robbie and Dave racing!