Wobbley and Shakey

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Gillian

Today I was riding into work and that familiar low blood sugar feeling set in.  I was wobbly and shakey. I left the house feeling fine and I hadn’t over bolused.  I had a banana and almond butter and some grapes which in my typical guessing mind would have been at least 35g of carbs.  Knowing that I was riding to work and that grapes are pretty high in sugar I bolused for 25g of carbs.  I finally had to stop and search my bag for something sugary.  I found two marguerita clif blocks in my purse which i quickly ate.  Annoyed that i had to eat something when I didn’t want to and that I could barely peddle I started to feel the oh woe is me feeling.  Tears even started to well up in my eyes as i struggled to keep peddling and finally pulled over for a few minutes to take a deep breath.  I think I am also suffering from the post-ironman blues.  All week I’ve been struggling to get to work to sit at my desk and bean count – not very exciting.  I finally got moving again which was either a result of knowing that it wasn’t the end of the world OR the clif blocks kicked in. 🙂

Speaking of commutes don’t forget that its bike to work week next week! Lots of fun and lots of free stuff on your commutes!

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Leons Race Report

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Gillian

Race Report – Leon’s Triathlon

This was the third year since the resurgence of Leon’s Triathlon.  The triathlon was a popular Olympic distance race in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  It took a hiatus and then came back in 2010 just as I started training with the Trimonsters.   For the most park the original group have been back each year.  We typically end the day sitting in the sun eating food and drinking beer as the race organizers pack up around us.  We are always the last team to leave it is always a blast.  This year especially we had over 50 athlete.

I went into this race with low expectations given my ironman finish just 2 weeks prior. I felt that I was not quite fully recovered.  If nothing else I could practice my transitions!

WAKE UP

The alarm went off at 4:45.  I tested at 220 (a little high) I bolused 8.5 units for my bagel / banana and almond butter breakfast and correction.  I got ready, made coffee, put my bagel in tinfoil to eat in the car.   However, because I took longer to eat the timing was off and my blood glucose came crashing down so by the time I got in the car I was seeing stars.  Officially I probably should not have continued but I did anyway it was 5:35 and I needed to leave.  I drove off got on Lake Shore Drive and for the first time in my diabetic life I probably should not have, I am not proud of this fact but for full disclosure I need to say it.  I was slightly disoriented not sure if I was going the right way etc.  I ate the bagel then remembered the emergency jellybeans… yes!  Jellybeans to the rescue.  Handfuls of them.  Yes, you know what happens next.  My blood sugar shot up like a rocket (see graph).Leons dexcom report_1

PUMP PLAN

For this race I was going with the waterproof pump (omnipod) for the swim then my regular pump for the rest and my Dexcom (constant glucose monitor) in the aquapac.  I set the PDM for the omnipod to reduce my basil by 60% for the swim (0.3 units per hour).  I was sort of stumped at what rates I should be using for the Olympic distance because it had been so long since I had done one.  Nevertheless going with less in the water was best.  My BG pre swim was 178.  I decided that I would just keep my basils as they are normally for the rest of the race at 0.75 units per hour. The temperatures were fantastic – water at 66 degrees – yay wetsuit then the rest of the day was due to be in the high 70’s the wind at 10-15 mph.  No extraordinary high temperatures or low to worry about.

PRE RACE

I set up my transition area.    Leon’s is great, they have these awesome wooden bike holders with a place for your bike and a place for all your stuff, you can just sort of throw it in there and no-one can mess with it. I put my regular insulin pump in my bike shoe and set my temp basil on the omnipod.  I met some other trimonsters and T2’ers and enjoyed the warm hellos and camaraderie, we did a little ra ra piece for the tv cameras. I picked up my race packet and a “free” race belt from the vendor area. Yes, the kind young man gave it to me for free, I think I looked lost!  Applied all the necessary stickers to the helmet and bike and I was all set.    Chris had set up an interview for me with the camera crew on “ life living with diabetes as a triathlete”  they thought it would make a good little news piece for the Leon’s broadcast.  I am terrible in front of a camera and terrible at adlibbing.  But thought I’d give it a whirl anyway.    Half way through the interview the camera man had to leave to cover the national anthem.  We finished up later after the race.  I’m not sure they got enough but we’ll see.

THE SWIM

At this point it was time to put the wet suit on J and head to the water.  I downed by Espresso flavored hammer gel for the swim. Hootie zipped up my wetsuit and immediately my chest started buzzing, it was my dexcom yelling… your sugar is over 200!  Pull the wetsuit back down turn off the alert. I didn’t want the buzz going off during the swim. Although in hindsight it might have been a good distraction.  It was a wave start and I was 4th wave orange caps – that is orange the same color as the buoy swim course marker orange.  Yes these bobbing heads in front of me all looked like little buoys.  Try following those and not go off race course!  Anyhow there was only about 100 or so in my wave a far cry from starting the swim with 2500 of your fellow athletes.  The swim was in a small lake just over the border in Indiana jokes are made that this is where the mafia used to dispose of bodies ha!  The water was cool but nice.  The horn blasted and we were off.  Shocker, Gillian panicked again.  WTF – I’ve never been afraid of water, just never a good swimmer.  Now I was a good (well ok) swimmer and I’m all of a sudden afraid.  It makes no sense.  I felt my chest tightening and my breathing was hard.  The whole time I’m thinking about a triathlon I may sign up for in September that involves a 3 mile swim and wondering if there is a cut off.  Well, despite everything I made it back alive.  Ran up the ramp and saw Katie, Tom and Helen.  I was so happy to be out of that freaking water.

Swim time 31:01 – better than I thought and 13 minutes better than Leon’s in 2010! 2011 timing was screwed up for some reason so no comparative. I know I was doing approximately ½ a mile in 15 minutes at the indoor triathlons so at 0.9 miles in 31 minutes I was rather pleased. I didn’t know what my time was until later because doh! I’d forgotten to start my watch.

Next up T1 yes y’all I was going to do this fast.  I ran towards the entrance trying to unzip my wetsuit.  I couldn’t do both. Ok walk and find wetsuit zip strap.  I finally found it and unzipped.  This is when I looked at my watch and realized that I hadn’t started it. I took the watch off to take the wet suit off and put it down.  Well I forgot to put it back on.  No matter I had my bike computer. Or did I?   For this race there was no changing.  I ripped off my omnipod and put my regular pump on, took my Dexcom out of the aquapac and put it back in its little leather case, grabbed my endurloytes, helmet, gloves, and sunglasses.

T1 – 5 min 30 seconds.. arg!  I was 2nd to last in my age group for this transition. Thanks to my team mate Susie Olsen who took last in our age group J

THE BIKE

I started off on the bike, the road was bumpy the aero bottle giggled.  A lot! I look down and I saw that what I thought had been fixed by the bike shop was not.  The aerobottle was floating back and forth and not stuck on the velcro like it was supposed to be.  I quickly undid the elastics to stop it moving forward and attached them to the side. I checked the bike computer it seemed ok.  I moved on.  First turn, then a huge bump, there goes the bike computer (IMTX all over again), then there goes coach Chris, “G your bike computer” yes, I see.  So off the bike to walk back to get it.  Since I didn’t care much I put the computer in my pocket.  The course for Leon’s has lots of turns and you actually ride up an on-ramp onto an unused portion of a highway, kind of cool but a lot of sharp u turns as you go up and down one side of the highway then up and down the other side.  I felt great though.  I finally got some speed going on the “speed” concept bike and passed a number of people. I just got into aero and went.  As my back started to hurt I recalled portions of Chrissie Wellington’s book and her capacity to endure pain.  I thought if she can do this during an Ironman surely I can put up with some pain for an Olympic distance! I also recalled many crazy commutes home against huge headwinds, hail, sleet and snow and that was 6 miles.   So, I put my head down and suffered. I ate 4 clif blocks  and had a few sips of Gatorade on the bike.

I finished the 2nd loop and headed into T2

Ride time 1:16:11 – average 19.5 MPH  I was very happy.  Of course I had no idea at the time because my watch wasn’t on and my bike computer was in my back pocket.  I’m so glad I paid lots of money for these wonderful devices!  I can’t really compare it to years past because in 2010 the course was a bit short and in 2011 it was a bit long.

T2 I looked at my Dexcom the line was straight but I was sitting at around 230.  I didn’t do anything with that because it’s not overly terrible and I thought if I left the basil the same that it would just come down on the run anyway.  I felt super fast in T2 I found my watch and put it on.  Visor sunglasses shoes, race # check done.  I didn’t eat or test.  I grabbed my marguerita flavored blocks.  I only had 1 on the run but drank Gatorade.

T2 time 2:57 – see what happens when I skip testing!

THE RUN

I started the run and felt the familiar  hip pain on my right side.  I thought the new bike alleviated this issue, it’s always the one side, perhaps I’m out of balance.  But I guess maybe hammering it on the bike takes its toll.  Again I drew strength from Chrissie.  The run is out and back so I had fun cheering on other athletes as I went, there were obviously some uber fast people who were finishing as I was starting, but there were also 3 other waves who started ahead of me J  I kept running with hopes that the hip thing would go away.  I didn’t feel the plantar fasciitis which is the norm for a race it seems.  It was fairly hot out at that point and no shade.  I saw Dave Athans who yelled his usual “catch up to me Gillian” which never happens.  This man is an incredible athlete and is my hero. He has no fancy equipment it’s all just him and his strength.  I would hate to see the damage he could do with a brand new bike! Not only that but this man can party like a rockstar.  Truly a legend amongst us trimonsters. Further down the road I see Trevor (our swim coach) I try to say hi but he is in a zone then Tim, also in his zone.  A few minutes later I see Chris and tell him to “go get ‘em” he at least high fived me (I think he did end up catching them!)  Just before the turn around I see Dave Ellis and Steve, who doesn’t look happy.  I catch up to him and try to get him to come with me but it’s not his day.  Normally he beats my ass every time.  At 3 miles of any run I start to feel pretty good.  The kinks are finally worked out and I can get into a good pace.  My breathing was still pretty heavy though and I suspect I may have sports induced asthma.  Especially as I pick up the pace like that.  On my way back I see a few of the others as they are heading out – April (always smiling), Shaina (looking as marvelous as always), the Tanners, Lorrie and Susie (Team Wild) and tons of other T2’ers Abby, Traci and Sally etc.  I start to pick the pace up and take it home.  I felt good passing some people at the end.  I run hard down the finishers chute just under 3 hours on the clock (2:57:19) that means I finished in just over 2 hours and 42 minutes. Finally the other awesome thing about Leon’s is that Leon himself stands at the finish line and shakes ALL finishers hands and thanks them for being there.

Total run time 00:46:39 pace 7 min 31 seconds and fourth in my age group for the run. Probably in hindsite I should have upped my basil for the ride, the faster you go the more adrenaline you produce thus the more insulin you need. All in all I was happy no crashing lows no extreme highs but could use some tweaking to make it overall lower.  Again, love the dexcom for its durability and its staying power.  2 for 2 on the old dexcom!

So the three things I love about Leon’s Olympic distance triathlon:

1) Leon – the sweetest guy you will ever meet and he has an awesome life story,

2) the post-race celebrations with a bunch of great peeps,

3) the wooden bike racks – so civilized!

Official Finish time 2:42:19  12th out of 33 in the F40-44 category.

We ended the day with lots of cold beers and munchies.  It was glorious to have raced then to celebrate with such awesome people.  I am so lucky!

Also, below are the airdates that Leon’s Triathlon will be broadcast on Comcast Sportsnet.

Date
Sat 06/30/12 3:30 PM 1 hour
Sun 07/01/12 7:00 PM 1 hour
Tue 07/03/12 11:00 PM 1 hour
Wed 07/04/12 4:30 PM 1 hour
Fri 07/06/12 11:00 PM 1 hour

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IRONMAN TEXAS RACE REPORT

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Gillian

One of the biggest obstacles of training for an ironman and attempting to come up with a race plan is that there is no way to replicate race day conditions.  You train for 6+ months then you race and you learn your lessons.  The time involved to learn those lessons is huge.  So I have two ironmen under my belt now.  The biggest thing I learned was you can’t duplicate your diabetes plan from race to race.  No matter how much you plan you will always need to be ready to deviate from that plan diabetes related or not.  Although this doesn’t mean don’t practice, because practicing does help prepare you.  I also learned that trying to enjoy the race and smiling makes for a much more pleasant experience.  Finally, I need to work on my transitions 33 + minutes yet again.

Texas Ironman – May 19th, 2012.  It was unseasonably warm even for Texas.  Temperatures got up to 105 on the ground.  DNF rate was 12% vs. 7% the year before.

THE PREP

Because we were training in Chicago most of it was done indoors.  The training seemed to take less time than Wisconsin and because it was indoors was in a very controlled environment = easier to control the blood glucose.  We were the first group to do an indoor century at FFC.  What a test of willpower that was.   I spent some time in the days leading up to the race fine tuning my nutrition and insulin plan.  One thing that was the same as Wisconsin was that on May 15th exactly 4 days before the race I woke up with a raw sore throat.  Luckily the sore throat went away but the congestion and cough stayed.  WTF.  I had been taking Vitamin C religiously every day.  I guess the long hours at work and training in April took its toll.  We arrived in Texas on May 16th.  Cassaundra my niece arrived the following day.  As typical everything was rush rush rush, lunches, dinners, checking out the bike course, the practice swim, course talk, prepping bags. There was not a minute to breath.  I tried to simplify my race bags this year but no matter it is still complicated.  Especially when you need to worry about testers, insulin, needles etc.  Also, at the course talk they told us that our special needs bags were going to be tossed so no diabetes equipment would go in there which meant carrying it all.  In addition, unlike Wisconsin all transition and special needs bags were going to be out in the blistering heat all day.  Which meant melted gu’s, bars, Oreos, heated insulin.  Heated insulin loses its effectiveness.  This year I was going to try the Dexcom because my Medtronic sensor last year crapped out half way through the bike portion of the race.  This meant bringing along another piece of machinery everywhere I went but this brand of sensor seemed to stay on better. I had worn it for about a week while training fairly heavily and it stayed put with no swollen infected insertion site.  I didn’t borrow a spare pump from the Medtronic rep so my thought was to try my omnipod (a waterproof pump).  I filled it and attached it to me the night before and set the temp basil to zero to avoid doubling up from my regular pump.  And I added a  2nd “emergency” insertion sight for my medtronic pump, put the lid on it and covered it with tagaderm (which was my savior later in T1). Between the Medtronic pump, the omnipod, the 2nd insertion and the dexcom sensor I was a living/breathing pin cushion part human part machine.

THE MORNING

I actually managed to get a solid 5 hours sleep which is great.  I woke up at 3:15 and ate my breakfast sandwich of whole-wheat bread, chocolate almond butter and a banana.  I also ate another half a bagel and a bit of oatmeal and drank some coffee courtesy of the best western.  I gave myself a full bolus of 6.5 units for 65 grams of carbs.  At about 6 am I drank a Boost (diabetic meal supplement with about 16g carbs) and ate a bar because I thought I was hungry. I also realized as I was dropping off my T1 stuff that I hadn’t set the temp basil for my back up pump long enough and within an hour of the swim the basil was due to come back on.  I couldn’t figure out how to cancel the temp basil and restart it so I carried the PDM (device to control the insulin for the pump) with me in hopes that Lorrie (my diabetic team mate) would know.  Luckily she did so she changed it for me and I raced back to T1 to put the device in my T1 bag.  This is what happens when you don’t think things through or write it down (the omnipod was a last minute decision). Pre swim my BG was at 75 so ate a gel. I reduced my basil to 40% at 6:30 for two hours.  We had to walk about 0.8 miles to the swim start so this could have brought my bg down.

THE SWIM

I went into this ironman with great expectations.  I’d worked really hard on the swim this year.  Concentrating on picking up my pace.  At the end of the season I could maintain a 2 min 100yard pace pretty steadily.  I was expecting to better my Wisconsin time by about 10 minutes.  Instead I was 10 minutes slower.  The water temperatures were to be close to the wetsuit illegal temp however they allowed wetsuits in a separate wave to leave 10 minutes after the non-wetsuiters.  It was a tough choice but I chose to wear a speed suit which Lorrie and Susie leant me rather than the full wetsuit.  I didn’t have a sleeveless so was worried about overheating. Although this goes against the big race rule of not trying anything new on race day.  I knew I would get chaffing but didn’t know how much.  I felt that the speedsuit would hold in my waterproof aquapac’s with my diabetic equipment (pump and glucose monitor).  We arrived at swim start, got body marked and lined up for the porta potties – what a line.  I went to zip up the speedsuit and realized I had it on backwards so had to go in the bushes to turn it around.  I was wearing a sports bra underneath but no shorts.  My biggest fear going into the swim was leaking goggles, nothing else really worried me since Wisconsin had gone well and I was much stronger now.  Shaina, Chris and I went and we all treaded water in the same spot close to the front and close to the buoys.  The cannon went off; I turned on to my belly and started swimming. However within a few minutes I was being kicked, scratched punched and pushed.  Without the wetsuit I felt vulnerable and my heartrate was through the roof.  I couldn’t get a breath, my lungs were closing up from anxiety and I was sinking fast.  I yelled kayak and felt that I had to give up within just minutes of the start.  I somehow managed to breast stroke through the wall of people towards a kayak.  I grabbed on for dear life and felt the tears welling up.  I waited and waited some more.  Finally my heartrate leveled off and most of the swimmers had gone by.  I started off sticking close to the buoys and within eye sight of each kayak.  Once I got going I felt really good but new that a good swim time was not in the cards at that point.  As I’m looking at my Garmin results I can see that I actually had a fairly good swim once I got going. As suspected my right underarm was raw with chafing at the end of the swim.

FINAL SWIM TIME 1:47:49 (slower than Wisconsin)

T1

As I ran to T1 I saw my fan club, Tom, Cass, and Katie and felt good I had to put the swim behind me now.  At the opening to the T1 tent my fellow Team Wild girls from Wisconsin IM were there cheering me on.  It put a smile on my face to see Lyndsay, Kathleen, Karyn, and Jen.  In T1 I took off my aquapac with the dexcom – dry as a bone.  The one with my pump.  – not so much.  At the bottom of the little bag there was a pool of water about 2 inches high.  This happened once before and my pump completely stopped working.  I pulled it out of the pac and looked at it… expecting it to be beeping and vibrating and yelling no water!!!!  I pressed a few of the keys and it seemed to be ok.  I had to make a decision right then and there whether or not I rely on it or switch to the onmnipod.  After a few minutes I decided I would go with it.  Worst case scenario I had a levemir pen (slow acting insulin in a vial)  I could use in the event the pump stopped working.  So I ripped off the omnipod. No going back now.  The hot humid tent really made it difficult to put bike clothing but eventually everything got on. Although between the no wetsuit swim, the heat and humidity my first insertion site just fell out of my body so I was down to the 2nd emergency insertion site.  I quickly changed it and put a new tagaderm on top, drying it as much as I could. I saw Susie as she was coming in from the swim and I was leaving a quick hello then sun screen, lubed up and ate a bar on my way to the bike. My BG was at 90 in T1.  Got to the bike which was easy to spot since it was one of few left.

TOTAL T1 TIME :18:17 – NOT GOOD! (slower than Wisconsin)

THE BIKE

I had fairly high expectations for the bike too.  I had finally splurged and got a beautiful tri bike after racing in my old Trek Madone road bike for 5 years 1 ironman and 6 half ironmen.  I was ready to step it up.  The bike was super comfortable and my computrainer classes were strong. I had rented 404 race wheels which was to give me an extra mile an hour or so… I was supposed to set my temporary basil to 110% in T1 with the whole water leaking fiasco I forgot so didn’t actually set it until about 1 ½ hours in.  I ate an accelgel which was liquid at that point b/c it has been sitting in the hot sun and my electrolyte tablets were stuck together.  The fizz tablets were ok.  I had left them in my bento box (which was also new and untried) over night in a baggie but the bikes were so dewy that I guess they got a bit damp.  Coming out of T1 I thought I dropped something on the road and didn’t want to risk it if it had been important so I got off walked back but didn’t see anything (= few minutes wasted). For the bike I had an aerobottle between the aero bars and 1 nutrition bottle which had 4 scoops of sustained energy and 2 scoops of mandarin heed about 140 grams of carbs.  I refilled the aero bottle at each aid station and added grapefruit and flavor free fizz tablets.  I ate as many endurolytes as often as I could choke them down and unsticking them as I went. I also drank some perform at each aid station as much as I could get down between refilling my bottle and the end of the bottle toss area.   I felt nauseous so found it hard to eat.  I was due to eat 3 sleeves of cliff blocks I only managed to take in 2 throughout the bike.    Soon after I started the bike I realized that the aero bottle yet again failed me.  I really had like it and it was working however lesson learned… with the heat and because the bottle was left on all night  the glue had melted off the velcro and the bottle had shifted towards me about 2 inches.  I didn’t notice until I realized that my powertap joule (bike computer) which usually sits in front of it was being pushed up at a funny angle.  Through the course of the bike the joule fell off 4 times.  4 times I had to get off my bike and go back and get it.  As I look at my bike splits I can see what miles this occurred, the lost time adds up.  Finally I just took it off. At about 10:50 or about 1 ½ hours on the bike I tested 283.  TMI here- I was peeing on the bike non-stop.  Liquid in liquid out.  Nothing was staying in my body.  I was drinking a ton but it just came out the other end (literally).  This happened to me once before when I ran the Boston marathon in 2004 where it was one of the hottest in Boston history.  With the high BG I gave myself a mini-bolus of 0.2.    Still in the upper 200’s I gave myself another mini bolus an hour later of .25 then finally another hour later 0.8 units. Probably the result of not increasing my basil in T1 and being at 40% for 2 hours in the swim.  The BG finally came down but the peeing didn’t stop.  I don’t remember exactly what I ate when but I know I didn’t eat as much as planned because I felt like I would throw it up immediately.  Which I did a couple of times. Katie and the gang were camped out somewhere around mile 50 so I stopped for much needed hugs and cheers.  At mile 60 I refilled my nutrition bottle at special needs with about 3 scoops of the mixture so about 80 or so carbs.  I drank a small can of coke … everything else was a hot mess.  My riding felt fairly good and strong and I passed a number of people and I was enjoying the riding and the nice rolling hills.  The wind picked up during the second half but it was manageable.   At about 3 pm my basil went back to 100% approx 0.55 units per hour.  As I promised myself I would I rode into the Bike-in chute smiling. Despite having a few diabetic/aerobottle meltdowns I at least felt comfortable and had no back pain.  I saw Lyndsay who gave out a big honeybadger yell!

BIKE TIME 6:38:17 – again below expectations but I got to smile at the end and I felt comfortable and that was a WIN. (faster than Wisconsin)

T2

Into T2 my body felt good but the nauseous was still there and the peeing had not stopped. I quickly changed into dry shorts which felt good.  I ate some Oreos.  I set my basil to 50% because in Wisconsin my blood sugar really dropped during the run.  Not the case here.

TOTAL T2 TIME :15:26 (faster than wisonsin)

THE RUN

Unlike the other two events I wasn’t expecting much on the run, although it is my strongest event I had developed plantar fasciitis early on during training so I kept my running to a minimum as I tried to alleviate the pain.  I got the main long runs in but that was about it. I started the run and felt ill.  I couldn’t stomach the Ironman Perform so drank coke and water.  I knew I needed the electrolytes which somehow I had forgotten the tablets in T2 so I forced down some Ironman Perform. My BG was hovering around 200 (not so bad) I baby bolused 0.3 units for the oreos.  Then about an hour or so in I tested at 270  so I upped my temp basil to 70%, unlike Wisconsin my BG was rising here although they were not terrible and the peeing finally stopped. I plugged along water station to water station trying to push away the negative thoughts.  During the run is when everything comes back to haunt you, the poor swim time the constant peeing and other equipment failures on the bike, the thought of why bother continue I’m not going to be anywhere near my goal time crept in.  That and the blazing sun was enough to slow anyone down. Then after the first loop I ran by the fan club. There was Tom and Cassaundra smiling at me. Cassaundra telling me I’m doing great and how she is so proud of me… well I can’t stop now!  Katie was there too. After I passed them I started to get worried about my pump insertion.  With the heat and sweat It was just holding on by a thread.  I couldn’t lose it now I had no spare insulin with me (not sure how that happened).  So I ran holding it in with my hand. I thought if I could just get to special needs I could put a new tagaderm on.   I stopped at special needs – no tagaderm… again WTF- planning failure.  I didn’t eat or drink anything, everything was hot and melted.  I did put Vaseline around my ankle which was now burning from the timing chip strap chafing.  A nice lady bent down and did it for me.  I also picked up my spare endurolytes.  It was easier to take the pills and water than to choke down the warm melon flavored perform. I set off with hand on insertion site. The course snaked around the lake down some nice covered paths and into an area with massive houses then around a construction site where they were building massive houses, it was pretty course. At one of the aid stations I stopped at the medical tent to see if they had something they could cover up the insertion site with.  They didn’t have exactly what I needed but we came up with an alternative – a layer of very light stretchy bandage material on the site (anything heavier would have tore it right off with the running motion) Then 3 layers of gauze type bandage wrapped around my entire waist fixed together with tape. I have a lovely red line chafing mark on my stomach from the bandage but it really held it in. So I carried on with two arms free to move now.   It was a great flat course.  You spent a few miles along the river which was also nice.  The crowds were awesome and I got to see Cassaundra and the gang again.  Just seeing the pride in her eyes kept me going.  One last loop.  Lyndsay joined me and chatted away trying to keep up my spirits regaling me with her funny stories as I moaned and groaned.  I was having terrible GI distress and barely made it to the portapotty at one point. I had good miles and bad miles between 10 minutes and 12 and averaged at 11 minutes per mile. About 20 miles in I tested at 116 – awesome!   I somehow knocked out mile 23 and 24 at a 9 minute pace, probably because I didn’t stop at the aid stations.  I missed the 25 mile marker somehow but could hear the crowd.  In addition to feeling good off the bike my other goal was to remember and soak in the finishers chute.  I did!  I slowed right down and smiled and pumped my fists and cheered and high fived it was the most awesome experience of my life (even better than the first IM).  I jumped for joy at the end. My emotions running high I was laughing and crying at the same time.  It was then that I saw who was standing right in front of me, none other than Chrissie Wellington.  I just let it all go.  She smiled at me put my medal on gave me a huge hug and told me I did a good job.  Wow, what a way to end that day…….

RUN TIME 4:47:14 – 11 MINUTES PER MILE (slower than Wisconsin)

POST RUN

In Wisconsin I denied medical help.  I walked to my family and felt fine.  Within 5-10 minutes of stopping I completely ceased up, could drink eat or walk.  Here, the volunteer suggested I take the medical help.  I guess I was a bit woozy and he saw that I was diabetic.  I was worried that with all the peeing that I had lost a lot of fluid.  2 hours, two IV’s and some other magnesium something other later I walked out.  I guess my sodium was pretty low.   The good news is that the medical attention helped me recovery really quickly!  Also, my blood sugar at the end was good.  The other good news is despite my disappointing time I can’t wait to retry this.  I know I can do better I just need to work out some of the kinks.  Sitting here today I cannot wait to do this again. Complete opposite of Wisconsin where I couldn’t even imagine doing it again for at least a few weeks ;-).

TOTAL TIME 13:47:00 (really 00 couldn’t have rounded that off better if I tried)  PR’d by over 16 minutes :).  As mentioned, I really need to work on my transitions, yet again they were over half an hour in total. I was happy with the Dexcom despite feeling the burden of another machine clipped to my shorts.  It was off during the bike but I think showed overall direction of BG’s going up or down. When I tested at 280 Dexom showed 220.  But overall I feel like it is fairly accurate.   At the advice of the doctor in the medical tent I am also going to seek a proper sports medicine doctor as I feel that my regular endocrinologist just cannot give me the support I need in planning for sports events and with regular training.

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