Howdy From Hotlanta,
The end of the year is near, which will bring to close a great one on so many levels. For the time being things are slow, which is nice, but also boredom can set in. I am looking forward to that, as have had none of it in a long, long time.
So last week. Got to spend time with my brother Jack driving down to see mom for Xmas. It was really, really nice to have the family back together!!!
As for riding, 3hrs Tuesday, felt really tired. 3hrs Wednesday, felt good for 1hr, then really tired for 2.5 hours. Tired the rest of the day, tired all day xmas. It was kind of strange. So I took 2 days, where I just rode 1 hour to try and recover. Friday's 1 hour day was good. I have still been tinkering with this food and ride thing. I had gone up to 9 units of Lantus at night, which had been the highest in some time.
Saturday AM woke up for the WBL, winterbikeleague.com in Athens GA. I ate a big breakfast doing 2 units of Apidra (www.Apidra.com please check out, lots of cool new video of TT1 on the site,) which I rarely do before rides. Blood sugar started going up, and up, and up.... I usually like to sit in for the first part of these rides, and let the body warm up. But since the trend was going up on my FreeStyle Navigator kept going up, I decided to pull. I went to thr front with my buddy David Crowe, who has been punishing me for 8 solid years. Can't really believe I have been doing the WBL's for 8 years now... Lots of great memories of fun, suffering, more fun, and more suffering. So we pull for sometime which levels me off at 290. I am drinking water, and not eating. Then I slowly start coming down, and about 2 hours into the ride, I am at 240. At the store I drink a diet coke, diet red bull, and some water. Leave the store and get to the front with my boy Murph Dog (John Murphy) and he laughs at me as I pull. Pull for a while, get back in, then pull again, then sit, then pull... Oh yea, all this time on the front, so was John... He is flying right now, and prolly gonna impress some folks this year.
Pretty tired by the end of the ride, but so was everyone. Ate some good food, and saw Morgan Patton's new pad in Athens. She will like the town, as she can hang out/ride with people her age.
So the ride and food... 4 hours, pushed pretty hard, and 0 calories intake. Finished the ride at 190. So what am I thinking? I need more basal, and it would be better to eat. I do my 2nd dose of Lantus to 4 units to make it 13 total for the day, along with 6 units of Apidra to eat. Ate some food, stayed up there, and then did another 3 units in anticipation of a 2nd meal. We head to the GRit, no blous, but ate a salad, and some pita bread. Drive home, not much food, and then had 2 more salads, with Filet!!
9 units Lantus that night. Wake up high at 150 or so, bolus 2.5 units, eat oatmeal, go straight up, and then hit 180 before coming down. Ate 50gms of carbs for 3 hr ride, 6 unit bolus after, and 150gms carbs, 40 protein. Blood sugar on ride was 120-180, which was better. I decided I am going back to once a day Lantus, to test it out. To make the switch, I was doing a lot fo 1 unit boluses to reverse the upward trend. Did Yoga last night, and at 8:30 did 13 units of lantus, ate a bar, and went to bed. This am, woke up at 150, so I am going to do 14 units tonight.
Not sure what my body is burning for fuel on the rides right now, but it is not carbs. I am curious if i have gone ketonic on the rides, and thus would be burning fat. Does it take 4 weeks of exercise for the non-diabetic to do this too??? Studies to come.
Happy NEW YEAR! Time to make next year the best year ever! What are your goals? I have a few...
Ciao
Philpott
www.TeamType1.og
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Diabetes Game: Exercise Resistance?
Howdy From Atlanta,
The game has taken a twist. If you recall, about 10 days ago I would have to eat everything in site, and then some on rides. Insulin was being cut drastically. I think that was my body being inefficient at fueling on the bike, as a major switch has happened.
I have had to increase basal a touch, and think I am going to get it up some more. The past 3 rides I have done, eating the normal goods before hand, oatmeal, my blood sugars have skyrocketed. I have been getting up to 250 on the rides, and then a slow drop down to the 180's, and if I eat, BS goes right back up. Yesterday for example, I had a total of 40 grams of carbs on a 3 hour ride.
I think my body is now becoming more efficient, and I may be able to add some additional basal, or I may need a very small bolus (.5 unit of Apidra) with meal before ride. Today I am driving home to see mom, and should be on the bike by 11am for a 4hour ride. I am going to eat my oatmeal, with .5 units, and see what the reaction is. I do enjoy not having to stuff my face on the rides, however, I would much rather be between 140-180, than 180-220.
It is great having the FreeStyle Navigator, so I can really monitor these adjustments, and know immediately if I made the right call.
Although, I initially thought this is crazy, thinking back it happens every year. Insulin drop, drop, drop, and then all the sudden, add, add, add... If I can keep the training going without interruption this will be very helpful for racing, as I won't be stressing about low's.
It is also good for training, and my pockets won't be so stuffed full of food, and bars for my rides.
This is the start of week 4 of training post hamstring break. It took 2.5 weeks for the switch to happen. Could this be the same for non-diabetic metabolism? Has anyone out there with diabetes had similar experience with fueling?
Also, working with some top docs on potential research studies, and trying to find out more info for you. More details to come!!!
Very exciting step for me here, now time to fine tune it a little more to ensure I am at the best on the bike with both legs, and blood sugars.
Have a great day.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and Happy New Year to ALL!!!
Phil
The game has taken a twist. If you recall, about 10 days ago I would have to eat everything in site, and then some on rides. Insulin was being cut drastically. I think that was my body being inefficient at fueling on the bike, as a major switch has happened.
I have had to increase basal a touch, and think I am going to get it up some more. The past 3 rides I have done, eating the normal goods before hand, oatmeal, my blood sugars have skyrocketed. I have been getting up to 250 on the rides, and then a slow drop down to the 180's, and if I eat, BS goes right back up. Yesterday for example, I had a total of 40 grams of carbs on a 3 hour ride.
I think my body is now becoming more efficient, and I may be able to add some additional basal, or I may need a very small bolus (.5 unit of Apidra) with meal before ride. Today I am driving home to see mom, and should be on the bike by 11am for a 4hour ride. I am going to eat my oatmeal, with .5 units, and see what the reaction is. I do enjoy not having to stuff my face on the rides, however, I would much rather be between 140-180, than 180-220.
It is great having the FreeStyle Navigator, so I can really monitor these adjustments, and know immediately if I made the right call.
Although, I initially thought this is crazy, thinking back it happens every year. Insulin drop, drop, drop, and then all the sudden, add, add, add... If I can keep the training going without interruption this will be very helpful for racing, as I won't be stressing about low's.
It is also good for training, and my pockets won't be so stuffed full of food, and bars for my rides.
This is the start of week 4 of training post hamstring break. It took 2.5 weeks for the switch to happen. Could this be the same for non-diabetic metabolism? Has anyone out there with diabetes had similar experience with fueling?
Also, working with some top docs on potential research studies, and trying to find out more info for you. More details to come!!!
Very exciting step for me here, now time to fine tune it a little more to ensure I am at the best on the bike with both legs, and blood sugars.
Have a great day.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and Happy New Year to ALL!!!
Phil
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Diabetes Game- closer to the solution
Howdy from Atlanta,
How is everyone doing? Great question from Stella's mom, about why I wasn't back on the pump. In diabetes, there are a million ways to skin the cat. I had raced for 6 years on Lantus, and made a lot of mistakes, but more importantly learned a lot of lessons. So when I was on the pump, I found I was having a lot more lows on the bike, and then off the bike too which was causing me to eat way too much food. With Lantus, by making a 1 unit adjustment of Lantus/day, I can essentially make a .05 unit/hr basal adjustment, which is a big deal. I change my basal daily, and doing this on the pump for me is too much manual labor. I have done over 50,000 injections in my life, so 5-7 more a day, to me, is no big deal.
Also, why does exercise = less insulin: When exercising, the muscles become more sensitive to insulin, both basal and bolus. The body will naturally burn more calories per day, which means less basal needed, and the muscles are much more sensitive to insulin post exercise which = less bolus/meal. Not sure if there has been a science experiment, and I could be wrong, but that is my guess, and I have not had a doctor argue yet...
So the diabetes game: Last weekend I cut it a bit, and on Sunday was good. Blood sugars were up in the 200's, and I was eating a bit, but felt good. I have decided to start doing my 2nd shot of Lantus after my rides. So it is kind of a temp basal. Lately I have been doing 6 at night, and 3 in the afternoon. Tuesday I did that, and went pretty high on the ride up to 257, before I started trending down. I only had to eat about 400 calories on a 3 hour ride, and I was flying. Wed, I had a bit more basal, 7 units night, 3 in am. I went up to 220, before dropping to 150, and was eating a bit more. 800 calories on a 4 hour ride. After that ride I kept dropping, so I that night I dropped Lantus dose again to 6 units. Had to do a small bolus of .5 unit of Apidra in the middle of the night. Thursday was a 3 hour ride, and I can't really remember what was going on...ha Lots of activity this week. I have done yoga on Tues-Thurs, and Sunday this week. Stretching every am. Friday I only road for 1.5 hrs and was real tired, then Saturday did a mountain bike ride with my buddy John Martin!!! I figured this was going to be hard, and slowly rose my BG to 200 at the start. Within 20 minutes I ate a king size snickers, and 15 minutes later some other bar. Blood sugar was 220 trending up said the Navigator! So I began to drink water, until at some point I saw 287. For the last 2 hours, I did nothing but drink water, and dropped to 215. These #'s are a bit higher than I would like. I am obviously under insulinized, so I think the switch needs to be 7 units at night, and then 3 after ride of Lantus.
But the higher blood sugars are making me feel very, very good on the bike. But I don't want to completely sacrifice a good A1C for performance. If I could raise it to 5.8-6.0, I would be happy. Higher... not so sure. But that is me.
Yesterday a good friend got some great news, and I am happy for her. I got some bad news, and it was a rough day. All will be ok in the long run... The work week was pretty stressed. But the thing is, making time every day to ride, really, really helps. No matter how much crap is piled on, I have not given an inch when it comes to my riding, and yoga. So for anyone out there if the stress seems to pile up, I would encourage you to get out and ride a bike, take a walk, or bit the gym, as it puts everything else at ease.
Thanks for reading, and sorry for the jumble of #'s.
Have a great night, and Happy Holidays!!!
Phil
How is everyone doing? Great question from Stella's mom, about why I wasn't back on the pump. In diabetes, there are a million ways to skin the cat. I had raced for 6 years on Lantus, and made a lot of mistakes, but more importantly learned a lot of lessons. So when I was on the pump, I found I was having a lot more lows on the bike, and then off the bike too which was causing me to eat way too much food. With Lantus, by making a 1 unit adjustment of Lantus/day, I can essentially make a .05 unit/hr basal adjustment, which is a big deal. I change my basal daily, and doing this on the pump for me is too much manual labor. I have done over 50,000 injections in my life, so 5-7 more a day, to me, is no big deal.
Also, why does exercise = less insulin: When exercising, the muscles become more sensitive to insulin, both basal and bolus. The body will naturally burn more calories per day, which means less basal needed, and the muscles are much more sensitive to insulin post exercise which = less bolus/meal. Not sure if there has been a science experiment, and I could be wrong, but that is my guess, and I have not had a doctor argue yet...
So the diabetes game: Last weekend I cut it a bit, and on Sunday was good. Blood sugars were up in the 200's, and I was eating a bit, but felt good. I have decided to start doing my 2nd shot of Lantus after my rides. So it is kind of a temp basal. Lately I have been doing 6 at night, and 3 in the afternoon. Tuesday I did that, and went pretty high on the ride up to 257, before I started trending down. I only had to eat about 400 calories on a 3 hour ride, and I was flying. Wed, I had a bit more basal, 7 units night, 3 in am. I went up to 220, before dropping to 150, and was eating a bit more. 800 calories on a 4 hour ride. After that ride I kept dropping, so I that night I dropped Lantus dose again to 6 units. Had to do a small bolus of .5 unit of Apidra in the middle of the night. Thursday was a 3 hour ride, and I can't really remember what was going on...ha Lots of activity this week. I have done yoga on Tues-Thurs, and Sunday this week. Stretching every am. Friday I only road for 1.5 hrs and was real tired, then Saturday did a mountain bike ride with my buddy John Martin!!! I figured this was going to be hard, and slowly rose my BG to 200 at the start. Within 20 minutes I ate a king size snickers, and 15 minutes later some other bar. Blood sugar was 220 trending up said the Navigator! So I began to drink water, until at some point I saw 287. For the last 2 hours, I did nothing but drink water, and dropped to 215. These #'s are a bit higher than I would like. I am obviously under insulinized, so I think the switch needs to be 7 units at night, and then 3 after ride of Lantus.
But the higher blood sugars are making me feel very, very good on the bike. But I don't want to completely sacrifice a good A1C for performance. If I could raise it to 5.8-6.0, I would be happy. Higher... not so sure. But that is me.
Yesterday a good friend got some great news, and I am happy for her. I got some bad news, and it was a rough day. All will be ok in the long run... The work week was pretty stressed. But the thing is, making time every day to ride, really, really helps. No matter how much crap is piled on, I have not given an inch when it comes to my riding, and yoga. So for anyone out there if the stress seems to pile up, I would encourage you to get out and ride a bike, take a walk, or bit the gym, as it puts everything else at ease.
Thanks for reading, and sorry for the jumble of #'s.
Have a great night, and Happy Holidays!!!
Phil
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Ride ride ride... Diabetes game is back
Howdy,
How is everyone? I appreciate the comments on my last post. We shall see what gets done. In regards to where the money may come from, we now have $14b not going to automakers, so why not make some good of it?? J/k
Training seems to be back on track. I have not done anything too crazy, but spend about 30 minutes every am doing exercises, then 2-3 hours on the bike, and 1-1.5hrs of yoga 3x a week. This has all really helped, as I am feeling smooth on the bike, and using muscles I didn't know existed... I have tried to stay ahead of the curve in the insulin drop, which has been good and bad. The good being, I have 0% below target for what is now 2 weeks of training. The bad being that blood sugars will run between 130-150 at night. I have cut my morning dose of Lantus to 3 units, and my PM dose is now 8 units of Lantus. I did do a 4.5 hour 87 mile WBL yesterday. It seems if I have 12 units of basal while riding, no matter what I start at, blood sugar will trend down, and I have to eat A LOT on the bike. Yesterday for example. I had eating the legendary Waffle House breakfast of a pecan waffle, grits, and 2 eggs. Did 3 units of Apidra at 8am, for this carb stacked breakfast, and from 8:30 to 10, I had a slow rise in blood sugar to 177 by the time I got on the bike. Road for 15 minutes to the start, and hung out for a few minutes. Look at my Navigator to see 128 with an arrow straight down. Banana, Dex4, and 500 calories of bars in the first 30 minutes of the ride to stop the drop and settle around 90. This is where I stayed. I continued eating appx 80gms carbs+/hr for the ride. At the store stop, I drank a coke, had a snickers, and then another snickers 20 minutes later. Stayed between 85-100... I did most of this group ride with 100 or so people talking to my buddy Steve Sevner. Sevy was one of the best back in the day, and is coming back to do an ironman. He gave me a lot of great advice for when the going gets tough in the races, and help me stay strong between the ears. Going to put that into use today as well.
Now those blood sugars are not all bad. The ride was not that hard, so I didn't need BS to be higher, and learning to train at that level, and push at that blood sugar will be good practice for if I do go low during a race, which is bound to happen at some point in time. But it is not where I want to be. Today comes a new test. I am going to skip my Lantus dose this morning. Which means I will have 8 units of basal on board, effectively giving a temp basal. My goal is that after I eat my 80 gms of carbs for breakfast with no insulin, and head out on the bike that I will get up to 220 or so, and proceed a slow drop to the 150's, where I will snack, but more along the lines of 20-40gms of carbs/hour. This ride will be similar to yesterday, with a little more time spent at the top end.
Stay tuned for the experiment results. New lessons every day, and always trying to get better. Real goal here is to see exactly how much basal I need, so that when race season comes, it is dialed in 100%!
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
Phil
How is everyone? I appreciate the comments on my last post. We shall see what gets done. In regards to where the money may come from, we now have $14b not going to automakers, so why not make some good of it?? J/k
Training seems to be back on track. I have not done anything too crazy, but spend about 30 minutes every am doing exercises, then 2-3 hours on the bike, and 1-1.5hrs of yoga 3x a week. This has all really helped, as I am feeling smooth on the bike, and using muscles I didn't know existed... I have tried to stay ahead of the curve in the insulin drop, which has been good and bad. The good being, I have 0% below target for what is now 2 weeks of training. The bad being that blood sugars will run between 130-150 at night. I have cut my morning dose of Lantus to 3 units, and my PM dose is now 8 units of Lantus. I did do a 4.5 hour 87 mile WBL yesterday. It seems if I have 12 units of basal while riding, no matter what I start at, blood sugar will trend down, and I have to eat A LOT on the bike. Yesterday for example. I had eating the legendary Waffle House breakfast of a pecan waffle, grits, and 2 eggs. Did 3 units of Apidra at 8am, for this carb stacked breakfast, and from 8:30 to 10, I had a slow rise in blood sugar to 177 by the time I got on the bike. Road for 15 minutes to the start, and hung out for a few minutes. Look at my Navigator to see 128 with an arrow straight down. Banana, Dex4, and 500 calories of bars in the first 30 minutes of the ride to stop the drop and settle around 90. This is where I stayed. I continued eating appx 80gms carbs+/hr for the ride. At the store stop, I drank a coke, had a snickers, and then another snickers 20 minutes later. Stayed between 85-100... I did most of this group ride with 100 or so people talking to my buddy Steve Sevner. Sevy was one of the best back in the day, and is coming back to do an ironman. He gave me a lot of great advice for when the going gets tough in the races, and help me stay strong between the ears. Going to put that into use today as well.
Now those blood sugars are not all bad. The ride was not that hard, so I didn't need BS to be higher, and learning to train at that level, and push at that blood sugar will be good practice for if I do go low during a race, which is bound to happen at some point in time. But it is not where I want to be. Today comes a new test. I am going to skip my Lantus dose this morning. Which means I will have 8 units of basal on board, effectively giving a temp basal. My goal is that after I eat my 80 gms of carbs for breakfast with no insulin, and head out on the bike that I will get up to 220 or so, and proceed a slow drop to the 150's, where I will snack, but more along the lines of 20-40gms of carbs/hour. This ride will be similar to yesterday, with a little more time spent at the top end.
Stay tuned for the experiment results. New lessons every day, and always trying to get better. Real goal here is to see exactly how much basal I need, so that when race season comes, it is dialed in 100%!
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
Phil
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
My RANT: Trips to pharmacy
Howdy everyone!!!
First, thanks Angela for the bit about sleep before midnight. It had been a few years since I last heard that. Makes it all crystal clear now, and I feel good about waking up the roosters:)
Second, training is going good. The lantus drop has been good. 5 units in the am, 7 units pm, and Blood sugars have been perfect. Saw the eye, and endo docs yesterday. All results were perfect. I had a better A1C than my endo, Bruce Bode...ha Sitting at 5.5 now with only 2% below target in 28 days. Best #'s ever. Ride on Sunday was amazing. Doing exercises every morning, yoga 3x a week, and massage and the difference is noticeable. I am very excited, and very motivated!!! Bigger week this week, with a few small tests. My guess is that by Saturday, total Lantus dose will be less than 10 units/day.
Ok, so now for the rant. I have been going to the pharmacy once a month for my entire life to get supplies. Every month I get the same thing: Apidra, Lantus, Freestyle Strips, Syringes, and Pen Needles. I get the same quantity every time, yet for some reason each and every time I go in the pharmacy, I never leave in less than 30 minutes. It has always been like this. I am not going to name bash, but they all seem to be about the same. Yesterday I went in to get the same 5 items as always, that I called in and requested, and then verified via phone before going in, and then I get my order minus 2 big boxes. No Syringes. I ask the guy, and he said insurance isn't covering them.
"Excuse me" I say.
"Well, your insurance isn't going to pay." he says
"I still need the needles" Wondering here why he didn't tell me this was the reason I had no needles instead of just not giving them to me.
"You have to pay cash"
"Ok, I want to keep my eye-sight, I will take the needles..."
So I pay my $30/box for needles, but decided to prolong the trip by calling my insurance company, United Health Care, who initially denied the coverage. The ironic thing is on the on-going message while I was on hold, the first thing it said was "Properly managed diabetes can significantly reduce the risk of complications, such as blindness." I found it quite funny that they are telling me to properly manage my disease, but refuse to pay for syringes that I need to give injections to ensure I do not have complications.
The lady on customer service was very nice, and ended up taking care of it, so I waited another 20 minutes while the "script" was filled, and then got my boxes for $15 a pop. All in all, just getting the diabetes supplies was $250, and this is the same cost every month.
I hope President Obama does act on his plans to help people get the tools. I have faith that he will. What if it was an underprivileged family, who could not swing $60 for needles, or didn't have a cell phone to call the insurance company, or even worse, did not have insurance to pay for the supplies???
I know exactly what would happen:
The person would be forced to check less, due to cost, not desire. He/she would be forced to do fewer injections, use inferior insulin, and/or use dirty needles, which could cause infection. This person probably sees an endo 2x/year at best, and has an A1C over 10, purely because of $$.
Diabetes, as you know, is a disease where management is everything. We have to take care of it, and having the best treatment (insulin) and technology will enable us to avoid complications.
Not having the tools is not an option, and if any reader out there has a contact in the House, Senate, or Oval Office, I would truly appreciate an introduction to try and make change.
I propose a $26 Billion Dollar "Supply Campaign" where we provide supplies to people with diabetes around the world, provide the best cancer treatment to those in need, and help people who cannot afford to help themselves. Maybe we start here, and see the impact it has, and then move outwards.
Together we can do it.
Thanks for listening to my RANT.
Have a great day.
Phil
First, thanks Angela for the bit about sleep before midnight. It had been a few years since I last heard that. Makes it all crystal clear now, and I feel good about waking up the roosters:)
Second, training is going good. The lantus drop has been good. 5 units in the am, 7 units pm, and Blood sugars have been perfect. Saw the eye, and endo docs yesterday. All results were perfect. I had a better A1C than my endo, Bruce Bode...ha Sitting at 5.5 now with only 2% below target in 28 days. Best #'s ever. Ride on Sunday was amazing. Doing exercises every morning, yoga 3x a week, and massage and the difference is noticeable. I am very excited, and very motivated!!! Bigger week this week, with a few small tests. My guess is that by Saturday, total Lantus dose will be less than 10 units/day.
Ok, so now for the rant. I have been going to the pharmacy once a month for my entire life to get supplies. Every month I get the same thing: Apidra, Lantus, Freestyle Strips, Syringes, and Pen Needles. I get the same quantity every time, yet for some reason each and every time I go in the pharmacy, I never leave in less than 30 minutes. It has always been like this. I am not going to name bash, but they all seem to be about the same. Yesterday I went in to get the same 5 items as always, that I called in and requested, and then verified via phone before going in, and then I get my order minus 2 big boxes. No Syringes. I ask the guy, and he said insurance isn't covering them.
"Excuse me" I say.
"Well, your insurance isn't going to pay." he says
"I still need the needles" Wondering here why he didn't tell me this was the reason I had no needles instead of just not giving them to me.
"You have to pay cash"
"Ok, I want to keep my eye-sight, I will take the needles..."
So I pay my $30/box for needles, but decided to prolong the trip by calling my insurance company, United Health Care, who initially denied the coverage. The ironic thing is on the on-going message while I was on hold, the first thing it said was "Properly managed diabetes can significantly reduce the risk of complications, such as blindness." I found it quite funny that they are telling me to properly manage my disease, but refuse to pay for syringes that I need to give injections to ensure I do not have complications.
The lady on customer service was very nice, and ended up taking care of it, so I waited another 20 minutes while the "script" was filled, and then got my boxes for $15 a pop. All in all, just getting the diabetes supplies was $250, and this is the same cost every month.
I hope President Obama does act on his plans to help people get the tools. I have faith that he will. What if it was an underprivileged family, who could not swing $60 for needles, or didn't have a cell phone to call the insurance company, or even worse, did not have insurance to pay for the supplies???
I know exactly what would happen:
The person would be forced to check less, due to cost, not desire. He/she would be forced to do fewer injections, use inferior insulin, and/or use dirty needles, which could cause infection. This person probably sees an endo 2x/year at best, and has an A1C over 10, purely because of $$.
Diabetes, as you know, is a disease where management is everything. We have to take care of it, and having the best treatment (insulin) and technology will enable us to avoid complications.
Not having the tools is not an option, and if any reader out there has a contact in the House, Senate, or Oval Office, I would truly appreciate an introduction to try and make change.
I propose a $26 Billion Dollar "Supply Campaign" where we provide supplies to people with diabetes around the world, provide the best cancer treatment to those in need, and help people who cannot afford to help themselves. Maybe we start here, and see the impact it has, and then move outwards.
Together we can do it.
Thanks for listening to my RANT.
Have a great day.
Phil
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Back Baby! early rising??
Howdy!
Things have been good as of late, and my respect for those who gain their fitness from riding inside has sky-rocketed. Why? So this was comeback week for me. Sunday, I got to ride inside for 1 hour, and was counting the seconds. Tuesday I had big plans to ride outside, but it was freezing, so I opted to ride inside again. Made it 1 hour, and wondered why I do this? Did some Yoga that night, which was refreshing. The mediation part at the end is really good for me, and at least I know for 4-6 minutes a few times a week, nothing matters. It rocks!!
Wed, was able to ride outside for 1.5 hours, and then Thurs had plans to ride with my buddy John Martin, when the sky bottomed out. Back to the rollers. Again the longest hour of my life.
Wed, I got some acupuncture, and massage, as well as trying gyrotonics and Pilates, which were good! All this time, insulin requirements are dropping. It really is cool to see the effect exercise has on my metabolism. Going from 15 units of Lantus early in the week, down to 12 last night.
I saw my chiro on Thursday, and he straightened me out, which anyone who has ridden with me over the past few years will attest to the miracle that it is... I have been pretty crooked for some time, and I believe it is due to the blood flow discrepancy that has now been fixed, but it has been tricky to re-train the body to think straight.
Friday and Saturday were both 3 hour rides, and I have begun to feel good on the bike again. Let's just say I am very motivated to do everything humanly possible to be the best I can be.
This time getting back into training, I have been staying one step ahead of the game with my Lantus drop. Sticking with 5 units in the am and have gone from 10 at night down to 7 last night. I have been determined not to go hypo. So it has meant some rises in the night, and small corrections in the middle of the night. I plan to do 4 hours today, and will most likely stick with 7, as I went up to 155 by 4am, did .5 unit of Apidra and had a nice slow drop to 105 where I am sitting now. Just did the Lantus, and in will snack on some fruit, until about 9am. At 9 I will eat 2 packets of Oatmeal to get the trend going up, and then hit the road at 9:30. I am hoping that I won't have to eat as much on the rides as the past few days. Yesterday I had to eat 1000 calories on a 3 hour ride. My Blood sugar was between 80-110 the entire time, but I would have preferred 110-130, or even 130-150 with less food. This is normal as the body is learning to fuel during exercise. I think by this time next week, I will be able to do the same ride with only 500 calories.
Last thing before my ramble ends... Can someone explain to me what has happened? I used to enjoy sleep, and could sleep until 8,9 in the morning no problem. This week, Mon-Fri I have woken up between 5-6 every day. Granted I am going to bed earlier than normal, but this is making me wonder....ha Not to say it has been a bad thing. I am up, and can get 50 emails out of the way, and am caught up by 8am every day. Then I spend the day staying on top of them as possible before the inevitable fall behind...
Thanks for reading, and any thoughts on these new sleep habits would be much appreciated.
Have a great day!
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Things have been good as of late, and my respect for those who gain their fitness from riding inside has sky-rocketed. Why? So this was comeback week for me. Sunday, I got to ride inside for 1 hour, and was counting the seconds. Tuesday I had big plans to ride outside, but it was freezing, so I opted to ride inside again. Made it 1 hour, and wondered why I do this? Did some Yoga that night, which was refreshing. The mediation part at the end is really good for me, and at least I know for 4-6 minutes a few times a week, nothing matters. It rocks!!
Wed, was able to ride outside for 1.5 hours, and then Thurs had plans to ride with my buddy John Martin, when the sky bottomed out. Back to the rollers. Again the longest hour of my life.
Wed, I got some acupuncture, and massage, as well as trying gyrotonics and Pilates, which were good! All this time, insulin requirements are dropping. It really is cool to see the effect exercise has on my metabolism. Going from 15 units of Lantus early in the week, down to 12 last night.
I saw my chiro on Thursday, and he straightened me out, which anyone who has ridden with me over the past few years will attest to the miracle that it is... I have been pretty crooked for some time, and I believe it is due to the blood flow discrepancy that has now been fixed, but it has been tricky to re-train the body to think straight.
Friday and Saturday were both 3 hour rides, and I have begun to feel good on the bike again. Let's just say I am very motivated to do everything humanly possible to be the best I can be.
This time getting back into training, I have been staying one step ahead of the game with my Lantus drop. Sticking with 5 units in the am and have gone from 10 at night down to 7 last night. I have been determined not to go hypo. So it has meant some rises in the night, and small corrections in the middle of the night. I plan to do 4 hours today, and will most likely stick with 7, as I went up to 155 by 4am, did .5 unit of Apidra and had a nice slow drop to 105 where I am sitting now. Just did the Lantus, and in will snack on some fruit, until about 9am. At 9 I will eat 2 packets of Oatmeal to get the trend going up, and then hit the road at 9:30. I am hoping that I won't have to eat as much on the rides as the past few days. Yesterday I had to eat 1000 calories on a 3 hour ride. My Blood sugar was between 80-110 the entire time, but I would have preferred 110-130, or even 130-150 with less food. This is normal as the body is learning to fuel during exercise. I think by this time next week, I will be able to do the same ride with only 500 calories.
Last thing before my ramble ends... Can someone explain to me what has happened? I used to enjoy sleep, and could sleep until 8,9 in the morning no problem. This week, Mon-Fri I have woken up between 5-6 every day. Granted I am going to bed earlier than normal, but this is making me wonder....ha Not to say it has been a bad thing. I am up, and can get 50 emails out of the way, and am caught up by 8am every day. Then I spend the day staying on top of them as possible before the inevitable fall behind...
Thanks for reading, and any thoughts on these new sleep habits would be much appreciated.
Have a great day!
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Riding inside=counting grains of sand on the beach
Howdy from HotLanta...
So things have been working again. Hamstring is feeling better. I have seen a lot of specialist in the past week to get this rolling. Massage, ultrasound, cold laser, stretching, acupuncture, yoga all with the hope of being able to ride again. Sunday, I was given clearance to ride on Monday. I was stoked to do it again...
Then there ended up being a high of 45, and even snow during the day. Normally this is no problem, I enjoy training in the rain and cold cause for some reason I think it makes me tuff! But coming back from Injury, I didn't want to stress a muscle with the cold, which meant riding inside on the rollers. Why do I like to ride? So I can be out there, away from everything, and always choosing a new path as I see fit, usually having no set route. Sometimes I can be gone for 5 hours, and it seems like only minutes. Then you put me inside on a bike, and it is about as boring as can be. I put music on, as well as the tv, and for some reason every second takes a minute. Going nowhere slowly...
But, it has to be done. As much as I think riding in the nasty weather makes you tough, I think the rollers are about =. It is truly taxing to the mind, and takes away a lot of the enjoyment of riding. Then I think of everyone who lives North of the Mason Dixon line, who if they want to be fit for spring races, will spend hour after hour inside staring at walls, I feel like a punk.
Did it again today, and it was a bit better. Tomorrow the weather is looking good, so I plan to ride outside!!! yee-ha!!
What about the diabetes game? Things have been good. For the last 14 days, My FreeStyle Navigator has my avg blood sugar is 118, with 5% above target, 94% in, and 1% below target. That is the best below target I think I have ever had, and still BS equates to an A1C of 5.4ish.
Still doing split dose of lantus. I was doing 3 in the am, and 10 in pm. Now that I am training again, I am going to slowly try to get back to the even split. This morning I did 4 units, and tonight I will do 10. Tomorrow, 5 units, and then 9 at night, as I plan to train for 2 hours tomorrow.
Also started doing Yoga. Have done 1 class, and plan to go back tonight. It was amazing to see how much flexibility changed by the end of the class. Of course I have spent the last 2 days in pain from using muscles I did not know existed. Wednesday I am going to give Gyrotonics and Pilates a test. Racing a bike is a lot more than just legs. It is mostly the head that controls success, followed by endurance, speed, and a strong core, which helps create more power. I am focusing a big effort on doing that, in hopes of being better than ever next year!
Thanks for reading!
Have a great day.
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org
So things have been working again. Hamstring is feeling better. I have seen a lot of specialist in the past week to get this rolling. Massage, ultrasound, cold laser, stretching, acupuncture, yoga all with the hope of being able to ride again. Sunday, I was given clearance to ride on Monday. I was stoked to do it again...
Then there ended up being a high of 45, and even snow during the day. Normally this is no problem, I enjoy training in the rain and cold cause for some reason I think it makes me tuff! But coming back from Injury, I didn't want to stress a muscle with the cold, which meant riding inside on the rollers. Why do I like to ride? So I can be out there, away from everything, and always choosing a new path as I see fit, usually having no set route. Sometimes I can be gone for 5 hours, and it seems like only minutes. Then you put me inside on a bike, and it is about as boring as can be. I put music on, as well as the tv, and for some reason every second takes a minute. Going nowhere slowly...
But, it has to be done. As much as I think riding in the nasty weather makes you tough, I think the rollers are about =. It is truly taxing to the mind, and takes away a lot of the enjoyment of riding. Then I think of everyone who lives North of the Mason Dixon line, who if they want to be fit for spring races, will spend hour after hour inside staring at walls, I feel like a punk.
Did it again today, and it was a bit better. Tomorrow the weather is looking good, so I plan to ride outside!!! yee-ha!!
What about the diabetes game? Things have been good. For the last 14 days, My FreeStyle Navigator has my avg blood sugar is 118, with 5% above target, 94% in, and 1% below target. That is the best below target I think I have ever had, and still BS equates to an A1C of 5.4ish.
Still doing split dose of lantus. I was doing 3 in the am, and 10 in pm. Now that I am training again, I am going to slowly try to get back to the even split. This morning I did 4 units, and tonight I will do 10. Tomorrow, 5 units, and then 9 at night, as I plan to train for 2 hours tomorrow.
Also started doing Yoga. Have done 1 class, and plan to go back tonight. It was amazing to see how much flexibility changed by the end of the class. Of course I have spent the last 2 days in pain from using muscles I did not know existed. Wednesday I am going to give Gyrotonics and Pilates a test. Racing a bike is a lot more than just legs. It is mostly the head that controls success, followed by endurance, speed, and a strong core, which helps create more power. I am focusing a big effort on doing that, in hopes of being better than ever next year!
Thanks for reading!
Have a great day.
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org
Friday, November 28, 2008
Metabolism shut down-diabetes game
Howdy from Atlanta, and Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!!!
I hope your holidays rocked! I am still off the bike due to hamstring strain. The first few days the split dose of Lantus continued to work, as I went a little higher day by day. But about 4-5 days into being off the bike, the split dose quit working, and I went high in night. It seems when I am not riding, I need that hit at night. As soon as I went back to a much heaver dose at night (10 units) then I was back to normal in the am. The other difference I noticed was that I was having to bolus a lot more for anything I ate. Diet was pretty simple. Fruits and salad for the most part, and some sushi. When I was training, I would bolus 1-1.5 units for the salad, and not go over 150 before coming back down. On Tuesday, I had to give a shot of 4 units. I think this further proves the value of exercise to both people with and without diabetes.
How is that? When I was exercising, and eating about 2000 calories a day, I was doing less than 20 units of insulin for the day (basal and bolus.)
Not training: eating a restricted diet, and doing appx 25 units of insulin total.
For the non-diabetic this would be very similar. Not exercising your body may produce 30 units throughout the course of the day to cover all of your food intake, but if you began to exercise 1 hour a day, you may be able to cut that # in half. Type 2 diabetes is essentially caused by using up all of your insulin (every one has a pre-set amount-genetics) too early. So if you can cut down the amount of insulin production by 33%, theoretically your pancreas will function that much longer. This is my theory, and I could be way off, but I think I am right.
There are currently 50 MILLION Americans with Pre-Diabetes- Just think if everyone hopped on a bike, or went to the gym, then we could cut that number in half, if not make it dissapear.
I am thankful for all of my family, my friends, my health. Do you know someone who would be thankful in 1 year that you pushed them to exercise today? Just a thought.
Going to try accupuncture tomorrow. Never done it, but I got some good news, and am extra motivated to train, and ensure good health. Riding is my biggest stress relief, and the thing I enjoy doing more than anything, and not doing it has been tough. I am eager and anxious to get back, so I can start saving money on insulin again...ha
Thanks for reading. Have a great holiday, and I appreciate all of your support for the Tour of California! Hopefully good news to share soon!!
Philpott
www.TeamType1.org
www.TeamType2.com Yes you read it right, please check it out. Exciting for 2009!!! site under construction!
I hope your holidays rocked! I am still off the bike due to hamstring strain. The first few days the split dose of Lantus continued to work, as I went a little higher day by day. But about 4-5 days into being off the bike, the split dose quit working, and I went high in night. It seems when I am not riding, I need that hit at night. As soon as I went back to a much heaver dose at night (10 units) then I was back to normal in the am. The other difference I noticed was that I was having to bolus a lot more for anything I ate. Diet was pretty simple. Fruits and salad for the most part, and some sushi. When I was training, I would bolus 1-1.5 units for the salad, and not go over 150 before coming back down. On Tuesday, I had to give a shot of 4 units. I think this further proves the value of exercise to both people with and without diabetes.
How is that? When I was exercising, and eating about 2000 calories a day, I was doing less than 20 units of insulin for the day (basal and bolus.)
Not training: eating a restricted diet, and doing appx 25 units of insulin total.
For the non-diabetic this would be very similar. Not exercising your body may produce 30 units throughout the course of the day to cover all of your food intake, but if you began to exercise 1 hour a day, you may be able to cut that # in half. Type 2 diabetes is essentially caused by using up all of your insulin (every one has a pre-set amount-genetics) too early. So if you can cut down the amount of insulin production by 33%, theoretically your pancreas will function that much longer. This is my theory, and I could be way off, but I think I am right.
There are currently 50 MILLION Americans with Pre-Diabetes- Just think if everyone hopped on a bike, or went to the gym, then we could cut that number in half, if not make it dissapear.
I am thankful for all of my family, my friends, my health. Do you know someone who would be thankful in 1 year that you pushed them to exercise today? Just a thought.
Going to try accupuncture tomorrow. Never done it, but I got some good news, and am extra motivated to train, and ensure good health. Riding is my biggest stress relief, and the thing I enjoy doing more than anything, and not doing it has been tough. I am eager and anxious to get back, so I can start saving money on insulin again...ha
Thanks for reading. Have a great holiday, and I appreciate all of your support for the Tour of California! Hopefully good news to share soon!!
Philpott
www.TeamType1.org
www.TeamType2.com Yes you read it right, please check it out. Exciting for 2009!!! site under construction!
Monday, November 24, 2008
less exercise, more insulin...
Howdy,
Last week, I have had a minor set-back in a strained hamstring. I am going to see the doc again today, and will hopefully get clearance to train. It has now been 4 full days with no riding. I am thinking the strain may have been due to gym work, cold weather, riding a bit, who knows??
It hasn't been all bad, as I have made a lot of work progress, and had plenty to do. On Saturday, I flew out to San Diego in the morning, went straight to the TCOYD conference. It was a great event and I was thrilled to be there. I got to catch up with a lot of old friends, and meet some new ones too! Andy, Morgan, and I were at the event which had over 2000 attendees. We then attended the snack bar, and went to a great sushi restaurant with Eric, Jessica (of Sanofi) and Doug of Euro, who is in charge of the media team over there. He and his team have been a dream to work with.
After dinner, straight to the airport, and red-eye back. I slept the ENTIRE flight, which rarely happens.
What happens to the metabolism when you go from 2-5 hours of exercise a day (9 units of Lantus- and less than 10 of Apidra) to 0 hours of exercise?
More insulin is what happens. I had noticed that I was having to do a little more Apidra/carb than normal, and instead of a very slight drop in blood sugars, there was a very slight rise. This meant the metabolism was slowing quickly. Surprisingly though, I stuck to the 5 units of Lantus in the am, and 5 at night, and last night was the first time, where I started going high. It was mildly frustrating, and I had to do a lot more boluses than normal for the amount of food I was eating.
So this morning, I woke up at 6am at 198, did 3 units, went back to sleep, and then woke up at 8:45 at 109. Last week if I would have been 198 in the night, I would have done less than 1 unit, and woke up at 70. This morning I increased my basal to 6 units of Lantus, and I think I should be back on track. I was somewhat surprised that the very low basal rate lasted until Sunday night. I think it means my body is working well.
While I can't train, I am going to diet heavily. A friend labeled this "manorexia" which is fitting.
Here is the thing: We find out this week if we get into the Tour of California. I am really hoping we do, and think it would be a very big day for Team Type 1.
If we do get in, I will get to race against many riders who have won stages at the Tour de France, and many of the best riders in the world. I know to have a chance of success I have to be my best ever, which means getting the power to weight ratio as high as possible. 2 ways to do this.
One is to gain more power, which I will work hard on.
Two: lose weight.
Also working hard on this. If I can gain a little power, lose a little weight, then all will be good. If I were not planning on having a stellar year on the bike, I would be more than happy with where I am now. So please cross your fingers for us for the ToC, as that is one huge step to getting to the Tour de France by 2012.
Have a great day!
Philpott
www.TeamType1.org
Last week, I have had a minor set-back in a strained hamstring. I am going to see the doc again today, and will hopefully get clearance to train. It has now been 4 full days with no riding. I am thinking the strain may have been due to gym work, cold weather, riding a bit, who knows??
It hasn't been all bad, as I have made a lot of work progress, and had plenty to do. On Saturday, I flew out to San Diego in the morning, went straight to the TCOYD conference. It was a great event and I was thrilled to be there. I got to catch up with a lot of old friends, and meet some new ones too! Andy, Morgan, and I were at the event which had over 2000 attendees. We then attended the snack bar, and went to a great sushi restaurant with Eric, Jessica (of Sanofi) and Doug of Euro, who is in charge of the media team over there. He and his team have been a dream to work with.
After dinner, straight to the airport, and red-eye back. I slept the ENTIRE flight, which rarely happens.
What happens to the metabolism when you go from 2-5 hours of exercise a day (9 units of Lantus- and less than 10 of Apidra) to 0 hours of exercise?
More insulin is what happens. I had noticed that I was having to do a little more Apidra/carb than normal, and instead of a very slight drop in blood sugars, there was a very slight rise. This meant the metabolism was slowing quickly. Surprisingly though, I stuck to the 5 units of Lantus in the am, and 5 at night, and last night was the first time, where I started going high. It was mildly frustrating, and I had to do a lot more boluses than normal for the amount of food I was eating.
So this morning, I woke up at 6am at 198, did 3 units, went back to sleep, and then woke up at 8:45 at 109. Last week if I would have been 198 in the night, I would have done less than 1 unit, and woke up at 70. This morning I increased my basal to 6 units of Lantus, and I think I should be back on track. I was somewhat surprised that the very low basal rate lasted until Sunday night. I think it means my body is working well.
While I can't train, I am going to diet heavily. A friend labeled this "manorexia" which is fitting.
Here is the thing: We find out this week if we get into the Tour of California. I am really hoping we do, and think it would be a very big day for Team Type 1.
If we do get in, I will get to race against many riders who have won stages at the Tour de France, and many of the best riders in the world. I know to have a chance of success I have to be my best ever, which means getting the power to weight ratio as high as possible. 2 ways to do this.
One is to gain more power, which I will work hard on.
Two: lose weight.
Also working hard on this. If I can gain a little power, lose a little weight, then all will be good. If I were not planning on having a stellar year on the bike, I would be more than happy with where I am now. So please cross your fingers for us for the ToC, as that is one huge step to getting to the Tour de France by 2012.
Have a great day!
Philpott
www.TeamType1.org
Thursday, November 20, 2008
FreeStyle Navigator on a bike ride-diabetes tool
Howdy again,
Training has been going good as of late. I have my system pretty down now, and am enjoying life. I wanted to give a post not so much about the wacky basal rate changes, but more about an actual bike ride.
Yesterday, on the phone by 8am doing the usual. At 9:30 eat breakfast (2 packs of oatmeal) with 3 units of Apidra. Apparently I misjudged as I went up a bit, and had to do a correction of 2 units, which at 11am had me dropping. I think at one point I was 142 with an arrow straight down, so I snacked on some juice, had an apple, and leveled off at 107 by 11:15. I had a conference call set up for 12, and then planned to hit the bike for a 4 hour training day immediately after. At 11:45 I had 2 more packets of Oatmeal (no bolus,) or 60 gms of carbs, and the arrow began to go up. By the time I left the house at 12:15, I was at 148 with an arrow pointed slightly up.
Quick arrow definitions:
If it is going straight up or down, it means blood sugar is change at least 2 points per minute, sometimes more.
If it is at a 45 degree angle, then it is changing at 1 point per minute. Very helpful to plan ahead.
I knew I was going up. I set out on the ride with 3 almond bars, at 160 calories each, a banana, a cliff bar, Dex4, 1 bottle of water, and 1 Gatorade.
25 minutes into the ride I was 160, with no arrow. This meant that I was leveling off, and I was thinking I would either flat line, or begin to drop. 15 minutes later, I checked the Navigator, and I was at 148, so the drop had begun. I drank some water (fluid before food helps digestion) and then ate the banana. 1 hour into the ride, I was at 118, so I ate a almond bar. 20 minutes later, was at 111, so I ate another almond bar, this time with Gatorade in advance. I am not riding a real fast pace right now, so I am very comfortable riding with a blood sugars between 90-160. If I were racing, I would want them higher, say 130-180. At 1.5 hours I was at 99, with flat arrow, but noticing a slight downward trend. I ate my last almond bar (these things are really good!!!) drank some Gatorade, and I knew I would be good. I did not look at Navigator until about 2 hours 20 minutes into the ride, when it got to 91. I stopped as I needed fluids, got a coke, and Gatorade. I drank about half the coke (40 gms carbs) on the spot, and then put the rest in my bottles. I rode the rest of the way without looking. I knew I was good, felt good, and continued to take a coke/Gatorade mix in for the last 1-1.5hrs. Should have had more though, as when I got home I was 88 with an arrow pointed straight down.
The recovery process: 88 arrow straight down: Went straight for about 45 gms carb/15 gm protein from Chocolate milk, then put 162 gms of pasta on the stove. This is about 120 gms of carbs. I ate the pasta, and then bolused 5 units of Apidra. Blood sugar went up to 148 before dropping, and 1.5 hours after my ride I had some Dex4, and an apple which leveled me out, before grabbing sushi with my brother Jack at 7:30, or 2.5 hrs after my ride. Typical dose for sushi would have been 5 units, but I did 2, and blood sugar was great!
Before ride carb/insulin ratio seemed to be about 15/1, and after ride 30/1.
Exercise does make a difference.
Last night continued on my split dose Lantus, with a 4 unit bolus of Lantus at 10pm.
Then Southpark, and asleep by 10:35...
That is a very typical day, and how "my" body works for training. I hope this helps.
Have a great day.
Phil
Team Type 1
Training has been going good as of late. I have my system pretty down now, and am enjoying life. I wanted to give a post not so much about the wacky basal rate changes, but more about an actual bike ride.
Yesterday, on the phone by 8am doing the usual. At 9:30 eat breakfast (2 packs of oatmeal) with 3 units of Apidra. Apparently I misjudged as I went up a bit, and had to do a correction of 2 units, which at 11am had me dropping. I think at one point I was 142 with an arrow straight down, so I snacked on some juice, had an apple, and leveled off at 107 by 11:15. I had a conference call set up for 12, and then planned to hit the bike for a 4 hour training day immediately after. At 11:45 I had 2 more packets of Oatmeal (no bolus,) or 60 gms of carbs, and the arrow began to go up. By the time I left the house at 12:15, I was at 148 with an arrow pointed slightly up.
Quick arrow definitions:
If it is going straight up or down, it means blood sugar is change at least 2 points per minute, sometimes more.
If it is at a 45 degree angle, then it is changing at 1 point per minute. Very helpful to plan ahead.
I knew I was going up. I set out on the ride with 3 almond bars, at 160 calories each, a banana, a cliff bar, Dex4, 1 bottle of water, and 1 Gatorade.
25 minutes into the ride I was 160, with no arrow. This meant that I was leveling off, and I was thinking I would either flat line, or begin to drop. 15 minutes later, I checked the Navigator, and I was at 148, so the drop had begun. I drank some water (fluid before food helps digestion) and then ate the banana. 1 hour into the ride, I was at 118, so I ate a almond bar. 20 minutes later, was at 111, so I ate another almond bar, this time with Gatorade in advance. I am not riding a real fast pace right now, so I am very comfortable riding with a blood sugars between 90-160. If I were racing, I would want them higher, say 130-180. At 1.5 hours I was at 99, with flat arrow, but noticing a slight downward trend. I ate my last almond bar (these things are really good!!!) drank some Gatorade, and I knew I would be good. I did not look at Navigator until about 2 hours 20 minutes into the ride, when it got to 91. I stopped as I needed fluids, got a coke, and Gatorade. I drank about half the coke (40 gms carbs) on the spot, and then put the rest in my bottles. I rode the rest of the way without looking. I knew I was good, felt good, and continued to take a coke/Gatorade mix in for the last 1-1.5hrs. Should have had more though, as when I got home I was 88 with an arrow pointed straight down.
The recovery process: 88 arrow straight down: Went straight for about 45 gms carb/15 gm protein from Chocolate milk, then put 162 gms of pasta on the stove. This is about 120 gms of carbs. I ate the pasta, and then bolused 5 units of Apidra. Blood sugar went up to 148 before dropping, and 1.5 hours after my ride I had some Dex4, and an apple which leveled me out, before grabbing sushi with my brother Jack at 7:30, or 2.5 hrs after my ride. Typical dose for sushi would have been 5 units, but I did 2, and blood sugar was great!
Before ride carb/insulin ratio seemed to be about 15/1, and after ride 30/1.
Exercise does make a difference.
Last night continued on my split dose Lantus, with a 4 unit bolus of Lantus at 10pm.
Then Southpark, and asleep by 10:35...
That is a very typical day, and how "my" body works for training. I hope this helps.
Have a great day.
Phil
Team Type 1
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Platinum Baby!! a little diabetes stuff
Howdy again,
Platinum?? So today I hit the mark, 75,000 fly miles on Delta this year which is the mark to hit their Platinum status. I think I have been on 65 separate flights with them this year, and it gave me some time to reflect. What exactly do you do when on a plane this much. Let's look at some #'s: 65 flights with average of 1.5 hours on the runway per flight not counting fly time. =97.5 hours
Then 75,000 miles at 500mph = appx 150 hours of fly time.
Then time before check in: avg 1hr, and 45 minutes spent at airport after flight or 105 hours
for a grand estimated total of: 14.7 days spent at airports or on planes. Not factoring in delays, driving too, and from airport.
Which begs the question: What in the heck do you do? So I went and took a look at my book shelf, and counted 34 books read this year. Some great ones, some not so good ones, and some that just pass the time.
I really don't mind all of this fly time, as it does give me a chance to escape into the world of words. I have no contact with email/phone while flying, and I get to read, which I love to do. I am on book #35 right now, and kind of half-way reading 2 others, and have another 10 or so that I want to read before the year is out.
So I would say that if you tend to get stressed out when jumping on a plane, grab a book in the bookstore that every airport has. It really takes a lot of the stress out, and also makes it easier (for me) to fall asleep on the plane.
Now for diabetes... I am still splitting my doses of Lantus. Doing 5 in the am, and 4 at night. I didn't work out yesterday, and that was too little. Woke up a little elevated at 4 am, did a small correction and woke up at 78. Plan is to hit the gym, and then ride in the 45 degree weather, and will stick to 4 tonight thanks to the elevated metabolism.
Now, I know it seems like I make a lot of changes, but I think that is the bike racer in me doing it. If I did not change training every day, I would probably do the same amount of insulin give or take a few units of Apidra day after day. But when riding/racing a bike, you have to be on the lookout for new ways to improve, which is why I am always switching things up. It may seem from some of my last posts, that diabetes is the most complicated disease in the world (which it can be at times...) but to me I go by feel. I am CDE's worst nightmare, because I do not carb count, and I wing it every time. It just so happens that I can look at a plate of food and judge what I need, which I bet you can too.
My challenge to you: Before factoring carbs, correction, and bolus needed next time, take a guess at what you think you would do. Then compare to what the "real" calculations say. I would say you can probably do it by feel as well. At Camp Kudzu a few years ago, I worked with our clinician Susie Smith. She was cool with me not carb counting, and playing the guessing game, but she wanted to expirement. So I counted the carbs, told her what I ate, while giving the amount of insulin I thought I needed. It just so happened that 98% of camp I was on a carb/insulin ration of 18.75/1.
Internally I knew, and I bet you can too. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.
If you do this, please double check afterwards to ensure you did it right.
Thanks for reading!
Have a great day.
Philpott (yes, this is in fact my middle name. Thanks mom...)
www.teamtype1.org
Platinum?? So today I hit the mark, 75,000 fly miles on Delta this year which is the mark to hit their Platinum status. I think I have been on 65 separate flights with them this year, and it gave me some time to reflect. What exactly do you do when on a plane this much. Let's look at some #'s: 65 flights with average of 1.5 hours on the runway per flight not counting fly time. =97.5 hours
Then 75,000 miles at 500mph = appx 150 hours of fly time.
Then time before check in: avg 1hr, and 45 minutes spent at airport after flight or 105 hours
for a grand estimated total of: 14.7 days spent at airports or on planes. Not factoring in delays, driving too, and from airport.
Which begs the question: What in the heck do you do? So I went and took a look at my book shelf, and counted 34 books read this year. Some great ones, some not so good ones, and some that just pass the time.
I really don't mind all of this fly time, as it does give me a chance to escape into the world of words. I have no contact with email/phone while flying, and I get to read, which I love to do. I am on book #35 right now, and kind of half-way reading 2 others, and have another 10 or so that I want to read before the year is out.
So I would say that if you tend to get stressed out when jumping on a plane, grab a book in the bookstore that every airport has. It really takes a lot of the stress out, and also makes it easier (for me) to fall asleep on the plane.
Now for diabetes... I am still splitting my doses of Lantus. Doing 5 in the am, and 4 at night. I didn't work out yesterday, and that was too little. Woke up a little elevated at 4 am, did a small correction and woke up at 78. Plan is to hit the gym, and then ride in the 45 degree weather, and will stick to 4 tonight thanks to the elevated metabolism.
Now, I know it seems like I make a lot of changes, but I think that is the bike racer in me doing it. If I did not change training every day, I would probably do the same amount of insulin give or take a few units of Apidra day after day. But when riding/racing a bike, you have to be on the lookout for new ways to improve, which is why I am always switching things up. It may seem from some of my last posts, that diabetes is the most complicated disease in the world (which it can be at times...) but to me I go by feel. I am CDE's worst nightmare, because I do not carb count, and I wing it every time. It just so happens that I can look at a plate of food and judge what I need, which I bet you can too.
My challenge to you: Before factoring carbs, correction, and bolus needed next time, take a guess at what you think you would do. Then compare to what the "real" calculations say. I would say you can probably do it by feel as well. At Camp Kudzu a few years ago, I worked with our clinician Susie Smith. She was cool with me not carb counting, and playing the guessing game, but she wanted to expirement. So I counted the carbs, told her what I ate, while giving the amount of insulin I thought I needed. It just so happened that 98% of camp I was on a carb/insulin ration of 18.75/1.
Internally I knew, and I bet you can too. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.
If you do this, please double check afterwards to ensure you did it right.
Thanks for reading!
Have a great day.
Philpott (yes, this is in fact my middle name. Thanks mom...)
www.teamtype1.org
Sunday, November 16, 2008
split dose basal- Diabetes game again...
Howdy from Atlanta,
I like saying "from Atlanta!!!" As of tomorrow night, it will be 2 full weeks, yes 14 days that I have not stepped on an airplane. I believe this is the single longest stretch since mid February, and it rocks. It is good to be home, see friends, and have a semblance of a schedule. Life is good, and biking is great!!
So last time, I think I made the cut to 9 units Lantus. That was a bit too much still for the early part of the night, but a touch too little for the night. When my metabolism is going, it goes, and a bigger dose almost feels like rapid acting insulin plus. So about 4 am, I saw 155 with an arrow trending up, did a .5 unit of Apidra, and woke up at 80. I decided it was time (thanks Dr. Howard Zisser) to go to split dose. I did 3 units the next morning, and had a good day. Friday was I able to train for 2 hrs, and felt decent. Then Friday night, laid low, and did 6 units for a total of 9 units of basal. Had to eat extra at night due to the pop. Saturday went for 4 units in the am, had a big bowl of oatmeal, with no bolus, and then hit the road for 4.5 hours. Got lost, which added the extra hour. Blood sugar went up to 220 in the early part of the ride, but 2 hours in I began dropping, and eating. Stabalized at 110, and kept eating and eating. Got home with a bg of 77, did 5 units Apidra, and had 160 gms of carbs (pasta and chocolate milk) and 40 gms protein. After 1 hour, I began to drop again, so ate some fruit. Dinner consisted of a salad, fruit, and steak.
Last night I went to 5 units, still having the 9 units of basal, but thanks to the split dose, I have had no hypo's. This morning, it was 5 units of Lantus, and tonight I will do 3-4. It has been a slow transition, but I think I have finally found the sweet spot. Curious to see if with the split dose, my basal will decrease much more??? The lowest I have ever gotten was 6 units of Lantus split 3 in am, 3u pm.
Today is another 4 hour day on the bike, and tomorrow a day off! Time to get dressed, and see if I guessed right today!
I hope all is well.
Have a great day.
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org
I like saying "from Atlanta!!!" As of tomorrow night, it will be 2 full weeks, yes 14 days that I have not stepped on an airplane. I believe this is the single longest stretch since mid February, and it rocks. It is good to be home, see friends, and have a semblance of a schedule. Life is good, and biking is great!!
So last time, I think I made the cut to 9 units Lantus. That was a bit too much still for the early part of the night, but a touch too little for the night. When my metabolism is going, it goes, and a bigger dose almost feels like rapid acting insulin plus. So about 4 am, I saw 155 with an arrow trending up, did a .5 unit of Apidra, and woke up at 80. I decided it was time (thanks Dr. Howard Zisser) to go to split dose. I did 3 units the next morning, and had a good day. Friday was I able to train for 2 hrs, and felt decent. Then Friday night, laid low, and did 6 units for a total of 9 units of basal. Had to eat extra at night due to the pop. Saturday went for 4 units in the am, had a big bowl of oatmeal, with no bolus, and then hit the road for 4.5 hours. Got lost, which added the extra hour. Blood sugar went up to 220 in the early part of the ride, but 2 hours in I began dropping, and eating. Stabalized at 110, and kept eating and eating. Got home with a bg of 77, did 5 units Apidra, and had 160 gms of carbs (pasta and chocolate milk) and 40 gms protein. After 1 hour, I began to drop again, so ate some fruit. Dinner consisted of a salad, fruit, and steak.
Last night I went to 5 units, still having the 9 units of basal, but thanks to the split dose, I have had no hypo's. This morning, it was 5 units of Lantus, and tonight I will do 3-4. It has been a slow transition, but I think I have finally found the sweet spot. Curious to see if with the split dose, my basal will decrease much more??? The lowest I have ever gotten was 6 units of Lantus split 3 in am, 3u pm.
Today is another 4 hour day on the bike, and tomorrow a day off! Time to get dressed, and see if I guessed right today!
I hope all is well.
Have a great day.
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org
Thursday, November 13, 2008
diabetes daily dose... a tiny rant too
Howdy again,
I think I have now posted more in last 3-4 days, than in the last 3-4 months. It is fun being at home, with a schedule, and having time to think for myself vs always being on the run.
Sometimes thinking is not so good though. Since I had been cutting my Lantus doses way down, I have not been feeling great on the bike. This could mean one of two things:
1. I am tired from the training, and am in an adaptation phase
2. Not doing enough insulin, so muscles are not getting fueled.
So I sent an email to my buddy Howard Zisser, who is one of leading diabetes researchers in new technology in the US. A brilliant guy, even though he is a gator fan...ha Howard said that you should do 1/4 unit per kilo of body weight. I am at 64 kilos, so one would guess that I should be doing 16 units of Lantus as my basal. I explained that I was doing much less, and he said numbers should run high. I responded that #'s are as good as ever, and in fact my 21 day average is 101 (on a continuous basis!) That is better than most non-diabetics.
Needless to say, I figured I try to give a little more. Last night, I was in a heated debate with myself between 9 and 10 units. I had did 10 the night before, and woke up perfect at 78, but had also ridden 3 hours (55 miles) yesterday. I decided to eat a little extra at night, adn go for 10. WRONG answer. Should have done 9. I woke up a bit on the low side, and had a lighter day of training today. I did a 2 mile run, 1 hour in the gym, and 45 minutes on the bike, and my legs felt ok. So tonight I am going to cut to 9 units, and I think I should be good. No debate, the decision is made.
I really do appreciate the comments. Mike I am glad that this has helped. There are always 2 ways to look at everything. I could look at these decisions I have to make, and always looking at my FreeStlye Navigator, wondering how much Lantus, or Apidra (Rapid Acting Insulin-very fast) and say poor me. But as of now, I cannot control the fact that I have diabetes, so I have decided to emrace it with open arms, and use these learning experiences to be better tomorrow than I was today. I do have highs, and I do have lows. Impossible to avoid all the time. But with a conscience effort, I am able to control diabetes, not the other way around. It is fun for me, and I hope it always will be. I hope that Team Type 1 can help people with and without diabetes to embrace your challenge, overcome it, and be better tomorrow thanks to the work you did today.
Thanks for listening to my rant. Any questions, please let me know, and I will try to answer.
Have a great day.
Philpott
Team Type 1
www.teamtype1.org
I think I have now posted more in last 3-4 days, than in the last 3-4 months. It is fun being at home, with a schedule, and having time to think for myself vs always being on the run.
Sometimes thinking is not so good though. Since I had been cutting my Lantus doses way down, I have not been feeling great on the bike. This could mean one of two things:
1. I am tired from the training, and am in an adaptation phase
2. Not doing enough insulin, so muscles are not getting fueled.
So I sent an email to my buddy Howard Zisser, who is one of leading diabetes researchers in new technology in the US. A brilliant guy, even though he is a gator fan...ha Howard said that you should do 1/4 unit per kilo of body weight. I am at 64 kilos, so one would guess that I should be doing 16 units of Lantus as my basal. I explained that I was doing much less, and he said numbers should run high. I responded that #'s are as good as ever, and in fact my 21 day average is 101 (on a continuous basis!) That is better than most non-diabetics.
Needless to say, I figured I try to give a little more. Last night, I was in a heated debate with myself between 9 and 10 units. I had did 10 the night before, and woke up perfect at 78, but had also ridden 3 hours (55 miles) yesterday. I decided to eat a little extra at night, adn go for 10. WRONG answer. Should have done 9. I woke up a bit on the low side, and had a lighter day of training today. I did a 2 mile run, 1 hour in the gym, and 45 minutes on the bike, and my legs felt ok. So tonight I am going to cut to 9 units, and I think I should be good. No debate, the decision is made.
I really do appreciate the comments. Mike I am glad that this has helped. There are always 2 ways to look at everything. I could look at these decisions I have to make, and always looking at my FreeStlye Navigator, wondering how much Lantus, or Apidra (Rapid Acting Insulin-very fast) and say poor me. But as of now, I cannot control the fact that I have diabetes, so I have decided to emrace it with open arms, and use these learning experiences to be better tomorrow than I was today. I do have highs, and I do have lows. Impossible to avoid all the time. But with a conscience effort, I am able to control diabetes, not the other way around. It is fun for me, and I hope it always will be. I hope that Team Type 1 can help people with and without diabetes to embrace your challenge, overcome it, and be better tomorrow thanks to the work you did today.
Thanks for listening to my rant. Any questions, please let me know, and I will try to answer.
Have a great day.
Philpott
Team Type 1
www.teamtype1.org
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The Insulin guessing game- diabetes is fun...
Howdy again,
On a roll now... So yesterday was a day off. Having backed Lantus down to 9 on Sunday, was great for Monday am. Woke up with perfect BG, but as the day wore on, and I was inactive, it became apparent that I needed more basal. I had my usual salad, chicken, fruit during the day, and then had a salad with fruit for dinner. If it was Saturday or Sunday, I would have bolused 1 unit of Apidra for the Salad, but knowing I took the day off, I went for 3 units, and my blood sugar...
skyrocketed!!! So I ended up doing an additional 4 units, and new the metabolism had slowed. Instead of just going to 10 units for Lantus, I decided to make the jump to 11 units. This was a bit of an overkill, and I touched on the low end in the am. I think 10 units would have been wiser.
Today, I woke up, ate, went to the gym, ran for 15 minutes, worked out, then came home ate some oatmeal, and out on the bike for 1 hour. Felt really tired for a while, then halfway through, the legs woke up and life was good. Looking forward to a 3+ hour ride tomorrow...
So tonight, what should I do??? I am thinking 10 units initially, but then again, if 10 would have been perfect last night, and I did jump start the metabolism with gym/riding, then maybe I should go back to 9 units of Lantus. I am undecided at this point, and will make the call depending on the trend at 9:30-10:30pm. Let's see how I react to the salad tonight.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any specific questions I could address, please feel free to comment, and I will try to get to them.
Have a great day!
Philpott
On a roll now... So yesterday was a day off. Having backed Lantus down to 9 on Sunday, was great for Monday am. Woke up with perfect BG, but as the day wore on, and I was inactive, it became apparent that I needed more basal. I had my usual salad, chicken, fruit during the day, and then had a salad with fruit for dinner. If it was Saturday or Sunday, I would have bolused 1 unit of Apidra for the Salad, but knowing I took the day off, I went for 3 units, and my blood sugar...
skyrocketed!!! So I ended up doing an additional 4 units, and new the metabolism had slowed. Instead of just going to 10 units for Lantus, I decided to make the jump to 11 units. This was a bit of an overkill, and I touched on the low end in the am. I think 10 units would have been wiser.
Today, I woke up, ate, went to the gym, ran for 15 minutes, worked out, then came home ate some oatmeal, and out on the bike for 1 hour. Felt really tired for a while, then halfway through, the legs woke up and life was good. Looking forward to a 3+ hour ride tomorrow...
So tonight, what should I do??? I am thinking 10 units initially, but then again, if 10 would have been perfect last night, and I did jump start the metabolism with gym/riding, then maybe I should go back to 9 units of Lantus. I am undecided at this point, and will make the call depending on the trend at 9:30-10:30pm. Let's see how I react to the salad tonight.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any specific questions I could address, please feel free to comment, and I will try to get to them.
Have a great day!
Philpott
Monday, November 10, 2008
Diabetes- travel-training and food...
Howdy from Atlanta,
I am obviously really good about constant updates (joke, joke). My apologies for not being more consistent. Life has been very busy, but very good. We, at Team Type 1, are finalizing our sponsor agreements. Our sponsors have all been so supportive. The year 2009 looks to be even bigger than 08. Should have 50 athletes flying the TeamType1 banner next year, including twenty-seven with Type 1, ten with type 2 (Team Type 2!!!,) and another 15+/- who are embracing sharing the message that people with diabetes rock and can do the "same" as normal people - just with a little more discipline.
Anyone ever spent 24 hours straight traveling? I did, flying back home from visiting Italy, and Abu-Dhabi, where one of my best friends, and teammates, Daniel Holt lives. Had a great time there, and then proceeded to travel for 24 hours to get home. I returned home to watch UGA beat LSU, and then head to bed. Woke up and rode on a 50 mile bike ride (spin for kids)
My blood sugars had been pretty phenomenal while on vacation. I was eating a fair bit, running some, and all was good. I was doing an average of 15 units of Lantus, and 10-14 of Apidra each day. When I got home, day 2-3 upon return, things got all out of wack. If I looked at an apple, my blood sugar would rise. I was up to 20 units of Lantus, and another 20 of Apidra. Exercise and diet helped get me back in the groove. I returned and soon began to travel again. I totaled 10 flights in 10 days!! When I was on the road, I ran, and I was eating very low carb diet, and by day 5, I had lantus back down to 15 units.
Morgan and I went to Vanderbilt. We met some great people at the Ped Endo Day, where I have now spoken for the past three years.
Sunday, base began, and I have ridden 9 days in a row, including 2 days in the gym. No more travel for me for a while, and I am focused 100% on being ready hopefully for the Tour of California in February. That has meant between 2-4 hours a day of working out.
Avg day now:
This week, I have been a little behind the curve on my Lantus adjustments. I went from 14 units on Sunday, down to 9 on Saturday and Sunday. If I wake up with a low BS, then I will typically reduce 1 unit/night until I find the magic #. This time, that was not quick enough. I had gotten down to 11 units by Friday, woke up on the lower side for the 3rd day in a row, so jumped to 9 units Saturday night after a 4 hour training day. I woke up at 208 at 5am, then went and did 3 hrs on the bike. Sunday, stayed at 9 units factoring in the additional training, and woke up at 5am to a low alarm on my FreeStyle Navigator. I prepare for this by keeping Dex 4 (glucose) on my night stand, and so took down 15gms of carbs and was good to go.
Tonight, with no exercise today, I am still contemplating whether to take 9 units, or increase to 10... I will know when I know:)
Last 3 days total insulin intake has been between 15-18 units, which is a record low for me.
I look forward to learning more this next week, and putting week 2 to the test.
They don't write books about your personal life with diabetes. You are your own best doctor. I would encourage you to be pro-active about adjustments but also run them by your endo, or your diabetes educator the first few times to make sure they are on the same "wave length." I have had many years of doing this, and am on the same page with my Dr, Bruce Bode.
I hope this helps. Hoping to be a more consistent blogger in future! Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for your TeamType1 support.
Have a great day!
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org
I am obviously really good about constant updates (joke, joke). My apologies for not being more consistent. Life has been very busy, but very good. We, at Team Type 1, are finalizing our sponsor agreements. Our sponsors have all been so supportive. The year 2009 looks to be even bigger than 08. Should have 50 athletes flying the TeamType1 banner next year, including twenty-seven with Type 1, ten with type 2 (Team Type 2!!!,) and another 15+/- who are embracing sharing the message that people with diabetes rock and can do the "same" as normal people - just with a little more discipline.
Anyone ever spent 24 hours straight traveling? I did, flying back home from visiting Italy, and Abu-Dhabi, where one of my best friends, and teammates, Daniel Holt lives. Had a great time there, and then proceeded to travel for 24 hours to get home. I returned home to watch UGA beat LSU, and then head to bed. Woke up and rode on a 50 mile bike ride (spin for kids)
My blood sugars had been pretty phenomenal while on vacation. I was eating a fair bit, running some, and all was good. I was doing an average of 15 units of Lantus, and 10-14 of Apidra each day. When I got home, day 2-3 upon return, things got all out of wack. If I looked at an apple, my blood sugar would rise. I was up to 20 units of Lantus, and another 20 of Apidra. Exercise and diet helped get me back in the groove. I returned and soon began to travel again. I totaled 10 flights in 10 days!! When I was on the road, I ran, and I was eating very low carb diet, and by day 5, I had lantus back down to 15 units.
Morgan and I went to Vanderbilt. We met some great people at the Ped Endo Day, where I have now spoken for the past three years.
Sunday, base began, and I have ridden 9 days in a row, including 2 days in the gym. No more travel for me for a while, and I am focused 100% on being ready hopefully for the Tour of California in February. That has meant between 2-4 hours a day of working out.
Avg day now:
- wake up drink coffee
- talk on phone/email for 2-3 hours.
- eat oatmeal to get the blood sugar trend going up,
- ride 2-4hrs (or gym 2x week)
- return home 3-4 units of Apidra and appx 120 grams of carbs through Pasta which is also about 30 gms of protein.
- eat an apple-
- dinner: salad w/fruit and maybe some fish or chicken.
- Lantus at 10:00pm, and hit the hay.
This week, I have been a little behind the curve on my Lantus adjustments. I went from 14 units on Sunday, down to 9 on Saturday and Sunday. If I wake up with a low BS, then I will typically reduce 1 unit/night until I find the magic #. This time, that was not quick enough. I had gotten down to 11 units by Friday, woke up on the lower side for the 3rd day in a row, so jumped to 9 units Saturday night after a 4 hour training day. I woke up at 208 at 5am, then went and did 3 hrs on the bike. Sunday, stayed at 9 units factoring in the additional training, and woke up at 5am to a low alarm on my FreeStyle Navigator. I prepare for this by keeping Dex 4 (glucose) on my night stand, and so took down 15gms of carbs and was good to go.
Tonight, with no exercise today, I am still contemplating whether to take 9 units, or increase to 10... I will know when I know:)
Last 3 days total insulin intake has been between 15-18 units, which is a record low for me.
I look forward to learning more this next week, and putting week 2 to the test.
They don't write books about your personal life with diabetes. You are your own best doctor. I would encourage you to be pro-active about adjustments but also run them by your endo, or your diabetes educator the first few times to make sure they are on the same "wave length." I have had many years of doing this, and am on the same page with my Dr, Bruce Bode.
I hope this helps. Hoping to be a more consistent blogger in future! Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for your TeamType1 support.
Have a great day!
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thanks to Morgan Patton
Howdy from my new House in Atl...
Yee-ha, finally a homeowner. Could this be a stressful situation, to which someone would want to pull their hair out??? I think anytime you move the answer is probably a resounding yes. However, not for me... Why? Because I had the professional help of my new assistant, Morgan Patton. She helped to pack everything, unpack and organize everything, pick out furniture, and call the cable company... I am very, very excited to have her on board to help keep me in line.
So this may be the first you have heard of Morgan, but it will not be the last. She was diagnosed at age of 6, lead a great young life, rocked the horse jumping seen for a few years (youngest competitor at most events,) and then in May of 06, by some freak twist of fate, our parents met at a pub in Tallahassee. My mom was talking away about what I was about to do in RAAM, and Morgan's mom, Debbie said that it may help her daughter to crew. My mom made me do it, and I am so grateful that we got her on. Video of Morgan
At that time Morgan's A1C was 16.7, and she didn't care about diabetes. But then she saw the team, and everyone checking their blood sugar, doing shots, exercising, and being pro-active about good control...
And began to do the same things. 8 months later she began to race, and win. a full year later just by checking, correcting, eating better, and RIDING her bike, her A1C had dropped to 9.3.
She crewed again, doing a remarkable job, and at that point switched over to Apidra (what the team was using) as well as FreeStyle Lite, and Omni-Pod. And began riding more and more, wanting to be a bad arse on the bike, and knowing that she was going to need good control to do it.
Another year goes buy, she gets better, gets stronger, suffers being hit by a car, and 2 broken collar bones... Then in May she gets her A1C, approximately 2 years after our mom's met in the pub, and it is 6.3!!! Then what: Then Morgan goes on (with the solid help of teammate Monique) to get 2nd place, and 5th place in 2 of the biggest women's professional crits in the country.
"The Power of Good Control"
Next year, she is going to embark on her first year as a professional for Team Type 1, while also being a full time student (via the internet) at FSU, and working for me. Pretty impressive, and then take into account that she is 19 years old. I would say in her case, as it was for me, diabetes made us better. It is the control that gives that power.
So please be on the look out for this rock star, and ask about her story. It is one of the most impressive that I know.
Thanks for reading.
Have a great day.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Yee-ha, finally a homeowner. Could this be a stressful situation, to which someone would want to pull their hair out??? I think anytime you move the answer is probably a resounding yes. However, not for me... Why? Because I had the professional help of my new assistant, Morgan Patton. She helped to pack everything, unpack and organize everything, pick out furniture, and call the cable company... I am very, very excited to have her on board to help keep me in line.
So this may be the first you have heard of Morgan, but it will not be the last. She was diagnosed at age of 6, lead a great young life, rocked the horse jumping seen for a few years (youngest competitor at most events,) and then in May of 06, by some freak twist of fate, our parents met at a pub in Tallahassee. My mom was talking away about what I was about to do in RAAM, and Morgan's mom, Debbie said that it may help her daughter to crew. My mom made me do it, and I am so grateful that we got her on. Video of Morgan
At that time Morgan's A1C was 16.7, and she didn't care about diabetes. But then she saw the team, and everyone checking their blood sugar, doing shots, exercising, and being pro-active about good control...
And began to do the same things. 8 months later she began to race, and win. a full year later just by checking, correcting, eating better, and RIDING her bike, her A1C had dropped to 9.3.
She crewed again, doing a remarkable job, and at that point switched over to Apidra (what the team was using) as well as FreeStyle Lite, and Omni-Pod. And began riding more and more, wanting to be a bad arse on the bike, and knowing that she was going to need good control to do it.
Another year goes buy, she gets better, gets stronger, suffers being hit by a car, and 2 broken collar bones... Then in May she gets her A1C, approximately 2 years after our mom's met in the pub, and it is 6.3!!! Then what: Then Morgan goes on (with the solid help of teammate Monique) to get 2nd place, and 5th place in 2 of the biggest women's professional crits in the country.
"The Power of Good Control"
Next year, she is going to embark on her first year as a professional for Team Type 1, while also being a full time student (via the internet) at FSU, and working for me. Pretty impressive, and then take into account that she is 19 years old. I would say in her case, as it was for me, diabetes made us better. It is the control that gives that power.
So please be on the look out for this rock star, and ask about her story. It is one of the most impressive that I know.
Thanks for reading.
Have a great day.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Monday, August 25, 2008
Diabetes game: winning more
Howdy from Hotlanta,
So riding has been getting good... It is amazing how much better my legs feel when not traveling all the time. Early last week, I was getting some decent rides in, but not much intensity, and having a cool basal rate of 15 units of Lantus. On Tuesday I got 4 hrs in and went hard... 14 units, with a morning blood sugar post in the 70's. Then easy ride, and on Thursday a am ride, and a pm hard ride. Down to 13 units. Friday went easy, in prep of Saturday's torcher fest...
For one, I had too much basal on board, as I woke up Sat am, at 70 carbs with no Apidra, and only went up to 135 before starting a 125 mile ride. For the first 2 hours of the ride, I was eating DEX4 like it was going out of style, and any kind of food I had my hands on. Still the FreeStyle Navigator leveled off at 65, and after the first stop, and a liter of Mt Dew, I was able to get BS up to 85. Felt really good on the ride, other than feeling really bad which is the expected result of a 6.5 hour ride.
How about some #'s??? So last I wrote, my goal was to get rid of some of the below target #'s.
Last A1C: 5.1
How about some statistics:
28 Day Average: 106
Above target: 6% of time
Within Target: 90%
Below target: 4% (new record for me)
So, I am getting better at keeping #'s right where they need to be, without going low.
How??? Small adjustments. Thanks to metabolism boost from riding, and eating a healthy diet, have been doing less than 20 units of insulin/day.
In my experience:
Exercise DOES make insulin work better (diabetes or no diabetes.)
I ride so I can eat, and I ride to help with control.
I ride to I can get faster, and hopefully help the team at USPro Champs in Greenville this Sunday. First real race since April, but time to get the legs moving looking to 2009.
Have a great day, and please wish our guys luck in Ireland. Fabio (type 1 for 7 years now) will be the first type 1 to compete in a race of this caliber in Europe. Big deal, and he was looking good in UTah for prep.
Thanks for reading.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
So riding has been getting good... It is amazing how much better my legs feel when not traveling all the time. Early last week, I was getting some decent rides in, but not much intensity, and having a cool basal rate of 15 units of Lantus. On Tuesday I got 4 hrs in and went hard... 14 units, with a morning blood sugar post in the 70's. Then easy ride, and on Thursday a am ride, and a pm hard ride. Down to 13 units. Friday went easy, in prep of Saturday's torcher fest...
For one, I had too much basal on board, as I woke up Sat am, at 70 carbs with no Apidra, and only went up to 135 before starting a 125 mile ride. For the first 2 hours of the ride, I was eating DEX4 like it was going out of style, and any kind of food I had my hands on. Still the FreeStyle Navigator leveled off at 65, and after the first stop, and a liter of Mt Dew, I was able to get BS up to 85. Felt really good on the ride, other than feeling really bad which is the expected result of a 6.5 hour ride.
How about some #'s??? So last I wrote, my goal was to get rid of some of the below target #'s.
Last A1C: 5.1
How about some statistics:
28 Day Average: 106
Above target: 6% of time
Within Target: 90%
Below target: 4% (new record for me)
So, I am getting better at keeping #'s right where they need to be, without going low.
How??? Small adjustments. Thanks to metabolism boost from riding, and eating a healthy diet, have been doing less than 20 units of insulin/day.
In my experience:
Exercise DOES make insulin work better (diabetes or no diabetes.)
I ride so I can eat, and I ride to help with control.
I ride to I can get faster, and hopefully help the team at USPro Champs in Greenville this Sunday. First real race since April, but time to get the legs moving looking to 2009.
Have a great day, and please wish our guys luck in Ireland. Fabio (type 1 for 7 years now) will be the first type 1 to compete in a race of this caliber in Europe. Big deal, and he was looking good in UTah for prep.
Thanks for reading.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Mutated Diabetes?? or the game I play??
Howdy from Atlanta,
So last week I was at the AADE National Convention with most of Team Type 1. I had a great time, and got to meet some of the most caring, and passionate people in all of diabetes, The CDE's! I got my A1C checked as I usually do at conferences to get an A1C of 5.1 using FreeStyle Navigator, Lantus, and Apidra. Exact same result as last year using Apidra, Omni-Pod, and Navigator.
While at a dinner, I was asked if I had a mutated form of diabetes, where my pancreas still works on some level, meaning it is "easy" to control my blood sugar. I know this was meant somewhat as a compliment, but it got me thinking out on the ride today, and I kept going faster. I look back at the 26 some odd years with diabetes, the many trips to the ER as a kid both from hypoglycemia (no such thing as projected alarms back then) or when I had the flu, having severe ketones, and not being able to hold food down, then having to get the one needle that actually scared me as a kid, an IV. My mom would let me bite down on her finger for as long as it took to get the needle in... Thanks Mom:)
But that was just a point in the game, a lesson when diabetes got a goal on me. What do you do when the other team is up?? Learn from your mistakes, and go out there and beat that team. Use the loss as motivation to do better, and leave your mark on the team. That is what I have done with diabetes. I am stubborn, and will try, and fail, then try again, and fail. This will repeat until there is success. I feel like I am scoring most of the goals, and diabetes has now become one of my best teammates. Outside of our games, it helps me to win. A hospital visit or lesson was just one step closer to a better A1C. And now when I apply those lesson's and discipline to real life, it is a synch. It is also a synch due to the treatment (lantus/apidra) and technology (Navigator/omni-Pod) that I can always win! I work with these companies, and am excited about their long term commitment to making our game easier.
But even with these goodies, we are still out on the field. It is still a 24 hour a day, 365 day/year job. I am the CEO of my body, just as much as you are the CEO of yours. Can your company beat mine? Can you be better than you were last year, and ensure the long term success?
My A1C is 5.1: I want to have fewer blood sugar under 60. That is my goal.
What is your goal? Where do you want your A1C to be? What is it going to take to get it there?
Being an election year, I would ask: Are there any politicians out there who would like to be responsible for ensuring these tools are in the hands of those who need it. Anyone who can make sure that no child or adult is left un-insured with diabetes? I hope so, and if you are one, or know someone, please pass that challenge along.
Thanks for reading the rant! Have a great day...
Phil
So last week I was at the AADE National Convention with most of Team Type 1. I had a great time, and got to meet some of the most caring, and passionate people in all of diabetes, The CDE's! I got my A1C checked as I usually do at conferences to get an A1C of 5.1 using FreeStyle Navigator, Lantus, and Apidra. Exact same result as last year using Apidra, Omni-Pod, and Navigator.
While at a dinner, I was asked if I had a mutated form of diabetes, where my pancreas still works on some level, meaning it is "easy" to control my blood sugar. I know this was meant somewhat as a compliment, but it got me thinking out on the ride today, and I kept going faster. I look back at the 26 some odd years with diabetes, the many trips to the ER as a kid both from hypoglycemia (no such thing as projected alarms back then) or when I had the flu, having severe ketones, and not being able to hold food down, then having to get the one needle that actually scared me as a kid, an IV. My mom would let me bite down on her finger for as long as it took to get the needle in... Thanks Mom:)
But that was just a point in the game, a lesson when diabetes got a goal on me. What do you do when the other team is up?? Learn from your mistakes, and go out there and beat that team. Use the loss as motivation to do better, and leave your mark on the team. That is what I have done with diabetes. I am stubborn, and will try, and fail, then try again, and fail. This will repeat until there is success. I feel like I am scoring most of the goals, and diabetes has now become one of my best teammates. Outside of our games, it helps me to win. A hospital visit or lesson was just one step closer to a better A1C. And now when I apply those lesson's and discipline to real life, it is a synch. It is also a synch due to the treatment (lantus/apidra) and technology (Navigator/omni-Pod) that I can always win! I work with these companies, and am excited about their long term commitment to making our game easier.
But even with these goodies, we are still out on the field. It is still a 24 hour a day, 365 day/year job. I am the CEO of my body, just as much as you are the CEO of yours. Can your company beat mine? Can you be better than you were last year, and ensure the long term success?
My A1C is 5.1: I want to have fewer blood sugar under 60. That is my goal.
What is your goal? Where do you want your A1C to be? What is it going to take to get it there?
Being an election year, I would ask: Are there any politicians out there who would like to be responsible for ensuring these tools are in the hands of those who need it. Anyone who can make sure that no child or adult is left un-insured with diabetes? I hope so, and if you are one, or know someone, please pass that challenge along.
Thanks for reading the rant! Have a great day...
Phil
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Riding fast again...kind of
Howdy from Atlanta,
Not sure where I left of last time, but needless to say life has been busy. Been riding a lot more these days, talking on the phone way too much, and spending time with Rylie (my beautiful little girl:)
2 weeks ago I got to speak to a Sanofi-Aventis Sales conference, which had appx 650 people. I get a big rush from talking to groups of this size, and I worked very hard to make sure I was ready to nail it, and I did!!! Then it was a 4.5 hour day in the 200 degree fl heat, then CWD. This is my favorite event of the year, as I get to see all the future Team members there in action. Did that for 2.5 days talking to kids, and parents of kids with type 1.
Then 2 days of disney. Thanks mom for coming down to help.
3 days in Atlanta (all on phone) and bike, and then up to Sanofi home office in NJ, so that we can make plans for 2009. Exciting day.
2.5 hours yesterday, and then 4.5 today, doing a century. My metabolism is kicking again, so this morning I woke up, ate a big bowl of cereal, and got in the car with coffee. I was hoping to get my blood sugar up to 150 or so, but it only hit 125. I kept snacking, and then we set off at a blistering tempo... I was snacking on my Dex 4 gel, and eating bars, and low and behold 1 hour in BS on my Navigator is 63. I eat about everything I have, drink it all, and stayed between 62-73 for the entire ride. I was always ok, but whenever I would go hard the energy would not last that long. So tonight, I have reduced my lantus further to 13 units. I am still dieting, so food has been not such a factor. I was going to race, but now am going to go train in the mtns by myself. This is fun, and will give me a good chance to rock out to my tunes...
Goal tomorrow: get blood sugar up to 150 pre-ride, and keep it there for 4-5 hours, so I can have a good ride. Will do 10-15 minute efforts up the climbs, and see how well the surgery went. Right after the ride, I will head to Camp Kudzu for 2 days, which is AWESOME!!! Then Boston for Camp Joslin, and Carefree, then Washington DC, for the AADE National meeting, and back home to race next weekend. Then 4 weeks at home to train and prep for US Pro Champs...
Team is looking good for end of year, and next. More details to come when I can.
I hope all is well. Thanks so much for reading.
Have a great night.
Phil
Not sure where I left of last time, but needless to say life has been busy. Been riding a lot more these days, talking on the phone way too much, and spending time with Rylie (my beautiful little girl:)
2 weeks ago I got to speak to a Sanofi-Aventis Sales conference, which had appx 650 people. I get a big rush from talking to groups of this size, and I worked very hard to make sure I was ready to nail it, and I did!!! Then it was a 4.5 hour day in the 200 degree fl heat, then CWD. This is my favorite event of the year, as I get to see all the future Team members there in action. Did that for 2.5 days talking to kids, and parents of kids with type 1.
Then 2 days of disney. Thanks mom for coming down to help.
3 days in Atlanta (all on phone) and bike, and then up to Sanofi home office in NJ, so that we can make plans for 2009. Exciting day.
2.5 hours yesterday, and then 4.5 today, doing a century. My metabolism is kicking again, so this morning I woke up, ate a big bowl of cereal, and got in the car with coffee. I was hoping to get my blood sugar up to 150 or so, but it only hit 125. I kept snacking, and then we set off at a blistering tempo... I was snacking on my Dex 4 gel, and eating bars, and low and behold 1 hour in BS on my Navigator is 63. I eat about everything I have, drink it all, and stayed between 62-73 for the entire ride. I was always ok, but whenever I would go hard the energy would not last that long. So tonight, I have reduced my lantus further to 13 units. I am still dieting, so food has been not such a factor. I was going to race, but now am going to go train in the mtns by myself. This is fun, and will give me a good chance to rock out to my tunes...
Goal tomorrow: get blood sugar up to 150 pre-ride, and keep it there for 4-5 hours, so I can have a good ride. Will do 10-15 minute efforts up the climbs, and see how well the surgery went. Right after the ride, I will head to Camp Kudzu for 2 days, which is AWESOME!!! Then Boston for Camp Joslin, and Carefree, then Washington DC, for the AADE National meeting, and back home to race next weekend. Then 4 weeks at home to train and prep for US Pro Champs...
Team is looking good for end of year, and next. More details to come when I can.
I hope all is well. Thanks so much for reading.
Have a great night.
Phil
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Timeline
Howdy from Atl!
So great new down here: I can ride, and ride a lot. I have been upping the miles the past 2 weeks, and feeling good about it. 2 more weeks, and I can go hard, so in the meantime, I am gonna pour em on.
Now looking back 10 weeks, I was thinking of the where I was to where I am, and where I hope to be, and wanted to get it down. It made me start to think that no matter where you are in any aspect of life, if you have an idea of where you want to go, and work, you can get there!!!
May 5: surgery- hurts badly to move in the bed
May 7: hospital discharge- 50 feet is a long walk
May 10: Home on couch. I think I walked to the coffee shop, on a lot pain killers, with a cane
May 15-16: AACE program in Orlando- sitting in a booth, in lots of pain. 2 trips of the hotel had me in absolute agony. My friend Jay, got yelled at my my friends in the CSM dept, for having me there.
May 20: back on the phone/email full time. Walking is better.
June 5: San Fran for ADA- Walking is not painful- so I do A LOT of it. Worked real, real hard for 5 days, and laid groundwork for future.
June 11: Start of RAAM, 2 days later fly in for Red Bull Party for last 1500 miles, as driver...
June 19: first bike ride. 20 minutes on indoor bike
June 20-28: Indoor riding on hotel exercise bikes. (I despise riding inside, but was still fun)
June 29: 1hr outside!!! So liberating
July 5: 1.3 hours
July 7-11: 1-2 hour rides: very hard at finish
Last Saturday- Sunday: 3hrs and 3:45!!! Felt good.
So 10 weeks ago, I could barely walk, and tomorrow, I hope to doa 4-5 hour training ride. Yesterday, I went out and road in the rain (pouring) with Hank. Typically when doing a full year, motivation to ride in lighting storms, is not so high. I am so damn motivated to come back and win this year, that it was a treat to get to ride. There, I said it: I want to win at least 1 race this year. I am working to do so. Time to lose weight, train lots, start to travel, and train a lot.
My commitment to help me win: At conferences, I will train, eat, and sleep properly. No partying, when I can be recovering. I got a stack of books the other day to help me do so.
I hope all is well, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Ben Brooks. He is recovering well, and even having some laughs... He was way better than me when I was forced off bike, so who knows where he will be 10 weeks from today.
Congrats to Matt, Moises, and Shawn for great rides at Cascade.
Have a great day.
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org
So great new down here: I can ride, and ride a lot. I have been upping the miles the past 2 weeks, and feeling good about it. 2 more weeks, and I can go hard, so in the meantime, I am gonna pour em on.
Now looking back 10 weeks, I was thinking of the where I was to where I am, and where I hope to be, and wanted to get it down. It made me start to think that no matter where you are in any aspect of life, if you have an idea of where you want to go, and work, you can get there!!!
May 5: surgery- hurts badly to move in the bed
May 7: hospital discharge- 50 feet is a long walk
May 10: Home on couch. I think I walked to the coffee shop, on a lot pain killers, with a cane
May 15-16: AACE program in Orlando- sitting in a booth, in lots of pain. 2 trips of the hotel had me in absolute agony. My friend Jay, got yelled at my my friends in the CSM dept, for having me there.
May 20: back on the phone/email full time. Walking is better.
June 5: San Fran for ADA- Walking is not painful- so I do A LOT of it. Worked real, real hard for 5 days, and laid groundwork for future.
June 11: Start of RAAM, 2 days later fly in for Red Bull Party for last 1500 miles, as driver...
June 19: first bike ride. 20 minutes on indoor bike
June 20-28: Indoor riding on hotel exercise bikes. (I despise riding inside, but was still fun)
June 29: 1hr outside!!! So liberating
July 5: 1.3 hours
July 7-11: 1-2 hour rides: very hard at finish
Last Saturday- Sunday: 3hrs and 3:45!!! Felt good.
So 10 weeks ago, I could barely walk, and tomorrow, I hope to doa 4-5 hour training ride. Yesterday, I went out and road in the rain (pouring) with Hank. Typically when doing a full year, motivation to ride in lighting storms, is not so high. I am so damn motivated to come back and win this year, that it was a treat to get to ride. There, I said it: I want to win at least 1 race this year. I am working to do so. Time to lose weight, train lots, start to travel, and train a lot.
My commitment to help me win: At conferences, I will train, eat, and sleep properly. No partying, when I can be recovering. I got a stack of books the other day to help me do so.
I hope all is well, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Ben Brooks. He is recovering well, and even having some laughs... He was way better than me when I was forced off bike, so who knows where he will be 10 weeks from today.
Congrats to Matt, Moises, and Shawn for great rides at Cascade.
Have a great day.
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
No airplane this week!!! Riding bikes...
Howdy from HotLanta...
No more travel!!! Or at least for 7 more days. I checked out my flight schedule, and this is the first 7 day period in 2 months I have not been on a plane... But it has been some great times! Last week, I got to Boston, with hopes of riding with my man Mark Supernaut, but endless games of phone tag, and the inability for me to plan made it not possible. I did catch a ride with Rob Campbell and Amy at Insulet, which was nice, and then cruised through downtown Boston, and Harvard to check out my future school (please let me know when you stop laughing...)
Great times at Omni-Pod, and that is a company that is just taking off. Great people, great products, and great ideas for the future! Then John G, Rob, and I took off for some fishing, and caught a bunch of striper, but no tuna. Saw a lot of whales! Then 3 hours later, wake up, and get back on the boat with John, Rob, and my man Steve Bubrick for another day of fishing! Again, no tuna, but did see more whales, and catch a bunch of striper. John and Rob laughed at Steve and I as we made fishing look hard.
Back to Atlanta, and still training. Hitting the gym to get some strength back, and also got my first 2 hour ride in yesterday. It is awesome holding onto Dan and Joe's jerseys as we go uphill to keep my heart rate down right now, and cracking on a 2 hour ride. Fitness come back please!!!
Now for some diabetes: I can't figure out what is going on just yet. I am doing more lantus then when not training, and in the morning, it seems to take a lot of insulin to cover the life cereal I have recently been re-united with. I am not sure if it is a dawn effect, or what, but am blood sugars are not where I want them to be. Solution: get on the bike. As soon as I do that, the BS comes right now. Tomorrow, I am going low carb for breakfast, then gym, then bike. We shall see how that works. Might try a little something else as well.
7 more days in Atlanta, with hopes of doing 3hrs by the end of the week, and 4 by this time next week. Then we head to Toronto for the DESA convention, then Sanofi National Sales meeting, and finish up the trip with Children with Diabetes conference in Orlando, Fl.
Also, a special note: Please say a prayer for my friend and teammate, Ben Brooks, who took a nasty spill today in the Cascade Classic in Bend, OR. He needs our support right now!
Thanks for reading. Have a great night!
Philpott
No more travel!!! Or at least for 7 more days. I checked out my flight schedule, and this is the first 7 day period in 2 months I have not been on a plane... But it has been some great times! Last week, I got to Boston, with hopes of riding with my man Mark Supernaut, but endless games of phone tag, and the inability for me to plan made it not possible. I did catch a ride with Rob Campbell and Amy at Insulet, which was nice, and then cruised through downtown Boston, and Harvard to check out my future school (please let me know when you stop laughing...)
Great times at Omni-Pod, and that is a company that is just taking off. Great people, great products, and great ideas for the future! Then John G, Rob, and I took off for some fishing, and caught a bunch of striper, but no tuna. Saw a lot of whales! Then 3 hours later, wake up, and get back on the boat with John, Rob, and my man Steve Bubrick for another day of fishing! Again, no tuna, but did see more whales, and catch a bunch of striper. John and Rob laughed at Steve and I as we made fishing look hard.
Back to Atlanta, and still training. Hitting the gym to get some strength back, and also got my first 2 hour ride in yesterday. It is awesome holding onto Dan and Joe's jerseys as we go uphill to keep my heart rate down right now, and cracking on a 2 hour ride. Fitness come back please!!!
Now for some diabetes: I can't figure out what is going on just yet. I am doing more lantus then when not training, and in the morning, it seems to take a lot of insulin to cover the life cereal I have recently been re-united with. I am not sure if it is a dawn effect, or what, but am blood sugars are not where I want them to be. Solution: get on the bike. As soon as I do that, the BS comes right now. Tomorrow, I am going low carb for breakfast, then gym, then bike. We shall see how that works. Might try a little something else as well.
7 more days in Atlanta, with hopes of doing 3hrs by the end of the week, and 4 by this time next week. Then we head to Toronto for the DESA convention, then Sanofi National Sales meeting, and finish up the trip with Children with Diabetes conference in Orlando, Fl.
Also, a special note: Please say a prayer for my friend and teammate, Ben Brooks, who took a nasty spill today in the Cascade Classic in Bend, OR. He needs our support right now!
Thanks for reading. Have a great night!
Philpott
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
travel travel travel-over...
Howdy from Boston,
Or wait, which city? So last week was a busy VA-NYC-Atl trip. Got home said hi to a few people, then back to Boston. Yesterday I visited Insulet Corp, makers of the Omni-Pod. These folks rock! It is fun getting to meet and chat with the people, (John G, Marc, Steve, Amy)
who invented it, and are constantly working to make it a bit better. Got to spend some time catching up with my man Steve B, who has been with TT1 from the start.
Oh yeah, I have been riding!!! Got to ride outside 4 times now, and even though I feel not so great (out of shape) it feels SOOOO good to ride. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I got out there. Now it will be a long slow process getting back to top shape! On Friday I go home to Atl, and then have almost 10 days in Atlanta. I hope that by the end of that stint I am up to 3-4 hour rides, before a 11 day travel stint going to Toronto for DESA, Orlando for a Sanofi Sales meeting, and then Children With Diabetes. During that trip I hope to ride 2-3 hours/day with some intensity. That is my plan, and I hope to stick to it.
Boston is a cool place to ride. Went through BU, Harvard, MIT, and then got lost in the maze of 1 ways in downtown. Fun times! If it didn't snow or freeze for half the year, I would love to live here.
Fishing with John, Rob, and Steve tomorrow. Hoping for some good bites.
Happy 4th to all.
Have a great day.
Phil
Or wait, which city? So last week was a busy VA-NYC-Atl trip. Got home said hi to a few people, then back to Boston. Yesterday I visited Insulet Corp, makers of the Omni-Pod. These folks rock! It is fun getting to meet and chat with the people, (John G, Marc, Steve, Amy)
who invented it, and are constantly working to make it a bit better. Got to spend some time catching up with my man Steve B, who has been with TT1 from the start.
Oh yeah, I have been riding!!! Got to ride outside 4 times now, and even though I feel not so great (out of shape) it feels SOOOO good to ride. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I got out there. Now it will be a long slow process getting back to top shape! On Friday I go home to Atl, and then have almost 10 days in Atlanta. I hope that by the end of that stint I am up to 3-4 hour rides, before a 11 day travel stint going to Toronto for DESA, Orlando for a Sanofi Sales meeting, and then Children With Diabetes. During that trip I hope to ride 2-3 hours/day with some intensity. That is my plan, and I hope to stick to it.
Boston is a cool place to ride. Went through BU, Harvard, MIT, and then got lost in the maze of 1 ways in downtown. Fun times! If it didn't snow or freeze for half the year, I would love to live here.
Fishing with John, Rob, and Steve tomorrow. Hoping for some good bites.
Happy 4th to all.
Have a great day.
Phil
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Life is good: Bike-diabetes-all of it
Howdy from NYC:
I have come to terms with the fact that I am not a good blogger. It seems for a blog to be catchy, it must be updated very frequently, with new material. My apologies, as there is a lot of material (I am biased, so think it is good...ha) but time to sit down and write it up is not.
Enough excuses: I can ride my bike again!!!! For the last 10 days, beginning with the day the team finished RAAM, I have been on a stationary bike. First ride in Annapolis, 2nd ride in Atlanta on my bike (inside) then KS, MO, then Atl, then a ride in Charlottesville, VA, and now 2 days in NYC before heading home to head outside, which I cannot wait for!!! I will go a little extreme here, but to me riding inside would be along the lines (how cheesy can I get) of a
lion in a petting zoo...
So what does a type 1 exercise junky do, when you take his ideal form of life away...
Set new goals: I want to go uphill fast, and am going to target US Pro Champs, and if recovery is good Tour of MO. To be good for these, I have gone into extreme diet mode, and it has paid dividends. I am appx 10 lb.s lighter than in February, and my basal rate of insulin is at an all time low, and that is with minimal exercise. Am hoping now tomorrow to get on the bike, and on the path to speed. The past 2 weeks have been great, and seeing the guys leave their hearts on the road for RAAM was awesome. I got the true appreciation of what it means to be on the crew, and the effort they put in for us the past 2 years. At the finish line, the Apidra/Lantus team had 25 reps from the area to support us. It rocked! Then athlete days, which are a great opportunity to share with docs about TT1, and what we are doing, and who makes it possible. Yesterday was a nice 15hr work day, with a lot of social fun in the mix. Today was a little bit lighter, and got to cab it all around NYC... Good times.
The reps and doctors here have been awesome, and we may have a new teammate or 2 because of it. The ladies of the NYC team Dyna Pride, Yvonne, Adriana, Pam, and others all had TT1 t-shirts sporting the teams time!! Truly a great few days.
Tomorrow am home, and stay through Monday night, and then Tuesday I head to Boston for a few days to meet with Omni-Pod. Exciting times.
That is about it for now. Thanks for reading.
Phil
I have come to terms with the fact that I am not a good blogger. It seems for a blog to be catchy, it must be updated very frequently, with new material. My apologies, as there is a lot of material (I am biased, so think it is good...ha) but time to sit down and write it up is not.
Enough excuses: I can ride my bike again!!!! For the last 10 days, beginning with the day the team finished RAAM, I have been on a stationary bike. First ride in Annapolis, 2nd ride in Atlanta on my bike (inside) then KS, MO, then Atl, then a ride in Charlottesville, VA, and now 2 days in NYC before heading home to head outside, which I cannot wait for!!! I will go a little extreme here, but to me riding inside would be along the lines (how cheesy can I get) of a
lion in a petting zoo...
So what does a type 1 exercise junky do, when you take his ideal form of life away...
Set new goals: I want to go uphill fast, and am going to target US Pro Champs, and if recovery is good Tour of MO. To be good for these, I have gone into extreme diet mode, and it has paid dividends. I am appx 10 lb.s lighter than in February, and my basal rate of insulin is at an all time low, and that is with minimal exercise. Am hoping now tomorrow to get on the bike, and on the path to speed. The past 2 weeks have been great, and seeing the guys leave their hearts on the road for RAAM was awesome. I got the true appreciation of what it means to be on the crew, and the effort they put in for us the past 2 years. At the finish line, the Apidra/Lantus team had 25 reps from the area to support us. It rocked! Then athlete days, which are a great opportunity to share with docs about TT1, and what we are doing, and who makes it possible. Yesterday was a nice 15hr work day, with a lot of social fun in the mix. Today was a little bit lighter, and got to cab it all around NYC... Good times.
The reps and doctors here have been awesome, and we may have a new teammate or 2 because of it. The ladies of the NYC team Dyna Pride, Yvonne, Adriana, Pam, and others all had TT1 t-shirts sporting the teams time!! Truly a great few days.
Tomorrow am home, and stay through Monday night, and then Tuesday I head to Boston for a few days to meet with Omni-Pod. Exciting times.
That is about it for now. Thanks for reading.
Phil
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Questions from last post
Howdy again from HotLanta...
Had a few questions from the last post, and I am more than happy to address them anytime:
as related to diabetes?
1) Did you ever figure out what the itching was? Do you think it was related to diabetes?
No idea what the itching was. There were a few theories:
1. Morphine- which I was on for appx 1 hr.
2. The epidural, and drug that it delivered
3. The bed sheets.
2) How can you be on a Lantus/Aphidra routine on a pump??
For the time being, I am just on shots. When on a pump, I use the Omni-Pod, with Apidra in it, but for now, I am on a pump-holiday so to speak., and when doing that I take Lantus and Apidra.
Today was first swim day. I got some goggles and a kick board and went to town for 20 minutes. Nice to get a little workout in. I hope to be able to extend the swim to 45 minutes this time next week.
Thanks for reading, and for the great questions!
Have a nice day.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Inquiring minds want to know. And congratulations on the successful surgery.
-- Stellasmom
Had a few questions from the last post, and I am more than happy to address them anytime:
as related to diabetes?
1) Did you ever figure out what the itching was? Do you think it was related to diabetes?
No idea what the itching was. There were a few theories:
1. Morphine- which I was on for appx 1 hr.
2. The epidural, and drug that it delivered
3. The bed sheets.
2) How can you be on a Lantus/Aphidra routine on a pump??
For the time being, I am just on shots. When on a pump, I use the Omni-Pod, with Apidra in it, but for now, I am on a pump-holiday so to speak., and when doing that I take Lantus and Apidra.
Today was first swim day. I got some goggles and a kick board and went to town for 20 minutes. Nice to get a little workout in. I hope to be able to extend the swim to 45 minutes this time next week.
Thanks for reading, and for the great questions!
Have a nice day.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Inquiring minds want to know. And congratulations on the successful surgery.
-- Stellasmom
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
phone-phone-no exercise...
Howdy from Atlanta,
Not too much to report these days. Still recovering from the surgery, so not too much that I can do. Walking a quarter mile is about the most I can do. In fact, went to a Brave's game yesterday and the walk from the car to park, and park to car created a good bit of sore muscles last night.
These days I get to watch bike racing. I got to see all the RAAM guys get trained on the FreeStyle Navigator last Friday. Then the guys were all overloaded with the wealth of info this bad boy brings. You can make adjustments before you need them, and get close to perfect blood sugars once you learn how to use the machine. It does take time, and it takes lessons, but here are some examples of the control:
14 Day Average: 106
Above Target: 5%
Within Target: 87%
Below Target: 8%
Last A1C: 5.4
Doing all this on a basal/bolus regime of Lantus/Apidra. I am however surprised about the amount of Lantus I am using. Even with a near sedentary lifestyle, I am only on 20 units of lantus a day. Typical sedentary is 23 units for me, so it seems to be working great! The Apidra also works better with lantus than any other rapid acting insulin.
Now it is on though: This week I ca start to swim, and do some light gym work. I am also on a full fledged diet. I am not training, which means I don't need to recover, so don't need to eat., much. My old buddy Dan Holt has moved in, and is helping me to get lean so that when I get back on the bike it is on! I want to drop 4lb.s by middle of June, and another 4 by middle of July, so that come August/September I am ready to dance of some climbs for Nationals in Greenville, and Tour of Missouri if the artery is good.
So what to do when not racing:
Conference calls. I am now on the phone all the time making plans for 2009, and getting riders to come on board, sponsor renewal, and all that good stuff. I enjoy the business side, and have some aggressive plans for growth in 2009 which will take us closer and closer to the Tour de France by 2012.
BIG CONGRATS to Monique and Morgan for their stellar rides up in Kelly Cup and Somerville. Morgan took 2nd and 5th in those races, and Monique was 3rd in Kelly, and did super work for Morgan in both those races. For any team to get 2 ladies on the podium in a NRC race is HUGE, and when you take into account that they were are only 2 ladies, and oh yeah, both have type 1!!! Team Type 1 keeps rocking the house, and I hope you will all follow the blog as RAAM comes up in 2 weeks!
Thanks for the support.
Have a great day.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Not too much to report these days. Still recovering from the surgery, so not too much that I can do. Walking a quarter mile is about the most I can do. In fact, went to a Brave's game yesterday and the walk from the car to park, and park to car created a good bit of sore muscles last night.
These days I get to watch bike racing. I got to see all the RAAM guys get trained on the FreeStyle Navigator last Friday. Then the guys were all overloaded with the wealth of info this bad boy brings. You can make adjustments before you need them, and get close to perfect blood sugars once you learn how to use the machine. It does take time, and it takes lessons, but here are some examples of the control:
14 Day Average: 106
Above Target: 5%
Within Target: 87%
Below Target: 8%
Last A1C: 5.4
Doing all this on a basal/bolus regime of Lantus/Apidra. I am however surprised about the amount of Lantus I am using. Even with a near sedentary lifestyle, I am only on 20 units of lantus a day. Typical sedentary is 23 units for me, so it seems to be working great! The Apidra also works better with lantus than any other rapid acting insulin.
Now it is on though: This week I ca start to swim, and do some light gym work. I am also on a full fledged diet. I am not training, which means I don't need to recover, so don't need to eat., much. My old buddy Dan Holt has moved in, and is helping me to get lean so that when I get back on the bike it is on! I want to drop 4lb.s by middle of June, and another 4 by middle of July, so that come August/September I am ready to dance of some climbs for Nationals in Greenville, and Tour of Missouri if the artery is good.
So what to do when not racing:
Conference calls. I am now on the phone all the time making plans for 2009, and getting riders to come on board, sponsor renewal, and all that good stuff. I enjoy the business side, and have some aggressive plans for growth in 2009 which will take us closer and closer to the Tour de France by 2012.
BIG CONGRATS to Monique and Morgan for their stellar rides up in Kelly Cup and Somerville. Morgan took 2nd and 5th in those races, and Monique was 3rd in Kelly, and did super work for Morgan in both those races. For any team to get 2 ladies on the podium in a NRC race is HUGE, and when you take into account that they were are only 2 ladies, and oh yeah, both have type 1!!! Team Type 1 keeps rocking the house, and I hope you will all follow the blog as RAAM comes up in 2 weeks!
Thanks for the support.
Have a great day.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
slice and dice, diabetes in the hospital...
Howdy from GA,
My apologies for dropping off the face of the earth. A lot and a little have been going on. I guess last time I was about to go in for surgery, or get some test done to see if it was needed, and it was. So I go into the hospital, explain to the anesthesiologist (no idea how to spell) about FreeStyle Navigator, and he agreed to use that to monitor my blood sugar during the surgery. At first he told me we were gonna do it his way, then came back apologizing, and thought the thing was awesome. So they give me an epidural, and knock me out for this bad boy. I wake up, and am itching pretty bad. Get some Benadryl, and fall asleep. In and out all day, itching the entire time... I am told that I will be on Regular (prehistoric) insulin for my stay in the hospital, and they will give me a shot every 4 hours, which I scoffed at.
I said I wanted to use Lantus and Apidra as my basal/bolus, and they said no. I got my endo, Bruce Bode on the phone, and he told me just to do it my way. So I fought, and fought (still all doped up) and finally was able to sign a consent form saying that I would be responsible if I died from hypo in the hospital, but that I could manage my own blood sugars. Happy to sign. My mom helped me big time here, and even went to sleep on a hospital chair to look out for me through the night. My blood sugar ran in the 150-200 range most of that day, and I was conservative with insulin cause I couldn't eat, and didn't want to go hypo.
But, I did want the itching to stop!!! So at 9pm it got bad, and if I had nails I am pretty sure I would have bled to death. At 12am, I was taken off pain killers to see if I was reacting to them. 12am- Benadryl- to "stop itching and put me to sleep"
1am- wide awake about to have a nervous breakdown from the itching- doc give me more Benadryl
2am- had a nervous breakdown- doc recommends Benadryl again. I say "it didn't work the 1st or the 2nd time, and I don't think it is gonna work the 3rd..." he gets pissed, and give me more anyway
3am- still wide awake, still itching, and I am really getting on everyones nerves. I was trying to explain that it felt like I had both chicken pox and poison ivy at the same time, and nothing I could do about it.- I get some other drug to "stop itching"
4am- no sleep still get another drug, and finally at 4:30 after watching sportscenter for the 20th time I crash
6am- woken up by doc to check pulse- and itching is back
this went on until high noon
The surgery however was a success. This was a problem caused by cycling, not diabetes. Kenneth Cherry is supposed to be the best in the nation for it. I had been having my left leg go numb for about 1.5yrs, and racing with 1 leg is not an option. So we did test and I had stenosis in both the iliac and femoral arteries, so they sliced me open, diced the arteries, and the put patches on them both. It was been 2 weeks off the bike, and 4 more before I can start light riding again. When I come back, and achieve good form again (September???)I should be faster than ever.
My mom had good friends in Charlottesville who opened their home to us, the Eichelberger's.
Last few weeks have been hanging out, getting used to walking again, and beating people with my cane...ha
Thanks for letting me vent. And if you are ever in the hospital I would recommend
1) take my mom with you
2) fight like hell to control your own blood sugars as opposed to someone who has no idea what diabetes is.
Have a great day!
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
Friday, April 18, 2008
Bad News, Fun News, Great News
Hello Hello from Hotlanta,
Life has been a bit hectic as of late. After a sub-par personal performance at Redlands, I had some decisions to make. We were all gearing up for Tour of GA, and have a strong team ready to rock. With my recent nagging lack of performance in my left leg, I opted out of the Tour of GA. This race has been my focus for the year, and was essentially my main goal in 2008. It is extremely dissappointing to pull not even start my home race. The team will still rock, and have better odds in the sprints now that my man Emile Abraham is taking my spot, and I will be there to witness, and cheer the guys on. So some lack of training enabled me to work on a speech I had the pleasure of giving to the Sanofi-Aventis Regional Sales Meeting.
At this meeting there were about 1100 people from all over the East Coast!! I had my good friend Shashank (pictured above,) and was ready to rock. I just wanted to thank the sales force for fighting the fight for Apidra, and getting the best insulin into the hands of doctors and patients. The crowd was great, and they were very nice not to throw tomatoes in my 20 minutes on stage. I truly enjoy giving talks, and the thanks that come afterwards. 1100 was the biggest crowd in a while, and it seems that the more people there, the more jazzed I get!
It was a lot of fun to meet all the Apidra team, and I hope they can have a great 2008. They are going to be one of the main reason's we get to the Tour de France in 2012...
So now for the Great news. Today, I inserted the first approved FreeStyle Navigator in the US. I have used this device many a times, but always under study protocols. This time it is mine, and I don't have to give it back!!! For all the people with diabetes who struggle with not knowing what your blood sugar is, and where it is going, this is the answer. For parents of children with diabetes who want to get a good night sleep, this is the answer. I will try to give updates about how my life is changing because of it. Mainly, I will be able to titrate my blood sugar to a much closer range, and hopefully get my A1C back into the low 5's!
In 2 weeks time, I go to UVA for a diagnostic on my Iliac artery, and if all is bad, then surgery on May 5. On April 26, I might head to the JDRF Gala here in Atlanta, and then on May 2, I get the pleasure of being the keynote at the JDRF Gala, in Madison, WI.
Thanks for reading, and please follow the team and send support to the guys at our blog on www.teamtype1.org.
Friday, April 11, 2008
GA and training
Howdy from Hotlanta,
The past few weeks have been a bit hectic, and my apologies for lack of posts. So after the crash, it was to Carp, and then from there a drive down with Shawn Milne to Redlands Classic, S of LA. This was going to be a tough race with all the heavy hitters present. No big Shocker, but Santiago Botero, former winner of Mtns jersey in the Tour de France, and World Time Trial champ won the Road Race. I quit the race 10 miles in with only one leg working properly, or should I say, one leg working at all. Been fighting this problem for a while, and hopeful to get some resolution soon. Then came crit time, and our guys were riding good.
Everyone was active until finally Shawn got away with a group of 4. He was the fastest man in the group, and looked like a sure victory, but a crash with 2 corners to go took him out, and took his wrist, making it 3 broken wrists in 3 weeks...
Next day was the road race, and Chris Jones rode like a phenom. We had 3 of our guys taken out of the lead group in the first 5 miles with a crash, so he was on his own, and did a great job.
Then it was back to Atlanta. Time to get the metabolism going. Monday night after an all day trip, I got to go to dinner with the Sales Team from Omni-Pod. It was a great night, and they got me even more pumped about the team. They have a great product, but more importantly great people!!! I got to spend some time with my good friend Steve Bubrick, which was a nice surprise.
That night it was 19 units of Lantus (back on it for race season.)
Then Tues-Wed-Thurs I did 4-4.5-4.5 hrs on the bike. Mon night 20units of Lantus, Tuesday 19, Wed 17, and Thurs 15. Amazing how quick the metabolism speeds up. Last night after a hard 4.5 hrs, I did 4 units post ride. Then for recovery had 20oz of Chocolate Milk, and 30 minutes later a bowl of cereal and fruit which had appx 80gms of carbs. Bloood sugar did not go above 80 the entire night... Continuous would have been nice.
Today, I am heading to the Clinical Diabetes and Technology meeting to speak on a panel about my experience with FreeStyle Navigator. It is a great chance for me to meet the people who are designing the new technology that is making our lives better!
Tomorrow and Sunday I race in ChataVegas Tenn, and then rest up before a start in the Tour of Georgia on April 21, which is a dream come true. It would take me having 3 legs to ride for a win in that race, and I am crossing my fingers hoping just to have 2.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
Phil
The past few weeks have been a bit hectic, and my apologies for lack of posts. So after the crash, it was to Carp, and then from there a drive down with Shawn Milne to Redlands Classic, S of LA. This was going to be a tough race with all the heavy hitters present. No big Shocker, but Santiago Botero, former winner of Mtns jersey in the Tour de France, and World Time Trial champ won the Road Race. I quit the race 10 miles in with only one leg working properly, or should I say, one leg working at all. Been fighting this problem for a while, and hopeful to get some resolution soon. Then came crit time, and our guys were riding good.
Everyone was active until finally Shawn got away with a group of 4. He was the fastest man in the group, and looked like a sure victory, but a crash with 2 corners to go took him out, and took his wrist, making it 3 broken wrists in 3 weeks...
Next day was the road race, and Chris Jones rode like a phenom. We had 3 of our guys taken out of the lead group in the first 5 miles with a crash, so he was on his own, and did a great job.
Then it was back to Atlanta. Time to get the metabolism going. Monday night after an all day trip, I got to go to dinner with the Sales Team from Omni-Pod. It was a great night, and they got me even more pumped about the team. They have a great product, but more importantly great people!!! I got to spend some time with my good friend Steve Bubrick, which was a nice surprise.
That night it was 19 units of Lantus (back on it for race season.)
Then Tues-Wed-Thurs I did 4-4.5-4.5 hrs on the bike. Mon night 20units of Lantus, Tuesday 19, Wed 17, and Thurs 15. Amazing how quick the metabolism speeds up. Last night after a hard 4.5 hrs, I did 4 units post ride. Then for recovery had 20oz of Chocolate Milk, and 30 minutes later a bowl of cereal and fruit which had appx 80gms of carbs. Bloood sugar did not go above 80 the entire night... Continuous would have been nice.
Today, I am heading to the Clinical Diabetes and Technology meeting to speak on a panel about my experience with FreeStyle Navigator. It is a great chance for me to meet the people who are designing the new technology that is making our lives better!
Tomorrow and Sunday I race in ChataVegas Tenn, and then rest up before a start in the Tour of Georgia on April 21, which is a dream come true. It would take me having 3 legs to ride for a win in that race, and I am crossing my fingers hoping just to have 2.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
Phil
Monday, March 31, 2008
crashing... and Insurance
Howdy from Carpinteria,
We just finished a successful weekend in San Dimas, CA. The team rode great, and delivered Emile to the line to take the field sprint for 3rd on Sunday. He claimed it was the easiest time he has ever had for a sprint, which means the team did it's job. Shawn Milne and Ben Brooks took care of our boy, and his legs worked fast. I got to see this all from the sidelines since I hit the deck on Saturday When crashing, it is almost always someone else's fault. Not this time... All mine. I put my front Zipp 404 into someone else's rear derailleur, and after holding it steady for a 100meters, the wheel exploded, and I hit it. Couldn't catch back up, so went on a 3hr training ride on my own through the mountains. It was peaceful and serene until I came to what appeared to be a traffic jam. I get to the front of it, and to my surprise I see a chopper and 4 cop cars, with about 8 cops all with guns pulled on an SUV. Apparently there were 3 guys with machine guns in there, so I sat and watched (behind a truck...) while the cops took care of business with no shots fired. Only in LA. Interesting thing after the crash was that when I got back to the car, my blood sugar on my FreeStyle Lite read 303. Washed my hands, and then 306. I did 5 units of Apidra, then 45 minutes of riding later, I was 283. Last time I crashed, the same thing happened. The body goes into shock, and I guess a bunch of hormones are produced which cause insulin sensitivity to stop. Last time I used different measures to fix it quickly, and this time, I just road. Drank water for first 1.5hrs, then switched to Gatorade, dex 4 (x2) and 80gms of carbs from cliff shots, while doing a 10 mile mtn climb, and then 30 or so miles of flats. Got home with a BS of 115, and had to eat a lot right away. Moral of the story: When falling off a bike, and bruised and bloody, and blood sugars go through the roof, immediately ride for 3 hrs, with minimal food... Just kidding. Trial and error lead me to this one. I will need to test it out 1 more time to confirm my theory, but I hope I don't have to test it for a long time...
Relaxing in Carp for a couple of days, and for the first time in my life without health insurance. In my absence of Atlanta, my bills got to me a bit later than usually. I had anticipated this, and paid PRINCIPAL Insurance $1200 bucks for Dec-Feb, but my rates got raised in Jan, so I was appx $48/short. They sent a cancellation notice on Feb 20, but sent it to my old address, so it didn't get to me until March 17 when I got back to Atlanta (post Taiwan.) On march 5, I had sent a check for $1500, but that was apparently too late. But they are a big company with unbend able policies, and are sticking to their guns. I still don't have my money back, but surely the will pay...
Fortunately FreeStyle has me covered on strips, and I stocked up on Insulin before hitting the road. My endo, Bruce Bode, being the awesome man that he is saw me free of charge, and gave me enough samples of Apidra and Lantus to get me through for a while. He is the man.
I have set up a group plan with TT1, and should find out this week, if Joe and I are actually insurable. If not... I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there...
Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas, please feel free to share!
Have a great day.
Phil
We just finished a successful weekend in San Dimas, CA. The team rode great, and delivered Emile to the line to take the field sprint for 3rd on Sunday. He claimed it was the easiest time he has ever had for a sprint, which means the team did it's job. Shawn Milne and Ben Brooks took care of our boy, and his legs worked fast. I got to see this all from the sidelines since I hit the deck on Saturday When crashing, it is almost always someone else's fault. Not this time... All mine. I put my front Zipp 404 into someone else's rear derailleur, and after holding it steady for a 100meters, the wheel exploded, and I hit it. Couldn't catch back up, so went on a 3hr training ride on my own through the mountains. It was peaceful and serene until I came to what appeared to be a traffic jam. I get to the front of it, and to my surprise I see a chopper and 4 cop cars, with about 8 cops all with guns pulled on an SUV. Apparently there were 3 guys with machine guns in there, so I sat and watched (behind a truck...) while the cops took care of business with no shots fired. Only in LA. Interesting thing after the crash was that when I got back to the car, my blood sugar on my FreeStyle Lite read 303. Washed my hands, and then 306. I did 5 units of Apidra, then 45 minutes of riding later, I was 283. Last time I crashed, the same thing happened. The body goes into shock, and I guess a bunch of hormones are produced which cause insulin sensitivity to stop. Last time I used different measures to fix it quickly, and this time, I just road. Drank water for first 1.5hrs, then switched to Gatorade, dex 4 (x2) and 80gms of carbs from cliff shots, while doing a 10 mile mtn climb, and then 30 or so miles of flats. Got home with a BS of 115, and had to eat a lot right away. Moral of the story: When falling off a bike, and bruised and bloody, and blood sugars go through the roof, immediately ride for 3 hrs, with minimal food... Just kidding. Trial and error lead me to this one. I will need to test it out 1 more time to confirm my theory, but I hope I don't have to test it for a long time...
Relaxing in Carp for a couple of days, and for the first time in my life without health insurance. In my absence of Atlanta, my bills got to me a bit later than usually. I had anticipated this, and paid PRINCIPAL Insurance $1200 bucks for Dec-Feb, but my rates got raised in Jan, so I was appx $48/short. They sent a cancellation notice on Feb 20, but sent it to my old address, so it didn't get to me until March 17 when I got back to Atlanta (post Taiwan.) On march 5, I had sent a check for $1500, but that was apparently too late. But they are a big company with unbend able policies, and are sticking to their guns. I still don't have my money back, but surely the will pay...
Fortunately FreeStyle has me covered on strips, and I stocked up on Insulin before hitting the road. My endo, Bruce Bode, being the awesome man that he is saw me free of charge, and gave me enough samples of Apidra and Lantus to get me through for a while. He is the man.
I have set up a group plan with TT1, and should find out this week, if Joe and I are actually insurable. If not... I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there...
Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas, please feel free to share!
Have a great day.
Phil
Friday, March 28, 2008
Back at it... airport logic???
Howdy from San Dimas,
So we are back at racing here in the US. After Taiwan it was head home, sleep a lot, see a chiro/sports specialist Dr Fred Fritsch a bunch, and sleep some more, then head back to Cali. Home was good. I am now infamous for the Lantern Rouge on the group rides, and most people have actually forgotten my real name and just call me Lantern...ha Granted finishing in the top 30 every day was prolly an option, being part of the team's victory and getting last was much more rewarding.
Warning: Next paragraph is me venting-feel free to skip...
Before making it out to Cali, I got to fly out here, which provided another opportunity to witness the mayhem/ lack of manners of airports. I admit, there have been times when I was in a huge rush, running through the airport like my life depended on it, and in that scenario all bets are off. But the manners of people in the airport really get to me. It seems there is a sense of entitlement just for having flown that day. Leaving the plane there are 4 different merge points. It would seem fair that 1 line go, then the other, then 1 line, then the other, but the people on this one assumed their lines got to go. No looks in the eye either. Next merge point, the same thing. This one guy fought me to get ahead, after 3 others from his line did the same thing, and then immediately after getting off the plane onto the jetway (walk thing between terminal and plane-can someone help me here?) and stops. No rush, he just had to be ahead...
Then at baggage claim, the big fight to be on the front row to watch the bag come at .25 mph down the ramp. If we all stepped back 10 feet and only went forward when your bag was coming then it would be much less crowded. I must say, the flight attendants on Delta were fantastic. Always friendly, and wanting to make my day, the best day possible.
Done with that rant, back to racing...
While racing in Taiwan, and then getting back, the body had adjusted to riding all the time. While back in Atl, so long as I got my blood sugar up to 150 before the ride, I could ride for 3hrs on nothing but water. I would venture to say I was burning fat on those rides, as I was losing weight too.Then it seemed I switched back and on Tuesday I was actually eating on the ride, going pretty hard, and also going hypo. Now it seems my body is burning glycogen straight up. So we are at the race today, and I screwed up... Ate lunch, and afterward was 124, then 30 minutes later 156- did 1 unit of Apidra, then 20 after that 234, and did one more unit as I was trending up to quickly (or so I thought.) With a start time of 3:37, we left at 2:00 pm to ride to the start, and grabbed a double espresso on the way.
At 2:40pm after a 20 minute ride, I was 49- had 4 vials of Dex 4 liquid shot (60gm carb) 1 package of cliff blocks (50gm carb) and 30 minute later 86. So drank 2 cokes (40gm carb each) and a 1/2 cliff bar (23gms of carbs) and at 3:20 I was 125. So I rolled to the start line of this 4 mile uphill time trial, took some more dex 4, to take the grand total of carbs to 188gms for a 4 mile TT. Did the TT which I suck at, and road slow enough. Then got back and was 150, which is perfect for post race.
So what I know I have to do tomorrow before the 88mile road race is don't do any insulin within 3 hrs of start, start with a steady blood sugar in the 140-220 range, and then in the first 30 minutes of the race eat about 75gms of carbs, and then every 15 minutes post need to put down another 20gms for 1.5 hrs, and then all should be good. So that is my plan, and if it all goes perfect (does it ever) I will be able to write about the success tomorrow.
We have last years winner, Ben Brooks, and a real strong team for the race tomorrow, so my goal will be to do the job that MR.Beamon sets out, and hope for a good race. I know the closers on the team will be there to rock it out.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
Philpott (yes this really is my middle name) thanks mom...ha
So we are back at racing here in the US. After Taiwan it was head home, sleep a lot, see a chiro/sports specialist Dr Fred Fritsch a bunch, and sleep some more, then head back to Cali. Home was good. I am now infamous for the Lantern Rouge on the group rides, and most people have actually forgotten my real name and just call me Lantern...ha Granted finishing in the top 30 every day was prolly an option, being part of the team's victory and getting last was much more rewarding.
Warning: Next paragraph is me venting-feel free to skip...
Before making it out to Cali, I got to fly out here, which provided another opportunity to witness the mayhem/ lack of manners of airports. I admit, there have been times when I was in a huge rush, running through the airport like my life depended on it, and in that scenario all bets are off. But the manners of people in the airport really get to me. It seems there is a sense of entitlement just for having flown that day. Leaving the plane there are 4 different merge points. It would seem fair that 1 line go, then the other, then 1 line, then the other, but the people on this one assumed their lines got to go. No looks in the eye either. Next merge point, the same thing. This one guy fought me to get ahead, after 3 others from his line did the same thing, and then immediately after getting off the plane onto the jetway (walk thing between terminal and plane-can someone help me here?) and stops. No rush, he just had to be ahead...
Then at baggage claim, the big fight to be on the front row to watch the bag come at .25 mph down the ramp. If we all stepped back 10 feet and only went forward when your bag was coming then it would be much less crowded. I must say, the flight attendants on Delta were fantastic. Always friendly, and wanting to make my day, the best day possible.
Done with that rant, back to racing...
While racing in Taiwan, and then getting back, the body had adjusted to riding all the time. While back in Atl, so long as I got my blood sugar up to 150 before the ride, I could ride for 3hrs on nothing but water. I would venture to say I was burning fat on those rides, as I was losing weight too.Then it seemed I switched back and on Tuesday I was actually eating on the ride, going pretty hard, and also going hypo. Now it seems my body is burning glycogen straight up. So we are at the race today, and I screwed up... Ate lunch, and afterward was 124, then 30 minutes later 156- did 1 unit of Apidra, then 20 after that 234, and did one more unit as I was trending up to quickly (or so I thought.) With a start time of 3:37, we left at 2:00 pm to ride to the start, and grabbed a double espresso on the way.
At 2:40pm after a 20 minute ride, I was 49- had 4 vials of Dex 4 liquid shot (60gm carb) 1 package of cliff blocks (50gm carb) and 30 minute later 86. So drank 2 cokes (40gm carb each) and a 1/2 cliff bar (23gms of carbs) and at 3:20 I was 125. So I rolled to the start line of this 4 mile uphill time trial, took some more dex 4, to take the grand total of carbs to 188gms for a 4 mile TT. Did the TT which I suck at, and road slow enough. Then got back and was 150, which is perfect for post race.
So what I know I have to do tomorrow before the 88mile road race is don't do any insulin within 3 hrs of start, start with a steady blood sugar in the 140-220 range, and then in the first 30 minutes of the race eat about 75gms of carbs, and then every 15 minutes post need to put down another 20gms for 1.5 hrs, and then all should be good. So that is my plan, and if it all goes perfect (does it ever) I will be able to write about the success tomorrow.
We have last years winner, Ben Brooks, and a real strong team for the race tomorrow, so my goal will be to do the job that MR.Beamon sets out, and hope for a good race. I know the closers on the team will be there to rock it out.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
Philpott (yes this really is my middle name) thanks mom...ha
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Home Sweet Home
Howdy From Georgia,
It is great to finally be back, and get a chance to reflect on last week. I have raced for a lot of years now, and done a few stage races, but never had I done one with such a strong team, organization, and leadership. After day 3, I was having issues, and digging real deep a lot of the time. Pretty much in pain from waking up to going to bed. But as soon as we got on the Orbea Orca bikes, (which thanks to Super Doug Berner, worked perfectly and were spotless every day) things got better. Why: we were talking about the race, planning strategy, and going for the win every day, and trying to chip away at the overall. Before the warm up, our soigneur, Jeremy Fliss had all food ready, bottles made, and radios ready as well. We would even get a quick rub before the start to get the blood flowing. Then there would be more talk, planning, race begins, and the small aches would go away, and it would just be the hurt box. Shawn was a great leader on and off the road, and allowed us to work, knowing he would to his absolute best to deliver. Chris patrolled the front for all 8 days, as did Emile, and Valeri was our attack master. After race finished, we had bottles made, clean up a bit, and go sit on the bus or ride back to the hotel.
Get hear, eat some food, get massage, eat more food, fight for the one internet cable, and then go to sleep. We would also have a meeting with Ed Beamon see pic with hair. He agreed to shave the goatee if we won. Sure enough Shawn delivered, and he followed through...ha (see below)
With organization like we had, the diabetes was not too much to handle.
Here is how it went:
I was doing 2x day lantus, so that I did not have to worry about hypos. Early in the race, I was having to do a lot of Apidra on a relative scale. As the race went on, I did less and less, and ate more and more. My body also adapted to the fueling needs of the race. As it went on, I had to eat less and less for the stages, and my blood sugars were more stable. With all that, the only way to make all of the small adjustments necessary (and there were A LOT) was to check, and check often. I was drinking about 1 liter of water every night right before bed to ensure I would wake up to pee, ie check. Chris Jones always got freaked out when I was checking in the middle of the night. Lucky I had my Dex 4 glucose close to the bed, and my FreeStyle Lite which has the small light (piece of cake to check in the night,) so I didn't have to wake anyone up with the big lights...
We made sure all of these guys knew what to do when hypo, and trained them with glucagon as well. Lucky didn't have to use it, or should I say skillful...
When did I check the most: before race and before bed. Usually 5 times in the hour before. Always once in the middle of the night, and 4-7 times in the 3hrs post race. Never the same 2 days in a row.
Funny enough, I can remember just about every day close to what I ended at: day 1-8:- 68*, 189, 174, 158ish, 168, 98, 128, 56*
*= BS was high or trending up before the race, so had to make small bolus, and did not eat enough.
Days 1 and 8, I was empty at the end. Day 6 was a hard, hard day, and day 7 I was so so. Days 2-5 were my best days. Any correlation to Blood sugar and performance??? You bet ya. So I learned a lot this past week, and have adjusted back to East Coast time pretty well. Back to once a day Lantus, and Apidra for my rapid.
If I were to have to make bottles, clean and work on bike, take care of meals plus this it may have been stressful. Diabetes is our disease, and with the right mindset it can be a fun challenge to overcome. I got the opportunity to learn 2x the other guys. I learned a heck of a lot about racing, and a lot about diabetes. Pretty cool.
Have a great day!
Thanks for reading.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
It is great to finally be back, and get a chance to reflect on last week. I have raced for a lot of years now, and done a few stage races, but never had I done one with such a strong team, organization, and leadership. After day 3, I was having issues, and digging real deep a lot of the time. Pretty much in pain from waking up to going to bed. But as soon as we got on the Orbea Orca bikes, (which thanks to Super Doug Berner, worked perfectly and were spotless every day) things got better. Why: we were talking about the race, planning strategy, and going for the win every day, and trying to chip away at the overall. Before the warm up, our soigneur, Jeremy Fliss had all food ready, bottles made, and radios ready as well. We would even get a quick rub before the start to get the blood flowing. Then there would be more talk, planning, race begins, and the small aches would go away, and it would just be the hurt box. Shawn was a great leader on and off the road, and allowed us to work, knowing he would to his absolute best to deliver. Chris patrolled the front for all 8 days, as did Emile, and Valeri was our attack master. After race finished, we had bottles made, clean up a bit, and go sit on the bus or ride back to the hotel.
Get hear, eat some food, get massage, eat more food, fight for the one internet cable, and then go to sleep. We would also have a meeting with Ed Beamon see pic with hair. He agreed to shave the goatee if we won. Sure enough Shawn delivered, and he followed through...ha (see below)
With organization like we had, the diabetes was not too much to handle.
Here is how it went:
I was doing 2x day lantus, so that I did not have to worry about hypos. Early in the race, I was having to do a lot of Apidra on a relative scale. As the race went on, I did less and less, and ate more and more. My body also adapted to the fueling needs of the race. As it went on, I had to eat less and less for the stages, and my blood sugars were more stable. With all that, the only way to make all of the small adjustments necessary (and there were A LOT) was to check, and check often. I was drinking about 1 liter of water every night right before bed to ensure I would wake up to pee, ie check. Chris Jones always got freaked out when I was checking in the middle of the night. Lucky I had my Dex 4 glucose close to the bed, and my FreeStyle Lite which has the small light (piece of cake to check in the night,) so I didn't have to wake anyone up with the big lights...
We made sure all of these guys knew what to do when hypo, and trained them with glucagon as well. Lucky didn't have to use it, or should I say skillful...
When did I check the most: before race and before bed. Usually 5 times in the hour before. Always once in the middle of the night, and 4-7 times in the 3hrs post race. Never the same 2 days in a row.
Funny enough, I can remember just about every day close to what I ended at: day 1-8:- 68*, 189, 174, 158ish, 168, 98, 128, 56*
*= BS was high or trending up before the race, so had to make small bolus, and did not eat enough.
Days 1 and 8, I was empty at the end. Day 6 was a hard, hard day, and day 7 I was so so. Days 2-5 were my best days. Any correlation to Blood sugar and performance??? You bet ya. So I learned a lot this past week, and have adjusted back to East Coast time pretty well. Back to once a day Lantus, and Apidra for my rapid.
If I were to have to make bottles, clean and work on bike, take care of meals plus this it may have been stressful. Diabetes is our disease, and with the right mindset it can be a fun challenge to overcome. I got the opportunity to learn 2x the other guys. I learned a heck of a lot about racing, and a lot about diabetes. Pretty cool.
Have a great day!
Thanks for reading.
Phil
www.teamtype1.org
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