Diabetes Game- Mt Fig and some racin...

Howdy from Buellton Cali,

I hope everyone is doing well, and thanks for reading! When I last set off, I had a blood sugar of 220, and was ready to go out and tackle the day with higher bg's. We took off from the parking lot, and in anticipation of a tough day, I put down a snickers bar in the first 10 minutes. 40 minutes in I saw a blood sugar going down, so ate a Powerbar. 15 minutes after that, and with 15 minutes till the climb, I ate another PowerBar. One would think (me being one) that with 125gms of carbs, I would be stable. The first bit of Fig was tough. Team Type 1 is known for it climbers, and they were all out to do a tough day. Lill, Jones, McGregor, Kobza, Anthony were lighting it up. I was good for 3-4km's at the pace, and then pushed a little too hard trying to hang on, and KABOOM!!! I exploded. This is not good. It would have been better to back it off 2 minutes in advance and ride my own pace. Once the explosion happens, it takes some time to recover, and then never as good as the start. At the explosion, the FreeStyle Navigator said I was at 126 trending down. I took in 2 Dex 4 Gels, and then proceeded to get in a rhythm. Did some fun descending to catch back up to a few teammates: http://www.bicycle.net/2009/team-type-1-training-camp

After catching up we rode a nice tempo to the top. I had 1 more gel, and finished the climb at 122, which is ok. Then sitting at the top for a few minutes, my BS shot up to 220, where it stayed for the rest of the ride. I felt a lot better on the flat parts (as always) and was able to do my part in the leadout train. 5 hours on the bike.
Friday was a rest day, doing 1.5 hours in the am easy, then another 30 minutes that afternoon on my Orbea TT bike, which is SWEET!!

I did 13 units of Lantus on both Thursday and Friday. Thursday I did .5 units of Apidra at 9:30 with a good BS, and woke up at 11:30 at 57. Ate a bar, and then woke up at 170 at 2am, did .5 unit of Apidra, and at 5am was 100. Life is good. Friday, forgot to do the .5 unit, and woke up at 5am at 200, did a unit, and had a good bs in the am for RACE DAY...

So I had a good breakfast, lots of it in fact. I did 1.5 units for the food, and then was around 220 setting off for the ride. I had a banana 20 minutes in, and then got to the race, and it was calibration time. I saw 334... What shot me up? Too much food? Not enough basal? Nerves? Not sure, but time to correct, without over correcting. So I did .5 unit of Apidra to get me rolling. Felt pretty bad at the start (just tired legs) and then my team was annihilating the front of the race. We went over the first climb which was about 2kms, and I went too hard and came off. Chased back on with some others, and then at the turnaround see a break of 6 with 4 teammates in it. On the way back, I had 2 gels, and going up the climb again was painful. This time I rode a tempo I could manage, and then at the top chased back with a big group, thanks Gord! At the turnaround I see a group of 15 with 7 teammates in there... Then we climb again, I come off, chase back, and at the turnaround it is 20 with 10 teammates in there. It was pretty tough rest of way in, and we ended up going 1-2 with Ricardo taking the win, and Moises coming in 2nd. Great day for the team.
Me, I am tired. Slept 10 hours for the past 3 nights, and am really fatigued from training, photo/video, and more training. 1 more race today, a crit, and then a few days of super chill. I am coming off anti-biotics now, and hoping to be better soon. I will race again next weekend, and then the big show, Tour of California. I have done the work, and now realizing maybe too much. I think there is still time to recover, hope there is still time.

The team is flying. The guys are all going so much faster than last year, and we have a great dynamic going on. I think everyone is really motivated to have a good year, and I feel like this could be a great opportunity to learn from some of the best racers the US has to offer, and take my game up a few notches. The guys have all been real good about giving small tips here and there, and they are helping already.

When it comes down to it, bike racing and diabetes are not all that different. They are both a game, a sport, where every action has a reaction. Every detail makes a difference, and if you can continue to learn, than you can continue to get better. So on both games this year, I plan to improve.

Criterium today for 9 of us, and I will have updates to come soon.
Thanks for reading!

Philpott

P.S. You can also get quick snippet updates on my Twitter page:
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