Howdy from Kaushiung, Taiwan,
How is everyone doing? I am sitting in the hotel in Taiwan now, trying to stay awake, and make it to dinner which starts here soon. The past week has been good, with some solid rest in AZ, and a little bit of good training. I got my new Shimano Dura Ace shoes, with cleat set up, and Orthodox from Bill Peterson. New set up is feeling good, and I got Jason from CTS to set up my bike position. I was way off at Cali, and hopefully way better now...
Anyhow, a little while back I went to 2x Lantus so I could prep for the stage race, as well as the flight. Typically with any 20+ hour travel day, sitting, eating, sitting, and sitting, blood sugars go through the roof. Not this time baby. I did a little bit extra Lantus, 10u am, 10u pm and then had great bs's bordering on the lower side for the entire trip. We arrived late last night, and I had a beer with Ken, and Joe, catching up on their 2 week trip in Singapore. Fun times.
Today, I backed off the basal two 8u Lantus. Woke up at 4;45-5am, cruised down to the lobby played on the computer, and then ate some breakfast, and then more breakfast waiting for the boys to come down. Here is a bit of culture difference. I was sitting at the table of 4, by myself, in a 90% empty restaurant, when all of the sudden, this guy sits down next to me. A million chairs to pick from, and right down beside me. He was probably 50 yrs old, didn't speak a word of English, and just went about eating food without saying a word.
The boyz finally made it down, and we ate, chatted, and planned for the day. Aldo, Ken, Jesse, Joe, and I set out from our hotel by the river (take note of the by the river part) in the pouring rain for a 2 hour ride. We navigated through stoplights for what seemed life an eternity when we finally got to open roads where we could all do our openers (opener=intervals to get the legs ready for tomorrow- typically short, and very hard.) At 1:08 of ride time, we turn around.
Then we make a turn here, and another there, and all of the sudden, no idea where we are going. Here is where the problem lies, is that we are in a foreign land, and do not speak a word of Taiwanese. Asking people "where is the river" was next to impossible. Joe and Ken split one way, and Jesse, Aldo, and I another. We made it to Starbucks and got one set of directions, and then somewhere else for others, until finally at the 3hour mark made it back to the hotel. Joe and Ken came in about 45 minutes later. A bit long of a ride in advance of a 7 day stage race, but the legs are definitely open now.
Tonight I will do 8u Lantus, and tomorrow, probably 8u again. This should have me primed and ready for the crit tomorrow. It is a short 60kms, and then off in the bus to our next hotel. I am pretty excited that I now only have 8 more nights of suitcase life, and I get to go back to the Atl, and live in my house again, albeit for only 3 nights....
Anyhow, I believe I have rambled on long enough. Please forgive my lack of direction, as I am half asleep, and a bit jet lagged.
More race updates to come, and I will try to keep track of the changes for you.
Have a great night/day.
Ciao
Phil
http://twitter.com/PhilSoutherland
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Diabetes Game-
Howdy from Tucson,
What a place!! It has been over 80 every day I have been here. Sweating bullets and loving it. There is something to be said about just putting on shorts, and a jersey, and heading out for a ride, as opposed to the "is this going to be enough to stay warm, but not overheat??" that we all ask ourselves when it is cold, and/or wet.
Sometime last week I switched to the 2/xday basal. I have a 2 pronged reason for doing so. First, I need more of a basal at night, but not the pop that I get when first injecting basal. By this I mean, that if I put in 20u of basal, I will see a slight drop right away, which can cause the need to eat, and then go back up in the night. But if I do 10u, the "pop" is much less, and need for food after a 10u basal injection is not there.
Second, this Thursday I head off to Taiwan, which is a 12 hour time difference. If I was on 1 basal shot per day, I would most likely spend 5 days figuring out the adjustment. Now, it will be a very simple "insulin transition" to a brand new time zone. Back into the zone of riding last week. I thought it was going to be light, but was actually quite busy. I am in Tucson to do some sight inspections for hotels, for a potential TT1/TT2 conference in 2010. So I spent a lot of time doing that, and think we may have decided on the Star Pass Marriott, which will be a great location. I did 3.5 hrs Tues, 4hrs Wed, and then was very, very tired. It was nice having my metabolism get going again. I cut basal from a max of 22u basal last week, down to 16, and am now back up to 18. Insulin to carb ratios are coming back to normal, and after 2 nights of 10 hours of sleep, I am feeling pretty rested. Taiwan should be an interesting race. There will be a lot of real good competition there, which will make a few stage wins, and/or the overall very rewarding. It is by no means signed, sealed, and delivered, but confidence is high.
14 day BS Avg is 128 right now with 78% in target. Racing makes it tough for me to keep the averages that I like. If I was just training, at a base pace, I would shoot to have average less than 110, with 93% in target, and not have a problem with it. The simple reason is just consistency. Wake up same time, ride around the same time, at the same intensity, eat the same thing, bed at same time. Life is simple. Racing is completely the opposite. So because of Bike Racing, my A1C will most likely go up. I would venture to say I will be around 6-6.5 for the next one in April, which is not bad at all. Come April, I will have 3-4 weeks at home (I think/hope) and will get this consistent good stuff again!!
That is about all for now. I hope all is rocking for you, and thanks so much for reading!
Talk before Taiwan. 2 more days of training, some yoga, then off to the flat lands...
Ciao
Phil
What a place!! It has been over 80 every day I have been here. Sweating bullets and loving it. There is something to be said about just putting on shorts, and a jersey, and heading out for a ride, as opposed to the "is this going to be enough to stay warm, but not overheat??" that we all ask ourselves when it is cold, and/or wet.
Sometime last week I switched to the 2/xday basal. I have a 2 pronged reason for doing so. First, I need more of a basal at night, but not the pop that I get when first injecting basal. By this I mean, that if I put in 20u of basal, I will see a slight drop right away, which can cause the need to eat, and then go back up in the night. But if I do 10u, the "pop" is much less, and need for food after a 10u basal injection is not there.
Second, this Thursday I head off to Taiwan, which is a 12 hour time difference. If I was on 1 basal shot per day, I would most likely spend 5 days figuring out the adjustment. Now, it will be a very simple "insulin transition" to a brand new time zone. Back into the zone of riding last week. I thought it was going to be light, but was actually quite busy. I am in Tucson to do some sight inspections for hotels, for a potential TT1/TT2 conference in 2010. So I spent a lot of time doing that, and think we may have decided on the Star Pass Marriott, which will be a great location. I did 3.5 hrs Tues, 4hrs Wed, and then was very, very tired. It was nice having my metabolism get going again. I cut basal from a max of 22u basal last week, down to 16, and am now back up to 18. Insulin to carb ratios are coming back to normal, and after 2 nights of 10 hours of sleep, I am feeling pretty rested. Taiwan should be an interesting race. There will be a lot of real good competition there, which will make a few stage wins, and/or the overall very rewarding. It is by no means signed, sealed, and delivered, but confidence is high.
14 day BS Avg is 128 right now with 78% in target. Racing makes it tough for me to keep the averages that I like. If I was just training, at a base pace, I would shoot to have average less than 110, with 93% in target, and not have a problem with it. The simple reason is just consistency. Wake up same time, ride around the same time, at the same intensity, eat the same thing, bed at same time. Life is simple. Racing is completely the opposite. So because of Bike Racing, my A1C will most likely go up. I would venture to say I will be around 6-6.5 for the next one in April, which is not bad at all. Come April, I will have 3-4 weeks at home (I think/hope) and will get this consistent good stuff again!!
That is about all for now. I hope all is rocking for you, and thanks so much for reading!
Talk before Taiwan. 2 more days of training, some yoga, then off to the flat lands...
Ciao
Phil
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