Like most of you diabetic runners, I am in a constant state of learning and refining my protocol for good blood sugars during my runs. I’ve gotten much better at it, even realizing that sometimes you have to trust your gut instinct, since no two day are the same leading up to a run. Occasionally I have a bad run, and occasionally I have a perfect run - most fall somewhere in the middle, but boy, oh boy, last Wednesday night I had a really well controlled (from a BG standpoint) run that I wanted to share…. It looks something like this:
My BG stayed between 80 and 120 during the entire run, and by bolusing 2U towards the end of the run, I avoided my usual post run bump up. Lately, I’ve added a bolus at the end of my run nearly every time - though again, sometimes the gut instinct overrules. Feeling pretty good about this run - and have an upcoming post specifically about the post run bumps - so stay tuned…
Endorphins not BGs make a runner high,
Jamie, The Diabetic Runner
9 people have commented on this post
Very cool! Way to go.
I haven’t ordered any sensors for my minilink in a while. I have to get back to doing that.
I found your comments about about “gut instinct” interesting. There have been a few times when I messed up, not badly, but a little, and looking back at what went wrong I had to say I had the right plan, by I changed it.
Like in one race I had planned to consume a gel every 5 miles or so, and I decided to skip the last one because I only had two miles left. Of course I was low when I checked after the finish, and of course I slowed way down in the last mile.
Thanks for the comment Jerry,
Don’t get me wrong, I have had failures too that were caused by my deviation from my established protocol, but here’s where my “gut instinct” often works for me:
Fist off, I realize that there is a mathematical explanation to EVERYTHING - that is, there is a logical reason for what works and what doesn’t - but I use instinct to adjust for things that I have a hard time quantifying… i.e. I seem to have been running low sugars all day for no apparent reason, so when I reduce my basal pre-run, I’ll set it lower than usual. OR I know I ate some high-fat foods earlier today, so I can probably stretch out the time between gels slightly. OR I’m running sooner than 3 hours after my last bolus, so I’ll need an extra gel at start, and gel #2 may be a bit earlier than usual. Those kind of things… I can rationalize why adjustments are needed, but somehow rely on instinct to tell me how to implement the adjustments. Make sense?
BTW - do you see slight upward bumps in your BG after your runs?
Yes, that makes sense. We’re both talking about the same thing, really, improvising according to our experience. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes wrong.
I usually try to get some rebuilding fuel ASAP after a run, carbs and protein, and when I bolus, I factor in the fact that my basal rate has been down. So no, I generally don’t go high after a run.
If I was on a CGMS, I might see a bump that I’m not aware of, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary doing finger sticks.
Jamie, I do sometimes bump after excercise but it is more after lifting than after a run!
Jamie, that’s awesome that your bg was so perfect the whole time!! I have had a few runs like that, and I looooove it because I can go further and it feels great.
I totally know what you mean about trusting your gut. T1 is often more of an art than a science!
Wow, what a great chart!
Jamie, I’m going to have to slightly disagree. I that there is a mathematical explanation to everything EXCEPT diabetes and blood sugars. I absolutely LOVE the chart you made up, is this what the Mad Scientist has been working on?
As for post run Boluses, I’d say 90% of the time I need one, and we diabetics develop that “sixth sense” as for when our body needs insulin. Although sometimes this sense is not as perfected as my other 5 senses.
The Mad Scientist IS working on something like this. The graph in this post was constructed manually in Photoshop, but soon, Bwaaa Haaaa Haaaa, I’ll have something that does it “automagically.”
I agree about the 6th sense, as well as the need to improve it!
Man I’m jealous! My post run bump normally comes if I had to cut a run short because of a low - I’ll ocassional jump 30 to 40 points after a run but it comes down on its own after an hour or so, a bolus would make me go real low - interested in reading your post on that.