I’ve really been slacking on my blog writing. I thought I’d share an update and a preview of 2010 and kick off my training AND blog writing season.
While I haven’t done any races since the Great River Road 10 Mile on Nov, 28th, I have still been active. My total miles have been down, but I’ve still been after it. I ran 77 miles in December and 91 in January. I have also got back on the bike to start building up my cycling base. I did 80 miles in December and upped that to 161 in January.
I’ll be going through a huge shift in training this year by focusing more on the bike than on running. During my marathon training, I was running 5 times a week and made it to over 40 miles per week. This year, I’ll probably do 3 days of running most of the year and my total miles will be way down. Big shift for me. I’m going to have to *trust* my running base and really spend some time on the bike.
The first big race of the year was to be the Bonk Hard Chill 12-hour Adventure race on Feb 6th. I was going to do this with my good friend, neighbor, and training partner Dustan. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, we’ll have to see how the weather plays out) the race had to be re-scheduled. We are now planning to do the UltraMax 8-hour Adventure race in Innsbrook, MO on March 6th. Essentially, the same type of race – orienteering with running/trekking, biking and canoeing over 8 hours. Oh, it’ll be an adventure, but it should be a lot of fun. I’m sure it will lead to a very interesting blog post if nothing else. 
Races that are coming up soon -
- An indoor triathlon at my local YMCA on Feb 20 – 500 yard swim, 9 mile bike, 3 mile run. I pretty much just decided on this one today.
- Castlewood Cup – a 15K Trail Race on Feb 27.
- The UltraMax 8-hour Adventure Race on March 6th.
- U-City 10 Mile on March 28th.
- St. Louis Half Marathon on April 5th.
My first big triathlon will be an Olympic distance race at Carlyle Lake on May 23rd. This will be my first long open water swim. Getting through this one will set me up nicely for my main priority for the year, the Branson 70.3 Half Ironman in September.
I have a number of other triathlon’s planned throughout the summer and will also be running the Ragnar Relay Great River with Team Glucomotive in August.
I’m still working on putting together my training plan for the year (a major chore in itself), but as of this week, I’m officially in training mode.
And since I’m back to training in 3 sports…. it’s time to EAT!!!
Check out a bunch of diabetics living life to it’s fullest! Insulindependence just released a video highlighting a variety of ID events, including the A1sea Costa Rica Surf Expedition, 2009 Glucomotive Ragnar Relay Del Sol, and 2008 Triabuddies Adventure. You can see my goofy self around :58.
I ran Del Sol with the group and had a blast! Looking forward to doing it again in August at the Ragnar Relay Great River. BTW… if you have diabetes and are interested in running the relay, check out the Glucomotive website for more info and to register.
It just occurred to me – as I was cursing my post-run high – that my pre-run basal settings can be the same for a 4 mile run or a 10 run with intervals, but what I do post run makes all the difference in the world.
This literally just occurred to me, so I’ll need to prove my theory in future runs, but take today for example. I had a relatively easy 4 miles this morning. I lowered my basal 2 hours before my run and ate a package of peanut butter crackers a few minutes before starting. I woke up with a 99 BG and finished my run at 120. Perfect. I bolused 1 unit and had about half of a G2 drink right after stopping and followed that with a snack of about 30 grams of carbs 1 hour after finishing. I bolused the normal amount, but just tested, a WAY too high, 268 3 hours after the snack. If I take into account the lowered basal amounts, and bolus that amount I would probably have covered that high.
Now, if I had run harder I’m thinking that I would not need to bolus to cover the lowered basals. Hmmm… interesting theory.
I’ve been running for well over a year now and this just occurs to me today? Better late than never.
It’s also interesting to note that I have not seen a difference later in the day with regards to run effort. During the afternoon, following a morning run, I will typically lower my basal rate by 50% for 3 hours to prevent lows before dinner time.
I’ll try the same approach on Weds when I run harder and see what happens.
Just wanted to write a quick post on my run last Saturday (Nov. 28th) at the Great River Road 10 Mile in Alton, IL. This year marked the 50th running of this race… my 2nd.
The Great River Road 10 Mile was my last official race of, what I’m now calling, my “fiscal running year”. I had hopes of breaking my 10 mile PR of 1:25:13, but realized where I was in my training and given that it was 65 degrees, it wasn’t going to happen. One big thing I’ve learned over the past 14+ months of running is that you can’t just show up to a race and run faster than what you have built up in training. It’s just not possible.
So, with all that in mind I set off for a 1:30, which would at least beat my time in last years race. Time this year? 1:30:28. Works for me. 601 out of 1256. I could’ve laid it down in the last mile and beat 1:30, but the thought of being completely out of breath and hurting just didn’t appeal to me for some reason last Saturday.
My pacing was awesome…
9:19, 9:15, 9:08, 9:05, 8:52, 8:59, 8:58, 8:57, 9:03, 8:27
Love it. Another thing I have gotten good at is coming up with a plan and sticking to it. This pacing shows it pretty well.
My BG numbers were perfect for this race as well. I stayed right around 140 the entire morning.
One final note… I couldn’t believe the number of people wearing long pants and jackets! Folks. Look at the weather report not the calendar. It was SIXTY-FIVE degrees!
Shout out to Harry at 25 Units To Go for the inspiration today.
1. Do you like bleu cheese? Nah.
2. Have you ever smoked? Never. Not a chance.
3. Do you own a gun? I do have a shotgun, but it’s at my parents. I haven’t hunted in a few years.
4. Favorite type of Food? Fruit Snacks. Ok, not my favorite, but they keep me alive most days (like right now).
5. Favorite type of music? I’m a big Jam Ban fan. Not into the “scene”, if you know what I’m saying, but absolutely LOVE the music.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Love ‘em.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? Christmas Vacation. Not sure a day goes by that some quote doesn’t pop into my head.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? 1 word. Diet Coke.
9. Can you do push ups? Yes, but not many. I’m starting to work on that though.
10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring (Hi Honey!)
11. Favorite hobby? Underwater basket weaving.
12. Do you have A. D. D.? Squirrel!
13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Nope.
14. Middle name? Charles. I spent a number of years of my life responding to “Chuck”.
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: Heh? An old friend called me “Chuck” at the 5K I ran back home last week. Why am I frickin’ low this morning?
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Diet Coke, Diet Mt. Dew, Diet Dr. Pepper (Notice Water is not in the list. It should be.)
17. Current worry? Why am I frickin’ low this morning?
18. Current hate right now? See 17.
19. Favorite place to be? Watching TV snuggling with a kid or two.
20. How did you bring in the new year? Turned off the TV at 12:01 and went to sleep.
21. Someplace you’d like to go? Boston Marathon.
22. Name three people who will complete this. George, Keri, Tony
23. Do you own slippers? Do Homer Simpson slippers count?
24. What color shirt are you wearing? Blue. Like almost every shirt I own.
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Meh.
26. Can you whistle? Yes.
27. Where are you now? Work. I’m not wasting time at home doing this.
28. Would you be a pirate? Resisted the urge to write Argh, which is of course the purpose of this question.
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? The Wiggles. Don’t judge me.
30. Favorite Girl’s Name? Belle
31. Favorite boy’s name? Brayden
32. What is in your pocket right now? Keys and a Craftsman multi-purpose tool <- NEVER leave home with out it. If I do, something will always come up where I wished I had it.
33. Last thing that made you laugh? This video about training for the start of a triathlon. HI-larious.
34. What vehicle do you drive? Dodge Charger.
35. Worst injury you’ve ever had? I was pitching in a high school baseball game and got spiked by my own 3rd basemen during a infield fly ball. I pitched to the next batter and gave up a HR before realizing I was seriously bleeding from my ankle.
36. Do you love where you live? Love my town.
37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 6. 1 is a “kids” TV with a built in VCR and another is in my music room and is never really used.
38. How many computers do you have in your house? We just own 1 laptop, but we both also have work laptops that get used a lot.
39. If you changed your job, what would it be? Either a full-time athlete or musician.
40. If you were granted three wishes, what would they be? A cure. That my children remain happy and healthy. Oh, and 1 meeeeellion dollars.
Fast 5K’s are exactly my thing. I’ve spent much more time building endurance than building speed, but this past Saturday I ran a pretty good 5K (for me).
Saturday I headed back to my childhood home town to run the Toast of Marissa Grape Stomp 5K. My previous 5K best was 23:20 back in August. Knowing my lack of speed, I knew beating this time would be tough and I hadn’t decided completely that I would even try. I felt pretty good the morning of the race despite eating way too much pizza the night before (a fantastic idea for a Type 1 diabetic before a race), so I committed to giving it a go.
I’ve learned a lot about pacing over the last year and have become much smarter about how to hit a goal time. I had a plan and nailed it.
Mile 1 – 7:31
Mile 2 – 7:29
Mile 3 – 7:16
Finish time – 22:30
Not sure what my “official” time was, but from my watch I’m calling my new 5K PR 22:30! Sweet.
BG numbers leveled out before the race around the 140 range. I ate a GU a few minutes before the race and wound up at 190 after the race. 190 is a little higher than I’d like and I could tell during the run that I was higher than I needed to be. The race started at 10:30. I also got in a 2 mile warmup before the race, so with the warmup and starting a little later than normal, getting basals and everything else perfect was tough.
Next up is a 10-miler next weekend and after that I’m considering a 12-hour adventure race. Yikes!
I very rarely let myself get frustrated or upset dealing with life as a Type 1 Diabetic. I just don’t do it. Being Type 1 sucks. Plain and simple. But, I have it and it’s just part of my life… every single second of my life, so I just don’t let it bother me.
However, there are those moments…
Earlier in the day I needed to change my infusion set. When I put in the new set in hurt like the dickens. I let in go for a few minutes, but just couldn’t stand it and decided to pull it out and switch back to the old site. (NOTE: It’s a good idea to leave the old site in for a while to let any remaining insulin soak in and if something goes wrong inserting the new site, it’s easy to go back.) So, last night before my snack I decided to go ahead and insert a new site since the old one had been in for more than 3 days. Inserted the new site, got together my snack, bolused and headed downstairs to watch the World Series. Moments later – NO DELIVERY. Awesome. Back upstairs to rip out the new site and try again. I got a new set together and, as I like to describe it, launched the needle into my body… blood. F. Rather than wait for another NO DELIVERY to certainly come, I pulled it out and replaced it with yet another infusion set.
3 (yes, THREE) infusion sets later I said to my wife – “all this just to have a f*****g snack”.
Last year at the 2008 Gumbo Flats Pumpkin Run in Chesterfield, MO I ran 6.2 miles for just the second time ever. Since then I have run almost 1,400 miles including a marathon. Things have changed.
2008’s run took me 57:48. This year’s Gumbo Flats Pumpkin Run was done in 53:41. Coming off the marathon just a few weeks ago, I didn’t want to go crazy, but I definitely wanted to beat my 10K PR of 57:12.
I had a race plan and followed it perfectly. Here are the splits…
- 9:29
- 9:13
- 8:49
- 8:28
- 7:42
- 7:45
- 2:18 for the final .2
I could’ve pushed the first few miles harder, but I wanted to take it pretty easy and negative split the race to make sure I broke 57:00 without risking injury. I felt great and could not have been more happy with this 10K just 2 weeks after running 26.2.
My neighbor (Dustan), my father-in-law (Matt) and my brother-in-law (Drew) also ran the race. I always give credit to Dustan for getting me interested in running and triathlons and Matt ran the Chicago Marathon with me, but the cool thing was seeing Drew run his first 10K in 56:09. NICE!
Again, this year, the post-race spread was awesome. Two years in a row – far and away the best post-race scene I’ve experienced. I was lucky enough to grab the last box of Chick-fil-a mini chicken biscuits. Possibly, the best post run snack available. Well, maybe not better than a bratwurst, but still pretty good.
Somebody was cool enough to post a video from mile 2.1 on the Chicago Marathon.
