Race Summary

So the quick version is that it was a great start and a horrible finish, possibly one of my worst (finishes). I’m a bit more retrospective today (also a bit sore) so let’s see if we can’t break down what really happened.

I woke up at 5:30 am with a BG of 86mg/dl. My insulin on board lasts about 3 hours. The plan was to turn my basal rate incrementally 3 hours before that start and to supplement that with a bolus (again, that would be gone by the start). The rationale behind the drop 3 hours before is because I need to have a very small amount of insulin in my system when racing, and although dropping it an hour before does the trick for an hour long workout – it won’t for a three hour race. The idea behind an incremental drop is because as the race goes on, carbs get depleted from your body and you begin to use more and more protein and fat.

The basal rates then were as follows:

· 5:00am 1.00 (normal rate)

· 7:30am 0.700 (starting the drop)

· 8:30am 0.200

· 9:30am 0.100

· 10:30am 0.075 (race starts)

· 11:30am 0.050

I took two boluses, one at 6:30 for my meal (5.0u), and the second at 7:45 for the basal drop (1.6u)

The BGs pre-race were almost perfect. Here they are:

· 5:30am 86 mg/dl

· 7:00am 67 mg/dl

· 7:30am 95 mg/dl

· 8:20am 145 mg/dl

· 9:20am 95 mg/dl

· 10:12am 79 mg/dl

I had .88u on board before I started, which was a bit more then I wanted. I chugged about 65 grams of Gatorade and dashed off to the start.

The first 13 miles were absolutely splendid. The course was very hilly. And after some juggling at the first 3 miles I settled in and began picking people off. I’d guess that by the 6^th or 7^th mile I as in the top 5 with three other runners. I listed to the others and they were breathing pretty heavy while I felt good. I thought I was in a great position. It was too cold to get any blood from a finger (even with gloves and the blood rushing) so after ½ hour I began to have about 8 grams of carb every 10-15 minutes.

We went through 10 miles in 1 hr 8 min and 13 miles in 1 hr 28 min and 30 seconds. It was here that I started to struggle. Not breathing wise, but I knew something was going on. I tried to keep taking in sugar but it wasn’t working. I struggled through the next six with the guy I was running with, but soon after mile 19 he pulled away.

Then it got bad, really bad. I got nauseous, and dizzy; I had to start walking and I couldn’t believe it. After another mile I stopped at a water stop and had someone rub my hand until I was able to get blood for a test – 57 mg/dl. And it probably had been hovering there for the last hour. I drank enough Gatorade to jiggle when I jogged and began the long road to the finish. It was hard to take other people were flying by me while I continued to limp along. I watched the time go by what I wanted to run, then my last run, then a bad run, and still I was out there. when I say the long road – that is not an exaggeration. To put in perspective, it took me and hour and a half to run the first 13 and an hour and 40 minutes to limp the last 6. I did make it to the end though.

You would think I’d be demoralized, but I wasn’t – it was one of the proudest runs I‘ve had in a long time. Regardless of the time, I finished. And I will finish others. If I was to sum up the race, I would say it was a great confidence booster and a dose of humility all in one. Although my rates were low, each rate was actually .025 higher then New York, I had bumped them up thinking I would need it (guess not). And I think the hills could have made me use more energy then I had expected, so I should have turned my basal down even more. And lastly, starting the race with .88 was too much; I should have bolused less and bolused earlier.

Will there be another – damn skippy (that’s a yes). But for now, I just need to get my training hours in for the week (remember that comment about being sore? Yea that’s right; it’s going to make getting 10 hours in the week pretty tough).