It’s been a while since I last woke up at 5 am, feeling strangely alert and agitated. Covered in sweat and shivering. Don’t worry – I haven’t been co-opted into the Blair witch project, I’ve been on my bike again. The off season has been fun. My body has appreciated the break and gaining some upper body muscle over the winter will hopefully make me a little less susceptible to bovine dangers next year (not that I intend to expose myself to them again). This week has been my first one of logging good hours, jumping up to 25-30 per week. Mostly this involves long rides and the occasional gym session as well as my new twice-daily core routine.
Predictably as I have stepped up the training so I’ve increased my carbohydrate needs. It’s always a waiting game as to how long it will take for my body to catch up and step up my metabolism. I don’t want to cut my basal rate before it does or I’ll be high all the time and not recover properly. So the night-time hypo has become something of an annual rite of passage. Waking up with a bs in the mid 40s (or 2. Something in British numbers), drinking some orange juice. Taking some insulin and sorting out a very early breakfast of porridge (which, by the way is greatly improved by adding instant chocolate custard powder) and almond butter. Once you’re used to it’s not that scary, it still puts the body under stress and I try not to let it happen too often but in a way it’s welcome.
In all things there must be balance
The stress that blood sugar fluctuations put on your body shouldn’t be underestimated. Even when you’re not diabetic you experience the same thing just to a lesser degree. Blood sugar down, adrenaline and stress hormones up, body enters survival mode. This isn’t good, especially if you’re trying to recover from training which, in and of itself, is a stress on the body. I’ve grown to realize that often, I’m mildly hypo at night before I go to bed. I’ve been trying to cut down a bit on the testing as I don’t know how I’ll be getting strips in the USA (Sadly, universal rights which extend to owning the means to kill someone haven’t yet made it to receiving the means to keep yourself alive). Often when I’m trying to get to sleep, life seems too much, everything I have to do that day piles up in my mind and screams at me, and I start to worry about racing next year, about how I’m going to pay rent, and about where and how I can keep making a difference in a country whose culture I find so difficult to fully grasp. All legitimate worries, but they seem life threatening when I‘m below 60. To put this into perspective, I heard about a type one [diabetic] who suffers from psychosis and schizophrenia; the voices in his head are tripped off by hypos. Scary. So if it all seems a bit much this festive period, back off the after 8s and mulled wine and take a good look at your diet, it might save you the annual festive family fallout.
Another sure sign that I’ve been riding is that my legs have started to hurt a bit going up the stairs, I’m tired by 10:30 pm and wide awake and hungry for breakfast at 8 am. It’s a daily rhythm I’ve grown used to, up at 8 for a small breakfast. I find that as my metabolism and training stress ramps up, my body pushes up the cortisol levels – especially in the morning – and I get nasty high blood sugar with any sort of grain at breakfast (interestingly this can also affect you “normal” people and seems to have been an issue for a certain monsieur Fignon*). So contrary to what would be the normal advice I eat eggs, tomatoes, and maybe some nuts before getting out on the bike. Obviously I do cut my omnipod basal rate around 90 minutes before I ride. This does tend to mean go low in the first hour of my ride, but I prefer this to being high. I make sure to set out with my latest nutrition favorites: turron, caramelos de pinones, and the time-honoured nutella sandwich.
Generally I ride for an hour on my way to Miami, it’s nice to be rolling through empty beach towns closed up for the winter. I like it when it’s just getting light and I’m wearing all my warmest gear and the Christmas lights are still on. Once I get to the designated roundabout, I meet with friends for two to three hours of half-wheeling in the wind before stopping for a café amb llet and riding the 40 minutes home with the wind behind me (unless my bloody seatpost snaps when I ride the three HOURS home…). This sets me up pretty well for a bg bolus (my sugars will climb right after a ride, even without food), a warm shower, and a good lunch. I don’t do recovery drinks at this time of year, sometimes your body needs a break from powders!
This leaves the afternoons free for researching, reading and sending a mountain of emails. I’m trying to plan next season as well. If you know of any must-do events after mid-June, get in touch! As far as possible I am trying to combine advocacy with racing in order to keep costs down and positive impact up. On this note I have had some entries into my contest but I want more before I start handing out the goods. I’ve been in touch with a few sponsors and have a good prize list of both cycling and diabetes goodies. If you’ve got something to contribute, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
After what has been not my greatest year on the bike and a bit of a disaster off the bike – both in financial and family terms – it feels great to be back in the rhythm of things, back in control of my training and schedule, and once again to be looking forward to the future. As for the blood sugars, as this morning showed I’ll never be fully in control of them but it’s like wrestling a crocodile, just make sure you’re the one on top and you can keep breathing!
*It’s in italics because I’m saying it French style “feeegnon”
1 Comment
i have ideas how really hard is having diabetes because of my aunt and cousin who are diabetic. but you are such an inspiration and a good example. i can share your story and some of your tips to them.