Change is in the Air

I think swimmers notice it first.

Runners are the next group to say something, with a hint of sadness in their voice.

Cyclists take a little longer to figure it out. Or perhaps it's just denial because they are more affected by it in the end.

The days are getting shorter folks.

Slowly but surely the darkness is inching its way into the light.

On swimming mornings, I now wake up in the dark. I get dressed in the dark. I check my blood sugar in the dark and I drive to the pool in the dark. I didn't do that in June. I also wear a light coat to the pool over my tshirt. I still wear shorts of course but there is just the slightest nip in the air.

On running mornings, I wake up just as the sky is lightening. By the time I get dressed, check my sugar and head out the door, it's light, if not bright. I run in shorts and a t-shirt quite comfortably but I do pass walkers out in pants or long sleeves.

On cycling mornings, it's light when we wake up. We comfortably ride in short pants and short sleeves. I still feels like the middle of summer on cycling days.

But the runner in me is feeling a slight change in the air.

The swimmer in me knows the change is already well on its way.

I like change. I'm ok with the seasonal shift and the loss of light. I know it will come back again and I know that the swimmer in me will be the first to notice. The runner will feel it next and, when it's finally warm enough to get the bike back on the road, the cyclist in me will rejoice.

Looking for Advice

I mentioned last week that I was asked to write an article about supporting people with diabetes.

The article will be geared to support workers who work with people who have a developmental disability but, let's face it, diabetes is diabetes.

Today's blog is short but really important and I need your help.

What do you want people to know about supporting someone with diabetes?

What are some frequent misconceptions that people have about diabetes?

What are some frequent misconceptions that the medical profession has about people who have diabetes?

Tell me about some great ways that you have been supported and some downright awful ones.

Tell me about the things people say to you that inspire you to be a little bit better and the things that people say that make things worse.

I will be writing about types 1 and 2. I know a lot about type 1 and a lot less about type 2.  How do you explain type 1 or type 2 diabetes to people in a way that they understand?

I have a rough draft already about what I want to talk about but I am one voice in the diabetes choir and I want to add as many voices as I can.

So leave a comment and add a few notes to the music.

Pretty please.

A Running Shift

There seems to be a shift in the running world.

A shift from running and only running to multisporting.

It tends to happen like this.

Runners run. They run far and they run often.

Then they discover cycling.

They buy a bike.

They figure it will be easy because they are a runner. They discover it's not. They are surprised. They keep cycling and get better and better. It seems to help their running, and it's fun, so they keep at it.

Then they hear people talking about duathlons.

They think it might be fun so they try it.

It IS fun and they love it.

Then they realize that it's not as hard on their body as running for 2 hours and they it takes a lot less time to recover.

Some of these runners then find themselves in the pool. Some are there to recover from an injury. Others want to add a third sport to their repertoire. Next thing you know they are buying wetsuits and signing up for sprint triathlons.

Doug and I have a group of running friends. I am one of the only ones who doesn't have a pretty impressive collection of marathon medals. These folks are runners and they are serious about it. They commit to 20-week training plans. They focus on one event and dedicate hours and hours per week preparing for it.

And yet, one by one, these dedicated running friends are signing up for duathlons and triathlons. And loving them. And doing well.

And not talking so much about their next marathon.

Instead, they're talking about improving their transition times, how to hydrate on the bike and how to get their damn wetsuit on.

It's fun to watch and great to be a part of.

Reaching Out

Yesterday was a very interesting diabetes day.

I started writing my blog pretty innocently back in January 2011. I had no secret ambitions. No plans for world domination. I just wanted to reach out a little bit and see if anyone reached back.

They did and I have made some pretty amazing friends and learned a lot of diabetes tips and tricks. I also like to think that I may have helped a few people along the way...and perhaps helped dispel a few diabetes myths.

Yesterday, I was asked to write an article for a newsletter that is distributed pretty widely in my field. It's a newsletter aimed at direct support workers who support people who have a developmental disability.

I was asked to write an article about supporting people who have diabetes.

I am honoured and excited by this challenge and can't wait to flex my writing muscles.

I was still grinning from that new when I arrived home after work to discover a FedEx envelope waiting for me.

From Animas.

With a thank you card and a CD of pictures from the photoshoot we did a few weeks back.

Later this year I will be featured in their Animas newsletter.

Neither of these honours would have happened without diabetes and neither would have happened if I hadn't decided to be open, honest and very public about living life with type 1.

I'm so glad I reached out.

I'm even more glad that people reached back.

Here is a small sample of the photos Animas sent me. It's pretty odd being in front of the camera instead of behind it but I'm happy with the results. 

Seven Under Double Par

Monday night was golf night. After a week of triathlon racing, recovering from triathlon racing, doing another triathlon, I really wanted to get back on the golf course.

I suggested Monday night.

I came home from work and Doug announced that we were going to a different golf course.

What?!?

That's like saying I have to run in different running shoes on a different running route. It's completely crazy is what it is.

So of course I happily went because I knew he would take me somewhere lovely that would be challenging but not overly so.

It was an 18-hole golf course but we were only going to play nine holes. It was a short course, as Doug described it, which means an executive course that is easy to walk. There were par 3s and par 4s (new for me).

For those of you who don't know much about golf or who forget (or don't particularly care), I am trying to sink each ball in under double par. In other words, if a hole is par 3, my goal is to sink it in six strokes or less.

Hey, I'm just starting, gimme a break!

I won't give you a stroke by stroke playback of all nine holes because that's just way too much information.

As my friend Inigo Montoya says:  'Let me es'plain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up'.

1. Par 3 Score 6
2. Par 3 Score 3 (yep, I got par on a hole for the first time in my life)
3. Par 3 Score 6 (not earned - which means I count six strokes because that's the max I can count but I didn't actually sink it in six)
4. Par 3 Score 5
5. Par 3 Score 6 (not earned)
6. Par 4 Score 7
7. Par 4 Score 8 (not earned)
8. Par 4 Score 8 (not earned)
9. Par 3 Score 4 (this one was over a water hazard. I didn't hit my ball hard enough and it didn't look like it was going to make it...but it landed on a rock, bounced up and landed perfectly on the green. Crazytown).
Total score if I got par on each hole was 30. Double Par (my goal) was 60.

I scored 53!!

Seven under double par.

I'm not exactly consistent in any way and my swing is nowhere near intimidating or inspiring but I'm learning more every time we go out and liking it more too.

Even though it's frustrating as all hell.

Wish me luck on Thursday. I have a golf date with two girlfriends. No Doug to hold my hand and tell me what golf club to play. And new people to feel intimidated and embarrassed in front of.

Learning on the Bike

The cycling portion of duathlons and triathlons is the longest. Both distance-wise and time-wise. 

Swimming is my forte but, no matter how fast I swim, I only gain a handful of minutes on the slowest swimmers. Cyclist after cyclist go whizzing by me during the bike. By the time the ride is done, I've lost any advantage I had, several times over. 

So I'm trying to learn how to get faster on the bike without burning up before the run. 

My natural cycling style is to put the bike in a hard gear, typically in the big ring, and give'er. That translates into low cadence but high power. It allows me to maintain a 25-28km/hour pace on most rides and most races. 

Problem is that my quads are exhausted by the time I have to run. 

In Gravenhurst I decided to experiment a bit. Trying something new on race day is not typically recommended but I wasn't particularly well-trained for the race and everything about the event felt pretty new anyway so I figured it couldn't hurt...much. 

I decided to stay in the little ring as much as possible rather than stay in the big ring as much as possible. The little ring, essentially, translates in to less resistance which means you have a higher cadence (ie. you pedal faster). 

It was a hilly course to be sure so it made a lot of sense to stay in the little ring. Still, even on the flats, I pedalled fast rather than hard. 

I didn't break any records and I was essentially cycling at the same speed I always cycle at. 

The difference was that my legs felt quite fresh at the end of the bike and held up beautifully during the run. 

AND, I didn't experience that awful wobbly-leg feeling I often get when I start running after being on the bike. 

I tried the same thing in Belwood last weekend. My bike speed was no different but my run went so much better. My legs had lots of energy left and didn't flag at all during the run. 

So I have not yet figured out how to get faster but I think I'm learning how to cycle smarter. 

I guess the next step is to be able to keep the cadence up in higher and higher gears. 

I'm thinking that is what translates into speed on the bike? 

Belwood Triathlon

Sometimes I plan races for months. I sign up so early I get a super cheap rate and I have a training schedule posted on the chalkboard in the kitchen.

Other times, I race on a whim.

Last Wednesday, Doug and I were looking at our calendars for the summer and trying to decide which triathlons worked with our schedules.

"There's one in Fergus this Saturday" he said. We have great friends in Fergus with a lovely house along the river. "Sure, c'mon up, we'd love the have you" they said when Doug called.

So on Thursday morning, we signed ourselves up for our second triathlon in 7 days.

Good lord.

No training plan. No tapering plan. I was just glad we had our laundry done from Gravenhurst before we packed it all up in the car again.

At least it was a sprint rather than an Olympic tri. I only had to swim 750m, bike 30k and run 7.5k this time.

Neither of us had raced Belwood before. When we arrived, we discovered that it's a lovely conservation area with a surprisingly big lake and beautiful roads for running and biking.

The days leading up to the race had been horribly hot and humid. I'm talking 40 with the humidex kinda awful.

On Friday evening, the clouds rolled in and a super storm roared through southern Ontario. By Saturday morning the temperature had dropped to 17 degrees and we actually regretted not packing light jackets. How nice was that timing eh?

My blood sugar/basal rate plan didn't go quite as smoothly as Gravenhurst did but it was still pretty stellar compared to my pre-waterproof pump days. I spiked after breakfast and was not pleased to discover that I was 16.4 thirty minutes before the start. I bolused to correct it despite the risk of going low. Ten minutes before race time I was 14. I was dropping (that's good) but it seemed a bit fast so I had a gel despite the risk of going high again.

(Diabetes is a lot like gambling isn't it? With a bit of go with your gut and what the hell thrown in for fun.) 

The swim went well. I finished the swim and the long run to transition in 16:09 and was 5/18 in my age group for the swim. The fact that I'm in the top third just seems so crazy to me but I love that I can hold my own in the water. A guy from the wave ahead of me who I caught and passed yelled "wow, you're fast in the water" as he ran by me into transition. How's that for an ego boost?

Post-swim BG was 8.5. I quickly weighed the pros and cons of eating something and decided not to. I paid close attention to how I felt on the bike but did the entire 30k without eating anything. I wanted a gel before the run and didn't want to be too high on the bike.

The bike went fairly well. My overall pace was 25.5k/hour and I finished the 30k in 1:10:37. Slower than Welland but pretty good considering the nasty headwind and 'rolling' hills we had for a lot of it. I was 30km/hour (ish) on most of the flats and I passed a lot more people than I normally do. So yay for getting faster on the bike.

Post-bike BG was 4.6. Too low to run obviously but not too bad. I had a gel and raisins in transition and headed out for a 7.5k run.

The run was my best triathlon run yet. I am normally pretty toasted by the run and have not yet completed a tri or du run without several extended walking breaks. My pace is usually 7:00 (or higher) min/k and it's all I can do to finish.

This time, I ran. I didn't go crazy but I only allowed myself to stop briefly (15 seconds or so) at water stations. And I only stopped at 3 of the 6 stations. I ran 7.5k in 48.11 which is a pace of 6:28 min/k. I felt tired but strong and was so so proud of myself. PLUS I knocked 7 minutes off my Welland run time for the same distance.

I finished with a time of 2:21:27 which put me 16/18 in my age group. Nothing to write home about but I am getting better with each event in terms of how I handle each sport, how I handle my blood sugars and how I feel at the end.

Oh, and how did Doug do you ask?

Second in his age group in his second triathlon. Swim 18:02, Bike 1:07:53, Run 39:20. Total time: 2:10:12. 

Best of all, we waited around for his medal so we also got to be there for the draw prizes. He won a gift certificate for 3 dozen Hero burgers (woot!) and I won the grand prize which was this wicked cooler from Chocolate Milk (the title sponser) filled with socks, a t-shirt, a hoodie, towels and an ice pack from Milk. We looked pretty funny with all our loot.