Diabetes is not the reason I cannot run a marathon

H

helli

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Marathon running is one of those things I have always looked on in amazement. We only get to see the day of the London marathon, for example, but I know months go into the preparation and, for someone with Type 1 diabetes, I have always thought that would also mean months spent trying to get my insulin dosing correct.
This paper shows that it is possible through HCL and not just by one super athlete: https://www.news-medical.net/news/2...diabetes-management-for-marathon-runners.aspx

So why am I not running a marathon? Well, I do not have HCL for a start 😉
 
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But only two of the runners stayed in range, the other stayed well above range for the whole time. Not sure it sounds very robust. I do wonder if it's just that two of the runners have their basal and pre-run snack insulin "dialled in" and the last one didn't, irrespective of the presence of the closed loop system. Would be interesting to see the carbs/insulin dosing vs time behaviour for each of the runners.
 
Chris Price said:
I am type1 on MDI and run distances from 5k up to ultra marathons it involves a lot of training and not always easy to manage BG levels.
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Might be worth a new thread, but it would be really interesting to get a feel for what you do for different distances in terms of basal adjustments/splits, bolus for dawn-effect/nerves/pre-run food, and what/how much you tend to eat while running and whether you bolus at all.
 
I follow @thebetes on Instagram and he’s a T1 who has recently sign up and started training for a marathon and is documenting it - really interesting!
 
Ah, I see he's also the director of the Bike Beyond documentary which I thought was decent when I watched it way back (though it could have done with more detail - quantities of carbs, what adjustments people made, what BG looked like for different people, etc.)
via https://solo.to/neilgreathouse
 
SimonP said:
Might be worth a new thread, but it would be really interesting to get a feel for what you do for different distances in terms of basal adjustments/splits, bolus for dawn-effect/nerves/pre-run food, and what/how much you tend to eat while running and whether you bolus at all.
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I train with my running club in the week running 5 to 10k and run longer slower runs on the weekend.I find running shorter distances easy to manage and tend to eat after the run.when running long distances I fuel with porridge before the run and eat mainly protein at the checkpoints as I don’t get on with gels.I use sis and tailwind for hydration witch contain carbs.I keep an eye on BG levels and bolus as needed but lower that when not exercising.
 
Chris Price said:
I train with my running club in the week running 5 to 10k and run longer slower runs on the weekend.I find running shorter distances easy to manage and tend to eat after the run.when running long distances I fuel with porridge before the run and eat mainly protein at the checkpoints as I don’t get on with gels.I use sis and tailwind for hydration witch contain carbs.I keep an eye on BG levels and bolus as needed but lower that when not exercising.
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I cycle a lot. My fuelling/hydration strategy sounds similar to your running strategy, in that I have a big bowl of this muesli beforehand:
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I use SIS electrolyte drink and energy bars during a ride and SIS recovery drink (a protein and carbs mix) straight after finishing.
 
Chris Price said:
I train with my running club in the week running 5 to 10k and run longer slower runs on the weekend.I find running shorter distances easy to manage and tend to eat after the run.when running long distances I fuel with porridge before the run and eat mainly protein at the checkpoints as I don’t get on with gels.I use sis and tailwind for hydration witch contain carbs.I keep an eye on BG levels and bolus as needed but lower that when not exercising.
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CliffH said:
I cycle a lot. My fuelling/hydration strategy sounds similar to your running strategy, in that I have a big bowl of this muesli beforehand:
View attachment 31572
I use SIS electrolyte drink and energy bars during a ride and SIS recovery drink (a protein and carbs mix) straight after finishing.
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Out of interest do either of you reduce your basal when running/cycling long distance/duration? I find I need to if a ride is any longer than say 4h (mainly as I can't face eating/nor easily carry enough to prevent going hypo thereafter with full basal)

Interesting to hear you bolus while running @Chris Price - I find if I take any bolus after a couple of hours of cycling I'll spend the rest of my ride hypo. I don't use a carb drink though - roughly what quantity of carbs are you both consuming hourly?
 
SimonP said:
Out of interest do either of you reduce your basal when running/cycling long distance/duration? I find I need to if a ride is any longer than say 4h (mainly as I can't face eating/nor easily carry enough to prevent going hypo thereafter with full basal)

Interesting to hear you bolus while running @Chris Price - I find if I take any bolus after a couple of hours of cycling I'll spend the rest of my ride hypo. I don't use a carb drink though - roughly what quantity of carbs are you both consuming hourly?
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I rarely take any basal insulin at all nowadays - and certainly not the night before or after a long cycle ride. Currently 4h is the longest ride I do: I consume a minimum of 40g of carbohydrate per hour on any ride (I don't ride for less than an hour), using a mixture of a banana and electrolyte drink and energy bars. I find that this combination keeps my blood sugar within range for the whole ride. I've never taken any insulin whilst out on a ride, even if there's a cafe stop: I'm much more bothered about bonking than about having a spike in blood sugar whilst riding. My blood sugar usually shoots up as soon as I have my (protein and carbs) recovery drink when I get back - but it goes back to normal again by itself very quickly. I certainly don't take any insulin at that point, as I'd crash into a hypo later on!
 
CliffH said:
I rarely take any basal insulin at all nowadays - and certainly not the night before or after a long cycle ride. Currently 4h is the longest ride I do: I consume a minimum of 40g of carbohydrate per hour on any ride (I don't ride for less than an hour), using a mixture of a banana and electrolyte drink and energy bars. I find that this combination keeps my blood sugar within range for the whole ride. I've never taken any insulin whilst out on a ride, even if there's a cafe stop: I'm much more bothered about bonking than about having a spike in blood sugar whilst riding. My blood sugar usually shoots up as soon as I have my (protein and carbs) recovery drink when I get back - but it goes back to normal again by itself very quickly. I certainly don't take any insulin at that point, as I'd crash into a hypo later on!
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Sounds similar. I do take basal on the morning of a ride but reduced (and likewise reduced in the evening if it's been a long ride - I always split my basal dose.) I also avoid bolus like the plague, including café/lunch stops - which therefore need to be fairly rapid to avoid going too high, but again a bit high is better than hypo when riding and it soon comes back down so I similarly eat 40 to ~60g of carbs an hour (though generally normal foods rather than drinks and bars - perhaps I should try a drink though I find I'm not really hungry towards the end of a long day so variety is useful.)

Sorry I've dragged this thread off-topic, if the mods would like to break it into its own thread that's fine by me!
 
SimonP said:
Sounds similar. I do take basal on the morning of a ride but reduced (and likewise reduced in the evening if it's been a long ride - I always split my basal dose.) I also avoid bolus like the plague, including café/lunch stops - which therefore need to be fairly rapid to avoid going too high, but again a bit high is better than hypo when riding and it soon comes back down so I similarly eat 40 to ~60g of carbs an hour (though generally normal foods rather than drinks and bars - perhaps I should try a drink though I find I'm not really hungry towards the end of a long day so variety is useful.)

Sorry I've dragged this thread off-topic, if the mods would like to break it into its own thread that's fine by me!
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"There's no such thing as off-topic, to a diabetic"
 
I run 40 to 50 mile trail ultra runs that have checkpoints about every 10 miles and eat at that time.I check at this time and bolus if needed depending on BG levels.
 
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