Nutrition:
One of the things that scares me the most about “going long” is bonking. So far the longest distance I have done is an Olympic and I think the harder nutrition issues don’t surface until you hit 70.3 or 140.6. Having a sensitive stomach doesn’t help one bit nor does being hypoglycemic as I found out this past week.
Apparently my body was burning fuel (food) faster than I was consuming it, and 3 days last week I came dangerously close to blacking out. After training on Friday, Sat, and Sun, I started seeing spots, getting dizzy and almost passing out. When you grow up with hypoglycemia (kind of the opposite of hyperglycemia which is diabetes), you learn to manage sugar in your body. I learned to eat as little sugar as possible and to stick with foods that are low on the sugar scale. Foods which take longer to burn. White meat chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes. ETC. BUT that does NOT work when training. I have to switch over to high sugar foods when training. You can see where this is going. Almost the second I stop training, the sugar drops and I black out. Drinking REAL coke helps until I can get protein and fat in me. And fake food doesn’t work very well for me…so eating a protein bar doesn’t stop the drop in sugar. It needs to be natural food.
I have 3 months to figure this out before my first 70.3 or my Road ID will come in very handy.
Omg. You are speaking my language. This is what I know...
ReplyDeleteAs the parent of a a very active 6 yr old Type 1 Diabetic child, I deal with warding off low blood sugars constantly. Its all about carbs. When she's active, it's all about keeping her blood sugar up. When we are at the beach, I don't have to give her insulin at all because she is burning that many carbs that fast. If her blood sugar gets too low she can pass out and or have a seizure which is very dangerous. Low blood sugar is anything below 70. We treat low blood sugars with a 15 carb juice box which brings it back to a safe range. Based on a chart and her expected length of exercise, which I will post on my facebook wall for you, we give her a balanced carb snack (protein / carbs) prior to exercise. An example is if she's going to be very active for the next 2 to 4 hours, we give her a 45 carb snack prior to exercise. THEN ... we check her blood once an hour on the hour while she's active ... and she usually needs 15 carbs per check to keep her going. A healthy carb snack is best, with fat and protein. She'll burn right through simple carbs FAST. So maybe you could try something like this? You can get a tiny glucose meter at CVS for 10.00 and then check your blood once an hour and carb back up accordingly. The key is to carb up prior to working out. I don't know how it would work with you since you produce insulin. I'm assuming the same principals apply. You produce insulin and I inject her with insulin. So maybe it will work for you. In addition to all of this, exercise continues to pull your blood sugar down for 12 to 24 hours AFTER you stop exercising. You might need to see an endocrinologist to find out how to manage it. At any rate, that's my experience with low blood sugar management and exercise!
You got me on this one, Patti - I've never had to deal with that. I can give you plenty of nutrition advice that would be helpful but you definitely need some additional guidance. I feel pretty safe in saying that whether or not a person is hypoglycemic or not, it's all about trying to get a slow and steady influx of calories throughout the day. Your body can only process so many calories at a time so it does no good to 'save up' and then try to slam a huge amount of calories. The only difference in your case is that it will be a lot more crucial as to what macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs) you are taking in.
ReplyDeleteHi Patti, just found your blog as I was googling IMFL. I'm also registered. Good luck with the training and nailing the nutrition. The training is the easier part sometimes.
ReplyDeleteKC at www.my140point6milejourney.blogspot.com