Excitement is Building - Running Out of Time

The competition is fun and the training isn't. My training is peaking and my competition schedule is in full gear. I got the whole week of training in this week although I compressed some workouts into the same day to allow me to compete in the Colorado State Masters state championship meet that started today.

Let's start with the training. The bike and the swim feel great and the run is a killer with my feet and blood glucose (BG) levels. I don't think that I can run any farther than 14 miles in training without risking my feet. I should be fine at St George because I don't have to walk for a week after that event. In addition, my BG's are crashing with every run. Last Sunday, I tried to run 18 miles and only made just over 10 and was very frustrated.

My starting BG was about 150 and it immediately crashed to the mid 30's and then leveled to mid 40's

This process of crashing has taught me how to fuel and walk. It has also helped me, once again, mentally reset to finishing Ironman St George - period. It appears that I can average a 15min/mile pace if I am correcting a low with a walk/run combo. I think that the BG drops are directly associated with the fact that all aspects of training are peaking with April 9th being the toughest weekend.

Okay, on to more fun. I raced the 1650 yd freestyle today at the State meet with our son. I was pleased with my time of 20min48sec even those it didn't make the national cut at around 20min flat. I would never enter a distance event at nationals but I would have liked to make the cut. Tomorrow I am in sprint races and my son and oldest daughter are also in the meet. I think that we are all hoping to challenge for one victory each in our age groups. I am in 4 individual event and our kids are in 3 each. After the meet I get to get on the bike trainer until bedtime (hopefully the 7 hrs scheduled). I will then wake up early and run 14 miles before church. After church we head to California with an overnight stay in St George, Utah where I will swim the lake Monday morning in my wetsuit. Our son is moving to California on this trip and we will be leaving him and a car there. After some time with family and friends, I will be doing my first 1/2 Ironman at the Rohto Ironman California. I am Bib# 2354 and am in swim wave #20 starting at 7:39am Pacific. You should be able to go to the following link to track me during the race:

Rohto Ironman California Link

I then have 5 more weeks of training before competing at Ironman St George. You really need to watch this 30 second promo video of Ironman St George 2011. It was quite enlightening for me ;->.

30 second Promo for Ironman St George 2011

Thanks and follow me next Saturday at Ironman California

Brian Phelps

Ups & Downs

By far, the up of the weekend was Zyler's Rockin Fundraiser at Buffalo Rose in Golden, CO on Saturday. It was an amazing event that was spearheaded by Zyler's Mom. It was great to see John and Maureen, the Masar's, the Zartun's and the Doyle's again. This fundraiser along with some recent donations and a couple of promised donations, this should put him over his goal.

Zyler's Parents who really pulled off an amazing fundraiser

A view from above of the fundraiser

Zyler and me at the fundraiser

Being in Golden reminded me of an old nemesis that I am going to attack on April 9th. Pictured below is Lookout Mtn and you should be able to see the switchback road that goes up the Mtn. That road beat me when I first arrived at Colorado School of Mines in Golden in 1983. In 2011, I am going up that Mtn and back down without stopping. That will be symbolic for me. BTW, the "M" is for Mines as in Colorado School of Mines.

Lookout Mountain

My weekend workouts were less than stellar. I had 6+ hours of sitting on the bike seat on an indoor trainer Saturday morning and I never really engaged mentally. Today, Sunday, I ran after church and immediately hit my low of the weekend within 2 miles. I felt low when I was at 120 and steady so I started to correct what I knew was coming. Sure enough, next was 102 and dropping then 78 and dropping then 57 double arrow down, 55 double arrow down, 41 double arrow down and finally off the chart low (somewhere below 39) for awhile. This all occurred within 10 minutes. The net result was a shortened run of about 10 miles (supposed to be 18) in a time that looked like a walking pace. At least the weekend ended with a family dinner celebrating my wife's birthday.

Thanks and I am looking forward to more competition and the peak and then taper off of the training.

Brian Phelps

5 Guns Down and 1 Put Away

I had a fantastic weekend in Northern California this past weekend. I was able to deal with 5 starting guns in a Masters swim meet in Palo Alto and was pleased with how I handled the 1000 freestyle which was my most focused race to manage my pace and my adrenaline. This meet was an excuse to have a reunion of high school swimming friends from Visalia, California. We have a team/support group named the Visalia VFibs and our caps have a logo showing a heart beat going to a flatline ;-> We thought that we might lose one of our teammates in the 1000 when he looked like he wasn't going to make it. He has now agreed to do a 1/2 Ironman with me in 2012 and drop 45lbs - that makes me VERY happy.

Start of 1000 yd Freestyle

The Visalia VFibs Winnings

Before the meet ever started, I read an email on my Blackberry informing me that a gun had been put away. I have been attending Al Anon which is for friends and family members of chemically dependent people. I have been the primary contact for "a friend" that put himself in a 30 day in-patient rehab in October and is now finishing up at a Sober Living facility after 6 months which he decided to go to. I am also the primary legal contact during this process. Before I ever raced on Saturday, I read an email from a lawyer regarding my friend's legal issue. The incident occurred 18 months ago and had yet to be indicted by a Grand Jury. Technically he has been out on bond this whole time. The incident did occur and was a stupid act while under the influence (no one was hurt and it did not involve a car), nevertheless it did occur and had serious ramifications. The lawyer simply said that he had talked to the prosecutor and she was going to refuse to go forward with the charges and that the charges would be dropped. This was huge for him and our family. I talk weekly with my friend and he just wanted to face the judge and take the consequences as opposed to waiting indefinitely especially since he was about to get a fresh start as he finishes up at Sober Living. As a Christian, the best example that I can think of is Christ dying to pay the penalty for my sins which I deserve to be punished for but instead Christ paid my penalty. I was absolutely amazed. One of the Al Anon official slogans is "Let Go & Let God". It is meant to address the fact that many of us, like me, desire to control the uncontrollable. It suggests that we need to release it to God.

 

Words to Live By

As I was reading the email and explaining what had just happened to my childhood friends who were at the meet with me, a gentleman came up to me and asked if I was Brian Phelps. He introduced himself to me and he is a relative that I have never met in person. He saw that I was going to be in a meet (on Facebook) and took the chance to come to the meet and find me. Thanks for making the effort Gary!

Me with my relative, Gary

The Visalia VFib Crew

Later in the day, another gentleman saw my Triabetes jacket and introduced himself to me as the Executive Director of the American Diabetes Association in Northern California. He was competing in the meet himself.

Executive Director of the ADA

Finally, I had the great opportunity to meet Melissa Warren in person. She works for VSP (Vision Service Plan) and sponsors Team Type 1 and my brother as they make an impact in the diabetic community. Melissa's husband is a Type 1 himself.

My buddy, Eric with Melissa Warren and Myself

 

Go Time - Legs Shaved - Adenaline Training

Let me summarize the last two weeks first by saying that it was a good in most aspects of training, work, emotions, family and spiritually. I haven't admitted to that in, maybe, years. I am typing this blog from the trainer of the bike because I was supposed to ride easy for 6hrs 30min today followed by a 30 min brick run (simulation of bike to run triathlon transition). Instead, I am about an hour into my easy ride trying to get the lactic acid out of my thighs while fighting a bit of a low BG (59 right now and dropping). I am not doing 6 hours and not going to brick into a run BECAUSE I did a one hour indoor triathlon today where I trained mentally to deal with the adrenaline rush and to have fun with my wife and 4 friends who did their first triathlon today. I dealt with the adrenaline better than ever but couldn't turn off the competitive switch and stayed above my lactic/anaerobic threshold for the entire hour (not good).

Our Pastor Joel finishing up his first triathlon

Last night I was a bit late getting to bed because I shaved my legs and will keep them shaved until after Ironman St George. It is a safety factor for outdoor bike riding (hair rips flesh out when it rubs on asphalt) and it is a perceived speed advantage for swim meets. I now have 5 races in 4 cities in 10 weeks with the last one being Ironman St George.

Shaved left calf

I will start with last weekend. Last weekend was fantastic! I got to spend time with three diabetic kids and some of their parental units. I got up last Saturday at 3:30am to get my bike ride in so that I could take the crew ice fishing at 10am. It was great fun and enjoyed the time after fishing as well. The kids and one of our kids played Wii and had a cake making adventure that ended up with an amazing tasting result. I got up at 4am Sunday to run for 3.5 hrs before church. After church we went to John Moore's home to visit with him and his wife Maurine, who is now 20 weeks pregnant with twins. On a side note, I now believe that it is easier to be a diabetic than to be the parent of a diabetic.

Zyler and our daughter Megan - part of the cake-making crew - Ashlee took the photo

Ice Fishing Betes

Ashlee with a live minnow that she let go still alive

The whole ice fishing crew

John & Maureen Moore (recently voted "Nicest Couple in the World") with Zyler and Ashlee and the Twins about halfway to their day of birth

I received the highlight of the week in a message that I received on Facebook. I will include the quote because it means a lot to me but I have removed the names:


"I wanted to share a break through with you. Last night my kid was 66 right before dinner, instead of giving him juice, then not bolusing for all his dinner, I had him take 1 glucose tablet and bolus for his entire dinner. That night my kid went to bed at 135 and woke up this am at 135! No over correcting and 300’s after dinner. Yay us!"

Its stuff like this that will get me to the starting line and finish line of Ironman!!!

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Last Monday I tried to work out but the weekend caught up with me and I could only manage 1600 yds in the pool. Tuesday was much better and I felt great on a 90 minute bike ride. Wednesday I swam 3000 yds with my wetsuit in an indoor pool (had to get the feel of it again) and I ran 7 miles with most being sprint training on a track. Sprint is kind of an oxymoron when talking about me running. The REAL runner among the captains is Jenny Crandell as she proved in the Arizona Ragnar Relay. She claims that she is strongest in the swim but she proved her running skills and I will now refer to her as a "runner". Thursday was an adventure as I went for a scheduled "nice and easy" 3.5 hr ride. I planned a 72 mile ride (BIG math error) and timed it just as a cold front blew in with 30 mph winds. It was an okay ride and my wife picked me up at the 57 mile mark of the ride with hot chocolate because I was frozen. THANK YOU HONEY! Friday was an easy 2200 yd swim with friends. I also found out that I need to travel to New York in a week for a sales call so I will try to connect with my New York Betes while I am there. Its really fun getting to see people in person again. I got to do that today at the American Diabetes Association Expo in Denver where I got to listen to and talk with Carla Cox (genius nutritionist out of Montana) and got to see many friends. I also met about a dozen new friends many of whom I hope to connect with regularly. The last person I met said that he loved the Triabetes concept but that he was a Masters swimmer in Aurora, CO (me too!). I opened up with my frustration that at the big swim meets of Master swimming like the State championship meet with 600 people, you know statistically there should be at least 30 diabetics but I have never spotted one. We have to figure out how to change this. I know that runners and swimmers don't normally get along but its time to reach across the aisle and embrace our common challenges and mission ;->!

Next Friday I fly to the Bay area for a swim meet with friends. I entered my times from last year to get in the fast heats but I am sure that I won't hit them because I am not concentrated on swimming like I usually am. Again, I wanted the faster heats to work on my adrenaline control even though I probably won't be as fast as I want to be.

Thanks and sorry for the long Blog (off the bike now and BG is 106 and rising)

Brian Phelps

Active Diabetes Management - Please Forgive the Soapbox

I have had some questions recently from parents of kids with Type 1 diabetes who are active or are becoming more active. The question is usually, "How do we fix all these swings in blood glucose readings?". My answer usually starts with the benchmark questions of, "What was the last A1C?" which is the gold standard for how the diabetes is being managed. This question really gets to the core of Insulindependence and its foundation of ACTIVE diabetes management and not sedentary diabetes management. Before I started training really hard, I had NEVER had a low below 50 and now I am below that most days at some point. When I was first diagnosed, my brother encouraged me to force a low and a high while my wife was around and I had proper rescue foods and insulin nearby. He wanted me to experience it so that I knew how to deal with it. I could easily flatline my blood glucose numbers if I went to bed and got up the same time each day, ate the same food for my meals everyday and never did anything strenuous (sedentary mgmt). Is that really a life? Isn't that letting diabetes drive my life? I want and need to drive my life and I need an advanced degree in ACTIVE diabetes management and learn all of the techniques to keep my A1C under 6 while still living a full and crazy life which is currently being topped off by the peak of my Ironman training.

Here is a chart of my glucose readings over a 4 day period:

 
For a normal person looking at this, they would say that I am out of control. The reality is that I believe that this is good management because all of the highs and lows are quickly corrected. BTW, I have never had to be rescued by someone because I was too low and became incoherent.

Here are some interesting data points tied to my heart rate for the same period. This is the Carlsbad Half Marathon run showing corresponding heart rate and blood glucose readings for the same period of time. The race started at the peak of my glucose reading on the left and ended as it leveled out around 60.

Heart Rate during Carlsbad Half Marathon

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Here is more data from today's indoor base building ride. The first heart rate data is from my 4hr 30min ride and the second heart rate data is from a 30 min stepper brick. 

This is the associated blood glucose graph for the combined bike and stepper totaling 5 hours in duration. The exercise started at the peak from breakfast near the left side and ended at the red dot on the right.

So what, you ask, is my point in all this. My point is that this is not a flatline but it is good management and will hopefully result in an A1C under 6 at my Dr visit March 3rd.

Again, Insulindependence is all about ACTIVE diabetes management and living life to the fullest by dominating this disease. We want to Inspire diabetics to get out and live an active life, Educate diabetics about active diabetes mgmt and encourage them to get out and Explore all the possibilities open to them. This isn't 15 years ago when diabetics were considered frail and doomed to a variety of horrible outcomes. I am proud of my teammates and proud of Insulindependence for daring to push the boundaries to allow others to follow in our footsteps through mentoring from other diabetics who have been there and done that. For those living a sedentary lifestyle now, a brisk walk might drive you to a BG of 30. Just be prepared for it, turn it and keep doing it and the next thing you know it, you will be running, then cycling and then swimming and then becoming a Triabetes captain who now has the privilege to inspire others and the right to say, "follow me and I will join you in this journey!". DOMINATE DIABETES and LIVE!!!

All done now and stepping down off soapbox (up at 4:30am tomorrow for a 16 mile run 8-{ )

Brian

Catch Up Day

Today was a catch up day at work, at home and with training. I went on a business trip to Florenceville, New Brunswick Canada to visit McCain in the Potato Capital of the World. Before my flight on Monday, I was able to get in 3650 yds in the pool. The trip was crazy with no sleep so I had to take Tuesday and Wednesday off from training.

Bridge leaving Florenceville

POTATO WORLD

Driving in the North Country

Last night I caught up on sleep and went to bed at 8pm after fighting off a rapid on-set low. Today I caught up at work with all the reps that I work with, caught up with most things at home and after work did a 2 hr tempo ride followed by a brick into a 5 mile night run.

I had fun setting up a group on Facebook for all of my second cousins (all in their 60's and 70's). If you don't know my story, I was the extreme baby in our family and I was born when my brothers were 20 and 18 (same parents). My Dad was born in 1917. Anyway, my Dad's mom had 7 siblings and it is that family that I set up a group for and everyone seems to be having fun with it.

Me & my wife, Pam, with my 2nd Cousins at a 2006 Reunion. I was the youngest at 41 (in 2006) and my oldest 2nd cousin was 75 years old (in 2006)

I also went to the gym today and got a Fit Point. I was excellent in stretching, strength and VO2 and average on fat (21%). Not happy with that fat percentage only because I was about 14% before I started training for Ironman and about 10 lbs lighter. I have been told to only worry about fueling my body and not cutting back on needed calories. I am sticking with the program until May, then I go onto my program and get back to where I want to be. I must admit I feel very fast in the water right now and very strong on the bike.

Here is an ad by Peyton Manning that summarizes my battle as a 46 yr old guy:

Peyton Manning Pep Talk on Rock Hard Abs

I am also VERY excited because I entered a swim meet in Palo Alto, CA in three weeks. I will wear my Triabetes cap for the 1000 yd free because that is what it represents. I will then switch to my Visalia VFibs cap for my sprint events (50 free, 100 free, 100 back and 50 fly). I am very excited to see my swimming friends from my youth again and get together at a meet to have a great time. I am also very excited about some of the spectators who will be there to support us. One swam with us as kids and is battling cancer right now - I am sure that we will swim extra fast so that we don't let down the team in the stands.

Visalia VFibs Swim Cap - Designed by Scott Vieira. I really enjoy the flatline at the end of the heart rhythm 

Some Vfibers at our first swim meet together in November 2009. The guy on the right is Scott Vieira who designed the cap and the guy on the right is my brother, Roger, with a Dexcom CGM transmitter.

This is the cap I will be wearing in the 1000 free at the meet to represent the endurance challenges of Triabetes

Thanks

Brian Phelps

Winding Up & Winding Down

The workouts are winding into the crazy phase which means that it is almost over. I vaguely see the light at the end of the tunnel on the 5+ hrs on the bike the 3+ hrs running and the 4000 yd straight swims. I did a 4000yd straight swim Friday followed by my first massage, a hike with diabetics Saturday followed by a 5hr 30min bike followed by a short run. Started today with a 14 mile run, then church then Yoga with my wife. The massage and the Yoga are new additions that I have been told that I need. I already explained why on the massage and the Yoga was added to fill in the gaps with my small muscles. I am also getting fairly good at dealing with lows before they affect me which are brought on by the many hours of training. I think that I have dipped into the 40's on seven different occasions today and successfully turned each one.

On a funner topic, I was greatly entertained with the latest (March) issue of Triathlete magazine. On page 26 is one of my diabetic peeps that we had the privilege to spend time with last month in California. Her name is Jen Davino:

Article About Jen Davino in Triathlete Magazine

In the same issue of Triathlete magazine there is a section starting on page 79 titled, "Top Races for 23 Triathlete Types". The three categories that caught my attention were Strong Swimmer, Strong Cyclist and Strong Runner.

Strong Swimmer is in Vermont (Aquaman Even Up Kingdom Tri), 3.5 mile swim, 30 mile ride and 13 mile run - supposed to be approximately even amounts of time on each discipline (I will go to this one someday).

Strong Cyclist is in France (Alpe d'Huez Tri) - No explaining needed here - just Google Alpe d'Huez and Tour de France - nuf said.

Strong Runner (drum roll please) is in a place called St George, Utah at Ironman St George. It says, " While Wildflower has been a contender in this category, with its brutally hilly trail run and predictable hot and dusty conditions, the newly launched Ironman St George instantly gained fame as having the toughest Ironman run on the circuit. Just looking at the online course profile is intimidating enough, much less traversing the steeply sloped loop two times through. One strong-running competitor in the inaugural 2010 event called the course "pure evil" on her way to a hard-earned Ironman PR". Yes, the running of Ironman St George has been put in the same category as Alpe d'Huez in the cycling category of Tri's. ROCK ON!!! BRING IT ON!!!!!

Yes my friends, this swimmer is doing the Ironman course that "strong runners" should choose ;-> That's okay, though, because when I finish, I won't wonder about whether I could have done any of the other courses. This means that YOU HAVE TO JOIN ME IN Saint George to witness this event that is the culmination of everything that you have supported me through to try to Inspire and Educate the diabetic community and encourage them to Explore all of the exercise and adventure options available to them because they can do anything.

 First person (from Australia) out of the water last year in St George 

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More people coming out of the water at the 1hr 4min mark (you have a maximum of 2hrs 20min to finish the swim)

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The last two finishers of Ironman St George last year (cutoff is 17 hrs) 2 minutes before midnight after a 7am swim start

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Thanks and I will see you, YES YOU, in St George, Utah sometime before 7am Saturday May 7th. You had better be cheering your face off when I exit the water sometime just before 8am (assuming race goes as planned)

Brian