Catching Up

I think Martin's look when I explained all of this week's happenings to him says it all...



The calendar this past week was packed with workouts and another sprint tri race – and as icing on the cake my pump failed on Wednesday after my morning run. Wasn’t too sore after the Chattanooga race, but it was nice to have a rest day Monday. Still felt decent on Tuesday though the weather in DC was pretty humid. Not sure what we did before the moisture wicking shirts – but I know I’m able to wring quite a bit of water out of mine after my morning runs this summer. Wednesday was scheduled to be a 8 mile run, which I completed, though wishing for most of the run that I had remembered to pack my hydration belt. When I got back the pump alarm started beeping – and a “button error” message was flashing on the screen. Called the 800 number for an explanation of the error – response was “have you been holding one of the buttons down for more than 3 minutes?” Didn’t take long for the “no, I’ve been running for the past hour and a half” response to be blurted out on my end. But the bad news was that the pump needed to be replaced (2nd time in 2 years).

So that caused a little shuffling in the morning, but having been through Cub Scouts many years ago I was prepared (thanks to the valuable lessons learned from my den mother – thanks mom!!) I was able to break out the syringes, cover breakfast and the short term with Humalog, call the doctor for a long-acting prescription and a few more syringes, have the pharmacy not check their messages so I could enjoy the interior of a downtown drug store for “just a few more minutes”, and play blood sugar pinball trying to get things adjusted for the next 36 hours. Fortunately the pump company was able to overnight a pump – however, it went to my house in Georgia, not the hotel in Virginia so it took an extra 12 hours to actually get hooked back up. Probably another hour to get all the settings configured they way they had been previously (all important temp basal to the % being one of the last). All in all not too bad – that is to say it could have been worse (like it was when I was in Canada and the pump quit working on a weekend – and they couldn’t ship anything there because I was coming back to the States).

Anyway, the new pump seems to be working fine. Did a group ride with some good cyclists (in my book anyway) on Saturday morning. Rode from the Fit2Tri (http://www.fit2triusa.com/) store in Gainesville for about 32 miles. Others took the 50 mile or 80 mile options. Some are training for IMFL in November. Several are tied into the Tri2Remember group (http://www.tri2remember.com/ - supporting finding a cure of Alzheimer’s) that I had dinner with in Chattanooga the previous weekend, however, most of those folks were about 15 miles away handing out bags for the sprint race the following day.

The sprint was in a “lake” – short, crowded swim in muddy water (water temp in the 80s) and again I found that I don’t like swimming in large crowds, but that’s why I keep doing these. Bike was a fairly level route on a 4 lane – very well handled by the local law enforcement community and I felt pretty good on the bike (passing many of those who managed to get through the swim more quickly than I did). And the run was around the “lake” – on a muddy trail with a never-ending hill. Not used to that type of course – but got through it. Overall time wasn’t quite what I had hoped for, but the race was better than the previous sprint. Another one coming up this weekend – this one in the N. Georgia mountains, with a little longer swim, a little hillier bike, and I’m sure a little hillier run. Hopefully the end result will not be a lot more time.

Also found out that I will get to try the Dexcom for a week to prove to the insurance company that I’m a worthy candidate. That starts next Friday – no race that weekend so it may be a little easier in some respects. Finally, looking forward to the visit from Blair and Alison next week as they continue their journey around the country documenting this year’s Triabetes team. For those who haven’t seen it – check http://www.triabetesmediaproject.wordpress.com/in a couple weeks to see my update.