Running with type 1 diabetes

Hi everybody!

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 14 months ago, but since then I have been setting myself various running challenges! I completed a half marathon in September of this year, and have been fortunate enough to gain a place in the 2011 London Marathon. My training is going well so far, and can run 10-13 miles without any complications with  my blood sugar levels. I generally do my long distance training in the morning, aprox. 1 - 1.5 hours after eating my bowl of porridge. When I'm out running, I eat 1 jelly baby at each 1 mile marker, and this seems to keep my BM's at an acceptable level. I'm not too sure about how my body is going to respond to running further distances, and am looking for general advise about how to keep myself safe.....Does anybody have any tips?

Comments

  • My OH has Type 1 and I've run a couple of VLM's for Diabetes UK.

    Just wanted to send you a line of support - it's a grim condition to live with but best done with the fighting spirit that you (and my wife) are showing. Good luck with London!

    Have you looked into insulin pumps, btw? It's changed my OH's life.

  • Thankyou for your support i-Plodder!

    I have looked into insulin pumps, but apparantly the NICE guidelines say that my diabetes is 'too well controlled' to be entitled to one. Apparantly you can only get one if you have a high HbA1c or suffer from frequent hypo's! My current multiple injection regime seems to be working just fine, and I think I prefer it to having a needle continually under my skin!! But thankyou for the suggestion.

  • Hi, Nia. I'm slightly different in having type 2, but I am an insulin injector! I've only ever had one or two bad experiences while out running, and each time it's been made worse by not having any carboyhdrates with me. I've learned my lesson. I don't carry anything like a belt, but I always run with shorts that have pockets and, depending on how far I am running, stuff them with emergency carbs. You've gone down the jelly baby route, and that's one that works for me on distances between about 10k and half marathons. I do carry carb bars as well for emergencies. Over time, you will learn more about what your body can withstand and how much you need to carb up before and during runs. I regularly run parkrun 5ks and, though I take rations with me, I rarely take them on the run and am well breakfasted a couple of hours beforehand. Of course, you should do your injections as normal, and pills if you do those too, and try to take not of how different runs affect your blood sugar levels. And, of course, though it's not good to have high blood sugar levels, it's the low ones on a run that could make you collapse or even kill you, so it's the lesser of two evils to begin a run with high blood sugar. If you listen to your body and talk to your diabetes specialist, you should find your condition no impediment to running well and safely. Good luck.
  • M-JM-J ✭✭✭

    Hi Nia

    not diabetic myself although my mum is . Type 1- she ran the LM 10 years ago and so I will ask her tomorrow for any tips. I do know though she got alot of advice/ info from  Diabetes UK and stopped regularly during the marathon to take her blood sugar levels. On the down side I know she also vomited at about miles 18 ;-( - not sure iof she hadn't taken enough fuel onboard- I'll ask her. She did though recover and managed to finish the race.

    I will ask her tomorrow for any other advice that hasn't been given already.

    Good Luck

  • Hi Nia,

    this link came to me via a friend at Running Commentary. My daughter is Type 1 -  I've run the (F)LM several times for JDRF. During my time with JDRF I met the good people from RunSweet - http://www.runsweet.com/ . They have top advice for sportspeople living with both types of diabetes. I urge you to take a look and contact them for more information.

    Last year JDRF had 13 type one runners take part in the London Marathon. I spoke to a number of them as well as meeting several at our supporter zone (just after mile 22 on the Highway). One tip I picked up was 'test regularly' - not just before and after the race but along the way. Another tip, useful for all runners, is whilst gels are fine for an energy boost you should also try eating 'real' food along the way to provide the body with 'slow-burn' carbohydrate. 

    Good luck with your training in what looks like being a brutal winter!

    Sweder

  • I'm also a T1, attempting the London Marathon this year. I'm one of those odd people who got it late in life (at 53) and it motivated me to run my first marathon 14 months later. I've done a couple since and other 10k-half marathons.

    I'm slow,so that probably adds to the problems as I'm out there for a very  long time.  Like you I eat regular small doses of carbs, I have a dextrose tablet at about every 15-20 min,( I don't like them but I dislike jelly babies more!) 

     I've found it  also helps to have a booster of carbs at about 3.5 hours. When training for long runs I run circuits and stash  a 'sports' drink., I drink some and then  swap it for my water bottle and use it for the   the remainer of the run. I am going to try to arrange for my husband to have some for me to pick up later on the course (being slow I can't rely on there being any left at water stations.)  I also carry 10g hypo gels,  I have used them once or twice during half marathons  and then carried on.

       Like you I tend to do training at 1.5-2hours after porridge. The problem is that this doesn't aIways work out when travelling to races. I normally have a cereal bar on me to eat, if necessary just before the start. .hanging about and long  loo queues are likely to lower levels.  At the Windsor half marathon, I found myself at the start  with a level of   at 3.6mmol  and the cereal bar in the baggage tent. The hypo gel worked, but it wasn't  the best start,  the final time was my personal worst. Getting to the start of the London at a reasonable  glucose level is something that may cause me problems.

    The best advice is to test, test, test  and try a variety of strategies when you get to the long run weeks in your training.

    I would agree about a pump. I have one now ,I haven't yet run a marathon with it, but it certainly makes things easier.  When exercising  I  can reduce my basal insulin to 0.1 unit per hour.  You don't have a needle under the skin, the cannula is normally made of very thin teflon and most  of the time you don't feel it. I don't live in the UK  so I got mine in spite of a  very good HbA1c (though probably a few too many hypos).  I  know that certain consultants/hospitals  in the UK are more amenable than others to pump therapy . If you ever change your mind a pressure group called input are very good at helping people make their case.

    (oh and a final thing, if you have been eating jelly babies etc be careful when you test about residue on your fingers, I had a horrid shock at the end of my first marathon to test and find a level of 16mmol, luckily my daughter brought out the baby wipes and suggested I tested after cleaning my fingers!)

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