Dart 10k swim - 12th September 2010

An interesting email arrived from Martin today with details of a 10km swim in the River Dart in Devon on 12th September. The Dart 10k being an open water down stream swim. Now hot on the heels of the ironman distance swim we did on Tuesday this is quite appealing. Also as a frustrated competitor (ACL) an opportunity for me to do something that doesn't require leg power so much...

This evening i have been looking online to find swim training programs for that distance and i cannot find anything? I've tweeted Bruckner Chase who i follow on twitter to see if he can help point me in the direction of a resource that i can use. If he can't help me then no-one can! Well i say no-one but if you have any suggestions of where i can find some tips and training plans for this please contact me via twitter.

I'm keen on the event but need to know it's feasible. I've contacted the organisers to see what the plans are regards fuel stops as being diabetic i will need to refuel or this will really not be possible, presumably that would be the same for any participants? Can you really swim for that long without fuelling??

Anyway if i can find a training plan and the fuel situation is sorted i may give it a go....

Cotswold Ironman Swim 13th July 2010

Tuesday 13th July was the Ironman distance swim (3.8km/2.4miles) at Lake 32 in South Cerney just past Cirencester. Organised by ClearWorth with all proceeds going to charity it was a nice opportunity for some open water swimming, something i don't get to do that often.

There were to be three of us to do this, Martin, Mark and myself. Mark had to cancel due to work so three became two. Martin was there ahead of me and by the time i found it and had got changed into my wetsuit it was 6:30pm before we started. Registration was a tenner and we were given a number so they could confirm a finish time. 

Water temperature was 21C at 1 metre deep. Lovely!

The group we were in was given the order to start, the route was a straight out from the shore to the first bouy then a left turn and follow the bouys around to the right. Each lap was 750m and so 5 laps was the ironman diatance.

I got a decent start, felt the flow of the water and remembered how great swimming in a wetsuit is. about half way on my first lap a school boy error. My goggles fogged. i pulled out from the main bunch and sorted them out, that probably cost me a minute or so. Thinking that Martin was now ahead i started to plan on how to make up the time. I couldn't let him beat me as he only learned to swim last year!

Concentrating on my stroke, trying to sight my route (i'm rubbish at that!!) i kept going and gradually started to catch some back markers. As i passed people i checked their wet-suits but didn't recognise Martin. I finished my 5th lap and was resolved ot the fact that Martin had come in ahead of me, and truth be told i was already coming up with excuses.

Imagine my face when as i stood on the beach and shouted my number to the timing team i saw Martin stood on the bank, not in a wetsuit as i was expecting, but changed and drinking lucozade. My face must have been a picture as he started laughing and made some quip about me needing to speed up. 

I was trying to compute how he could have done that. Swim faster than me sure (i know i'm not fast!) but swim that much faster that he could be changed and ready to go? The reality is not that exciting! He'd done 3 laps, not the 5 as he pulled his shoulder - a likely story!!

My time for the swim was 01:07:04. I was pleased with it on the night but then i saw all the other times and was dissappointed.

it was like not having diabetes

I have blogged before about the impact that training has on diabetes but last night I experienced a perfect example of the impact and felt, for a brief period, that I no longer had diabetes.

 

Yesterday evening I went for a road ride with a buddy, we had planned a couple of hours on the bikes starting at 6pm. As preparation for the ride I had some snacks so that my blood sugar was around 9mmol at the start. On the ride I keep myself going using a mix of carbo gels and energy bars, always carrying more than I should need just in case.  

 

It was a gorgeous evening and the ride was great, a nice flat course in the Cotswold countryside taking in Tewkesbury, Bredon, Kemerton, Stoke Orchard and then back home.

 

When i got in after the ride i did a blood test and was at 5.8mmol. It was approaching 8:30pm, which is time for my Lantus insulin (the background slow acting one) and I needed to eat. I made myself some food: quinoa cooked in soya milk with chopped banana, goji berries and topped with honey. I then had half a wrap and a slice of bread. Around 50-60g of carbs, possibly even more.

 

After eating I administered my slow acting insulin but completely dispensed with the novorapid that I usually use with meals and food.

 

On waking I took a blood sugar reading and my blood was 6mmol! Perfect! It was then I thought wow that's almost what it's like to not have diabetes - I vaguely remember those days!!