Don’t just run with type 1. Race!

Igor Stevic is a US-based type 1 who doesn’t just run ultramarathons, he runs them fast.

His blog is called Life is short… Running makes it seem longer… and as luck would have it, just as I’ve set up Type 1 Ultra on Facebook (please drop by) Igor has gone and run a smacking time at a 50-miler (80km) road race in the US and shared his post with us.

His approach to management on the run is quite different to my own (RH) as I pump and turn down, whereas he uses slow acting insulin and doesn’t reduce his dosage. The detail with which he talks about his management on the run gives a really good guide for anybody wanting to better understand his approach and perhaps consider what it might offer them, and whether they might modify it or copy it directly.

One final note to Australian and New Zealand type 1s reading race reports from the US. The glucose measurement system used by Americans is in a different unit to how we measure blood sugar, and the ratio is 18:1. If an American says that their blood sugar is 90, that is what we would refer to as 5.0. Otherwise Igor would be in a coma rather than perfectly controlled, so don’t get confused  🙂

To read about Igor’s run, please continue here

Filed under: Uncategorized, 50-miler, diabetes, diabetes and exercise, facebook, Igor Stevic, type 1 and ultramarathon, type1ultra

My Big Red Run Race Report

My Big Red Run Race Report

Type1Ultra articles and links are meant to be more diabetes-focused than just normal race reports or running/endurance information. But I wrote this latest piece for The Blister, a major running club’s magazine, so it’s more general news. Hope you enjoy it anyway! Big Red Run was certainly diabetes-focuse so that more than averages it out I reckon  🙂 

I’ll have a writeup here soon of our 190km fastpack/powermarch/trailrun from Bendigo to Ballarat. My Accu-Chek Mobile glucose meter failed me disappointingly early on the second day with about 100km still to go, which definitely could have been a critical problem if a nurse 40km later hadn’t been a quick thinker and a genuine help, lending me an Optium Xceed for the remainder of the run.

I am not going to brand bash here. The Mobile is an incredibly convenient unit to use. It would be nice if it was smaller and lighter, but no other BGL meter that I know of comes as an all-in-one package which is so ideal for sports on the go. Different versions of the same unit have done a great job for me in Sahara, Atacama, Antarctica, the Simpson Desert, and the Gobi – even after dropping from height onto a hard floor. But if a company is going to price disposable cartridges at $30 each, the cartridges better work. Just saying.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Big Red Run, Born to Run Foundation, diabetes and exercise, exT1D, JDRF, marathon, marathon and type 1, Sydney Striders, trailrunning, ultramarathon