This is my farewell post on Tumblr. I had to sneak this one in early in the morning while their servers were still working. I will be using Blogspot from now on. You can find me at:

http://www.brian-phelps.blogspot.com/

Thanks

Brian Phelps

My exercising has gone to the back burner with ice fishing season in full swing and with me being sidelined until I get my orthodics tomorrow.

Last Friday, I went fishing with a bunch of friends including three diabetic friends who have never been ice fishing before. Zyler and Madi had never been fishing at all and Johnny hadn’t fished in fresh water and hadn’t been ice fishing. The crew in our van drove about 300 miles total and fished three different lakes. Our day started at 4:30am and ended at 7pm. I worked so hard that I was too exhausted for my 3 hr bike ride on Saturday and could only do 90 minutes.

Madi communicating her feelings about holding her first fish for a photo
The Type 1 Crew of Me, Johnny, Zyler and Madi with Zyler showing his first fish
Johnny, Me and Zyler with some larger fish from Antero

Thanks

Brian Phelps

This is a quick post. The shot into my heel seems to have worked and it feels better today then it has in months. I rode for 2hrs 45min today and watched most of one college football game during that time. My blood sugar started to go down in the first 30 minutes but I was able to turn it with aggressive carb intake. Overall felt good.

Here are the stats from the ride:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/57344733

My View of My Supplies for the Ride:

Blood Glucose Levels for the ride showing 3 hrs:

Thanks

Brian

Today was action packed and highly entertaining. I had a good start reading and going on my prayer walk with Jenny (the dog). After that I had a call with my manager about a plan of attack for 2011. He was in Slovenia and it looks like it will be an exciting and challenging year. I got some more work done and then ran during lunch for 7 miles. I felt pretty strong and the weather was perfect. You can see my run at the following link which is an upload from my watch which includes data and graphs including elevations, maps, heart rate, pace, etc.. It is a pretty cool capability.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/57221667

After the run, I prepared myself for my Foot Dr appointment. I am very glad that I went and probably should have broke down and gone months ago. He basically said that I have very extreme feet with my arch and how loose my ankles are. My major pain point was plantar fasciitis in my left heel. He said that it was bad and that I had torn it so many times that I developed a bone spur on top of the plantar fascia connection point on my heel (see photos below). I got molded for custom orthodics and he told me not to run again until I get them. I actually paid extra to get them in about one week instead of 2 -3 weeks. What was I thinking!!! At least the orthodics are covered by insurance. Now the fun begins. He then proceeded to stick a needle with steroids into the heel of my foot where the plantar fascia connected to cause trauma to promote healing. This took a couple of minutes and he stabbed/injected the plantar fascia several times.

I am finishing the day now on the couch. Mark came over so it should be a fun evening plotting the upcoming ice fishing season which starts on Thursday for us.

Thanks

Brian

Today was a day of good diversions. One of our daughters came home from school and asked me to take underwater videos of the high school swim team after school and I agreed. My wife then came in and asked if we were going to a a diabetic planning meeting this evening. I quickly realized that I just overbooked and said, “nope”. The second diversion was when I barely had enough time to get my run in before another work call. While I was leaving, I realized that my GPS needed charging so I went back into the house. The phone then rang from our son in Florida and I answered it, realizing that mean that I wouldn’t be running. It was a fun call and he let me know that he caught a sailfish and a good sized king mackerel today in calm water and 85 degree weather. After my work call, I got my swimming workout in (2350 yds) and then went to take swim videos. What I didn’t realize is that it was going to be a 2 hour water polo practice in the dive well because I was treading water and swimming for the next two hours with virtually no contact with the wall. I am now sitting here and discovering muscles that I haven’t used since I last played water polo in high school. I also went to the skin Dr today as requested and got a clean bill. The foot Dr is tomorrow. At the end of the day, I chose the distraction to spend time with two of our kids today instead of following the set schedule. This is not normal for me.

Thanks

Brian

Got my antibiotics from the Dr and I am feeling a lot better. I did about 5 miles on a treadmill yesterday with 2.5 miles in a row under 8 min miles. I then did the Roman chair and jumped in the pool and swam for 2250 yds. When I got home I had the highlight of the day waiting for me. I received a letter from a young diabetic friend that I had lost contact with and it really lifted my entire week. Another pleasant surprise was attempting to answer a question that I received from a wrestling coach concerning one of his athletes with diabetes. I don’t have all the answers but I am very happy to share what I can. I fought my foot all evening with icing, rolling on a plantar fasciitis ball and then the Strassburg all night. When it still hurt in the morning, I gave in and asked for opinions on foot Drs and made an appointment for Friday. I had a fantastic start to the day today with two good friends to share life, prayer needs and to just listen. I also enjoyed scheming a fishing trip and I am really looking forward to it. I took an hour break mid day today to ride indoors and I overdid it and underestimated my calorie/carb needs. I went a tad low which I was able to turn. I did learn to find a fan and have it blow on me during the ride so that I don’t overheat so much. I am now enjoying a quiet evening at home and contemplating another run/swim combo tomorrow.

Thanks

Brian

Coach, Thanks for the note. Since I know that this response will be sent to Facebook, I will start by stating that I am not a doctor and I do not play one on TV. I did, however, stay at a Holiday Inn Select about two weeks ago. One of the basics that I have been taught for training is that managing nutrition for a good BG level is different than managing nutrition for training/competing. You, as a normal person, would also “bonk” and have a normal BG level if you did not fuel properly for training. There really isn’t anything wrong with the range of 80 - 119 for training as a BG level and the direction and speed of BG change can play a big role as well. I am guessing that your athlete is wiping out his glycogen stores in his liver with the anaerobic training of a wrestling practice. It does not take long to wipe out that energy source without additional calorie intake. If the glycogen in the liver is wiped out, then you bonk or hit the wall. It will take up to about 3 days to fully recharge the liver again. I have some specialized stuff, but I would recommend that the athlete take in at least 200 calories (mostly carbs) per hour of practice. That could be as simple as drinking some Gatorade or eating some Sports Beans every 10 minutes or so to make at least 200 calories/hour. If his sugars go up too high then he should take insulin. A normal person would release insulin and he needs to take his insulin, if needed, to keep his fuel levels up by eating carbs. He will go into practice with basically 3 quick sources of energy. These are the sugars stored in the muscles, the glycogen in the liver and the sugar in the blood. I would also suggest that he eats a good meal with a good amount of carbs two hours before practice and take the appropriate insulin to level out by the time that practice starts. After practice, he should drink an 8 oz glass of chocolate milk to keep his body fueled and avoid it cannibalizing muscle tissue. I would be more than happy to talk with you or him directly. My cell is 303 596-4318 or my email is thefishin6@aol.com. The goal is to keep the liver full and save it for a high intensity match when the fight/flight energy is really needed. Another trick if going low is to suck on glucose tablets as they can be absorbed in the mouth through the cheeks and bypass the slowness of digestion.

BTW, I know a lot of athletes with diabetes and if anyone wants to chime in please do. A lot of this information I learned within the past 2 weeks and I am just beginning to implement myself.

One more thing, dehydration can cause BG to go up since there is less fluid with the same amount of blood sugar and over hydration can cause BG to go down because of more fluid with the same amount of blood sugar.

Thanks and good luck

Brian Phelps 

I got my second day on the bicycle trainer in on Saturday with a 2.5 hour indoor ride. Apparently these rides are going to edge up 30 minutes each week topping out at 8 hours. I will have to take out flood insurance by then with the amount of sweat that riding a bike indoors generates. I have been fighting a sickness for the last two weeks and it finally took me down hard enough Sunday that I didn’t workout Sunday or today. I hope to wake up much better tomorrow now that I am on Z-Pack antibiotics from the Doc. The Dr. asked me how things were going today besides the sickness and I told him that I actually think that I might be having some fun with dementia. I told him an example from yesterday when I was dunking a tea bag and it must have dragged against the rim of the cup and I jerked the string of the tea bag because I thought that I was fishing and that I got a bite so I tried to set the hook. 

I am very excited that my wife and I get to visit our son in South Florida in December and then travel to San Diego in mid December with my Triabuddy, Zyler and his Mom in mid January to see my brother and participate in a weekend full of Insulindependence activities which includes hiking, surfing and running. I might have to sneak down to Fisherman’s Landing to see if I can catch one of the 16 day boats coming in with giant tuna Tuesday morning.

Brian

Today I started a new season in training. With Winter settling in here in Colorado (17 tomorrow morning), I decided to convert my bike to a stationary bike on a Cyclops 2 Fluid trainer. I have never done this before. I was amazed at how effective and painful this workout was. You get the back tire adjusted so that it is fairly hard to turn with the hardest gear and then you adjust your effort by shifting through the gears. I rode in the garage with the garage door up for cooling. I measured my effort with my heart rate and started by keeping it under 120 for 20 minutes, between 125 and 130 for 20 minutes, between 135 and 145 for 20 minutes and then the final 10 minutes above 145. I was originally going to ride for 1hr 40min but I didn’t feel like going that far especially since I started coughing with the cold dry air irritating my lungs which are trying to get over a cold.

I was able to start to get back into other routines as well today. Jenny (our border collie) reminded me several times that she was missing my prayer walks with her. I was able to get that going again just before my bike ride. I was able to pray while traveling but it was nice to get back into a routine. I enjoyed making reservations for my wife and I to visit our son in mid December for 4 days. I also made an appointment to visit my diabetes doctor for next March. I guess that he is a little busy. Tomorrow will be tough as I have some tasks to complete.

Brian

I recently found a couple of sayings from the same source:

#1

“You have to act right to feel right (not the other way around)”

#2

“God, Grant me

The Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The Courage to change the things that I can, and

The Wisdom to know the difference”

I have been through an extremely busy and taxing period of my life and as the huge commitments get left behind, I find myself quite tired with little motivation. I did run and swim yesterday even though I didn’t feel like it. I am being proactive at work though I don’t feel like it and I am going to Dr and other appointments though I don’t feel like it. I am old enough to know that feelings will eventually follow actions. You have to plow through the stale times in order to get to ice fishing season - oh uh, I mean better times and better feelings. I have found that it is much easier to act when there is someone there waiting on you to workout with. That was the case for me yesterday (thanks Steve). It is also a huge motivation and encouragement when you can reach out to someone else and they let you (thanks John). Today, I will put my bike back together and set it up on a stationary trainer since Winter is now setting in and the ground is covered with snow and ice. I think that I will set it up in the garage for now so that I can see the snow and ice as I pedal.

I enjoyed my time with the other Triabetes team captains last week and got to see first hand how unique each of us are. I, for one, found that I need a lot more sleep than anyone else. I also feel really good about my swim and bike for the Ironman and am hoping that my new shoes will help fix some of the issues in my feet. Since I have a lot more diabetic friends now on Facebook, I have seen the following status several times. I am not going to post it as my status but thought that I would share it here instead:

“It’s Diabetes Awareness Month. It isn’t pink, or sexy, it doesn’t involve boobs, football players, or cute t-shirts. It’s about being grateful when you/your loved one wakes up in the morning. It’s 3am blood sugar checks, needles, low blood sugars, and the smell of insulin on your hands after changing a pumpsite or filling a syringe. That’s a diabetic’s LIFE. Repost this if you have or love someone with Diabetes”

That is the diabetic life and it is second nature to me now. I would say that I probably underestimate the stress that my wife feels wondering if I will wake up the next morning. I have always felt that this is my disease and I will deal with it. That is a nice thought but not true since I do not live by myself.

Here are a couple of photos from the Florida trip with Team Triabetes:

Thanks

Brian