Off to CDA!

Well, my bags are packed and all I have to remember after work is to grab my wetsuit, which is drip-drying in the bathroom. I swam one more time at Aquatic Park in preparation for the cool temperatures forecast for Lake Coeur d'Alene. I looked over some notes and last year the temp. was 64 degrees F; in the past few days Lake CDA has been closer to 54-56 according to the USGS. My swim this morning felt great, though; once I warm up, a swim in the Bay is pleasant on a sunny day.

I have bumped up all my basals by 0.2 U/hr because of the taper this week; and that may not be enough. My BG's were pretty much rock-solid around 90 last night, once I came down from a high because I accidentally canceled my bolus! (Duh! Next time the pump alarms, don't ignore it! I assumed it was a "low insulin" alarm and canceled it without looking.)

Anyway, I am excited to see how things go this year with more insulin. Incidentally, when I was looking over my race plan from last year, I had written in red letters: "may need to bolus on the run." Wow. I sure don't think I remembered that during the race, but that's exactly what I did need to do. Before the race, I had calculated the total insulin and the total carbs and come up with a "total carb to insulin ratio"--it was something astronomical like 1000:1. Last year, I was really afraid I would get in a situation where I couldn't eat with too much insulin on board. I guess that is possible, but I think it is likely that I can almost always get some carbs in, even if I have to gag it down.

My plan at this point is to take the swim at a steady pace, and to be attentive to sighting. Between laps, I will check my BG and probably eat a GU unless I'm high. On the bike, I want to conserve and keep it to low heart rate zone 2 for as much of the ride as possible, letting my heart rate drift up on the climbs. For the first half of the run I plan to keep a conservative pace and then will allow myself to pick it up a little for the rest, if I feel up for it. My primary goal for this race is to concentrate on diabetes and nutrition, and not worry about my pace too much. We'll see if I can do it!