In between the D-blogger meetup and all the other great sessions at the Diabetes Research Institute’s annual conference on Saturday, I popped into David Weingard’s session on Diabetes and Exercise.
David and his wife run Fit4D, a New-York based “personalized diabetes coaching” service that recently announced a partnership with Bayer. “Fit4D coaches provide you with continuous support in helping you achieve your health, fitness, weight loss, diabetes management and quality of life goals.” This all sounded very formal and institutional somehow.
Up close, however, you discover that David’s a very approachable “crazy triathlete guy” who looks a little and sounds exactly like Jerry Seinfeld. He’s got a penchant for saying “I can’t stress this enough.”
After hearing the stories of the extreme races he’s been in (ouch and oucher), I was shifting in my seat in intimidation. Swimming across the San Francisco Bay with nothing but a few glucose gels tucked into my swim cap? No thank you. Mounting a glucose meter to my handlebars so I can prick my finger and test without getting off the bike during the 112-mile cycle portion of the IronMan competition? I don’t think so!
But David assures us that his company is all about helping “regular diabetics, not just the extreme athletes” to start getting fit and achieving their goals.
He provides a treasure trove of practical tips for dealing with those difficult diabetes sports situations, like where to stick all your stuff (meter, glucose, etc.) during a long run? Try Race Ready Shorts, with multiple integrated pockets. You can carry everything close to your body and it won’t even bounce around and annoy the heck out of you, he says.
A few more great tips from Fit4D (I’m not allowed to disclose the whole list, of course):
- to keep your sugar up, try Clif Shot Blocks from the makers of Clif Bars. They taste great and are just 8g carb per block, great for precise carb-ing
- need a place to carry your CGM controller or pump during a run or ride? Try using one of those iPod holders that straps around your arm
- detailed record-keeping is key to success in realizing the benefits of regular exercise and minimizing blood sugar swings. I know this is not what you wanted to hear, but I think he has a point
- if you plan to exercise in the evening: “eat a huge lunch around 12:00 so you won’t be hungry in the afternoon.” That way, you can skip your afternoon snack, and all the lunch insulin will have already worked through your body by 6pm, so your BG will be steady for an evening workout
Bonus tip from me: anybody heard of MapMyRun? You can use it (online or as an iPhone app) to find a good recommended route, track your own routes, monitor exact distances, keep training logs, and even check the weather where you’re headed. Works for walks as well. And don’t forget MapMyRide.
Thank you, Jerry — I mean David, for energizing the exercise lust in all of us, even us “regular PWDs.”
I was in that session too. I’ve been really lax about exercise lately. Also, I find if I have a low, I tend to use it as an excuse to skip a workout on any given day. So for the past two days I’ve taken his advice about exercising first thing in the morning, before breakfast. No carbs or active insulin in my system, and no time to find excuses not to exercise. Now if I can keep it up . . .
That’s funny, I thought he could be a Jerry Seinfeld substitute also.
I liked his idea of taking notes for each exercise session and using those to guide you in the future. I’m definitely going to use his tips for my next triathlon.
I have had some experience with Fit4D, and absolutely loved it. The folks I worked with were really helpful and had a lot of great tips/ideas/management strategies.
It does take a fair amount of work though – the record keeping and such. You have to be willing to do that, or their wonderful help will not be doing much for you.