Last big week of training before the Tour

In the month of August I cycled over 1000Km in preparation for the mHealth Grand Tour. But I had two weeks to go. My training program for this period was one very hard week and one easy one to taper. The first of those two weeks was as follows:

Monday: 2.5 hours flat 60Km

Tuesday: 4 hours flat 100Km

Wednesday: 4 hours flat 100Km - the end of the X-Team 24 hour bike ride

Friday: 4.5 hours hilly 90Km (2000m of climbing - if you only click on one of these click this one the profile is really pretty)

Saturday: 4 hours rolling hills 112Km group ride

Much of this training was endurance training. That meant keeping my heart rate in zone E1 (between 60% and 70% of my max heart rate)*. This was particularly hard when repeatedly climbing big hills, but surprisingly easy when sat at the back of the peloton on the Saturday group ride.

The group 3 peloton

The highlight of the week were the four ascents of Nes Harim. A 5.5Km climb with only brief moments of respite punctuating some 10-12% gradients. It's steep and exposed and on a bad day is very unpleasant. Having said that it is a very popular climb for people who live in the centre of Israel and is a feature of the Gran Fondo Jerusalem in October. It has been my point of reference since I started cycling seriously. Last August I could barely get up the hill. I was redlining halfway up and having to stop and take multiple rests before making it to the top. I remember how demoralizing it was watching people breeze past me like they were riding on the flat while it felt like I was being pulled by and elephant back down the hill. I remember seeing some of those people pass me, seeing them on their descent and then pass me again on the climb. I would think to myself what nutter would do this kind of torture more than once. Fast forward to last week. This nutter! Not only was I going to climb this brute of a climb multiple times but I was going to do it while keeping my heart rate low. 

Arriving in time for first light, little chilly though

I arrive at a small parking lot at the bottom of the climb just after 6am. It was just getting light. There was a bite in the air. Far from cold but a little unexpected. There were some others preparing for their ride. They were nice enough to invite me to join them but I explained that I had other plans. They went off and I finished getting ready. 

A few others out burning of Rosh Hashana meals

My planned route was a long drag away from the Nes Harim climb follow by a steep climb up to Ramat Bet Shemesh, then turn around and power back down to the bottom of the main climb. Up the Nes Harim climb as far as the Sorek cave junction and back down again. I crashed badly on the descent in February so I still approach it a little timidly only allowing myself to touch 70Kmph before putting the brakes on. The loop was over 21km and each go around took about one hour. 

The top of the climb, onward to Jerusalem or back down the hill to Bet Shemesh

I clipped in to my pedals had a quick look at my Garmin, 15C, confirming my suspicions that it was indeed colder than expected. I checked my blood sugar and set off. I completed the first and second lap fine, heart rate under control, legs feeling good, drinking plenty of water and according to my end of lap blood tests my BGs were under control too. At the end of lap two I went back to the car to refill my water bottles. Off I went on the third lap. Was I actually enjoying myself? Could I call this fun? Yes, for the moment things were going really well. 

Back down the hill

There were few people passing me but now I know I was intentionally going slowly. I could go faster if I wanted to, but no, I am doing this four times. Blow past me if you want but I've got your number.  By the end of the third lap I could feel my muscles getting tired. I stopped for five minutes to stretch. Then off I went for my final climb. It was getting hot. I was sweating out more liquid than I was taking in. And I couldn't stop my heart rate from creeping up. 

Shall I call it a day, I thought to myself. No I have been beaten before by this hill. But not this time. This time I will own it. 

I pushed on, the sweat dripping in my eyes. The muscles in my legs burning. My heart rate creeping up and up without putting in any extra effort. My mouth dry but unable to take a drink due to the steepness of the hill.

I could stop now and go back. I have done enough. No. I will get there. Breathe. Breathe again. Peddle slower. Breathe. Concentrate on bringing that heart rate down. Just another few hundred meters then a dip. Then a really steep bit. Then a shallow bit then the final push. Breathe.

I see the 4Km marker by the side of the road. Just 1.5 to go. Peddle, breathe, wipe the sweat off my face. I was fighting the urge to get out the saddle and really push it, the desire to get to the top against not wanting to blow up completely and at least trying to keep my heart rate low. I reach the dip. The brief respite allowing me time to drink from my bottle. Then off up the steep curves. Peddle, breathe, peddle breathe. Don't look at the heart rate. 5Km marker, just 500m to go. Almost there. Final push without pushing too much. 300 to go. The last ramp. OK out the saddle and go.

So my heart rate went up a bit high at the end but I made it. I got back to the car turned the aircon up to full and drove home.

The following day on the group ride I was allowed to take it easy spending the first 50Km at the back of the group. After that I pulled my fair share. It wasn't quite as hot as the day before and plenty of the route had shade. We worked well together and covered a lot of distance.  This was especially fun when we were rolling round doing just a few peddle strokes on the front before dropping back.  We can maintain a very high speed like this.  The route was really cool, we covered some of the route we will be doing on the Bishvil haShanti ride at the end of the October.  There was one point where we rode past some coriander fields, the smell was unmistakable and reminded us why it is so nice to be out of the city.

It was a really hard week and the following brought a well earned rest. I only rode a couple of times and covered about 70Km. It was nice not to have all those early mornings. As a result I feel really ready for the challenge ahead. 

I hope it all goes to plan

* Percent Max Heart Rate calculations are as follows. 

Max heart rate can be estimated as 220-age. However I currently have a max HR of 187bpm

Resting heart rate is the slowest your heart can beat. In my case that's 57bpm

HR range = HRmax - HRmin

The zones are calculated as a percentage of the HRrange

Warm up/ cool down AR 50-60% 122 - 135

Endurance / fat burning E1 60-70% 135 - 148

E2 70-80% 148 - 161

E3 80-90% 161-174

Anaerobic A1 90-95% 174-180

Anaerobic A2 95-100% 180-187

X-Team fundraiser for TeamBG - 24hrs at Givat Hamofaim

During one of our drives to a weekend bike ride, my friend, Alon, and I were discussing my work with Team Blood Glucose. He told me that he had a great idea that we could use to raise money. It was something that he already wanted to do but hadn't had a cause to do it for, until now. 

The goal was to have people riding round the track where we train, Givat HaMofaim, for 24 hours. Each rider would ride for at least one hour and get sponsorship. We organized a sign up sheet online and encouraged people from X-Team to get involved. 

We decided to do it the day before Rosh Hashana  (the Jewish New Year). The end of the ride would be followed by a talk by me and a toast to the new year. It worked well as it coincided with two practices, and also my final hard week. 

The start of 4 hours

View of the cities skyscrapers from the peacefulness of the park

I turned up to practice and began to ride. I rode at an easy pace keeping heart rate low to save energy. I rode for four hours. Joined periodically by members of the team during practice and then when all the others had gone just Yael and I continued until 10am when the next pair showed up. Bouyan and Ilan rode next and again in the middle of the night. During the day I got updates and pictures through Facebook and Whatsapp. Each time bringing a smile to my face seeing the team come together to help put on an event to aid my cause. 

Yael and I with the track to ourselves

Amazing how quite it gets when everyone else goes to work

Ilan and Boyan taking over from Yael and me

I left them to it until 330am, when I got out of bed to take my final four hour shift. I rode by myself for an hour in the dark with only sprinklers for company. It was warm so even at 4 in the morning it was fine for riding. I was joined at 5am by Hillit and at 6am by Gadi. I rode until the rest of the team finished regular training and we rode a final lap together.

The evening session change over

Mor and Vered post ride

It was really amazing seeing everyone come together and ride with me. I had a really good time and felt like we did something a little silly and a lot worth while. 

Amnon enjoying the night ride

Omer and Alex 

Alon and Amir handing over to Boyan and Ilan

Oh yes! that's the time I got up

Joined by Hillit at 5am

The runners come out early too

Joined by the mountain bikers

The final lap of honour

After the ride. I gave a talk, entirely in Hebrew, about diabetes, my life and training with diabetes and finally about Team Blood Glucose and the mHealth Grand Tour. Hilariously 10 minutes into the talk someone pointed out that I had forgotten to explain what exactly diabetes was. I had explained how I found out and what I needed to do but not the simple fact that my pancreas refuses to produce insulin. We raised a good amount of money for TeamBG so I was thoroughly pleased with how it all turned out. 

The talk

Everyone listening intently

I would like to thank Alon for coming up with the idea in the first place and helping out things into motion. Thanks also to Carmi for giving his support. And of course a huge thanks to all of X-Team for riding, donating and listening to my presentation. I couldn't have done it without you. 

Thanks. 

The 1000Km Month

I returned from a  three week trip to the US and Canada at the beginning of August.  In the run up to the start of the mHealth Grand Tour I made a commitment to myself. I had to get in shape and I wanted to do that by reaching 1000Km in a single calendar month.

I reminded my trainer of my plans regarding the tour and he said just follow this month's training program and you will be fine. So five days a week I got out of bed at 530am and went to training. I got in to a rhythm. My body got used to the time and the effort. As the month went on the training program got harder and I got stronger and fitter. 

That first week back was really hard. My legs just weren't working. That's what happens when you take too much time off. It's not necessarily a bad thing but you have to build yourself back up again before trying to ride like you never took a break. 

I also spent time tracking my sugars and how they were affected by the increased exercise. This was helped by receiving a huge box of energy gels and energy bars from Torq. Torq is one of TeamBG's sponsors. They sent the whole of Team Blood Glucose a package to cover their energy requirements for the month of August's training (note: you will have to pay a stupid amount of customs and other charges if you receive something like that in Israel). They have very easy to interpret nutritional information, such that a bar or gel or 500ml drink all has the same amount of carbohydrate (30g). This makes life very easy for a Diabetic. Additionally their products, especially the bars, taste great and are made from natural products too. 

I moved myself up into the fast group for the long weekend ride. It is hard sometimes to keep up with all of them but I am not the weakest so they are not waiting for me all the time. There are no more than seven of us in the group and we have our own support car. We work well together and on a good day we can really hammer along. Even so we look out for each other with a focus on riding well as a group As opposed to a few bombing off ahead as fast as they can. Long run its the best way. On the biggest hills the stronger guys will climb ahead. When they reach the top they turn round and descend until they reach the last man. Then climb up again with him. 

The final ride of the month we covered 115Km taking my total to 1089Km for the whole month. I was pretty pleased with my achievement. Carmi, my trainer, and I sat down once again. We realised I had just two weeks left until my stage of the tour. We planned out my final training. One hard week and an easy one to taper. 

My Training

Everyone is different.  The mechanics are basically the same but there can be a large variation due to metabolism and I am sure other factors.  Doctor Ian Gallen helped coach Sir Steve Redgrave to his 5th consecutive Olympic gold medal after being diagnosed with diabetes.  He has his own website http://runsweet.com/ with information on training with Diabetes.  Additionally more information can be found on the Sport Diabetic Type 1's Facebook page here.  If you have Diabetes and are in training or thinking about training then I advise you to join this group giving you access to an active community of like minded (and like pancreased) people.

Whatever information that you get from Doctors, health care professionals or other advisors you cannot beat keeping a log.  This will help your health care team understand what you are doing and how well you are managing your diabetes, and will allow you to experiment and see what works best for you.  While a pen and paper work great there are many mobile phone apps that can help with this.  On the one that I use I can record my blood glucose, carbohydrate intake and insulin, I can also add notes on exercise and specific food.  I can email the logs straight from the app to my dietitian.  I do not record everything, that becomes a real drag, though if you are new to this more is definitely better.  I do record every day that I train.  I record my sugar level before I go to bed then when I get up, throughout training and through the day, I often give up by the evening as I am most interested in the direct effects of training, by the end of the day other things have additional effects on my blood sugar.

So what have I learned from all this data that I have collected: I only train in the morning (Exercise later in the day specifically in the evening for me gives me horrible night hypos).  For me that is very early morning (wake up at 5am!), I always start the day with a coffee (probably should skip the milk), the caffeine has been shown to give a performance improvement on exercise.  Lately I have been eating an energy bar for breakfast (30g CHO) they are provided for me by TorqFitness and as they have fixed CHO (same amount in a bar or a gel) they are very easy to gauge intake and insulin.  If I am above 180mg/dl   (10mmol) on waking (very sucky way to wake up) I will take 4u novorapid, between 130 and 180 I will take 3U, and less than 130 2u.  If I am lower than 100 I will still take 2U but will eat between 15 and 30g extra CHO.  During the training I monitor my sugars when every I can.  Right before I start, then again 15mins later after warm up while we are receiving the day's training program.  If we are doing sets, I stop half way through and test again and then at the end, once more after my shower.  I record everything I can, the food I ate, when I ate it and the intensity of the exercise.

At the weekend I do a long ride.  Usually it is 4 or more hours.  Lately that means 4 hours in 30C heat with very high humidity.  Fortunately I am in a cycling club that understands my needs and when I need to stop to check my blood sugar we stop.  The trainers know my situation and check with me that I am OK before continuing.  At the end of the ride I have a recovery drink.  Again this is provided by Torq Fitness.  The drink contains sugars, electrolytes and some protein.  The goal of this is to replace everything that needs replacing after a long exercise. I take a small amount of insulin with this.  It contains about 80g of carbohydrate so its equivalent to a large meal.  The important thing is to have it straight after training.  The sugars get converted to glycogen to be stored in the muscles.  This is very important as the glycogen stores can be easily used up on long exercises.  Not replacing the glycogen can lead to fatigue.

My lunch this week with 175g brown rice.  Roast chicken on a bead of vegetables (sweet potato, zucchini carrot and onion) 

Every Saturday evening I make my lunch for the week.  I prepare some food and take it to work with me everyday.  This has a number of benefits.  Even at its most unhealthy its probably better than most of my options for bought lunches.  I can gauge more easily how much insulin to take as I know what is in it. I bring a limited amount of food so that I don't over eat.  In fact I weigh my food, usually just the carbohydrate portion, so that I can estimate better how much insulin to take.  The best thing is that as I have the same size portion each day, if I get it wrong one day I can adjust and by the middle of the week I am taking the correct dosage.  Its also far cheaper than buying lunch each day and definitely tastier, plus I really enjoy cooking.  This is connect to training.  I need to eat enough to give me energy during training.  I don't want to each too much that I won't maintain my weight.  Throw in the Diabetes and I like to choose food that won't give me high blood glucose spikes a couple of hours after lunch.  They tend to make the afternoon unproductive.  Recording what you eat can be really hard when you eat out.  You don't always know the portion sizes or exactly what is in the food.  Estimating is hard.  Most of my meals are home cooked and as a result it makes it much easier to know how much insulin to take.  Also when recording in my log I know more accurately what I have eaten so when I review it later it is more meaningful.

If you are reading this as a Diabetic, please remember this is not advice.  This is just what I do.  I hope it will give you ideas about how to better manage you own diabetes with or without training.  If you want to chat about it, get in touch through the blog, Facebook or Twitter.

Travelling with Diabetes

I had meant to write about traveling with diabetes a while ago. For our honeymoon my wife and I traveled around Vietnam and Cambodia. It was long before I started this blog, so I will focus this post on something more recent and save that for another time.

I am writing this having spent a long weekend in and around Philadelphia and from there traveling to DC then Montreal and finally New York before flying home to Tel Aviv (with a short stop off in Madrid). We have been here for a family wedding so my brother and I have both been training and managing our diabetes together.It's not been easy. The heat has been punishing, hot and extremely humid. Aside from waking up early for some morning training we are wandering around the city so being far more active than normal. Add to all this the food is wildly different from what either of us are used to.

The "Rocky Steps" leading up to the Philadelphia art museum

The hotel had a gym so we were on the exercise bikes in the morning before going for a run to the art museum and some interval training up and down the famous rocky steps. My brother is tapering off for his preparation for the London triathlon next weekend while I am continuing to build up to the mHealth Grand Tour.

Rocky and Me

The problem throughout the weekend has been the food. Portion sizes and sugar content being the biggest difficulty. In the US as anywhere there are novelties with the food that is different from what we are used to. Whether its a fatty Philly cheese steak or a giant kosher style salt beef sandwich. We just don't have quite the same food back home.I have blown throughout 60 test strips in 5 days. And the swings have been up through the roof after going back for seconds at the wedding and middle of the night lows after a long day starting with training and ending with a meal at the fantastic Marimoto Japanese restaurant.It has been as constant battle between correcting for highs and stuffing my face full of gummy bears when I am low. As the trip continues and we start visiting more friends and eating more home cooked food I am hoping that will help keep my sugars more balanced.

This is not my first time traveling and every trip no matter how exotic the location poses its challenges. My advice for travelers with diabetes is that it's important to test more frequently, changes in routine, particularly volume of activity; the stress and sedentary nature of long haul flights; different climate; and new foods all have an effect your insulin sensitivity and sugar requirements. Check packaging of food to get the nutritional information and ask waiters in restaurants about your food to make it easier to estimate how much insulin to take. As I sit on a four hour intercity bus ride I will add that it is always a good idea to stock up on water and emergency sugar, like coke and gummy bears, on a journey like this one. I like to bring some fruit too, I prefer to keep my sugars up with that rather than let them drop to hypo and then eat junk. On flights this is less of a problem as there is almost always something available. I usually travel with my wife and if not I am rarely on my own. I always take far more supplies than I need: extra testing strips; double the insulin/spare pens; and loads of needles. I then split them up across our suitcases and hand luggage. In the case that a bag gets stolen or lost I will still have enough to last, if not to the end of my trip, until I can organize getting hold of more.

I always buy travel insurance. My health care provider, Maccabi, does travel insurance which covers me for any diabetic emergencies at no extra cost.Try to keep everything in balance with some exercise especially on a less active holiday. Most of all try to have fun. Whilst we can never take a holiday from our diabetes we can still have a really good time away from home and away from our familiar and easier to control lifestyle.

Live long and stay healthy

mHealth Tour Infographic

During September I will be riding in the mHealth Grand Tour as part of TeamBloodGlucose.  Here is a great infographic detailing the research goals of the tour.

My last Diabetes check up

Last meeting with my Diabetes team I had a really good result of 6.6%. I went to the meeting and got in trouble because my meter had too many hypos on it from the previous 2 weeks.

The annoying thing was that they didn't really pay attention.  There was probably less than half the actual hypos as I often double check or check 10-15 minutes later when I am still coming up, but the meter still registers me as low.

The second problem is a lack of understanding of statistics. They claimed that my good result was not any good because a I had too many lows, therefore balancing out the highs.  A wild extrapolation at best, the readings on my meter were for 2 weeks, the HbA1c test is and average for 3 months. Additionally the amount of time I am high for, when I am high, is usually significantly longer then the amount of time I am low for.  I treat lows very quickly with lots of sugar, and I treat highs very slowly with small amounts of insulin so that I do not end up low. So pretty simple statistics tells us that I would need an extreme amount of lows to balance out a few long highs.  Therefore my control must have on average been better than they were suggesting.

Their final comment on this was that its bad to have too many lows, as you can lose sensitivity to them.  OK fair point, but considering I don't normally have that many lows I think I will be OK.  Then came the knock out punch.  I was told it can lead to problems with the brain if I have too many hypos.  What the hell.  That was new to me.  I am aware what can happen if I don't treat my hypo, then its quite possible that I could cause damage to many of my organs.  But when I refer to a hypo I am just low, nothing too serious.  Still able to treat myself.

Everyone knows about the long term complications of high blood sugar. But now I am learning about the long term problems with low blood sugar too!  According to this article research done states that there are no problems associated with too my low blood sugar incidents and in fact it is preferable, and expected,  if that is the consequence of keeping blood sugar low.  Phew!

to quote the relevant part:
"Researchers also found that intensive management, which often resulted in more frequent low blood sugars, had no negative effects on the minds of patients. You can rest more peacefully knowing that low blood sugars do not seem to have any connection to cognitive impairment."

One year on

It was around this time last year, my brother was racing in his first triathlon, the Tour de France was starting and my addiction to cycling at an all time high.  Bradley Wiggins, who I had been following since he was a track champion in 2004, was going into the tour as the big favourite.  So I pumped up my tires and started doing some cycling.  Some days when my wife needed the car I got a lift to work with my bike and rode home.  By August I was ready for a bigger challenge.  I got up early one Saturday morning and rode.  I rode until I couldn't any more.  I made it to Tal Shachar, my cousins moshav, after riding 60Km.  I was really happy with that.  The following week I was back at it.  In September I bought a new bike, Merckx EMX 1, and started riding more and faster each week.  I rode in the Tel Aviv bike ride and then the Sovev Galil Maarav.

By November last year I was a little unsure about how I was managing with my diabetes, especially as I had an HbA1c of 7.4%.  So when I met with my dietitian she recommended that I meet with the sports consultant at the diabetes center.  The consultant, Yaara, advised me to join a cycling club and recommend Carmi and X-team.  I have been training with them since the beginning of December.

Since then I have met some great people in the team, done some fantastic rides, and some not so fantastic rides.  I have raced in the national championships and now I am preparing for a 3 day tour over the Pyrenees.

I have a had a great time riding my bike and I am getting stronger and fitter than I ever was before I was diagnosed with Diabetes.  My weight has come down, my control over my blood sugar has improved and my HbA1c result was 6.6% last time it was tested.  I am thankful to Carmi and X-Team as well as my health care team, Dana, Yosi, Yaara and Dr Hazanov, for helping me achieve my goals.

Israel National Masters Championships 2013

The weekend was the open championships for masters level cyclists.  I had set my sights on this event since March and I was really looking forward to competing on this level.  The winner in each category would receive a national masters jersey and entry to the upcoming Maccabi games.  I knew I wasn't going to be getting a podium.  I had raced exactly once, fortunately on exactly the same course.  The difference in the championship race was it was an extra 2 laps (30Km) more than 100Km in all.  I have ridden this distance before but perhaps not enough and not under race conditions. My goal was just do better than last time.  Last time I was only able to stay with the peloton for 1 lap, this time if not for the whole race at least for more than before.

more pictures here

My wife left me a message to see in the morning before the race.

sunrise at the start

The evening before Alon and I had our pasta dinner together.  This time he cooked and I brought desert.  Techina cup cakes with chocolate ganache and smoked salt, made by my wife.  We talked about the race and about what I am up to with TeamBG, ate plenty of pasta and drank lots of water.  I went home and got my stuff ready for the next day.  Water bottles filled, sandwiches made, chain oiled, bag packed with shoes, helmet, energy gels and everything else that I needed.

Alon brought coffee for the team

Making his coffee run so every can start the day right

The following morning my alarm goes off at around 415am.  I jump out of bed and start to get read.  I check my blood sugar.  It was a little high (not surprising after all that pasta the night before), see below for specific details.  I took some insulin and started eating my sandwiches.  I ate two on the drive as I wanted to store as much energy as possible for the long race.We arrived nice and early at the car park, got ready and went to meet the rest of the team at the water tent.  Alon Yotam and I started our warm up.  We had a few runs at the finishing hill and made our way back to the tent.  Carmi wished us all good luck and we all made our way to our respective start lines.  Alon, Yotam, Omer and I lined up together close to the front as the four representatives of X-Team in the 30-40 category.  I check my blood sugar a final time, at 312 mg/dl it was a lot higher than I would have liked but I had no choice.

Last minute tactics

getting the water tent ready

The starting beeps came and we were off.  The pace was around 35kmph and after the nervousness of the peloton died down a bit I started to relax.  My heart rate was higher than I would have liked but not sky high like the last time I raced.  As the race went on I felt comfortable moving around peloton, its not so easy and you have to fight for position.  Thankfully everyone was alert and there were no incidents, though one or two close calls, another reason to stay up near the front.  After a lap and half I was feeling really happy with myself, I had not been dropped from the group.  Time for some food, I reached for my preopened cliff bar.  First mistake of the race.  I took a big bite and I realised there was only a bit more left.  So I stuffed it in my mouth.  Ooops too much.  My mouth was really full.  I was finding it hard to breathe and I had so much in there I that I couldn't chew or swallow.  It took me me far to long to get down and sent my heart rate sky high, right gels from now on.

lining up on the start

Carmi setting off

Alon saw that I was doing ok and asked me to keep and eye on one of the danger men, Ariel.  He was easy to watch, the only one in an FC Barcelona cycling jersey.  I stuck to his wheel and watched for his moves as best I could.  I was able to take water on the go without getting dropped from the peloton.  Everything was great until it wasn't.  At the end of the 4 or 7 laps some guys made a break for it and the group sped up going up the steepest part of the towards the finish line.  I just couldn't hold on, after 60Km at race speed I was done.  I just couldn't hold the pace.  Yotam, one of my team mates, was having the same difficulty.  We rode together for a lap and a half unable to catch the peloton until I made my second mistake.  I had picked up Yotam's bottle the last time round the water tent.  I hit a bump and the bottle fell out.  I felt guilty as I was riding with the guy at the time and turned round to get it.  As I turned round I saw the Masters Pro peloton baring down on my like a freight train.  I decided to forget about the bottle and get moving again.  By this time Yotam was well ahead of me and by the end of the penultimate lap I was almost spent.  I finished up the race coming in 24th out of 30 around 20 minutes behind the leaders.

And we're off.

finishing a lap in the peloton

Yotam and I distanced from the pack

Alon in the break

Alon coming across the finish line

Finishing strong

Alon came second from a break.  Vered came second in the 30+ women, Avi came second in the 60+ men, and Orit came second in the 50+ women.  Ilan made the top ten in the 40+.  Most inspiring of all was Henry who at 80 years old was able to represent our team.  At the presentation he was presented with the winners Jersey for the 80+ category.  Carmi helped him up to the podium and he spoke a few words, thanking us all for being his extended family.

30 - 40 winners podium

All in all I had a good race.  I held the peloton for longer than last time, I collected water without getting dropped, and for the first half of the race I was riding really comfortably in with the front runners.  Next year I will be racing the the full season and hopefully after a busy off season I hope to smash it.

Post race festivities

Blood sugars and food as best as I can remember it.
2222 - 230
0428 - 215 4u insulin 80g sandwiches coffee
0615 - 257 2u insulin
0650 - 306
0703 - 312
cliff bar after 1.5 laps
gel at 2.5 laps
gel at 4 laps
gel at 5.5 laps
1028 - 43  this was a bad test, my hands were a little wet with sweat so messed up the reading
1028 - 198
1044 - 202 bowl of pasta and half a bottle of beer. no insulin
1122 - 252
1235 - 215
1331 - 204
1604 - 190 various food 7u insulin
1704 - 207
2102 - 266 schnitzel and mash potato 6u insulin
2348 - 191
0034 - 259
0747 - 142

Over all not a major success blood sugar wise.  I am conservative though because for such a long race where I have no opportunity to test along the way I do not want risk going low or running out of energy.  Should have had more insulin the night before with the pasta and more first thing in the morning, maybe 7u.  That way the insulin is mostly gone from my system midway through the race which will allow my body to break down glycogen and fat better.  When I first started and I was not getting feeding and insulin correct at all after a long ride I could be as high as 400, here finishing at around 200 wasn't so bad.  I was hesitant to give myself too much insulin in the afternoon as I was worried that the after burn would send me very low.

My upcoming events

The Israeli National Championship Masters (Amateur) - June 22nd
Same route as the Negba race but this time 100KM so thats 7 laps.

The mHealth Tour stage 4 as part of TeamBG  - September 16-19th
you can follow all my training on Strava

Grand Fondo Jerusalem - 11th October - 150KM

Bishvil HaShanti - October 26th
180km from the Tel Aviv Shanti House to the Desert Shanti house.  Shanti house is an organisation that takes children who have no where else to go and gives them a home and opportunities for a life they might not have had.  They do great work and I am happy to be supporting them.

The Gran Fondo Dead Sea Diabetes Challenge - December 13th
There will be two starts for regular riders 155KM and 100KM (these are approximate).  From the second start it will be timed.  I want to put to get a big group of riders to ride in support of TeamBG to publicize what we do on a national and international level.  We are thinking of opening up the first section to people who what to come and support this effort but do not feel that they can make the longer distances.  As this first section is not timed I am hoping to encourage many people to wear the jersey and cycle with us in a group.
I would like to extend an invitation to anyone currently involved in TeamBG or connected to Diabetes in any way to come join in and support our organisation.  I can help with arrangements and navigating the Hebrew pages if needed.

http://www.teambloodglucose.com/TeamBG/Home.html