We need to go over 2 different things.
First the race logistics, dosing, general tips and all of that. And second is the pacing strategy and our little pep-talk.
You decide when and how, either here or on the phone.
Let’s get you on that podium.
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What podium?
Top 3 in your bracket.
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That’s cute…
But unless only 3 are participating… or I’m allowed to name whatever bracket I’d like to be a part of (middle aged women with brown hair who have a cat who had six girl kittens) I’m not worried about that.
I want to finish, I want to not have a crash, or have a 400… or to trip… to show up to the right place… I’ve got a lot I’d like to accomplish, so I’m not worried about that. And don’t you be worried about that because I will just lie to you and say I took first if I think you won’t be able to handle the truth… 
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@Nickyghaleb, I do not know what race you are running, but unless it’s like the Boston Marathon or it’s just you and Eliud Kipchoge competing, I would not be surprised AT ALL if you wind up up there, at least given the times @Eric’s been making you run, haha! I ran a 10-miler in October and my pace (a little less than 10 min./mile I think?) put me solidly in the middle for basically everything . The fastest women were in the 7:28 min/mile range. That was not a super competitive race but either way, your times are pretty fast !!You’re gonna do GREAT!!
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That’s it? 2 miles total?? No long and slow or anything??
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Had to come back around on this… That’s awesome— a ten miler at less than 10 min a mile. Really awesome. I think I’d like to make this a future goal. 
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Pick-ups. Do the pick-ups.
We want to spark the aerobic system and fast-twitch muscle fibers. Not the red fibers, the white ones. Like dark meat versus white meat on a chicken. The wings.
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I have no idea what you’re talking about here, but
Okay. Say no more. 
I get it. I’m off then to work either my dark meat or white meat. 
I can explain this to you. It’s easy stuff, and interesting.
Ever wonder why a chicken has dark meat and white meat? Same for you.
It doesn’t matter for your race, but it’s interesting stuff if you want to learn about it. You have fast-twitch muscle fibers, and slow-twitch muscle fibers. You use them both.
The fast-twitch are better for sprints and faster speeds, but they fatigue more rapidly. And slow-twitch have more endurance and would be more predominate in a longer race.
The fast-twitch fibers are more anaerobic. They do not need as much oxygen and therefore do not need as much blood.
Slow twitch are the opposite. They are more aerobic, and need more oxygen and therefore need more blood.
Muscles that contain a lot of slow-twitch fibers are red, because they contain more blood vessels. They rely on a rich supply of oxygenated blood to produce energy for muscle contraction.
Anyway, an easy way to remember it - chicken wings and breast are white meat, they are fast twitch so they can fly. Their wings and breast need to be more fast-twitch to enable them to create the speed needed for flight. Chicken legs are dark meat, those muscles do not need to move fast.
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Which might explain why even though I’ve continued to be very active over the years, I still feel absolutely ridiculous and like I might break when I try to sprint? That’s not all just in my head?
I can’t wait to get my fast twitch muscles warmed up again, assuming that’s part of our future plan, and surprise my 14 year old next time he wants to race.
That is interesting, and that does make sense. So then… when I got on the treadmill an hour ago and was fine at a 6.0 pace but felt like a sack of nails and bolts at an 8.5… but only for the first three sets, is that fast twitch/slow twitch stuff or just a more vague muscle thing because my body has t warmed up yet? I feel like a 6.7 used to feel like nails and bolts… and I did accidentally hit 9 and almost came off the back, so I’m obviously not ready for anything like that. Maybe ever.
I’ll be back to give you a quick summary of today’s run. Sick people to tend to first.
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Kinda looks like that glove is doing a middle finger thing. Completely unintentional. I just happened to cut off the fingers of those two so I could test and do things.
Dammit. I was almost in and out of here with just the picture and 2 things, and now I’m all explaining…
All done. Talk to you tomorrow. 
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Okay, so I wanted to put my race stuff in here. Today was my first 5k in approximately 26 years, but it’s not because it hasn’t been at the top of my To Do list… I have wanted to run in a 5k for a very, very long time, but diabetes was just getting in the way—diabetes and hip problems— so I had just stopped wanting it. Met @Eric, and he got me thinking I could, then he got to telling me how I could, then he got to coaching me… I’ve needed a lot of guidance in both areas, running and diabetes, to be able to be back on this path again. I know I said I was coming in to tell of my race, but I wanted to leave this in here, too. It’s really been a journey leading up to that line this morning, and I really had abandoned any hope of it long ago. Eric, thank you. 
… And, of course, FUD, thank you. Two flowers for you. 
So the short of it is that I placed third in women’s overall. I haven’t gotten the official time yet, but it showed 23:11 as I crossed the line. Or 28:11… but I really hope not. It was a tough course, it was 26 degrees, and I had a few things malfunction, including my “not sick” status, so it wasn’t exactly smooth.
My BG was pretty good this morning. I had some problems with a new Dexcom sensor last night, so my blood sugar over night was a little messy. I woke up, say, at a 160ish. I had 3 hours before the start of the race, so I did a correction and food bolus, had 2 cups of coffee, a yogurt, and a piece of cheese. By 20 minutes prior, I was looking pretty even between a 100-120. I tried testing again with my Contour Next One meter and received a couple of errors. Assuming the meter was bad, I ran to the car and swapped it out for another only to end up getting some errors on that as well. It appears it was the cold. 5 minutes before starting I took out my 1 unit syringe and gave myself the shot and had my 23 gram GU 2 minutes later. Then they said “go”. It was 26 degrees as I said, and I felt like a block of ice, so the first mile was tough. My fingers were FROZEN. I had 2 more GU gels in my little pouch, but I don’t think I could’ve bent my fingers to get to them. I wasn’t worried about crashing at that point anyway. There was an enormous mud puddle about halfway through the race with no way around it. On the other side, both my hands and feet were frozen. This was the first point where I began to worry about my blood sugar. I do not feel lows in cold temperatures, and that can be even at 40 degrees, so even though I was comfortable with what my numbers should’ve been, I found myself starting to really worry— no meter, screwed up sensor, no natural ability to detect anything at all, and I was working hard. So, yes, diabetes was on my mind for probably 10 minutes of the race, but it didn’t ever affect what I was doing. I’m very happy with that result for my first time around. I hope to only get better though. I finished my race at a BG of 194 which was a major surprise… for 10 minutes I had been concerned over a crash, so it was mildly amusing to see how far off that had been. Oh! And my T:slim also gave me a couple of back to back occlusion alarms right after the race, so I also missed the 3 unit bolus I had there at the finish. I ended up doing a few IMs just until it looked like my t:slim was warm again, and it’s all been good since.
Long story. A lot of good things today, but a lot of things I want to do better. But first, dance party.
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That’s AWESOME! Way to prevail!!!
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Congratulations you did awesome, you truly are an inspiration. 
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Really great job! That is what I call unlimited. It isn’t unlimited when everything goes perfectly, it is unlimited when you encounter trouble, persevere and come out the other side. The podium is just a nice side effect.
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This is an AMAZING result and also officially proves that @Eric is clearly psychic as he predicted you’d be up there on the podium! Great work @Nickyghaleb!!!
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