Over the past 90 days, the TDD was 13u/day, 2u basal and 11u bolus. So that’s 16% vs 84%.
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Thanks I was curious, Nosey really.
I am surprised to hear that! I did not know.
Can you not bolus a 0.05 unit amount with Tandem?
Ok, so you can bolus 0.05 but you can’t set a 0.05 per hour basal rate?
You can set a 0.0 temp basal though, right?
Sorry, never used that pump, was just curious.
It struck me as odd that you can set a 0.0 basal, and you can do a 0.05 bolus, but you can’t set a 0.05 basal. If I am understanding all of this correctly.
Putting this in for context of this discussion:
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The hourly basal is delivered in 5 minute doses. A .05/hour would mean delivering.004units each 5 minutes.
I think the reason for dividing basal is so it can be decreased or increased by Basal IQ or C IQ.
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Trial run 3
Started at 5:25pm at 124bg, but going up a little. I figured I’d be in 130s shortly, so I took my Transcend (15g) with a lot of water and waited 5 mins.
At mile 2 (5:46pm) was at 94. It was a blazing hot evening but I was still at around a 7:45 pace. Given that good number, I didn’t take any more carbs.
At mile 3 (5:57pm) was at 89. I could have stopped there, but I wanted to see how many more carbs I had kicking around in me so I did another half mile. After that (6:03pm) I was at 77.
So I was down ~12 in 0.5mi, which is almost exactly half of what I run through in a mile (usually a 30 point drop). That’s suggestive of a linear glucose depletion function, in which case I had no more carbs in me at mile 3, otherwise they would have kept me higher. I also experienced no strong post-run bounce: at 6:31pm before dinner I was at 98, which is probably post-run stress hormones doing their thing.
I would consider that a success. This time the G6 even recorded everything accurately. There’s a sharp rise and a smoother but still rapid decline, but it bottoms out perfectly in the mid-80s.
One trial doesn’t mean much, so I’ll see how this goes once or twice more, but next up is figuring out when to fuel again for longer runs. I’d guess that another 15g around mile 1.5 or 2 would be reasonable if I were doing 5mi total. Thoughts welcome!
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Wow, i would call that a success, too! Very tight range! I don’t have any advice but i am following your success. I have not been running much over 8 miles since i injured my knee, and “running” is a very charitable description as my pace is about 30%+ slower pre injury.
I think you are on the right track though in taking in carbs pre run to prevent the initial BG drop. I also experienced drops within the first 2 miles, sometimes 60 or more. At Eric’s suggestion, I increased my carbs. I used Huma which has @ 21g carbs, and also carried an extra gel as well as grapefruit juice and water in a waist bag, 10 oz each. For a 10+ mile run, I’d usually finish the juice. That was my first choice, and the extra gel would be a backup. Ive not done those runs since Nov last year but hope to get back to it! I like the juice because for me it is metabolized very fast. Within 10 minutes i can start to feel a low subside. A small sip every few miles can be sufficient some days, other days it could be that plus the extra gel. Each day varies!
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Great numbers, @needlesandmath! Stellar work today! Congrats!
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Trial run 4
Started off at 5:39pm having over-carbed myself: 157bg. Oops. I decided I’d just add an extra mile on since that’s around 30 over my normal start. Took a Transcend 15g, waited a few minutes, and headed out.
It was a hot evening and I could definitely feel the higher starting bg. I haven’t been over 150 in a while. During mile 2 I ended up at around a 7:30 pace because I got into a little friendly competition with another runner. I decided to skip the bg test until mile 3, since I knew I was starting high.
At mile 3 (6:10pm) I was at 98, which is about where I expected to be given my start point.
At mile 4 (6:20) I was at 79, which is also about what I expected given that I started high and had 15g onboard during the run. Recall that I ended there at mile 3.5 last time.
Post-run (6:59pm) I rose a bit to 103, and creeping a tiny bit higher by the G6. No surprise I went up; an especially intense run always does that. Final pace: 8:00. Not too bad given the starting point.
I’ll add that this was a new G6 sensor day and to my surprise it actually read quite accurately during and after the run. When I peeled the old one off I had a quarter-sized bruise under there. No shock I had bad readings.
As an aside, anyone else find the taste of sugar nauseating now? I never had much of a sweet tooth before T1, but now it’s repellent. Having to consume this much of it gives me a sour stomach, too. Ah, well, considering the alternatives…
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Transcends are hands down the best but on a empty stomach 
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Maybe you have already tried them, but if not, try some of those things in post #2. 
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there are some facebook groups that can help. Also I read year or two ago about an interesting design from an older runner that involved a BG meter strapped to wrist and a dispenser for one-test-strip-at-a-time to simplify fingersticks on the run. I believe from my personal tests that the jostle and bump of running is what makes Dexcom useless ‘on the run.’ On the run lots of water and sugars. Try something a little faster than Glu Blocks; too dry to work fast. Hard to carry much of this (heavy!) but Gatorade works for me; caution it is very hard on the teeth!
Try these facebook groups (I don’t live near Austin TX but the advice is interesting!):
Austin Diabetes and Exercise - Type One Run(https://www.facebook.com/groups/austindiabetesandexercise/)Active and athletically-inclined people with Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes and type 2 diabetes living in or near the Austin, TX area.
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Yeah, the mini Clif bars are tastier but they work very slowly for me. Humas aren’t bad. Really, though, it’s anything sweet that I can’t stand anymore, aside from the occasional piece of fruit. By “considering the alternatives” I just meant never going low enough to need sugary correction, which isn’t really an option.
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Our own @Eric has a similar device–it’s impressive, and I should probably get one. I’ve mostly phased the Gu blocks out for the reasons you give.
Thanks for the FB group pointer. I don’t participate in social media, so unfortunately I just have to miss out on some things like this.
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Trial run 5
Started at 5:36pm. Bg was 125, but looking back at the G6 data I was rising, possibly because I overcarbed again. It’s tricky to get this initial dose right. The result is that the Transcend I took caused me to go up a little further–looks like I peaked in the 150s and then started dropping rapidly once in motion.
I was running the reverse of my usual route, which means it was much hillier on the way back, so I was going slower than before–about an 8:24 pace. At mile 3 (6:11pm) I was at 98. Decided to go on a little further since I started high. Mile 3.5 was 97 (6:17pm), and I stopped at mile 4 with 91 (6:27pm).
No post-run rise, which is reasonable if I worked out all of the carbs and wasn’t pushing myself too hard. Post-run insulin sensitivity was also a little below normal (usually I’m at 1:20 or lower, today maybe 1:19).
No other observations except the above about fine-tuning my starting bg. Usually 5g of carbs raises my bg around 12-13 points, but those are older numbers and I may need to do a fresh test to confirm them.
Next up: trying longer distances.
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I know you’re stuck with evening for the time being, but its likely this will dramatically change for a morning run.
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I hope to report in on a morning run soon. It’s a different beast. Aside from a small pre-run snack I’m not sure I’ll need extra carbs during the run; at least I haven’t in the past.
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Trial run 6
Well, not quite 6; I’ve skipped over runs that were uneventful repeats of the previous. But this one is weird and needs diagnosing.
I decided to run before lunch today. I had a 4u bolus at 6:53am to cover breakfast and started prepping for the run at 11:41am, which should have been enough time for the insulin to clear.
The first problem was that my blood sugar wasn’t coming up. I had 10g of glucose and only went up to 94 after 50 minutes. I added 4g more and then decided to have the pre-run Transcend as well. At 12:25pm–almost 45 minutes after the first dose–I was finally at 122 and started running. That’s a little under my target of 130 but I had enough glucose in me that I figured it was rising (My G6 was lagging badly, so wasn’t useful here.)
It was a sunny day, so I held an easy pace (8:30 average). At mile 3 I decided to check my sugar and to my surprise it was 58. I thought I might have more glucose onboard but I still added 12g more and waited 15 minutes for it to rise to 83.
I checked again at mile 3.7 and it was down to 63, so I added 8g more of glucose, waited, and finished the run. At the end (1:41pm) I was at 95, but quickly dropped after my shower to 75.
Observations:
That seems like a failure to me, not least because it took an obscene chunk of time out of my day.
Mainly I don’t understand why I couldn’t get my bg up at the start of the run and why it dropped so fast during the run. I would think I made a mistake with my basal today but I gave myself the usual 2u of Tresiba. I even thought I’d be a little insulin resistant because I slept poorly, but apparently not.
It’s true that this was a different time of day (afternoon rather than evening) and that I had more insulin in the morning than I usually do at lunch, but I would have expected it to clear.
Any other thoughts?
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Three thoughts:
What typically happens on a weekday between 10am and lunch? Is it flat? I assume you usually eat lunch at noon. Sometimes there are crashes that can happen if a meal is skipped, because your schedule is setup to anticipate food and the hole is uncovered when you body is in slight calorie deficit.
You need a cgm that is better than what the dex is giving you. I would try (in no particular order): troubleshooting your site location and soak, G7, or Libre.
What happens if you go above 150? If its just all around bad then forget it, but if you’re spending time btw 150 and 180 without acute side effects I would have a higher target before the run.
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