Hi all,
I'm planning to do a sprint tri (my first) in October and have a couple of logistical questions.
The swim is in a pool, and I won't be wearing my pump during that portion. But...I don't know that I'll want to give my pump up too soon before my group actually gets in the water. I don't mind being disconnected for 30 mins or so, but not for an hour and I don't know how long all the "waves" of swimmers will take. So, can I hand it off to someone before I start swimming and have them hand it back to me after I get out of the pool? Should I have them leave it with my bike in the transition? Will it be safe there? Is any of that allowed? My goal is just to finish, but I also don't want to get disqualified.
What would you recommend wearing (October in TX, so probably pretty mild weather)? Keep in mind this is a fairly low budget operation and I'm a total newbie. While I'd like it to be comfortable and require minimal "adjustments", being aerodynamic and hydrodynamic (or whatever you call that) is not a big concern. One piece anything doesn't seem to make much sense since my pump site will be around my midsection and I'll need access.
Any and all replies would be welcome and appreciated.
straw man
Hi, Carol,
I can't give expert advice on Triathlons, as I finished my first one yesterday, and I just barely did that.
But I was there with two diabetic friends, Triabetes teammates, who are much more experienced and better triathletes than I am. One of them has the same kind of pump as me and did the same thing I did. We left our pumps in our transition area to be put back on before the bike ride. That should work for you.
If you want to do something else, like have someone hold it for you, I would ask the race director. I'd bet they would be fine with that, but it would be better to let them know what was going on ahead of time.
How long is your swim? How long do you expect it to take?
You'll have some time between now and October to find out how your blood sugar does while you train in the pool.
Consider joining us in Triabetes. It's a great organization.
Triabetes.org
He who has the best time wins. Jerry
Hey JP, congrats on your Triathlon finish! That's awesome! I'll check out triabetes for inspiration, but can almost guarantee I'm not worthy of joining at this point.
Thanks for the info on placing the pump in the transition area. Hopefully that will work. The swim is only 300 meters (yes, I purposely looked for the local tri with the shortest swim ), so I'm not concerned about time in the water....more just about time standing around waiting to start since I have no idea how all that works. I may try to be a spectator at another local tri w/ a pool swim about a month before mine just to understand better.
I'm usually disconnected for about 45 minutes each time I (attempt to learn how to) swim, and depending on where my BG winds up usually just bolus to replace most of my basal insulin after that. But right now swimming is the end of my gym workouts (usually run/lift/swim or elliptical/lift/swim), so I'll have to figure things out when I reverse that. I read over on your blog re: the 5K spike and can relate....5K's send by BG into the stratosphere as well. I would have thought the swim and bike prior to that might have mitigated it, but I guess not.
Trust me, Carol. You are at least as "worthy" as I am to be in Triabetes. We are not an elite group, and have no desire to become exclusive in any way, except that we want diabetics who are participating in athletic activities.
That includes you, big time.