Struggling Through

I raced Puerto Rico 70.3 this past weekend and it was a brutally tough race. It reached over 90 degrees and the hills just kept coming. There were times when I was really struggling. When I do, my form breaks down and my hands go all over the place. I found my hand hitting the Diabetes Training Camp logo on my kit and I was instantly reminded of their stories of struggle. Talk about struggle, people living with Type I diabetes have to endure an entire lifetime trying to manage their own blood sugars while also trying to live their lives. Life is hard enough without diabetes.

Diabetics don't have the option to give up if they want to keep living. I used that as my inspiration and although it wasn't my fastest race, I ran all the way to the end. The diabetics I've met at the Diabetes Training Camp inspire me to be a better athlete and person. We have a lot to learn from people living with diabetes, people living with other chronic diseases, and people living with disabilities. I am so lucky to be a part of the DTC community!

Pro Tip: Training for Capacity Vs Utilization

Pro Tip: Run Inventory

Pro Tip: Stroke Rate Vs. Stroke Length

Pro Tip: Developing Feel for the Water

We Need Your Help!

Can you imagine having to manually pump your own heart to stay alive? You would have to pump it day or night or you would die. At first it would be easy and simple. All you have to do is pump. After a while, however, it would drain you. Your entire day would revolve around pumping your heart. You would have to pump it while you brush your teeth, drive to the store, ride your bike, or hang out with your friends. It never stops. The minute you forget to pump, you die.

We all take our highly functioning organs for granted, but my good friend, Grant Curry cannot. Grant has lived with type one diabetes for 40 years. That means that, for the last 40 years, Grant has had to act as his own pancreas. He has consciously managed his blood sugars with food and artificial insulin for 40 years because his pancreas stopped working when he was 8 years old. Even when he hangs out with friends or rides his bike, he needs to have his diabetes management on the back of his mind or he could become very sick within a few hours and die.

I met Grant at the Diabetes Training Camp three years ago and he is one of the most inspiring individuals I have ever met. You need crazy endurance to be able to live with diabetes for that long. I respect him for his strength and stamina.

The Diabetes Training Camp changed Grant's life. Diabetics have special mental, medical, and physical needs and camp provides individuals like Grant to learn to live, thrive, and exercise with diabetes. This year, Grant is raising money to celebrate living with Diabetes for 40 years by riding 400 miles with 40,000ft in elevation while attempting to raise $40,000 to help the Diabetes Training Camp Foundation. The foundation creates scholarships for diabetics to go to camp and learn how to live with their disease at little or no cost. Check out his website below and consider joining me in donating a few dollars to this important cause.

Ride40.com

Racing in the worst conditions...Lake T Tri turned duathlon

I had a "fun" time racing the local Lake T sprint tri! This picture is of me running through T2 after a second loop on the bike of torrential downpour where the rain felt like shards of glass flying into my eyeballs at all moments. I was asking "could it really get any worse?" These are the moments we live for as triathletes... Well, maybe not the ones we live for, but definitely the ones we gloat about for the rest of our lives (No...I've raced in the worst conditions...there was this one time at Lake T...). Good times. Anyways, I felt honored to win the race and was happy when the experience was over smile emoticon. Thanks for capturing this moment and so many others, Jennifer Schulten!