The Life and Training of a Type 1 Diabetic

I am creating this blog to document the struggles and successes of my life and racing with type 1 diabetes in the hope that it will help someone with their own sttuggles.

[type1cyclingdan]

Plantbased Diet.

Diet is a polarising subject. Everyone has their own idea of what a good diet is. Since I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes it is something that I have invested a lot of time into researching. I started with a book called Mastering Diabetes by a couple of Americans that are both diabetic. The book delves into the benefits of a high carb, low-fat plantbased diet. Basically, the oposite to what I was told by the medical professionals who were telling me that I need to have a low carb high fat diet, which I was never going to just accept this as gospel.

The minute I was diagnosed, I was researching ways that I could help myself stay healthy and ensure that I did not put myself at risk of all of the complications that can happen if you do not manage your diabetes well. Some examples of these are losing your sight, losing the feeling in your feet to the point where all the nerve endings die, and leading to having them amputated, kidney failure. These are the worst ones, and i will do anything that it takes to ensure that these do not happen to me. Diet and exercise are the key to ensuring that I steer well clear of these complications.

So, in this book, they talk about the power of eating mainly fruit and veg, so since then, I have been plantbase and cut out fats and oils where possible as they can affect the insulin sensitivity which is key to not having to take a lot of insulin which can also cause complications if you have to use to much. Recently, I have become even more strict with my diet as I need to lose more weight to lose. I can honestly say that this has worked for me, I rarely have to take insulin with my food, only taking basal insulin, which I take 5 units in the morning and night, so 10 units in total.

Another thing that I have watched is a Netflix doc called Game Changer, which is all about athletes eating a plantbased diet for performance and healing with plenty of examples of it working and science to back it. People who do not believe that a plantbased diet will work will always say that you can only get the protien needed for meat and whey protien, which is not the case as all protiens are found in plants. If you think about this, some of the largest and most powerful animals on the planet are plantbased elephants and gorillas being the best examples of this.

As long as you eat plenty of variaties, you will consume plenty of the right 9 essential amino acids.

The latest book that I am reading is called Eat To Beat Your Diet. It is basically about how eating certain foods can help you lose weight and heal your body, meaning that you can live longer and to be honest with the amount of training that I am currently doing if a plantbased diet was not good then I would not be able to perform and improve like I am and finally see the scales moving in the right direction but looking stonger.

As I said at the start, everyone has their own opinions regarding what the best diet is but if you are not as healthy as you could be and want to change it is 100 percent worth changing to a plantbased diet. I can honestly say that I do not miss anything about meat or dairy except maybe the occasional KitKat or a Boost LOL.

Dream big, keep trying never give up and always believe that you can achieve.

[type1cyclingdan]

Mentors

What is a mentor?

“A mentor may share with a mentee (or protege) information about his or her own career path, as well as provide guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role modeling. A mentor may help with exploring careers, setting goals, developing contacts, and identifying resources”.

A mentor can be someone that guides you, coaches you in person, but you can also have people that you follow from a distance such as famous successful people that have achieved great things in their field whether it be sports, acting, business etc.

I have all different kinds, I class my boss as a mentor and role model, I follow lots of different people in business and sports that I can learn from and then there are people that I have followed in cycling professionals and local racers like a guy called Colin Ward when I started cycling he was one of the best in Essex and could more than hold his own around the country. (And still can by the way).

He is amazing on a bike and he makes it look so easy and at times effortless, there were many a Time Trial where Colin has passed me, but he has always been so approachable at races and on the occasions that he used to come to the club I rode with Athlon CC for the Saturday group rides he always had time to talk. Colin now has his own coaching company, so if you want to be coached by one of the best, look him up. Tried and Tested Cycle Coaching.

Then there is a recently retired pro cyclist who is based in Essex that also used to come to Athlon rides occasionally called Alex Dowsett who again always had time to talk to you and give advise and as someone that has haemophilia is an inspiration to those that get told that they should not try to race. Really looking forward to his book coming out on the 28th September about his life, but he once told me that he would bring a book out about being a Time Trialist once he retired so hoping for it soon.

Some of the other people that I follow are Luke and Tom Stoltman, Tom has been the world strongest man twice, he has Autism but has found that training has really helped his confidence and Luke his older brother has been a massive part of Toms success. I find their story really inspirational and love their attitudes.

There are many more out there that I take things from the newest person that is up there is a guy called Andrew Kerr he has type 1 diabetes and has had it a lot longer than me and races bikes also. He recently started up the team Inflite Type One, which is a team that is for people with type one diabetes. And ever since I have been diagnosed with T1D, he has been a source of support and is always there with encouragement and guidance, and he is a pretty good racer as well.

Then there are those that you would love to be able to be like. One of my favourite cyclist was a guy called Fabian Cancellara. He was so strong on a bike that he made it look easy at times. He could just ride people off of his wheel without getting out of the saddle.

I 100% believe that it is important to have these people to look up to and try and take the bits about them that you like and try and put them into your own life.

I have recently been watching everything that I can about successful people in all walks of life the latest was Michael Jordans The last dance on Netflix which was really good for seeing what can be achieved if you work hard but obviously have some natural ability.

One of my favourite films is a film Will Smith was in called The Pursuit of Happiness. It was about a guys struggle to become a successful businessman. In one scene his little son is saying how he want to be a famous basket ball player and he shoots him down and the kid gets upset and the dad then says to the boy don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t do something not even me.

If there is something that you want to achieve, then go for it. If you work as hard as you possibly can to achieve something within reason, then why can’t you achieve it. The only certain thing is that you will not achieve anything if you do not even try.

Henry Ford said that “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.” So believe in yourself and work at it every day, and you never know what you can achieve  “Shoot for the moon because even if you miss, you will land amongst the stars”.

 Dream big, keep trying and never give up and always believe that you can achieve.

[type1cyclingdan]

When does someone else’s opinion of you matter?

The answer is never really unless you want it to, I have been thinking about this a lot lately because of the blogs that I have been writing and worrying about what other people will think about them, and I have come to the conclusion that it does not matter if there are people that don’t like them.

If you do not like them, it is pretty simple scroll on past, if they are not for you, then that is okay I will not be offended. I have written a bit about this previously, but there are a few reasons that I am writing about my life and training with T1D...

1.       There is support out there regarding Diabetes but not a lot about training with Diabetes especially when you are racing and trying to get to a high standard. A lot of doctors will tell you that you need to go on a low carb, high fat diet which is absolute crap. I had a doctor say to me when I was first diagnosed that I would need a complete lifestyle change without even knowing what my lifestyle was like. That is when I decided that I was going to study it and find my own way through it. I know eat more carbs than I have ever eaten become plant based which is also against certain doctors guidance, and have to take far less insulin than most others with Diabetes because my insulin sensitivity is so good due to reducing the amount of fat in my diet.

2.       I have always wanted to get into coaching and motivational work.

3.       It is helping me document my own struggles and successes when it comes to managing my life and training with Diabetes

4.       If it helps just one person with their own struggles with Diabetes or any other condition then it has been worth the time taken to write.

But it is really hard to put yourself out there because as humans we want to be accepted, we want people to like us, to praise us and hate criticism. This I have recently learnt stems back to when we were in tribes and needing to be a part of the tribe because if you were outcast then the likely hood is that you would die on your own.

One day I may have the courage to make videos instead of hiding behind blogs, but I honestly am worse at speaking to a camera than I am at writing LOL.

I guess the message is don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, it does not matter what others think of what you are doing. Do not let other peoples negativity affect you and what you want to do, it is scary and yes there are people that just wont like what you are doing, and will not be able to keep their opinions to themselves, but as long as you are getting something from it and maybe someone else is getting something from it keep going.

I am going to achieve all of my goals in cycling and then I want to help others achieve goals that they never dreamed possible with T1D.

 Dream big, keep trying, and never give up, and always believe that you can achieve.

[type1cyclingdan]

Fail your way to success!

You only fail after you give up. Until then, it's called learning.

The most successful people are normally those who have failed the most but dusted themselves down and learnt from it and tried again and again until they succeeded.

If you set yourself goals, it is inevitable that at some point, you will not achieve them, is this failure? I do not believe so, I believe that you can only truly fail at something when you give up trying. Something that I have tried to drum into my kids since they were born, and I say it all of the time, keep trying and never give up! You may have to reevaluate your goals or adjust them at times, but if you use these times as learning rather than thinking of them as a failure, then you will keep going until you achieve your goals.

You may fail a workout or not get the result in a race that you wanted. Does this mean that you are a failure? Hell no, it will not feel good at the time you will doubt yourself. This is normal and a natural response, but where successful people are different, they will use this to drive them on they will find a way to learn from it. My most recent example of this was when I raced in the Essex Roads road race in July and ended up having to pull out because of my levels going too high due to my diabetes, at the time I was distraught and really was doubting if I could achieve the goals that I had set myself whether I would be able to get fit enough to race and compete and win races.

Since that race and the doubts that I had in myself, I refused to let myself give up and have used that feeling as a driving force to get better and ensure that I do not ever feel like I did that day again, in my last two races after I gained enough points to upgrade to a CAT 3 licence. Whilst having type one diabetes does make it harder to do anything, it is not a reason to stop trying. You just have to plan better, train smarter, and leave no stone unturned. For me, that is working on my diet, my strength and conditioning, and also my breathing and mind, I 100% believe that if I can train consistently, eat well and work on my mind with visualisation and calming techniques I can achieve my goals.

Dream big, keep trying never give up and always believe in yourself

[type1cyclingdan]

Consistency is Key

I have already written this once but it disappeared when I saved it 😥

You Can have the best plans in the world but without consistency, it will mean nothing you will never reach your full potential.

I can count on one hand how many sessions I have missed this year due to illness or other commitments. Now finally I am starting to see the benefits of this consistency with how I am riding especially over the last week with some really solid sessions completed.

Now I need to get really consistent with my diet as this is a major gain that I can make in my performance I am currently just under 84kg and should be around 73-75kg. This will massively help me with my overall speed on the bike and my health.

My FTP which is the power that I am able to put out on the bike for around an hour is currently sitting around 300 watts, but likely to be a bit more as I have not done a test for a while. I was a fair bit higher than this 3 years ago before all the injuries and then diabetes hitting me and I honestly believe that I can get back to that and better if I can stay consistent and lose the weight that I need to lose.

Where I struggle most to stay on top of my diet is when I work away I spend a lot of time in Premier Inns which means Table Table or Beefeater restaurants, and for someone that has a plant-based diet this is not ideal as the menus are in all honesty rubbish.

The options that I have are a Vegan burger that is probably more processed than a McDonald's burger and is around 1400 calories before anything else is on the plate. Then there is a mushroom BBQ stack again 1200 calories all in and I am not really a fan of mushrooms. I would complain to Premier Inn however I doubt that they would do anything, so I have bought myself an Air Fryer so I can cook my own food in the hotel room or at the site that I am visiting.

This, I believe, is going to make all of the difference and be the marginal gain that I need to push my performance to the next level. I will be able to roast veg and jacket potatoes and anything else that I can think of, stop me from buying any food that I should not be eating.

The Masters National Crit Championships happened yesterday at Darley Moor, I was going to enter and actually wish I had now because there were people in that race that I know that I could have hung with that finished in the bunch. That is a lesson learned. Just do it next time, even if it is just for the experience.

I have 3 races left planned, which I am treating as training races and training throughout without resting/tapering for them. I will use them for mainly trying out new tactics with no expectations of winning, as the pressure is now off and I have my CAT 3 licence.

Diabetes wise, it has been a bit strange again where I have not really been having to take any insulin with food, and my levels have been dropping at night meaning I have been back to limited sleep and where it happens so often I am kind of pre-empting it so I wake up around the times that my low levels alarm goes off.

That is where the rest of my performance jump will come if I can get my sleep and recovery dialled in. It will all add up to some really big gains, and I will be flying and well on the way to achieving my goals for next year.

Anyway you beautiful humans, dream big, keep trying never give up and alway believe that you can achieve.

[type1cyclingdan]

New goals and visualisation.

With hitting my main goal for this year in becoming a CAT 3 racer, it is time to start thinking about next seasons goals so planning can start, and also I can start visualizing those goals. visualizing how I will achieve those goals and what it is going to take to achieve them, and visualizing how it is going to feel when I achieve the goals that I decide on.

It is said that visualisation techniques can help by making you feel ike you have already been in the situation, helping you react better to what happens but visualizing what it is going to feel like when you achieve the goals gives you the feelings that you will feel therefore helping you to work that bit harder to get to that feeling for real.

When you are deciding on your goals, they have to be difficult enough to challenge you but also realistic. Once you have decided on the goals that you want to achieve, it is time to reverse engineer them. What is it going to take to achieve them? From that, you them create smaller process goals that will help you achieve the big ones, the training that you are going to need to do, do you need to lose weight (in my case yes I do) so how are you going to fuel your training but also lose or control your weight, is there equipment that you may need to get. In racing bikes, can you make yourself more aero therefore faster so it could be that you need to become more flexible to get into a more aggressive position, so you need to have a flexibility program.

Then, for me or anyone racing with Type One Diabetes you have to plan how you are going to manage your levels whilst training and racing, but this is not easy as every day is different, for instance this week my levels have been dropping without having to take any Rapid insulin with food which should not be the case because my body should not be producing any insulin. Hopefully, the more I race and try new things, the easier management will become.

I have decided on some of the goals, and it is a fairly obvious one is a race that started me on this journey of writing this blog, the Essex Roads Road Race, I have to race well and complete it but I do not just want to race well I want to podium in it. I know that when I am fully fit and at a decent race weight, so 10 KG lighter than I am now I am more than capable of achieving this, and yes, that sounds cocky but if you do not believe that you can achieve something that is exactly what will happen you will not achieve it.

There are a few other races that I would like to podium in the biggest being the BMRC National Crit Championships. This will be a difficult one as there are some fantastic racers out there, and I have ridden with a few of them in the past but I do believe that if I get my weight down and get back to my full fitness I can be in the mix and if the Stars a line then you never know what could happen, one thing that you can be certain of is that if you do not try then you will not achieve anything. When it is my time to go, I do not want to be looking back at my life thinking that I should have had a go at this and that, I want to be laying there saying we gave it a bloody good go but if I have my way I will have achieved a fair few of my goals.

Dream big, keep trying, never give up, and always believe that you can achieve

[type1cyclingdan]

One Goal for the year complete.

Race day at Gravesend circuit, I left home at 8 am for a 2 hour 30 minute drive, not before Drew my son gave me the power from his legs by a dragon ball cartoon technique. I got there in plenty of time, so I got myself ready slowly, listening to relaxing music so as to raise my stress levels to high (this really does seem to be working). My levels have been pretty good over the last few days and remained that way for the race morning.

I have ridden the course a lot in the past, so I know it pretty well. It is quite a technical course with a couple of hairpin turns and 90-degree turns that you can lose a lot of time in if you dont know them and the lines to take.

It was a small field with only 12 racers in the CAT 4 race which is disappointing to be honest as there are far fewer races lately so you would think there would be far more people taking up the oppurtunity to race. Anyway, a small field makes the racing a lot harder as it is impossible to hide in the wheels and take less wind and save energy. The race started pretty fast, and as I said, because the field was so small, it meant that because of some gaps in ability, gaps were forming so I had to work hard to get round people and close the gaps. With 15 mins gone, my positioning was poor, and 3 were getting away on the front. Again, I had to go around people to try and chase on to the group getting away.

One other guy came with me, but because one of the guys in front was his teammate, he would not work with me to close the gap which I get but as I had no team mates in the front it would have benefitted them to have 2 up there. I got really close but just couldn't get on. I held the gap for a while, but eventually, the gap started to go out, so I had a chat with Dave, the rider with me to ask him to work with me so that we stayed away from the riders behind us. I think by this point, I had already created a big gap but was starting to get tired and nervous that I would blow completely.

I needed to finish a minimum of 6th to get my upgrade to CAT 3 and it turned out that Dave needed to finish 4th to get his upgrade to CAT 3 so we did a deal that if he worked with me I would let him have the 4th place. Deal done, we worked well together for a while, but my levels were starting to go up, and my energy was going fast, Dave started to take on more of the work which I am eternily grateful for.

We now had a massive gap, almost a full lap on the guys behind us, and could see that we were catching one of the 3 that was up front, we tired to put a bit more effort in but both of us were pretty cooked so just couldn't get there. So there it is not quite how I wanted to do it, as I wanted to win, but the goal is achieved and that is the main thing.

I was speaking with Dave, the guy I was with in the race, and he said that he had asked his teammate whether he would have minded if he had worked with me to get on to the front group and he said that he wanted us to catch them so he had a teammate up there with him. For me, that would have been the ideal situation as I could have sat on a bit more. Never mind, it is what it is, I learnt plenty from that race about being in the right position when it matters.

Looking at my numbers for this race, they are ok but not great, so some work to be done, I am trying to decide whether to close the session and now really work on losing the weight as I still have so much work to do. I currently weigh 85kg and want to be around 72-75kg for next year, and with a lot more power, I think my FTP is around 300 watts at the moment, I know there is more to come.

I can now see what my levels were like during racing and training, which is hopefully giving me some insight into how my levels react at different levels of effort, or though it seems that no day is ever the same and during racing they go up faster.

So I have to do some thinking about what I want to do for the rest of the year. There are a few races that I can do, but I could just concentrate on getting myself in the best shape for next season as I have some big goals to go for and some races that I want another crack at in better shape like the Essex Roads one that I fell apart in.

Dream big, keep trying, never give up, and always believe you can achieve, and we go again.

[type1cyclingdan]

No day is ever the same

This week has been another week of lack of sleep with my levels constantly going low through the night. Last night I decided to try not injecting any insulin, there are 2 types of insulin that I have to take Levemer which is the long-lasting one that acts like your basal metabolism, and Novo Rapid which is the fast acting Insulin that I am supposed to take with a meal normal just before. My levels still dropped but not as quickly and the other problem I have is my body seems to have gotten used to getting up at the ridiculous times that I have been.

I have been taking my Basal insulin 5 units in the Morning and 5 units before bed and if I am honest the Rapid insulin is just a guess. A lot of the time I do not have to inject much if any Rapid but then when I get stressed or during intense exercise my levels can shoot up like in the Essex Roads race a few weeks back.

One thing that has worked for me from the start, if my levels have gone up is to go for a walk which has always seemed to help me get my levels under control. No week or even day is ever the same and how much insulin I need to take changes all of the time, which is really frustrating.

I am so tired today that I have decided to have an extra rest day with another planned rest day tomorrow, I have a race on Saturday so will do a pre-race activation session on Friday. I hope that a couple of days off help me feel a bit better for the race.

[type1cyclingdan]

Sleep is overrated!!!

Sleep is overrated! well people that cant sleep will tell you that, I would love to be able to sleep well but currently my diabetes is making that impossible. For the last week my sleep has been pretty rubbish with only 1 good day, the last couple of days have been particularly worse with Saturday into Sunday my alarm for low glucose starting at 3am and me giving up and getting up at 5am. Then Sunday into Monday well as I type I have pretty much been awake since before 12am, I got up smashed 10 jelly babies in the hope that that would keep my levels high enough to sleep and in theory that should have shot my levels up but nope nope nope it was not to be and the alarm was back sounding at 02:30 with me giving in and just getting up at 03:30. With out even thinking the words I said to myself as I got up was "Fuck My Life" which is how I was feeling, feeling sorry for myself, but even though sleep is a massive part of recovery from training it is what it is and letting it get to me is not going to change anything is it. 

After eating the jelly babies my levels only went up to around 5.8 and then started dropping again, there are 20 grams of carbs in 4 jelly babies so with me eating 10 thats 50 grams of carbs with no insulin which should see me spike considerably. The only thing to do is reduce the amount of long lasting insulin (Levemer) which seems to change every week, I have been having to take 5 units in the morning and 5 at night to keep my levels consistant a little while but that will be more like 3 units at the moment.

On the plus side I have had a really good week on the bike with the training rides in Exeter and Newport and then a rest day Friday and then into a tough race specific training session that on paper was hard but I smashed it with way harder number hit that what was prescribed. Sundays ride was a 3 and a half hour ride with some endurance efforts, I started to struggle towards the end but managed to get through with only one of the intervals that I could not hit as my legs would not let me.

There is a cycling magazine called Cycling Weekly which comes out every Thursday and it Publishes the results of some of the races around the country, I normally have a look to see how people that I know or know of have got on. This week I was looking and realised that the race that I was in was in there and that there I was in the CAT 4 race in 3rd position, only the second time I have been in there. The first time was years ago, again a 3rd place, but in a time trial race Back when I was a lot stronger and faster. Hopefully, plenty more additions will have my name in them, and with some first place results, actually, not hopefully there will be many first place results to come. A phrase that I say to the kids alot is "If you think you can't then you are right you can't but if you think you can you are also right you can" so I have to live by my own example hey. 

I have a few recovery days ahead of me with some easy zone 2 rides and then a hard sesion on Wenesday, I am then away for work Thurday and Friday in Avonmouth and then back to racing on Saturday with a race down in Kent. It is a circuit that I really like and is a good one to get away in in a break so I will be looking to improve on my 3rd place in the last race and with my current form there is absolutely no reason why not.

Dream big, work hard, keep trying, and never give up, and always believe that you can achieve.

#Typeonewarrior #T1D #Keeptryingnevergiveup #Wegoagain #giant #GiantPropel #Giantpropeladvanced #Giantbikes #BelieveAndAchieve

[type1cyclingdan]

A week in my life as a type one Diabetic

With my job, I can be away a fair bit as I cover the entire South from Yaxley down to Exeter. In total, I look after 11 sites, Health and Safety. With being diabetic this makes life a little harder as I have a lot more to plan for when I am away, I have to ensure that I have plenty of diabetic supplies, Needles, Tester kit, Insulin and I have to ensure that I can keep the spare insulin cold so have to carry an electric cool box.

This week I have been away, starting on Tuesday morning with a 5 hour drive down to Exeter with no real sleep as my levels kept going low in the night so ended getting up at 02:30 and leaving the house by 03:45. I spent two days completing the site H&S inspection in the Exeter site, and then yesterday drove to Newport to do the same.One of the many good things about my job is that I can take my bike and get some training done on new roads, where I live is flat but most of the time pretty windy in Exeter and Newport it is bloody hilly. I got out on the bike in Exeter, doing 27 miles and 2372ft of climbing, which in that short amount of riding is pretty hard for me as I am still a little over my best riding weight. As I was in Newport for a couple of nights I managed to fit in a couple of rides, again 27 miles for both and 1677ft for both rides.Throughout all 3 rides my levels stayed steady creeping up a little as I was pushing pretty hard especially up some of the steep hills.

Friday is a rest day and I am driving home and looking forward to seeing the wife and kids, and seeing what Carla has done to the house in my absence as she has been decorating.I will also be able to start adding deadlifts and weighted squats to my training as my Olympic Barbell was delivered while I have been away so looking forward to seeing the strength gains that is going to bring to my cycling. A couple of hard sessions have been planned for the weekend as I am not racing. So it will be interesting to see how I get on after some hard days in the hills.

Also got a new Athletes Plant based cook book to read as I really need to start adding a few more healthy options to my diet as currently I live off of Whole wheat pasta Beans roasted veg and sweet potato.Things seem to be better this week with controlling my levels even though I am away from home and have done a bit of training which is really good but it does seem to change weekly and sometimes daily. The other thing that I have noticed lately is that I could eat something one day and my levels not spike, then eat the same food the following day, and my levels fly up, which can be frustrating. As it would be nice to be able to find foods that help with training and are consistent in how they affect my levels, but this is just one of the many challenges that I will have to conquer to achieve my goals.

As ever set huge goals and keep trying and never give up as the only way you ever truly fail is if you give up.

[type1cyclingdan]

Better Days Are Coming

Life is a funny thing, one minute you can be as low as you can be and the next you can be high as the stars. Last weeks race was the worst I have ever felt after riding my bike, normally my happy place where no matter how bad life is I can get on my bike and everything is instantly better.

I picked myself up, dusted myself down, had a pretty good week on the bike, and with controlling my diabetes, I worked on my breathing and visualising how I was going to race on Sunday. The night before the race was a bad one where my levels kept dropping, so through the night, the low alarm kept going off on my phone. I eventually I ended up getting up at 03:30 and having something to eat to get some carbs in to me and shut the pesky alarm up.

I could have let this get to me and affect how the day went but it is what is, you cant change it you just have to roll with it, so I made sure I had all my kit ready and read for a while. I did my Wim Hoff breathing and listened to some calming music instead of the music that I usually listen to. It's a 100-mile drive to Darley Moor race track, so over 2 hours of driving and thinking time on the way there I was listening to the Men’s World Champs Road Race. So, not to think too much about my own race.

I got there to find out that the race had be change from 13:45 to 15:00 so I took my time getting ready and just chilled in the car listening to music that would relax me. I did my Wim Hoff breathing and then got the bike out of the car and went for a short ride. My heart rate monitor would not link with my bike computer, so there is no HR data from the day, but again, it is what it is.

15 minutes before the race started, we got the opportunity to ride some laps of the track and find what way the wind is blowing as the track is so open the wind really does affect the racing. It was pretty strong on the back straight, which, to be honest, is the perfect place for it to be a headwind for what I had planned. My plan was to sit in the wheels for the whole race and do no work on the front until two laps to go where I was going to kick on the afterburners and go for a one man break to win solo.

However in life and racing plans are never concrete you have to adapt to the conditions and what others do sometimes and I had been watching one rider in particular that looked good and like he was up for a breakaway. So when he decided to go after around 18 minutes I followed him and we got a gap never a big one but enough after around 5 laps of us working really well together one other rider joined us so we were in a 3 up break and continued to work well together. It started to rain which was really good for us three in the break as around the tight turns and the hairpin we could pick our lines and hold our speed where as the peloton would be sketchy as hell and that would slow them down.

It was really tough and I did way to much of the work into the headwind section but if I had not I don’t think we would have stayed away. In the last 3 laps my levels started to go up a lot and with a lap to go I was up to 15 and felt the power drain out of me. I gave everything I had and managed to stay away to finish 3rd, over 40 minutes in the break it was an amazing feeling to know that I was finally seeing my strength on the bike come back.

I still have a long way to go to get back to anywhere near where I was 2 years ago but it felt good to see what I was capable of when I got my levels under control before a race. The win is coming and I have not even started the off the bike training with strength work and flexibility work so plenty more to come.As I said there is a long way to go to be able to achieve my goals, one being to win a National Masters title, but Sunday showed me that I can be competitive even with Diabetes. Do not ever let someone tell you that you can not do something and do not let anything stop you from being the best that you can be. Just because we have setbacks in life, get diagnosed with illnesses, it is never the end, only the beginning of a new chapter.

Keep Trying Never Give UP, set your self huge goals that people will tell you that you are insane to think you can achieve because if you even get close that will be one hell of a mighty achievement. Be flexible with your plans, you don’t need to change them just tweak them like I did on Sunday.

I know that there will be plenty of bad days to come, but I am bloody certain that there will be more good and outstanding days to come.

Dream big, work hard, keep trying, never give up, and believe that you can achieve 👊

[type1cyclingdan]

I have finally felt the effects of type 1 Diabetes with a bit of a mental breakdown

I started this blog on Blogger but have changed over to Tumblr as it is far easier to personalise. so I will start by adding the posts that I have already created.

In my first post, I talked about how, after being diagnosed with T1D around a year ago, it had been the first time that I had really let it affect me and how I had a little bit of a mental break down.

I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes in April 2022, and to be honest, I took it in my stride. It didn't get to me and even if it did I would not let anyone know especially my kids.My whole intention was to show my kids that nothing can hold you back even Type One Diabetes and I also wanted to prove doctors wrong who told me that I would not be able to compete in cycling and would have to be on a low carb high fat and high protein diet.

I read as much as I could about diets and exercise and found that if I actually cut out meat and high fat foods it could improve my insulin sensitivity, so I went plantbased and have been really sucessful at controlling my diabetes with eating more  carbs than I have ever before.It was not until Sunday and the Essex Roads Road Race that it really affected me, my levels had been playing up all week leading up to the race. On the day my levels were high but not massively high at around 7.5, for the first couple of laps I felt really good but then my levels started flying up and my energy just drained out of me.

I had been off the front chasing a break but then had to let the group catch me as I had no legs and was fading fast and thought that I might be able to recover in the wheels. I was just about hanging on until Pan Lane and just could not hold on and had to pull the plug with my levels still rising at nearly 15.I was devastated, it was the first time that I had really had diabetes affect me and it made me feel worse that I was racing with people that I was able to ride with easily before I got ill. I was so upset that being honest, I even cried when I got back to my wife, I was even thinking about giving up cycling.

This I dont believe that I would have ever gone through with as I love cycling and racing and I am determined to achieve my goals. I was also reading a book about Luke and Tom Stoltman which helped me see that if you keep going, work hard and leave no stone unturned you can achieve great things. Tom Stoltman has Autism and he says that it is his super power. So I am going to treat my diabetes as my super power I will train harder but smarter than I ever have, I will become fitter and stronger than I ever have been and not just in body but also in mind. By doing this I will give myself every chance of achieving my goals as long as I do not give up.

I have ordered myself a 7ft olympic bar and weights and squat rack so that I can work on deadlifts and squats, which will help my leg strength and core strength. I am also doing a lot of research on how different breathing techniques can help with performance and health.I have a race this Sunday at Darley Moor race track so will give it my best, I am going to do something that I find very difficult and sit mid pack for the whole race and attack with 2 to go like what happened to me in the last race I did at this track.

I am going to write updates as regularly as I can because I would like others in my situation to see that it can be done that you can still achieve great results with T1D and that there is no shame in showing that you are struggling sometimes. T1D is a daily battle that is on your mind 24/7 with no break and can be extremely draining. Please do not feel that you have to read these, I will not be affended. Even if this blog helps one person, I will be happy. 

Dream big, work hard, keep trying never give up, and believe that you can achieve 👊

[type1cyclingdan]

I have finally felt the effects of type 1 Diabetes with a bit of a mental breakdown

I started this blog on Blogger but have changed over to Tumblr as it is far easier to personalise. so I will start by adding the posts that I have already created.

In my first post, I talked about how, after being diagnosed with T1D around a year ago, it had been the first time that I had really let it affect me and how I had a little bit of a mental break down.

I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes in April 2022, and to be honest, I took it in my stride. It didn't get to me and even if it did I would not let anyone know especially my kids.My whole intention was to show my kids that nothing can hold you back even Type One Diabetes and I also wanted to prove doctors wrong who told me that I would not be able to compete in cycling and would have to be on a low carb high fat and high protein diet.

I read as much as I could about diets and exercise and found that if I actually cut out meat and high fat foods it could improve my insulin sensitivity, so I went plantbased and have been really sucessful at controlling my diabetes with eating more  carbs than I have ever before.It was not until Sunday and the Essex Roads Road Race that it really affected me, my levels had been playing up all week leading up to the race. On the day my levels were high but not massively high at around 7.5, for the first couple of laps I felt really good but then my levels started flying up and my energy just drained out of me.

I had been off the front chasing a break but then had to let the group catch me as I had no legs and was fading fast and thought that I might be able to recover in the wheels. I was just about hanging on until Pan Lane and just could not hold on and had to pull the plug with my levels still rising at nearly 15.I was devastated, it was the first time that I had really had diabetes affect me and it made me feel worse that I was racing with people that I was able to ride with easily before I got ill. I was so upset that being honest, I even cried when I got back to my wife, I was even thinking about giving up cycling.

This I dont believe that I would have ever gone through with as I love cycling and racing and I am determined to achieve my goals. I was also reading a book about Luke and Tom Stoltman which helped me see that if you keep going, work hard and leave no stone unturned you can achieve great things. Tom Stoltman has Autism and he says that it is his super power. So I am going to treat my diabetes as my super power I will train harder but smarter than I ever have, I will become fitter and stronger than I ever have been and not just in body but also in mind. By doing this I will give myself every chance of achieving my goals as long as I do not give up.

I have ordered myself a 7ft olympic bar and weights and squat rack so that I can work on deadlifts and squats, which will help my leg strength and core strength. I am also doing a lot of research on how different breathing techniques can help with performance and health.I have a race this Sunday at Darley Moor race track so will give it my best, I am going to do something that I find very difficult and sit mid pack for the whole race and attack with 2 to go like what happened to me in the last race I did at this track.

I am going to write updates as regularly as I can because I would like others in my situation to see that it can be done that you can still achieve great results with T1D and that there is no shame in showing that you are struggling sometimes. T1D is a daily battle that is on your mind 24/7 with no break and can be extremely draining. Please do not feel that you have to read these, I will not be affended. Even if this blog helps one person, I will be happy. 

Dream big, work hard, keep trying never give up, and believe that you can achieve 👊