CampWILD Registration is Open! Sign Up and Change Your Life Today!

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Mari Ruddy

It’s almost summer and it’s time to sign up for camp! No time to waste, take charge of your health and join TeamWILD at CampWILD! For ANY fitness level!

CampWILD is a five-day Training Camp for diabetics in cycling, triathlon, run & walk for adults with type1 or type2 diabetes who are looking for guidance and support for how to exercise with diabetes. Come learn with expert athletic, diabetes, nutrition and mental skills coaches. Camp will be to held in Boulder, Colorado, June 20 – 24, 2012. Please register today!

CampWILD provides the opportunity for people with diabetes to work side by side with expert coaches, expert diabetes educators, sports dietitians and mental skills coaches who work using a solution-focused, integrated approach in a live, person-to-person setting. Friends, family members and other “type 3 supporters” are also welcome to attend CampWILD.

Topics to be explored include:

  • Exercise Physiology and Why it Matters When You Have Diabetes
  • Understanding Insulin & Medications for Exercise
  • How to Use Food as Fuel
  • Carbs and Why It’s Ok to Love Them When You Are an Endurance Athlete with Diabetes
  • Bike Handling Skills for Cyclists & Triathletes
  • Run Form for Efficiency
  • There is no such thing as a hill – the Psychology of Suffering
  • Self Talk for Athletes

CampWILD attendees can be of nearly any physical fitness level.   Continue reading →

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Meet the Founder of Diabetes Blog Week: Karen Graffeo

Posted on May 15, 2012 by heatherl

This week, I want to bring your attention to the 3rd Annual Diabetes Blog Week, a diabetes blogging event created by my friend, Karen Graffeo. It started on Monday, but it’s not too late to join in.

Karen was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in December 1979 at age 11.  She is grateful to have left the days of urine testing and exchange diets behind in favor of finger sticks, carb counting and insulin pumping.  She blogs at Bitter-Sweet and is an active member of the Diabetes Online Community.  She also advocates offline and is involved with two local JDRF chapters.  She shares a home in Connecticut with her husband, her cat, and a whole lot of yarn.

How do you define “Athlete”?

To me, an athlete is someone who makes a commitment to train regularly at some physical activity.  I tend to look more at the consistency of training than at the level of skill, because we can’t all be pros but we can all be athletes. Continue reading →

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Come to CampWILD and ride a beautiful bike!

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Mari Ruddy

TeamWILD just partnered with Bicycle Village to bring an awesome deal to all CampWILD campers who need to rent a bike for camp. Check out this fun video that explains what bike you get to rent!And sign up for CampWILD today!

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Gone Riding

Posted on May 13, 2012 by heatherl

Dear Readers,

Today, the weather was too nice to be inside, both where I was visiting family and here when I got home. So, I rode twice today. Once with my parents and once with my friend and teammate, Scott Johnson. I’m entering my last build week of training before tapering and lead up to my big Tour de Cure ride. I’m feeling stronger and faster and fitter. I’m also feeling an acute lack of hours in the day. Please forgive some potentially sparse posts in the near future. I’ll be back to our regularly scheduled content soon!

-Heather, red rider

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My Best Tip for Exercise

Posted on May 10, 2012 by heatherl

Just put on your gear.

Mari at the Tour de Cure!

Before I got my diabetes alert dog, my favorite time to work out was early morning. Now, her walks take that time slot without exception and I find myself struggling to fit in my rides after work and her evening walk. The lengthening days are helping, but I still find myself drawn to the couch after a long day at the office.

But, I have a training plan to follow if I’m going to make it through my event so I’ve found the one thing to get me going. I simply convince myself to put on my cycling kit (I’m thinking this would work with running shoes or a swimsuit, too). Once I have the lycra on, my lazy self gives up and the momentum takes over, putting me on the bike and riding up my street. Even Becca (the superdog) knows what zipping up my jersey means: she trots into her kennel, turns to receive her treat, and settles in for a nap while I ride.

It seems silly, but, for me, it works every time.

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One Easy Way to Help Find a Cure for Diabetes

Posted on May 6, 2012 by heatherl

Best-selling novelist, Brenda Novak, is hosting an on-line auction in support of the Diabetes Research Institute.

Among the hundreds of items offered is a TeamWILD program of the winner’s choice. You can bid on that here. If you’re already training, perhaps you’ll find something else of interest to support DRI in their quest to cure diabetes.

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Today’s Tips on Finding Motivation to Exercise

Posted on May 3, 2012 by heatherl
One of TeamWILD’s favorite Type 3s (one who supports a person with diabetes but doesn’t live with it him or herself) is Kevin Masten of Bright Hive. Here, he shares with us some of his exercise motivators.


1. I exercise because it’s the perfect counterpoint to the amount of time I spend inside working behind a computer. Running is a great break from technology (although I do sometimes listen to music). It engages my mind in a different way and when I do come back to work I find myself both physically and mentally energized.


2. Exercise is great for my dog. Labrador retrievers are notorious for becoming lazy as they get older. My lab is fit, at a healthy weight and has the energy level of a dog that’s younger than he really is. That makes both of us happy!


3. Exercise is a good financial investment. I pay for my own health insurance. Staying healthy will help keep my premiums as low as possible.


4. I’m inspired by TeamWILD athletes!


What gets you moving?
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Meet Inspirational Athlete with Diabetes: IronAndy Holder

Posted on May 1, 2012 by heatherl

This week we interview Andy Holder, founder of the Iron Andy Foundation and Iron Andy Challenge as well as challenge contributor at Insulin Nation digital magazine.

Here at TeamWILD we are really excited to have the opportunity to start working with IronAndy. He’s just super inspirational and he’s very dedicated to fitness and having a solution-focused attitude about diabetes and wellness, which are in total alignment with what we do here at TeamWILD. Expect to see more about IronAndy here on the TeamWILD website! Thanks Andy for doing our interview!! We love learning more about you!

Andy was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 36. He was determined to overcome this disease and decided to do something extraordinary in an effort to motivate and inspire other people struggling with diabetes, or any chronic disease. Despite never having done a triathlon before and not knowing how to swim, he accomplished what most consider to be the ultimate test of mental and physical endurance: the Ironman triathlon.

How do you define “Athlete”?

Someone who is committed to being pro-active with their health – eating right, exercising on a regular basis…but who takes that lifestyle to the level of competing with others. Whether it’s a local 5k road race, charity bile ride, or full Ironman. Continue reading →

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One Small Shift, One Big Change: Diabetes & Exercise

Posted on April 29, 2012 by heatherl

At TeamWILD, we are guided by our mission to empower people with diabetes to take charge of their health by teaching how to be an athlete first, and a person with diabetes second.

This sounds slightly radical, right? For those of us who spent the summers of our youth finding a quiet, shady spot in which to read a book, it can be a big leap to self-identifying as an Athlete, never mind the diabetes part.

But, it’s not just the bookworms who take some time getting used to the Athlete mantel. As I put together my vision board, I pulled words and images from several health and fitness magazines. Not one of them used the term “athlete” anywhere in their pages. Not the ads, not the articles, not the headlines or captions. All offered advice on getting fitter, stronger, healthier, faster, and finding the right gear. None suggested setting a goal of becoming an athlete, much less starting with that attitude shift. They don’t even refer to the professionals as athletes (Bicycling Magazine came closest with “pro cyclists”). The absence of the word makes it seem an unattainable abstract concept. 

I can attest to the positive shift in the way I take care of myself because of this new title I’ve adopted. Putting diabetes second does not mean ignoring it. In fact I probably pay it even more attention, just with a different perspective. It seems to me this could easily apply to anyone, living with a chronic condition or not. Identifying as an athlete positively affects how you address the myriad choices you face every day.

Because I am training for an epic (for me) bike ride, I address my choices about what I eat and drink, how much I sleep, how often I test my blood sugar, etc. with those 100 miles in mind. Do I always make the best choices? No. (for a host of reasons including the fact that being my kind of athlete does not pay the rent) But I do consider those choices differently. Where I might have eaten an ice cream cone as a too-frequent act of defiance against diabetes and the d-police, now I consider how much I want it and how it affects my overall well-being. After a long ride, it might be the perfect thing. In the middle of rest week, I find I don’t mind skipping it.

I’m not saying this is a quick, easy fix, but it is the first mental approach to a significant lifestyle change that makes sense to me and is one I feel is worth working to hold onto after I finish that century – starting with CampWILD where I will and you can take diabetes and exercise to the next level!

I must admit, this Athlete attitude has not spilled over into my logging habits. Something tells me I’m going to need at least another season to really adopt that good habit.

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Top Tips for Managing Diabetes and Exercise at High Altitude

Posted on April 26, 2012 by heatherl

photo taken near Breckenridge, CO

 

TeamWILD’s HQ is in Denver so many of our team activities take place in the mountains (at least it seems that way to those of us from lower elevations). CampWILD is in Boulder in June, “foothills” I hear, but they looked mountainous to me in March. Our own Marcy Robinson offers some tips on managing your blood sugar and exercise when you’re not accustomed to high altitude.

Everyone reacts to altitude differently and therefore you just have check more often and drink plenty of water so that dehydration doesn’t add to the mix of high blood sugars.  If you are coming from sea level? (or lower altitude) then initially your body will sense that as a stress and your BG’s will increase/be more insulin resistant (elevations higher than 5,000 feet are considerably more of an adjustment to the body and it’s somewhat linear as to the amount of stress increasing with the altitude).  However, everyone eventually adapts, it’s no longer a stress and your blood sugars will come down as the insulin resistance from the stress hormones subsides. There is no way to say if this is going to be on day 2 or day 5 - it’s up to your body and unique variables at that time.  If you are exercising then initially that will negate some of the insulin resistance but after your body adjusts then the exercise will increase your insulin sensitivity since your body has to work harder at altitude for any given effort and then you’ll be reducing your insulin.

In summary: Check often, drink your water and be prepared to make adjustments!

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