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.
What inspires you?

Personally, I’m inspired by progress.  When my husband and I were training to run a 5K, I loved seeing how much farther we could run without a walking break as the weeks went by.  It helped me want to keep working to improve every week.
How do you move past obstacles to your fitness goals?

This is a question that I’m still struggling to answer.  I have a very hard time sticking to a consistent fitness routine.  My greatest success was when I trained for and ran several 5Ks a couple of years ago.  That worked because I signed up for them and paid the entry fees a few months in advance.  Seeing the race date approaching on the calendar kept me from slacking off on my training.  It also helps to find an activity you enjoy.  My husband and I used to take ballroom dance lessons.  It was a lot of fun and also a guarantee of 45 minutes of physical activity at our lesson each week. As our training progressed the routines got harder and we had sore muscles to prove it!

How do you reward yourself?

I like to knit, so often I will make a deal with myself that if I get all of my exercise in for a week I can spend Friday afternoon knitting and watching chick-flicks.
What is something about you that might surprise us?

I’m terrible at sports, probably because I’m kind of klutzy.  But in high school I was one of the flag spinners in our marching band.  It was very good exercise and a lot of fun, but I did manage to hit myself over the head with the flag on more than one occasion!

WILD stands for We Inspire Life with Diabetes. How do you GO WILD in your life?

I’m more of a rule-follower than a wild woman, but I do try to challenge myself to do something that scares me every so often.  It’s such a rush when you do a great job at something you were petrified to do!

Editor’s note: I think Diabetes Blog Week is WILD!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LssebCwVkI

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

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.

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.

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.

What inspires you?

I am constantly inspired by the children and young adults who are living well with diabetes. This disease is relentless and oftentimes mind numbing. So, to be able to stare that down at such young ages and still live without limit is what inspires me and pushes me to do what I do.

How do you move past obstacles to your fitness goals?

I live, and preach the mantra that there is only one thing in life we have complete control of – and that is our attitude!  Moving past fitness goals, living an extraordinary life, inspiring others…all in the face of diabetes is only possible with a positive attitude!

How do you reward yourself?

If you are committed to eating right, exercising and pushing yourself 90% of the time…I feel strongly that you need a 10% off-switch.  You need to have balance, and reward yourself.  For me, that usually means a great meal out and a few glasses of wine.

What advice would you like to give someone just starting to think of him/herself as an athlete?

If someone is just starting out as an athlete, I would tell them to become an expert in THEIR disease, and get a good handle on how exercise effects their blood sugar across many forms of exercise and in many situations.  I would also tell them to get good at changing and adapting, since this disease always changes. Finally, being someone who had to learn diabetes and learn how to be a triathlete on my own…I would urge them to seek out a coach and/or training program. Being an athlete with diabetes is too tall an order to “wing-it” or go it alone.

What is something about you that might surprise us?

What might surprise people about me, after learning that I am a 7-time Ironman Finisher – is that when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 37, I had never done a triathlon before, I didn’t own a bike, I wasn’t a runner AND I didn’t know how to swim!

WILD stands for We Inspire Life with Diabetes. How do you GO WILD in your life?

The way I go WILD – I feel lucky that I didn’t have to deal with type 1 diabetes as a child.  Everyday I think about a new child being diagnosed and having that prevent them from being extraordinary – so everyday I try to improve myself and reach new goals so I can inspire children to use diabetes as a catalyst to be extraordinary.

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.  You just have to want to be active and have the desire to learn about diabetes and fitness. We can accommodate accomplished athletes also! Our TeamWILD staff is flexible and very talented.

CampWILD has three tracks: cycling, triathlon or run/walk.  All campers will participate in diabetes, nutrition, sport specific and mental skills clinics throughout the fast-paced five day camp experience.

The Head Coach for CampWILD is Michael Kelly, who has raced in over 17 Ironman distance triathlons and he has coached athletes of all abilities for the past five years. The diabetes and nutrition team is headed by Marcey Robinson, MS, RD, CDE, BC-ADM and Jennifer Smith, RD, CDE, both of whom have extensive diabetes and exercise experience, including coaching countless diabetic athletes to top athletic performance for  Ironman and other endurance sporting events.

CampWILD values Mental Skills to get the brain of the diabetic athlete to the start and finish line along with the body, thus Coach Ginger Vieira of TeamWILD and Living-In-Progress will be at CampWILD to guide campers to top mental performance.

CampWILD will be held at the Millennium Hotel in Boulder, Colorado, an ideal location as the hotel has an Olympic length pool, easy access to the bike and run trails and a high quality catering department that understands the nutritional needs of CampWILD participants.  CampWILD will begin on Wednesday, June 20 at 3 PM and conclude on Sunday, June 24 at noon.

To sign up for CampWILD please click here. If you have any questions, please contact us through the Contact Page or email us. Or call. We want to hear from you.

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.

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!