Made it to the Century Club!

Yesterday marked the day I hit my 100th ride on the Peloton bike!

I have mentioned this in a past post, but working out with the Peloton has been a saving grace during my time in quarantine. With not being able to physically go to a gym, I had to figure out what I can do to stay active and also what I needed to do to get to my ideal weight/shape for my upcoming wedding.

I was never a huge fan of cycling because 1.) I was not very good at it, and 2.) the classes were slightly intimidating being that I had no clue how to adjust the bike or to even clip in and out of the bike. However, my thoughts on cycling have been forever changed ever since I hopped on my first ride on the Peloton in the comfort of my own home. That 1 ride turned into 100 and there is no turning back from here!!

With the Peloton bike becoming a constant in my workout regime, a shift in my diabetes management was necessary. Not all of the rides are high intensity but my blood sugar levels always seem to plummet mid-ride. I wanted to share with you a few tricks I have learned to not just avoid these drops but to have the right tools in place to pivot when a low does occur:

• For starters, my endocrinologist recommend enabling the exercise activity on my insulin pump at least 2-hours prior to working out. Those not familiar with this, the tandem t:slim x2 pump has an exercise activity that works in conjunction with the Dexcom CGM & the control-IQ functionality that adjusts basal insulin delivery values throughout the day. When the exercise function is enabled, the control-IQ will work slightly different in that the basal insulin delivery values will be narrowed to accommodate the anticipated low that most likely occurs when exercising (It will also increase basal delivery if blood glucose levels are high during exercise). Since moving to 100% work from home due to Covid, I typically know when I will be working out so I can plan for the 2-hour exercise mode to kick in. When I do forget to enable this or do not have enough time to enable 2-hours prior to my workout, I will enable as soon as I know and then make sure that my blood sugar levels are stable and not trending low. If they are, I will eat something and hold off on hopping on the bike for at least 30 minutes to avoid that low.

• I sometimes find that taking my insulin pump off completely during a workout helps to avoid a drop in my blood sugar levels.

• When a low blood sugar does occur, I make sure that I always have an apple juice close by. *It does help that I am working out in my own home, so if I needed to hop off the bike to grab something to treat my low, I can easily do so.

Everyone is different and what works for me may not work for you. Find what works for you and make adjustments when necessary!

As my favorite Peloton instructor Robin Arzon says (who is also T1D and a total badass), "Instead of how bad can it get, let's ask how great can it be." This is an important concept to instill not only when working out but also with type 1 diabetes. The focus shouldn't be on how bad something might be or how bad it could be, but focusing on the greatness that can be achieved by giving it your all and pushing through to the other side!