Day 48 - Medtronic Mini Med 640g Pump Trial

This evening was my first time back on the athletics track as part of our Winter training sessions, since the season ended for me a few weeks ago. We went back to training on Sunday, but the week's previous sessions have been on the sand dunes or circuits. But being on the track is the terrain that allows for the most speed and can have amongst the greatest demand on the muscles and therefore blood sugar levels. Tonight was also a session that I'd been dreading, because it's known as 'turn abouts', but at least I had the MiniMed 640g on my side with the Enlite sensor and Smart Guard. Although prior to the session, I had no idea what would happen with the sensor and its connection to the pump, but I was excited to find out!

Before the start of my session my glucose levels were 8.5mmol, I like to take on sugar when they're in single figures pre-training, to make sure I've got some reserves of energy. The session began like all good track sessions, with a long jog warm-up with the team, and then stretching, walking and dynamic drills. The session itself was 4 x 5 - 60m runs at 100% with 30 seconds recovery and it's the 30 seconds recovery that kills you off. Because when you think about it, the momentum of the run moves you past the 60m mark, so you've got to not only stop running (because the recovery stopwatch starts when you cross the line) but have to get back to the finish line whilst remembering to breathe, before starting the next run... it's tough! The session is designed to test you at the same time as putting you on the path to fitness, so the physical exertion is extreme, which has a knock on affect on glucose levels.

After the first set of runs the MiniMed suspended itself in anticipation of my glucose levels going low, but far from panicking me, this gave me confidence- because I felt like I had the safety net of being told by Safe Guard if my levels dropped any further. So rather than having to rely on my spidey-senses (hypo awareness symptoms) the pump would have told me if I was low. The level that the pump suspended on after the first run was 6.4mmol. After the second run I was running at 6.3mmol, so feeling consistent enough to continue the session, again with confidence. When the session was over and I'd regained my ability to breathe again, I did an old fashioned blood test as well to ensure all was okay. My actual blood sugar reading was 4.0mmol, a little lower than Safe Guard/ the Enlite sensor said, but the system had kept me out of the hypo zone for the whole session. Without me needing to take off my pump! Safe Guard also gave me the head space if you will, to just think about the training session, rather than the diabetes-related thoughts that always fill it.