The unholy trinity again, in Sewanee, 41º, partly sunny, winds N-NW. I really didn't feel like it today, but I still pulled a season PR best avg time, despite the wind and having been on the bike a lot, and being a bit heavy.
Hoka trainers on
stretches, drills, bands, 100m, 50m
Hoka Rocket X2s on
3x300m w/ 3 min rest - 48.45, 49.85, 51.38 (49.89 avg)
First time under 50 sec avg. The last one was tough and I was on the ground for a couple minutes.
Was still 3 lbs heavier than I need to be. 141.9 lbs after workout.
Doing the blood glucose test again. Very interesting results:
188 - 7 min after workout
132 - 35 min after workout
102 - 65 min after workout
Dude 188 is not healthy on a regular basis even if it is transitory. I’ve figured out how to keep it 150 or lower even with the most intense intervals. Often not over 140. Previously it was in the 170 plus range, once 205. Not good. I think I provided some background links but basically you need NOT to train in a fasted state and especially NOT consume simple sugars in a fasted state then train. Eat a predominantly fatty meal with some protein 1 hour before. Eat your big meal 2 or three hours before and some nuts 30 minutes before. Glucotoxicity is real. You can significantly calm down these spikes. Normal response - but normal response doesn’t mean healthy. 140 or 150 with feeding changes is a normal response as well, and much healthier.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it unhealthy when it only spikes for a brief time?
DeleteBlood glucose at that level is toxic and should be avoided, no matter the duration. Especially for an aging person. Your unholy trinity should be renamed to unhealthy trinity. Intense exercise in a fasting state amplifies gluconeogenesis. Carbs before intense exercise do as well, but not like fasting. The human condition is that we get some idea of what is healthy irrespective of objective data that says otherwise. The data is their. You can measure it and find a way to mute the response to avoid hyperglycemia. It’s completely doable if you change things up.
DeleteI wonder if a glucose spike is inevitable no matter what? I'm usually not totally fasted, I typically have about 8oz of milk w/ coffee + a handfull of almonds up to 2 hrs before training. Sometimes some diluted juice with a vitamin pack. On race day, I'll have a piece of bread with almond butter or oatmeal 5 hr before race time and drink a juice vitamin mixture on the way to the race.
DeleteYou are right it is inevitable with such intense efforts due to a 30 to 40 time rise in catecholamine hormones. So endogenous glucose production goes up 20x or more yet insulin only 3 to 4x. T2D diabetics will hit 250 or so. I suspect the glucose spike is worse on older people simply because our pancreas is not as young and we have fewer beta cells so less insulin is secreted. For me I don’t have to be fasted long, 4 to 5 hours, to generate numbers like you. A can of sardines works for me 30 to 60 minutes before doesn’t sit great. Again it won’t stop it just it won’t go as high, like 140 for me most the times now sometimes 150. No longer 170+. Since I’m wearing a CGM it is easy for me to see what works and what doesn’t work. I have a proven insulin secretion defect (2 hr glucose tolerance test with 5 samples insulin and blood glucose, T0, 30,60,90 and 120 minutes but almost zero insulin resistance from training lifestyle which is good) which explains why I’m susceptible to the spikes but yours are just as high. My defect is likely genetic. I don’t see the numbers that you and I are getting in studies they do on young (30 ish) athletes. They are in the 140 to 150 range. So I think there is some truth to what the pundits say that really hard exercise is not so healthy for older people.
DeleteIf you had a CGM I’m pretty sure you would have seen numbers over 200. You typically won’t get the highest number you hit with a finger stick as it is either on its way up or on its way down.
ReplyDeleteI believe high fats suppress it. I think it is necessary to have fatty acids in circulation. If the fats are too early they aren’t freely in circulation anymore. It’s working for me anyway. I wouldn’t do a high fat pre load before a race obviously.
ReplyDeleteThe liver is undeniably the source of the glucose spike through gluconeogenesis and also processes fatty acids. “The liver is the central organ for fatty acid metabolism. Fatty acids accrue in liver by hepatocellular uptake from the plasma and by de novo biosynthesis. Fatty acids are eliminated by oxidation within the cell or by secretion into the plasma within triglyceride-rich very low density lipoproteins.” Although the liver can multitask I think (hypothesis) if it is busy handling fatty acids it has a little less efficient at producing glucose.
ReplyDeleteBTW other than the glucose spike I think your 3x300 is a great workout for your event. CGM shows with each successive interval BG goes up. Zone 2 lowers blood glucose as fatty acids are the energy substrate and the action of muscle contractions brings the glucose receptors to the muscle surface allowing the muscles to uptake glucose. So brisk walking in between runs, better yet a slow jog, might keep it from going as high. Extending the rest period in between runs would reduce it but would be a different training response. For instance you could run faster but take full recovery (10 minutes?) as a test and see where it is after 3 runs. I think the workouts that “coach” posted here previously wouldn’t spike it as high so I’m sure there’s training work arounds.
ReplyDeleteBummer, my trick didn’t work today. Hit 224 48 minutes into a hard ski. Last week I didn’t get over 150, but it felt harder today. Heart rate was similar. I drank beer and binged on food last night and didn’t feel particularly well this morning so maybe that’s it. I’ll live cleaner today and ski the same route tomorrow and see if it is lower. My blood sugar response was really, really bad today. Definitely unhealthy. Disappointed. I don’t want to give up this sport so hope I can figure out what went wrong today. I don’t qualify for drugs yet but sglt2 inhibitor or glp1 incretin are pharmacological options, the later proven to preserve beta cells. Interestingly they have significant benefits besides blood sugar control- significantly reduce the incidence of CVD events (heart attacks, strokes) and reduce chances of developing CKD or if you have CKD will slow progression.
ReplyDelete