Navigating the triathlon world with diabetes
Andrew here, I've been training for and competing in triathlons for nearly 30 years. I was diagnosed with diabetes 13 years ago. I'm still figuring out how to train for one and live with the other, along with being a good husband, father, and curious techy guy. I was introduced to the triathlon world in the early 90's while living in San Francisco, and I was lucky enough to compete in the Big Dance (Kona) in '98. Since then I have lived/trained/raced in Switzerland, Quebec, and the Canary Islands. At 57 I'm still competitive, but years of experience have made me a much smarter athlete. Read on for more!
Summer 2025 race season
Back in March I started thinking about the 2025 summer race season. At that point it was still cold, my HbA1c was at around 7.4, and training inside was the name of the game. Cold morning walks to the pool, cold afternoon walks to the gym, and what felt like cold walks downstairs to the…
Back in North America
After six years in Las Palmas, we recently moved back to Montreal. We’ve been here a bit over a month and I have to say I’ve noticed some differences in my regular training. The Swim Gone are the days where I simply hop on the motorcycle and cruise down to the beach for an open-water…
Black line or wavy green?
Back in Gran Canaria, I went for a swim at Las Canteras last week. After a summer of swimming in the local pool in Montreal, staring at the black line while doing my laps, it was refreshing to see a changing environment below me – wavy green grass, fish, coral, all the “natural” things. And…
Interesting open water swim last week
It was a beautiful morning at Las Canteras when I went for a swim last week. Low tide was at 11:11, I was in the water at 10:45 at it was looking like a nice day. I waded into the water to about waist deep and then took a few breaths in preparation for the…
It has been a few months since I stopped using a CGM
Late last year I made my first order for FreeStyle Libre 3 sensors. Before this, I had been using the 2, but I was excited to try the newer, smaller, and more feature-packed version. They were great! And then it came time to order a second batch, in December. So I placed the order, and…
Race Report: Challenge Gran Canaria 2023
Race morning, stomach jumping around a bit, but overall quite calm for a few minutes before the start of a half ironman race. Once again I found myself at the start line of the Challenge Gran Canaria race, this time doing the “medium” distance (half ironman) as opposed to the “short” one I did two…
Tough but good
Ocean swim this morning. Yes, I live in the Canary Islands, a tropical paradise, and yes, I’m lucky to be able to train outside throughout the year. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be really tough sometimes. Like this morning. But it was a good one, one of the best ocean swims in a…
Stop the snack!
This is going to be a tough one. Snacking between meals and triathlon training seem to go together so well. A tough post-breakfast swim needs to be followed by a banana, or an energy bar, right? Not so fast. It might sound like a good idea, but for us diabetic triathletes it might not be…
Back in the swing of things
Good things take time. I know this is the kind of platitude that we hear all the time, but it is the truth for me as I am finally able to swim again, along with the biking and the running. I’ve spent several hours over the past weeks at Playa de Las Canteras, swimming during…
The road ahead
It has been a few weeks, ok, several months, that I have been on the road to recovery following my shoulder surgery. Today at my physio session I was told that things are going pretty well, so the next few sessions will move to the “readaptation” phase. In other words, time to get back to…
FreeStyle Libre 3 sensors, pretty cool
Yesterday I received my first batch of FreeStyle Libre 3 sensors. Here in Spain they have been available for a while, but in other countries the wait goes on. I first heard that they were being released while I was in Canada this summer. After using all my #2 sensors, I was excited to try…
Just Move
It has been a bit over four weeks since my shoulder surgery. The nasty black and blue is fading from my arm and shoulder area and my mobility is slowly coming back. The muscles are going to need a lot of physio, as I cannot place my left hand comfortable on my hip or the…
Surgery +3 Days
I had shoulder surgery Friday morning, spent the day/night in the hospital, then returned home Saturday afternoon. It is now Monday, just before noon, and I’ll go back in today to have the bandages changed and to find out what the rehab/physio plan will be. Life will slow down for a while, but that is…
The Long Road to… Surgery
After returning home from the disaster of Marbella 70.3 I decided it was time to see the doctor for my shoulder. I scheduled an appointment and the next week was able to see him. After a few minutes of tests, he agreed that it was a substantial injury and recommended an MRI. But this was…
One. Little. Piece.
And just like that, the race was over before it began. I arrived in Marbella yesterday, ready to go through all the formalities today (Saturday), and then to race tomorrow. But it was not to be. When I put my bike together last night it was shifting strangely. I decided to let it be and…
Race Prep – Physical & Mental
A lot goes into preparing for a longer race, in this case a 70.3. First there are the logistics, like signing up for the race, then, depending upon the location, you’ll need to reserve your flight (both you and your bike), hotel reservations, transfer or car rental reservations… This is just the beginning, the easy…
Recovery
“Bad things happen in threes.” You’ve heard the saying before, and it is correct in this case. Third injury in a pretty short time span. First was the calf injury, which stopped me from running for two months and sent me to the physiotherapist for multiple sessions. Just as this was getting under control, I…
Injury Days
Training for triathlons is a healthy experience – most of the time. Sometimes, that nagging calf during the run session turns into something serious. I had that problem about five weeks ago. I’ve been to the physio four times, I’ve tried to run a few times… and each time it feels like a vise on…
Confinement Days and the ICU
The Canary Islands are a beautiful place to live and train. But in the early days of Covid-19 Spain was a tough place to be, as we had, I think, the strictest confinement measures imaginable. No leaving the house other than for groceries or to take out the trash. No outdoor exercise. No outdoor anything.…
Group Rides and Trust
Trust is a curious thing. Sometimes it takes months, even years to trust someone. Sometimes it is much quicker. Sometimes trust is gained without verbal exigence, but instead through psychological cues. Like when you are part of a group ride, leaving your fate in the hands of your fellow cyclists. I never did many group…
Race Report: Volcano Triathlon
The first race of the season is always full of question marks – did I train enough, did I overcome that specific problem, am I really ready for racing to start? I felt pretty good coming into the Volcano Triathlon, an Olympic-distance race on the island of Lanzarote based at Club La Santa, one of…
Motivation for Early Season Training
For training this always seems to be the hardest part of the year. Early January, the holidays have just ended and (depending upon where you are in the world) winter is in full-swing. The first races of the season probably are months away, and the idea of getting back into the pool right now just…
When Sport Becomes an Afterthought
Our sport world is its own little bubble, where we rely on set methods and training structures, repeatable sessions and measured growth. But sometimes the real world intrudes and interrupts our pretty little existence. Sometimes family issues disrupt and we must learn to roll with it. Nothing is worse than the immanent death of a…
Off-Season
Down-time is difficult for triathletes. There is always a sense of guilt, like some activity should always take precedence over whatever cerebral moment is underway. We get itchy, ready for action of any kind even though no one is checking on our progress, no one is checking on our numbers today. But if it is…
Balance and Sacrifice
The sport of triathlon is a slippery slope. The all-consuming ethos of forever-training does not work well with outside interests or family life. At a certain point a balance must be found in order to avoid constantly sacrificing other aspects of a fulfilling lifestyle. The alternative is ending up alone with a bunch of medals…
Post-Race Motivation
When you finish a big race, there is always a lull for a good amount of time when your motivation ebbs and you seriously question why doing this to yourself is a good idea. The longer the race, the longer the lull. I did a 70.3 10 days ago and I’m just getting around to…
Race Report: 70.3 Lanzarote 2021
You’ve read them before, so I’ll try to make this one interesting. I did a 70.3 last weekend, and as usual it was harder than anticipated. I did the training, put in the hours, planned as much as I could, but in the end, it was simply a tough day on a tough course. Oh,…
Getting To Know Your Body
Triathletes know their bodies well. All the training, all the nutrition – you can feel the rhythm when things are working and when they are not. Sometimes the legs are heavy and the belly feels too full to train, while sometimes everything is fantastic and the body is ready to go. I think diabetes has…
Mind Games
What wins races, the body or the mind? How important is it to “out-prepare” the competition? After years of racing, I’ve come to the conclusion that planning and preparation are my secret weapon in this sport. I can out-think the competition and visualize so many scenarios that nothing catches me by surprise. I’ve played through…
Murky Open Water
Open water swimming can be a nice change from the monotonous back-and-forth of the pool, but it can also get into your head. This happens to me regularly when I swim in murky water with little visibility. Usually alone. Usually in the early morning. Yes, I’ve seen the movie Jaws many times and know how…
Team Integration for the Lone Wolf
Triathlon has always been a loner-type of sport for me, training and racing done solo for personal enjoyment. Sure, there have been occasional trainings with friends, but mostly it was me alone doing the bulk of the work. Things changed when my family started coming to races, but the training continued to be a solo…
The Glucose Yoyo
Diabetes turns glucose reading into an art form. You can prick your fingers, you can wear a CGM, but after a while you get to know your rhythm, when you’ll be up and when you’ll be down. But sports can really throw things off, to the point where you feel one way but your readings…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
© 2026 Tridiabet
Tridiabet 