Competing with blood sugars that are TOO HIGH can seriously impede my muscles' ability to function at their fullest and strongest capacity. Muscles need sugar for energy and if my blood sugar is too high, the sugar is clearly sitting in the blood stream without enough insulin to carry it too the muscles. I've competed and trained with my blood sugar around 200 and I felt completely fine, so I knew this would be a safe way to go.

I checked my blood sugar close to 20 times that day between when I woke up, during the competition, and after the competition. I started the day at 130, ate a breakfast of steak and oatmeal, took my usual insulin to carbohydrate ratio dose and drank plenty of water. During the next two to three hours before my first event (the squat), I checked three or four more times to keep an eye on everything. At one point my blood sugar got up to 233, I gave myself 1 unit to bring it down, but the Lantus increase was doing it's job well, so I came down to 155 very quickly. TOO QUICKLY.

So I ate again, didn't cover all of the carbs, and continued checking to maintain around 200. The increased Lantus dose worked perfectly because this time I HAD CONTROL over my blood sugar rising, not the other hormones in my body. This competition went so smoothly for my diabetes because I paid close attention to what DIDN'T work at my other competitions. Everything is an experiment. I truly do NOT believe there is such a thing as a "mystery high blood sugar." There is always an explanation, but sometimes we haven't yet acquired the knowledge to understand what happened. It takes time and patience!

I squatted 250lbs, failed at 270lbs. I bench pressed a new personal record of 187.5lbs. And I only deadlifted 275lbs, not a personal best, but I attempted 315lbs twice. The first attempt I finished, but the rules are strict, and I "hitched" the bar on my legs once, which is not allowed. The second attempt, I just couldn't get it all the up! But I loved trying! I've never attempted 315lbs before and the challenged was purely fun. For videos on theRaw Unity event see RawUnity's video stream, or see my blog http://gingervieira.blogspot.com (videos will be updated February 4, 2010).

Now that this event is said and done, I plan to relax a bit! Let some of my aches and pains from training heal (left elbow, left hip, left glute!) and I'll return to some light training in a couple weeks, and more serious training in a month or so. Perhaps planning to compete in a drug-tested event in the USA-PL federation during the summer.

In the end, I do powerlifting because I love it, it keeps me healthy, it motivates me to make my diabetes a number one priority, I've had to learn so much about my diabetes/body in order to progress, and I love the pure challenge of seeing what I am capable of accomplishing.