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I have always loved athletics. In my family, playing sports was as natural as breathing. My grandfather was an Olympic medalist in the 1920 Olympics, my mother was an all American hockey player, my father was a swimmer and for my brothers and myself participating in sports was just part of our ...
i wonder if there's actually any advantage to being type 1?- i know this sounds absurd, but perhaps direct insulin administration creates a more efficient fuel utilization?- the only reason i bring this up is remembering the speculation involving Armstrong, who went from a good competitor pre-cancer to dominating the field post-cancer- so 1 hypothesis was that the culling of the sickness combined with subsequent anabolic treatment optimized his lean body mass/fat ratio leading to increased performance- anyway, it's always inspiring to see professional type 1 athletes- it was Nietzsche who said that turning a weakness into a strength is a fine and rare art!
In the August 2005 Bicycling Magazine, there was a fantastic article about Lance's physiology!
"Some of the traits that helped Lance Armstrong rise from the cancer ward to the Tour de France podium are intangibles: courage, persistence, fortitude, focus, a love of meticulous planning, an affinity for lucky outcomes. When it comes to physiology, however, the answer -thanks to an amazing recently released 8 year study of the six-time TdF champion's body- is clear down to the decimal point. From 1992 to 1999 Armstrong combined a weight loss of 15.2 pounds with an 8 percent improvement in muscular efficiency for what the study's author, noted cycling physiologist Edward Coyle, Ph.D., calls a "remarkable" 18 percent increase in power-to-weight ratio."
In addition, Lance's VO2 Max (measurement of how much oxygen the body can consume) ranged from 70.5 to 81.2/ml/kg/min. Lance's VO2 level is the highest for a cyclist ever recorded. Miguel Indurain's was 79 and he was a 5 time winner of TdF.
All these figures help the physiologist to test one major piece to an athlete's arsenal of power, and that is how fast to they recover from a hard workout, through Lactate threshold, LT, the point at which athletes are working so hard that their muscles accumulate more lactic acid than they can flush. So that stiff achey feel you have the next morning after a hard work out is lactic acid. I had that last week after a hard run and tried to figure out how to go up and down the steps without having to go up and down the steps! Ouch, that was a tough 2 days!
Part of Lance's amazing ability to succeed, both as an athlete and cancer survivor, is directly linked to his LT. When tested they found that Lance's body started to clear lactic acid from the muscles 2-3 minutes after he stopped riding. If I had started to clear Lcatate acid from my quads, I would not have been sore the next day!
Most of us mortals are still churning out lactic acid the next day!
When he dropped 15 lbs, during the cancer treatment, his muscle efficiency went up by 8 percent. I've known marathoners who look anorexic, but eat like crazy. Those of us who work with marathoners talk about that fine line between super fit and too thin!
As for your question about fuel efficiency and type 1, I would actually bet that it does not. I think it is like any other athlete, that a balance must be struck. A diabetic body will have some different needs to strike that balance.
What does all of this mean to the average human being? A healthy habit of exercising beats an apple a day!