Going For The David Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge With Type-1 Diabetes
Why I Am Doing The Goggins Challenge
There are periods when you feel like you have to demonstrate something to yourself. That you’re capable of more than you think, that the routine you thought was making you progress has now turned into a comfortable one, and you need to shake things up. Perhaps you’ve been so diligent about your routine that you can’t stand the idea of even the tiniest disruption. Perhaps you want to test yourself just for the sake of it, to see how much you can take, to observe how you deal with it and use that knowledge to grow. Perhaps it’s a period in your life where you need to be challenged and see how you take the challenge and deal with it.
Whatever that is, you need to go find out.
I have decided to take on the David Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge for multiple reasons. Running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours is going to test me from many angles.
I feel comfortable handling the marathon distance now, both from a running perspective and from a diabetes perspective. I know I can complete it, I know how to fuel for it, I know how to get to the finish line without physical or glycemic troubles.
But what happens when the running conditions change from the ordinary?
What if instead of 42 kilometers you go for almost 80?
And what if you don’t run them in one go but at regular four hour intervals that will put you in a state of sleep deprivation?
Knowing that sleep deprivation greatly alter both the hunger levels and the body’s ability to effectively utilize insulin (I.e. insulin sensitivity), what can you expect in terms of blood sugar and insulin management?
How much careful do you have to be when planning your dosages, your meals, and your injection timings?
How will the body absorb this stress?
Will the mind have the stamina to stand that final run at 2AM in the morning with nobody around, hungry, tired, desperate to get over it and finally hit the bed?
I want to test the limits of my mind and put myself into a whole lot of suffering and discomfort. To my knowledge, this is the only real path to self discovery and self improvement. I have a suspect I am getting too soft and that I could and should push myself harder. I have a suspect I am capable of more, but I don’t have a way to validate the hypothesis.
I have been intrigued enough by these questions that I need to explore the answers. And running will once again assist me in this task.
Let’s break down the plan to attack this challenge.
Here are Seven Questions that have
changed my life and made me a better type-1 diabetic (and person!).
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Goggins Challenge: Logistics, Organization, Execution
Considering the inevitable lack of sleep and the immense energy needs the body is going to scream for, there will only be time for execution and very little time for thinking. Organization is going to be extremely important, hence here’s the sequence of actions I intend to apply for every loop:
Run, first loop on Friday morning at 6 AM and last loop on Sunday morning at 2 AM.
Squat and Bear Walk at the end of every loop to release stress on the body and recover faster. I am not going to do anything else before I’ve done these two.
Shower, quickly. I don’t want to lose any time that I can allocate to nutrition and sleep. Showering is also going to be the first thing to go if the schedule gets too tight. Rough, I know, but that’s life.
Eat and drink immediately after every loop, except the ones in the middle of the night. I will try to lean on green light foods as much as possible to avoid blood glucose swings. In other words: fruits and brown bread until pizza and ice-cream is the only way to survive.
NSDR and Power Naps because sleep is not going to be enough.
Prepare Clothes and Drink Again. I want to have the clothes laid out and ready to go and not think about it. These might look like minor chores, but I imagine the mere having to look for clothes in the wardrobe at 3AM with two hours of sleep in the bag can turn into an herculean effort. And I certainly won’t have energy to squander. Depending on how much I’ve been sweating, after the first three loops I might consider a quick round of washing machine.
Set the Alarm for 30 minutes before the upcoming run start. As “duh” as it seems, in order to run once every four hours, I first have to remember about it and be awake. True, it’s thirty minutes in the bed, but I want to make sure I have time to warmup a bit, eat something and go to the toilet if needed.
Rest More, Do Anything Else I all the priorities have been cared for. Depending on the time of day, any remaining time will be for work, reading, watching some TV or resting more.
The Goggins Challenge Diabetes Management Plan
My daily routines will be wrecked: I’ll be running and eating and “sleeping” at very unusual times of the day. My metabolism will be impacted because the rhythm my body is so accustomed to will no longer be there. This will have a downstream effect on my insulin sensitivity at different times of day, making the whole diabetes management a lot more difficult.
I am absolutely expecting night time spikes.
Blood glucose management will be a challenge within the challenge. Actually, that will be the real challenge. I will try to cope with it by giving my body some idea of regularity to the best of my ability, leaving my schedule around the runs untouched, if I can. That is why I will start running at my usual time of day (between 6 and 7 in the morning), even though that means I’ll run my last loop deep into the night.
During the day I am going to prioritize nutrition, hydration and mobility drills to flush the legs and release stress. I will rest by taking short NSDR breaks as needed. I am used to eating and moving while the sun is out, so that should trick my circadian rhythm for a while.
During the night hours (i.e. between 7pm and 7am, approximately) I plan to allocate more time for sleep and I will not eat unless there is some hypoglycemic situation to adjust. Why? First of all, if I fuel correctly and enough during the day, I should have the energy I need for the night loops.
Secondly, eating too deep into the night means some energies will be routed to the digestion process, which will affect my ability to sleep well and confuse my circadian clock.
Lastly and most importantly, regularity in my eating patterns will also help me keep a close-to-normal pattern of insulin injections. My goal is to minimize the risks of having too much insulin on board at the start of any of the day or night time runs. I don’t want my blood glucose to shoot down during one of the many four milers.
I am relatively blind to the rhythms and efficiency of my metabolism and insulin sensitivity at night, so I don’t know what to expect if I happen to “fuel” a 3AM run with food that I have to manage with a bolus. I will not take that risk unless it is a real need, such as the case I am starved and out of energy, or I notice I am approaching hypoglycaemic territory.
The Food Plan: Mastering Diabetes Green Light and Yellow Light Foods
I’ve stated this earlier: this will be a very good test for my blood sugar management skills: lack of sleep, unprecedented running volume, unprecedented running schedule, unprecedented metabolic stress. All the factors are there for some crazy things to happen, but I have a few things under my control to minimize the blood sugar rollercoaster and preserve my time in range.
Given the huge energy expenditure it’s easy to go into a calorie deficit and even easier to jump straight on calorie dense foods (i.e. junk food). But junk food is a threat to my blood sugar and will cause swings and hyperglycaemias. Therefore I will try to stick to my usual foods (whole grains, fruits and a small amount of legumes and vegs) and I will stay away from those unless I am desperate. The strategy here is pretty straightforward.
First, I am going to log everything I eat, inject and do in the Decision Tree Journal, so that any bolus dose will have a strong logic behind (that is, as strong as I will be lucid with four hours of sleep in two days). Second, I won't use refined carbs unless it is an emergency. I will lean on green light choices like fruits (bananas, oranges, apples, dates), and yellow light choices such as brown rice and whole bread for the most part. If I see I can't keep up with the calories, I will introduce more fatty foods such as hummus, avocados, olives and nuts. No refined oils. No excess proteins, as they are not functional for an endurance test like this anyway. Then I will drink tons. Water, coconut water, water with lemon, infusions, and anything liquid and with some electrolytes really. I will drink more than I think it is necessary. And I will not drink anything with sugar in it.
The Insulin Dosing: Less
Less. I’ll simply take less. As I was typing the paragraph above I realized how sharp and intentional my food plan must be. Logically, my insulin dosing must ensue.
I am not going to take injections at least in the two hours before a run - unless my blood glucose gets crazy high and I need a correction, of course. The reason is simple: I don't want to run with insulin on board, as that is an additional risk factor I don’t want to have to deal with. I will thus try to take any insulin I need as first thing when I finish a run, let it enter into circulation as I am showering and then eat. This should be enough for it to be gone before the upcoming round.
I will start by taking 70% of my basal insulin on day one. I might make it 50% on day two depending on what happens.
For my boluses, I will start with 80% of my usual ratios and reduce or increase as needed, depending on how my body responds and how much sleep is going to alter my insulin sensitivity. I already foresee that my bolus ratios are going to change wildly and that I will have to deal with many hyperglycaemic trends induced by the lack of sleep, so I will pay attention to any corrective units I might need especially if close to a run.
To be safe, I am most likely going to micro-dose and split that amount: if I am used to get 10 units, I will get 80% of it, which is 8. I will then split those eight units in two: 70% at meal time, and 30% a half hour later or so. This is going to help me in two ways. I will avoid sudden drops in case the original 8 units were too much - because I have only injected 70% of it, so I can just skip the remaining 30%. I will also be more in control of potential spikes after my carb heavy meals, because I will have my remaining 30% ready to hit as soon as the situation requires it.
The Sleep Plan: Compensating With NSDR
Sleep is going to be a problem. Sleep is the pillar of health, and its absence makes everything more shaky, diabetes management included.
I am conscious that sleep has to go for the few days of the challenge, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a plan to get as much rest as possible, though! I am going to secure at least 30 mins of deep relaxation after every run using NSDR protocols. I’ll have a few hours of real sleep if I am lucky, and my cortisol and adrenaline will probably make it harder to fall and stay asleep to begin with. That is why I trust the immense recovering power of ten to forty-five minutes NSDR and Yoga Nidra sessions, depending on the need and time of day. I have been using these long enough to be confident about their effectiveness in compensating for the sleep debt.
The idea is to bank in as much “Sleep Credit” and relaxation as possible during the challenge, so that I can use that credit to deal with the disrupted night hours. I’ve heard about the concept of “Sleep Credit” in episode 6 of Andrew Huberman’s Guest Series with Dr. Matthew Walker, and I was sold immediately.
Enjoy What The Challenge Brings
Enough with the planning. I am here to enjoy the process of testing my limits and learning some lessons. I am sure I will do many mistakes as much as I am sure I will learn from each and everyone of them.
This “solo” ultra-marathon experience is an occasion for me to learn how my body behaves when brought to some extreme. Having four hours intervals is ideal because splitting the 48 miles will give me occasion to validate wether what I am doing is right or not, fix it and test it.
I have never done something like this before, but I know this is my first step into a new world I am excited to navigate. Endurance sport is the best tool I have to explore my soul, my limits, to put myself under scrutiny, to evolve, to become a better human.
I am excited to see how this adventure is going to change me, and I am ready to embrace these changes.
And of course, we’ll catch up next week to see what happened!
