The Sea Peptide Swimmers came together for the the Swim Around Key West thanks to Erin Spineto, who in 2011 sailed solo 100 miles down the Keys on a 22′ Catalina sailboat and chronicled her journey in Islands and Insulin; A Diabetic Sailor\u2019s Memoir<\/a>. <\/em>Spineto chose the the Swim Around Key West as her first attempt at competitive distance swimming because the water is warm (a boiling 84-86 degrees) and the course keeps swimmers close to shore. (She, too, wants to stay clear of lurking sea life.)<\/p>\n If our group completes the 12.6 mile swim (distance divided evenly between three swimmers), we will be the first team made up entirely of athletes with type 1 diabetes to do so. But, Spineto\u2019s goal is not just to complete the swim. Through this endeavor she wants to encourage people with diabetes to find their athletic passion and pursue it, and to develop and share protocols for managing blood sugars while in extreme conditions.<\/p>\n Long-time athlete and San Diego native Renee Moreno, who has been living with diabetes since the age of eight, is the other member of the Sea Peptide Swimmers. With her partner Amanda Morrow, Moreno owns and manages Pannikin Coffee and Tea<\/a> in La Jolla, and she founded Insulin on Board Sailing<\/a>, an affiliate program of Insulindependence. Pannikin Coffee and Tea\u2019s proximity to local beaches makes it a convenient gathering place for the distance swimming community in San Diego, and the caf\u00e9 has given the Sea Peptide swimmers a welcoming home base for post workout meals, coffee, and camaraderie. Though the swim around Key West will be Moreno\u2019s first time competing in a long distance swim event, she is a natural in the ocean. In 2006, she placed second at the Women\u2019s World Championships of Bodysurfing (Oceanside).<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time I fell in love with the sea, I had already been a type 1 diabetic for years,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom bodysurfing to longboarding to sailing, I\u2019ve had to adapt my diabetes management to whichever way I chose to enjoy the water that day.\u201d<\/p>\n In her application video for the Insulindependence 2013 Athletic Achievement Award<\/a>,<\/a> Moreno didn\u2019t mention her competitive past, instead, she talked about the stuff that ultimately inspired me to sign up for the Swim Around Key West.<\/p>\n \u201cSome days it\u2019s head high and firing, and some days I just swim out and float,\u201d she said. \u201cMy athletic achievement is not in how many contests or races I\u2019ve won or how far I\u2019ve traveled for the perfect wave. It\u2019s in the sacrifices in between. It\u2019s in hand pumping water out of a flooded boat after a storm. It\u2019s in pulling on a cold, damp wetsuit before the sun is up. It\u2019s in hauling a 10-foot longboard a half-mile through soft sand at an unknown break. It\u2019s running out of gas on your way to the beach and pushing on for a few good waves. My athletic achievement is the stuff nobody gives you trophies for. It\u2019s in overcoming the mundane hardships and the excuses and all the reasons not to get in that water and move.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreno\u2019s words in that video were the nudge I needed to join to the Sea Peptide Swimmers. She reminded me that it\u2019s in the process where we learn and grow the most. I hadn\u2019t been swimming much and didn\u2019t have competitive swimming ambitions, but I needed help staying accountable to an exercise routine that I\u2019d been neglecting in the months prior to my invitation to join the team. I decided it didn\u2019t matter what my activity of choice was, as long as it kept me moving.<\/p>\n We had three months to perfect our diabetes management for 4.2 miles of swimming and so I quickly reached out to people with diabetes who have made a lifestyle out of ocean activities to see if they had any advice on managing diabetes in the open waters.<\/p>\n What the saltwater teaches us about diabetes<\/strong><\/p>\n Bec Johnson, part-time mermaid, and General Manager, Telethon Juvenile Diabetes Family Centre<\/a> in Perth, Australia, was diagnosed with diabetes in 2001 and swims long distances in cold water. She freedives, scuba dives, delivers yachts on long haul journeys across oceans, and spends hours being pulled across the water by a wind-filled kite. \u00a0\u201cIt’s taught me about the physiological responses my body has to unusual conditions,\u201d Johnson said. She experimented with different approaches to managing diabetes in order to handle the impact of body temperature, stress, sickness, and variable activity levels on her blood glucose during these activities.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are lessons in acceptance, courage, and adaptability, and I’m so glad I’ve learned them.\u00a0 Living my life around the ocean has made me stronger, smarter, and more at peace with my diabetes,\u201d says Johnson.<\/p>\n Like Johnson, former professional surfer Scott Dunton has great respect for the ocean. \u201cThe ocean is so amazing it can raise my blood sugar level,\u201d says Dunton. \u201cThe adrenalin rush of freediving with some of the deadliest sharks in the sea, spending a half-hour holding onto a shark, too excited to even pee in my wetsuit, can send me from a blood sugar level of 70 mg\/dl on the boat to 300 mg\/dl.\u201d He says that overall it\u2019s worth it, because the ocean helps him cope with daily diabetes life. \u201cThe swimming, diving, and surfing helps keep me in shape and helps my body to adjust and keep up with the problems being a diabetic can toss at me.\u201d<\/p>\n The water can both challenge and improve a person\u2019s relationship with diabetes, and my teammates and I have a lot to look forward to as we prepare for the race in Florida. As for diabetes management, because it\u2019s different for everybody, we\u2019re going to have to figure it out simply by doing it ourselves.<\/p>\n Since we started training, our group has completed over 320,000 meters, almost 200 miles, in the water. We\u2019ve each surpassed our previous lifetime longest swim. We get out of the ocean with wrinkled lips and tongues. Our armpits are chafed and the soft scabs ooze green goo. We are perpetually hungry.<\/p>\n My phone now hosts a lengthy group message feed that relates to diabetes management in the water, \u201cDo any of you want to try wearing your Dexcom sensor in your arm today to see if it will communicate with the receiver in the boat?\u201d asked Katie Bringe (also type 1) who will be kayaking beside us on race day to toss us our nutrition. \u201cI have mine in my butt and a receiver in a waterproof pack,\u201d replied Spineto, \u201cIt works great, I\u2019ll show you the system and data today.\u201d<\/p>\n When I\u2019m standing on the beach with the ladies before a swim, diabetes isn\u2019t the first thing on my mind. We’ve prepared and feel in control of the diabetes variables. Our combined diabetes knowledge is our biggest asset.<\/p>\n Instead of diabetes, I think about the jellyfish that stung Moreno, the seal lion I saw jump over her, and the two gray whales that breached at the quarter-mile buoy yesterday.\u00a0 As race day approaches, I\u2019m confident that the only thing out of my control at any given moment will be the distance between me and the closest Great White.<\/p>\n You can follow the Sea Peptide Swimmers on Twitter through race day on June 28th: @erinspineto<\/a> @reneepantalones<\/a> @BlairR<\/a> @SwimAroundKW<\/a>, and check back here for our post-race report for information on what we learn about all the diabetes stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If our group completes the 12.6 mile swim (distance divided evenly between three swimmers), we will be the first team made up entirely of athletes with type 1 diabetes to do so. But, Spineto\u2019s goal is not just to complete the swim. Through this endeavor she wants to encourage people with diabetes to find their athletic passion and pursue it, and to develop and share protocols for managing blood sugars while in extreme conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":36250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1457],"tags":[942],"yoast_head":"\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Sea-Peptide-Swimmers.jpg\" "\\"The")
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