When Sifan Hassan crossed the end line of the TCS London Marathon in April, she was carrying the Nike super-shoe prototypes on her toes, a pair of inexperienced shorts and a singlet on her physique and an enormous smile on her face. Barely noticeable on the again of her left arm was a small, white biosensor, too.
This machine was a steady glucose monitor (CGM), made by Abbott, and which works alongside an app created by an organization referred to as Supersapiens. At present all the craze in endurance sport circles, it’s successfully the world’s first human gasoline gauge.
In recent times athletes have been in a position to measure, amongst different issues, their coronary heart price, physique weight, sleep patterns, stride size and cadence. But now, due to this collaboration between Supersapiens and the Abbott Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor, you may add blood sugar fluctuations to the listing.
Historically utilized by diabetics, athletes like Hassan are carrying a CGM to assist with pre and mid-race fuelling. The Dutch athlete isn’t paid to put on it, however her group has clearly seen the advantages. Runners like Eilish McColgan and Eliud Kipchoge, in the meantime, have formal hyperlinks with Abbott and, consequently, have mentioned their sugar stats with Supersapiens.
Sifan Hassan (Getty)
Exterior athletics, biking groups comparable to INEOS Grenadiers use it and it’s notably common in triathlon, the place Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden have used it on their solution to successful Olympic and Hawaii Ironman titles. There are even reviews of world-class athletes in non-endurance occasions comparable to pole vault utilizing it as properly.
By giving the consumer real-time visibility into their blood glucose ranges it permits them to fine-tune fuelling methods for coaching, racing and restoration. In marathons and ultra-endurance races it helps you keep away from the dreaded “bonk”. Exterior of sport, it may possibly additionally show helpful when bettering your weight loss plan and way of life typically, though the Supersapiens app isn’t designed for individuals with diabetes.
The stats supply an perception into blood glucose ranges, which in flip gives clues as to what the athlete needs to be consuming and when. Briefly, it’s taking the guesswork out of fuelling.
The way it works
A round adhesive patch sits in your arm with a small filament embedded slightly below your pores and skin. This biowearable is pressed into your physique, the place it sits for 14 days, choosing up glucose readings from the interstitial fluid. As soon as inserted it takes about one hour for readings to start out displaying and you’ll hyperlink the app with Garmin, Apple Well being, Coaching Peaks, Nolio and Wahoo.
I used to be given the chance to try it out and, for me, probably the most difficult a part of the testing course of was inserting the sensor within the first place. A small blue contraption is used to use it with a “push and click on” mechanism, nevertheless it comprises a barely scary trying needle. Regardless of being advised that it was nearly all the time a painless expertise, I used to be nervous about making use of it. However, as you may guess, I didn’t really feel a factor.
It’s extra doubtless you will discover the value extra painful. A subscription to purchase two biosensors prices €150, for instance.
As soon as the sensor is utilized the glucose readings quickly start to seem and are nothing in need of fascinating as you see your sugar ranges rise and fall, typically dramatically, following varied meals, snacks and drinks.
The readings are calculated minute-to-minute, too, however for those who miss any time attributable to not being near your cellphone then you definately merely scan the sensor and it updates the lacking stats by way of Bluetooth.
For most individuals, common glucose is of course regulated between 90-110mg/dL (with fasting values between 70 and 90mg/dL and post-eating values between 110 and 140mg/dL). However one in every of my first shocks was {that a} breakfast bowl of granola despatched my ranges capturing past 200mg/dL higher ceiling as a result of excessive degree of sugar contained.
I’d beforehand thought this explicit model of granola was “wholesome” however clearly not, though I used to be later suggested that I may probably management this “glucose rush” by including protein powder and elements like chia seeds to the cereal.
After utilizing the CGM for just a few weeks, I had an informative name with David Lipman, the director of utilized science and content material at Supersapiens, who suggested: “Attempt to minimise variables and optimise one factor on the time. So for those who’re making an attempt to unravel the granola drawback then don’t attempt to clear up that and your future drawback plus one other drawback.”
It’s typically good in case your glucose ranges are secure by means of the day, too, and there are many ideas that you should utilize to forestall glucose rushes. Having a drink with some apple cider vinegar earlier than a meal or going for a stroll straight after consuming can blunt these rushes, as an illustration.
Making sense of the info
One problem I confronted when carrying the CGM is definitely having the ability to interpret the data on the app however a sequence of easy-to-read articles within the app or on the Supersapiens web site, along with automated emails full of useful ideas, helped me navigate by means of this new world of glucose monitoring.
I additionally discovered that, fairly merely, carrying the monitor makes you much more conscious of what you’re consuming. For the 14 days of carrying the machine there isn’t a doubt my weight loss plan improved. I shortly realised that reaching for chocolate or a fizzy drink would trigger the glucose ranges to rocket, for instance, so I discovered myself “gamifying” the method.
Lipman has been carrying a sensor since January 2021 and he smiled once I talked about my granola story. “I as soon as made a do-it-yourself mushroom risotto from scratch,” he stated. “It took me hours, however took my glucose above 200 a very long time. I’m nonetheless scarred by the reminiscence!”
Like myself, Lipman is a former membership degree middle-distance runner who moved into marathons for the problem and clocked 2:45 in Berlin final 12 months earlier than enhancing to 2:42 in London. “The suggestions you achieve is the place the facility lies,” he says of the Supersapiens course of.
Apparently Lipman tells me that most likely the primary glucose monitoring for lengthy distance working passed off on the Boston Marathon in 1923. There was a transparent hyperlink, too, between the “sugar degree” on the finish of the race and the “bodily situation” of the runners. These with common sugar ranges appeared pretty regular whereas these with low ranges confirmed indicators of unconsciousness, irritability, dizziness and different distressing signs.
Previously 20 years, Lipman provides: “The Gatorade Sports activities Science Institute and [physiologist] Andy Jones actually pushed issues alongside. Train physiologist Asker Jeukendrup additionally did some nice work which was actually foundational and spectacular. Within the Nineties it [use of CGMs] actually took maintain within the biking peloton greater than the working world. For cyclists and particularly ironman triathletes, vitamin is entrance of thoughts for them. It’s so vital.”
One other athlete who has utilised Supersapiens is runner-turned-triathlete Emma Pallant-Browne. A former European under-23 cross-country champion, she says: “From expertise I’ve seen how dangerous issues can go while you don’t gasoline properly. I’ve had many performances affected by fuelling, so I understand how vital it’s to my well being and outcomes.
“When you can know what you’re placing in your physique, you may’t understand how your physique is responding to it or utilizing it. Once I first heard about Supersapiens I knew that it may actually assist my efficiency by having some actual information to work with fairly than relying solely on really feel.”
An unfair benefit?
Abbott is the sponsor of the World Marathon Majors sequence and Supersapiens are title sponsor of Ironman, however not everybody approves of the usage of CGMs in sport. Some sports activities scientists have criticised their use and argued over whether or not it’s good to emphasize about statistics which might be typically tough to decipher. The world governing physique for biking – the UCI – has additionally banned their in-competition use as they really feel it offers riders and their groups an unfair benefit.
There aren’t any indicators of it being banned in athletics and, in precept, it appears little completely different to a humble coronary heart price monitor or one of many many sensible watches that measure innumerable performance-related metrics.
The value will likely put many avid athletes off, however for those who can abdomen the fee and are dedicated to getting probably the most out of your potential then I might suggest making an attempt out a CGM for a brief spell at the very least.
The preliminary perception into what meals trigger your glucose ranges to rise and fall is price it. As any dedicated endurance athlete is aware of, nailing that elusive PB might be priceless, too.
This function first appeared within the Could situation of AW journal, which you should purchase right here
