Type 1 Diabetic Triathlete - the road to Cairns Ironman 70.3

I've started this blog to share my journey to return to long course triathlon racing, for the first time since my diabetes diagnosis and the addition of two children to my family. I'm hoping to generate some ideas and discussion about how to prepare for and race endurance events and how to manage type 1 diabetes.
Now, for a little bit more background - I'm a 36 year old from Brisbane, Australia; a father of two delightful young kids.  I've been competing in triathlons for about 17 years, including a lot of shorter events and some long course races.
In 2010, I had some unexplained and dramatic weight loss. I was also very tired and struggling to recover from training sessions. Initially I put it down to the life changing event of bringing our first child into the house. When I realised I had lost 10% of my body weight despite eating everything I could get my hands on, I went to visit the Doc and was whisked away for blood tests which confirmed I had type 1 diabetes (with a blood glucose level – BGL – in the 30s!).
After a short stay in hospital to learn about diabetes management and commence my insulin injection training, I was soon back at home, researching to find out if I could continue my triathlete lifestyle.
I quickly learnt that not only could I continue to exercise and race, but the exercise would help me to manage my diabetes.
I discovered a type 1 diabetes exercise support group based in Melbourne, called HypoActive (www.hypoactive.org). The group was founded by Monique Hanley who had raced as an elite level cyclist and had been part of an all diabetic cycling team (Team Type 1) that won the Race Across America.
HypoActive aims to inspire the type 1 community to live a more physically active lifestyle. They consist of many type 1 diabetics across Australia of varying exercise experience, sharing their views and learnings on how to manage insulin and blood glucose levels while exercising. This can be quite tricky and daunting, so it has been so helpful to hear what other type 1s have been able to learn from their own experiences.
I've participated in a number of events with HypoActive since my diagnosis, with the highlight being the annual Brisbane to Gold Coast ride. Each year we ride together and share stories of managing our BGLs and exercising.
Since my diagnosis, I've been able to put together some consistent periods of training and I have been able to beat my previous personal best times for a marathon, Olympic distance triathlon and half-Olympic triathlon.
I've set my next challenge as a return to long course triathlon. I've selected the Cairns Ironman 70.3 triathlon in June 2013. With two children in the family and both my wife and I working, it is now more of a juggle to fit my training in. I've scaled back the number of hours of training compared to my previous races, pre-kids. However, I still believe if I am organised and disciplined, I can produce a great race in June.
Each week, I’ll provide an update on how my training is going, discuss some of the challenges I face, or start a discussion on what training or diabetes methods work best for endurance events.