Edinburgh New Years Day Triathlon Ten Months Post Lap Band

chrisoliver · January 3, 2008

I had a adjustable laparoscopic gastric band performed in Glasgow, Scotland at the Nuffield Hospital (Mr David Galloway) on 7th February 07, I am a surgeon myself (Trauma Orthopaedic & Hands) and live in Edinburgh, Scotland. Pre band I was 162Kg. On New Years Day at 118Kg I entered the Water kayaker. The Edinburgh Triathlon consists of a 400-metre swim, 11-mile cycle ride and a 3.5-mile run. I finished slowly in just about two and a half hours.

I'm not sure anyone has any experience with adjustable laparoscopic gastric banding and triathlon or endurance sports? If there is anyone out there please contact me.

I guess being catabolic for most of the year my liver has little capacity to store glycogen, it's said you run out of energy at about 90 minutes which is exactly what happened. I did take on isotonic Fluid and a banana at the end of the cycle but I guess not enough carbohydrates (ironically we have all been avoiding carbs all year!). However I did finish. I would like to do another triathlon and other endurance sport at some point, I would be better being less than 100Kg I guess. Luckily no joint pains and just a bit stiff. The finish was a fair bit emotional.

I have run a blog since my surgery at Chris Oliver Blogspot this was intended to relay my experiences, however it has grown somewhat and in the UK there has been a lot of interest from the media. I hope the blog will be useful to other bariatric surgery patients and help the development of bariatric services in the UK.

Note my weights and measures are in mostly metric.