Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The Best 90 I've Ever Gotten

After a recovery week my coach sent me back to the gym and sent me back hard. Finishing an Ironman is not easy, finishing it with my crazy expectations is terrifying! Since I'm transitioning from a power/ speed athlete to an endurance athlete it is really important that we build a foundation, strengthen my slow twitch muscle fibers and get my body used to aerobic instead of anaerobic workouts. So yesterday Coach Egg came after me with a vengeance and a nice fresh Welcome to the World of Triathlon.

On my workout log account I read 45 minute continuous run at an incline of 1 on the treadmill, no faster than a 9:20 pace. Coach knows I like to go as fast as I can and holds the reigns pretty tightly for the reasons discussed above. However, to date my longest run with diabetes has been 40 minutes - out of the 5 or 10 runs that were supposed to be 40 minutes long I have been able to complete just 3 or 4 of them, the rest were cut short because of low blood sugars. In the 3 or 4 that I was able to complete my blood sugar was in the 70s by the time I took my last stride. So yesterday I went to the gym with some trepidation.

I've been speaking with Rich Weil a certified diabetic educator and exercise phyisiolist, whose also on the board for DESA. Rich and I have talked about why it's difficult for me to maintain my blood sugar during longer runs and his one suggestion so far has been to start my runs with my blood sugar above 185. An unbolused clif bar will get my blood sugar up to about 170. Yesterday I complimented my carrot cake (delicious) clif bar with an Accel-Gel. I had the clif bar about an hour before my run and then had the Accel-Gel when I first walked into my gym's locker room - about 10 or 12 minutes before my run. 14 minutes into the run I had a second Accel-Gel and when I finished the 45 minutes I was greeted by this reading on my meter:

Sorry it's a bit tough to read - but that's a 90 for blood sugar - and the After Exercise setting! Can't wait till Coach makes me run 3 times a week, bike 3 times a week and swim twice a week as she promised in my weekly e-mail to me; as long as I keep getting 90s post workout I'll do all of that with a huge smile.

4 comments:

Dances with Corgis said...

Wow I really thought this post was going to be about a round of golf!

I am still in awe that you toughed out 5 miles on the dreadmill.

Anne Findlay said...

Congrat's on your success! A 90 is a happy sight after a hard workout.

As you increase your exercise load, don't forget that your insulin needs may go down. At least this was the case for me.

Another trick that helps is to turn your pump down or even off 30-45 minutes before you exercise if your blood sugar is in the 90-100 range. I've been experimenting with it a little. It worked well before my spinning class yesterday but when I tried it this morning at a "boot camp" type of class, my blood sugar went up.

My BG's are usually very stable first thing in the morning. I can go run for an hour without eating anything and my BG will usually go up a little, if it moves at all.

Unknown said...

Congrats! I think it's truly remarkable and no small feat, what you're doing. I think disconnecting the pump is a viable option, as well.
Awesome!

Shannon said...

It sounds like you have the start of a good system!! I hope it stays stable for you.

I'll have to check out the online coaching you have going on.