For months I have been terrified of a morning workout. I was fearful that I wouldn't be able to get all my nutrition in before a ride or run without waking up at 4 in the morning! So this morning I decided no matter what I was getting on my bike and I was going to hammer for an hour.
The previous night I set up an alternate basal pattern that changed my rate at 5am from .35 units per hour to .1 units per hour. At 6am after 7 hours of sleep I woke well rested to my alarm and a blood sugar of 121 (off to a good start). I filled my water bottle with 2 scoops of cytomax then gulped it down. I chased the orangey mix with 1/2 a clif bar; by 6:20 am my blood sugar was 185 so I knew a great workout was well within reach.
At 6:25 am I began my ride with my legs burning, my eyes dreary and my mind racing. Coach called for a 15 minute warm up, then 3 sets of zone 3/ zone 2 intervals at a 10 min/ 5 min split followed by a 10 minute zone 2 cool down. (FYI Coach you listed this as a 75 minute ride but it only added up to 70 minutes). After the warm up my legs felt strong, my eyes opened wider, I sipped on my Ironman cocktail and began to hammer away. My heart rate spiked, as I entered zone 3 with "Right Now" by Van Hallen blaring on my Ipod I smiled - for the first time since I started chasing this crazy dream the fear of morning work outs washed away. The seeds of doubt left my mind and in their place confidence grew, confidence that all these hours of work and gallons of sweat are beginning to pay off and for one morning I had control over the fears that remain due to diabetic uncertainty. At the end of my ride, drenched in sweat I wore the biggest smile my tired muscles could hold.
3 comments:
Awesome! I Must say you are an inspiration. You helped me get my butt in gear and start hitting the gym!
congrat's Ed! It is interesting how much you have to eat to keep your BG's up during a workout. This just shows that figuring this out can be so individual at times. This morning I did my cycling class (60 minutes with 30 min at zone 5a) on 1 GU and had high BG by the time I was done. And I rarely reduce my basal rates for morning workouts. I assume this means your body might be producing insulin during exercise? Either that or you are not releasing as much glucagon? Very interesting. Congrat's on having a great workout. That is such an awesome feeling.
Anne - from what I know, one body can be completely different than another in terms of where it gets its energy. Some athletes' bodies are trained to get more energy from burning fat, while others get more energy from consumption of carbohydrates.
You can even take 2 people who have the same 10k time and find drastic differences in how they get their energy during exercise.
Post a Comment