[kstreeter513]

Originally Posted by Scratch

26.2! Yeah, work on extending the long runs. I'll be interested in hearing how that goes for you. Now see, I'm probably not even going to consider making a run for 26.2 until 2010 at the earliest, but one of the things I've been trying to figure out is whether I just follow the classic marathon plans of long runs of up to 20 miles, then trusting that the training will be enough to handle an additional 6.2 miles on race day, or if as a diabetic I should make some sort of plan to go into the distance beyond 20 miles so I can find out what it'll be like out beyond the glycogen wall.

I don't know, I really don't know right now.

Do you eat or drink any kind of sports drink while training? I am on a pump so it is a little bit different for me, but I have found that if I cut my basal back to 20-25% of the original basal rate, and suck down an energy gel (25 grams carbs) every 4 or 5 miles, I can run without ever going low and finish with a great BG.

I have also found that if I cut my basal back any more, even if I don't eat anything while running, the ol BG spikes. But if I leave it @ 20-25% I get low after an extended period of time. Short runs (up to 7 miles) are no problem. But if I don't eat on my long runs...look out BG.

As for my training, I am following the traditional training plan. My long runs will top out at 22 miles (what another 4.6 after that anyway). I am very excited though and will let you know how it goes.

[Scratch]

Do you eat or drink any kind of sports drink while training? I am on a pump so it is a little bit different for me, but I have found that if I cut my basal back to 20-25% of the original basal rate, and suck down an energy gel (25 grams carbs) every 4 or 5 miles, I can run without ever going low and finish with a great BG.

Often I don't have to eat or drink anything. I try to get my blood sugar level to around 140 to 150 mg/dl at the beginning and I will leak around 10 carbs worth per hour. 10 carbs comes out to around 35 mg/dl of value for me, so starting at that level, I can go around 2 hours without needing to add any fuel.

I don't know why this is, based upon what I've read about other type 1's experiences with blood sugars and insulin levels during exercise. I've got some sort of strangeness to my metabolic situation my daily basal shot works just fine and I can go exercising fairly easily with hardly any worry of going low. Although that's not entirely true, back in late 2007 when I switched over from my old regimen of 2 NPH shots, correct with R, feed the insulin, to MDI, my basal shot was much larger, 24 units. On heavy exercise days, like when I would go golfing, walk and play 18 holes, my blood sugars would tend to plummet.

But I kept getting more active having more freedom with MDI and I became active every day. Even when I went down with the broken leg, then I began doing upper body strengthening and maintained activity level. So now I run on a basal shot of 15u per day and it works very nicely, except for my tendency to drop a lot from 10 PM til around 2 AM. And I also have to use 1 unit of Novolog in the morning to supplement my basal, so I guess my basal is more like 16u per day.

I guess it's all because of how active I try to be and that my metabolic variance isn't a widely humping curve that everything works very nicely for me without having to worry about using a pump to adjust basal rates.

[yellowlab03]

Hey Scratch, are you running with your pump on? I take mine off for runs, but mostly because our PT shorts are a pair of Ranger panties... Well we call them something else, but it wouldn't really be appropriate here.

Also, are you on any type of work out program like crossfit?

And last but not least, what is a normal diet for you?

[Scratch]

I don't pump, I use injections/MDI to have a basal/bolus regimen.

My working out basically consists of running for aerobic activity, variations of pull ups, chin ups, and push ups and other bodyweight exercises to improve strength.

Diet, I just try to eat a balanced diet with a good mixture of dairy, vegetables, fruits, and sources of protein. I have to avoid all barley, wheat and rye products because I probably have celiac sprue.

[yellowlab03]

Thanks, the reason I ask is that I am getting ready to start training for Ranger school and I need to train a certain way, but at the same time manage my BG levels. Eating whatever I want anymore isn't an option because i need to aclimate myself to strenous workouts on about a 4,000 cal diet. I figure getting my body used to that for the next year will greatly help for when I start the course and am forced to eat about that.

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by yellowlab03

Thanks, the reason I ask is that I am getting ready to start training for Ranger school and I need to train a certain way, but at the same time manage my BG levels. Eating whatever I want anymore isn't an option because i need to aclimate myself to strenous workouts on about a 4,000 cal diet. I figure getting my body used to that for the next year will greatly help for when I start the course and am forced to eat about that.

You got quite a challenge in front of you, I'd guess. I think you're right to think that you need to start getting ready and training now, there's no substitute for not getting started on that and with you being a type 1 diabetic, you've got a lot more to handle than a regular person doing the same training.

Definitely keep yourself a log of everything. I find it very helpful for me that I can look back at what I've been doing and what effects have happened.

---------------

As far as my working out, I ended up pretty much cancelling all the weekend stuff I had originally planned. I hit the fatigue wall. It doesn't surprise me that it happened, I've been going after stuff pretty vigorously for the past month and I had a recovery week 2 weeks ago, but when you're trying to push things to limits it's pretty tough to get everything planned so that I would have hit the fatigue wall today instead of Saturday morning.

In essence, my recovery week started 2 days early.

I'm pretty happy with the progress I've made. All the push ups I've done the past month, along with handstands, have made the triceps and delts begin to show up some. I took a photo on Saturday and there's some noticeable development since the last photo taken back in early October.

[Scratch]

5 cold miles today. I don't like the wind but I got through that. I'm going to have to be tough about this, forecast over the next 2 weeks is for more cold weather like this.

Legs felt much better with the extra rest I took.

[kstreeter513]

Scratch,
Were have you been at lately? I really like reading your posts. Is everything alright? Or have you just taken a few recovery days?

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by kstreeter513

Scratch,
Were have you been at lately? I really like reading your posts. Is everything alright? Or have you just taken a few recovery days?

I seem to be taking a bit more recovery to get energy back up, both physically and mentally some. Since about Wednesday, haven't had much motivation to run, felt good enough to run on Thursday but the weather threw a curveball with a fairly steady snow falling in the afternoon which made me decide to get on home rather than trying to run on a possibly slippery park path followed by me maybe having to drive over some nasty roads to get home.

Friday, just couldn't get motivated to go run after work.

Same thing yesterday, although I did put in 51 minutes on the exercise bike.

Today I'm feeling the itch again to run, but not enough to go out in 20 degrees with a strong wind. That's just a bit too painful right now for me to deal with.

I think I just needed something of a break mostly. It might be real good that I did and I'll get out there Tuesday afternoon and get to run on super rested legs.

[Scratch]

I got out there today for 8.2 miles after work. Everything felt okay.

In other fitness kind of stuff, this morning I finally started getting good comfortable holds of what's known in yoga as the crow pose. It's also sometimes referred to as a frog stand and it's a step along the way to doing tuck planches. It took a bit of time and observation to shore up the weaknesses that made finding and holding the balance point of the crow pose, so it felt really cool to begin holding some of them for 15 to 20 seconds at a time today.

[Scratch]

Did 5.75 easy miles in the cold and wind. I think last week's mental break did me some good, it had been getting some like I felt pressured to run and taking a week off let me remember the idea of running for how much it can be enjoyed.

And each time the wind kicked up and slapped me in the face today, I thought how much better it was to have that than being in a cast like I was this time last year.

[Scratch]

I got lazy yesterday, didn't run. But I did 6.2 miles today, so I got 20 miles in for the week. Less than what I had been planning, but at least I'm getting in quality aerobic time.

I built a couple of ab wheels this morning. Oh man, those things are evil with the way you have to contract the abdominal muscles.

I'm getting very close to being able to kick up into a handstand, yesterday I even had a momentary sense of balance with my legs up and just my hands underneath me, it took me so much by surprise I let my legs drop, then I couldn't find that sweet spot again. Still need more lower back strength to keep the core stable up there.

[Scratch]

5 miles tonight. Will try for more on Thursday to close out the month, then hopefully do a pair of runs on the weekend to end up with a total somewhere up around 30 miles for the week.

[Scratch]

I couldn't stay out as long as I would have liked, had to make do with a 4.1 mile effort tonight. I'll try to get a good long run in on Saturday and follow up with a somewhat longish recovery on Sunday.

It may not have been bad for the month to be only around 84 miles. The prior 3 months I had gone up over 90 miles in each month which was something I had never done before in my life so it might have been good to step back, run most of these miles very easy and not try to be, I don't know, heroic about fighting through weather.

[Scratch]

All right, let's see. I didn't run both days on the weekend. I got the itch to golf on Saturday and decided to skip doing a long run that day.

I ran yesterday, 9.3 miles.

Not exactly sure what I want to do with this week right now.

Improvement in shoulder and lower back strength paid off some this morning when I was able to get both feet away from the wall and hold a couple of handstands for about 3 to 5 seconds each. That's not bad at all, thinking back to 2004 when my right shoulder went through the worst part of frozen shoulder and I couldn't lift my right arm up over my head. Now I've got it strong enough to support my own weight.