[samdavid6]

Hi, I'm a newbie and just joined this forum. Was wondering if someone could shed some light.

I still havent been called by the diabetes clinic and am totally clueless in the interim.

I'm a big fan of a healthy lifestyle. I go to the gym every morning as soon as I wake up for about an hour and a half. Since I do this as soon as I wake I do this on an empty stomach.

My exercises are usually 30 minutes on the stepper, 30 min elliptical and 30 min treadmill, so all aerobic exercises..

Some days I feel like I can run for ever, and other days after 15 minutes on the stepper I feel like I want to crawl back home and get into bed. I have no energy, and have even had bouts of feeling weak and nauseous. I didnt realise that this was due to the diabetes and usually treated this by eating a candy bar or drinking some juice.

Now I guess this is due to low blood sugar, but at the same time I am reluctant to wake at 5:30am, eat and then go to the gym.

I did try to take a litre bottle of water diluted with about 200ml of juice and that seemed to help, but I'm wondering if this is a no-no. Or is there something other than juice I can consider..? Any suggestions/recommendations..? I hope I can find some advice. I never was an active person (would pass out after running two blocks) and have slowly been trying to increase my endurance with a goal of someday doing an entire 26mi marathon. I hate to think that this may ruin my chance of that.

Has a diabetic ever run long distance..? How do they keep from passing out..? I am so curious..!!

)

[Scratch]

Yes, diabetics have run long distance. Of course, we're all individuals with metabolic and treatment variance, so while I can give you general things to watch and look for, in the end you'll have to collect your own personal dataset and develop your own way of handling your needs.

I would caution you about concluding your episode of feeling weak and nauseated was low blood sugar, if you're basing that on feeling only. I've had high blood sugars which have resulted in me feeling weak so just going by feeling can be dangerous. Especially if you had been trying to go at it hard, generally speaking the higher you run the heart rate up towards the anaerobic threshhold, you might observe a tendency for blood sugars to go up as the body responds the stress and taps into the glycogen reserves to provide glucose for fuel.

The other more running-oriented concept I'd ask you to consider if you pursue a goal is to think of it as a long term idea and that some patience can go a long way to insuring that you achieve your goal with little discomfort and danger.

At the end of 2006, I broke my tibia inside of 7 weeks of running. I ran too hard too soon too much. While my leg healed in a cast for the first 6 weeks of 2007, I did my best to educate myself more about running along with the importance of diet and recovery for the legs. I decided I could get back to running and be able to do a half-marathon in 7 months time, but even that was a bit close I thought. Still, I carefully pursued a gradual buildup of miles and running and successfully completed a half-marathon on November 18th. It was one of the best experiences of my life to run 13.1 miles and it was a challenge.

A marathon isn't even simply twice the challenge of a half-marathon though. There are further issues that make marathons substantial undertakings for training commitment. I'd suggest that you consider thinking of working towards a marathon in a stepwise manner -- work on building yourself to being able to run about 30 minutes straight and see about entering a 5K race. Then see about building up to running for an hour and going for a 10K race. Then give yourself a year to do a half-marathon.

I did a half-marathon last November and I hope to do at least 2 more this year. But marathons aren't even on my radar yet. After I run my halves this year, I will consider how much progress I've made and see if I want to make 2009 a year to go after a marathon. If I'm not ready for that, then I'll run halves again in 2009.

Good luck. Collect good data. It can be done but it's not something that you just lightly do, it will take time and commitment and maybe some courage too.

[Wolf]

Hey Scratch, was your broken tibia a stress fracture? I injured my tibia in August, not long after my initial diagnosis of diabetes, by running too much too soon also. I switched to bicycling and elliptical and walking, and it's taken a long time to heal.

Finally, it's feeling healed, but I'm afraid to run for fear of re-injuring. I think I'm going to start very slowly, for example, running 3 or 4 minutes initially, and then increasing the runs by 2 or three minutes each time gradually.

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by Wolf

Hey Scratch, was your broken tibia a stress fracture? I injured my tibia in August, not long after my initial diagnosis of diabetes, by running too much too soon also. I switched to bicycling and elliptical and walking, and it's taken a long time to heal.

Finally, it's feeling healed, but I'm afraid to run for fear of re-injuring. I think I'm going to start very slowly, for example, running 3 or 4 minutes initially, and then increasing the runs by 2 or three minutes each time gradually.

I had a complete transverse fracture of my distal tibia.

What I did starting the first week of March was start taking walks. After walking, I would watch the ankle for any swelling and of course I was always mindful while walking for any feelings of discomfort or pain. Never had any trouble with that, but I was patient about it.

One resource I looked at said you should be able to walk briskly for a full hour without any discomfort before attempting to run again. I worked up to where I took a 2.5 hour walk and covered 8 miles and the ankle was fine. That's how long it took me to build up enough trust before I went to a track one afternoon, walked a couple of laps, ran one, walked a couple more laps, ran one, walked 2 laps, ran one and walked one last lap or so.

But yeah, be patient about it. I'd also suggest that you review your dietary habits and that you are consuming enough calcium. Now depending on your age, the first six to twelve weeks are the most critical as far as danger to the bones due to running. It's during that time as the bones are subjected to the much greater stress that essentially bone is removed, then replaced and remodeled to be stronger. But if you stress the bones too much as you know, they can't recover fast enough because it is a slow process.

I always took rest days in between runs for about the first 10 to 12 weeks and sometimes took extra rest days. It wasn't really until August that I began building miles to get me ready for a half-marathon in November.

Patience is important. I mean, think of it this way -- you are presumably running for the health benefits and of critical importance to that is not injuring yourself while doing so.

[trailrunner]

it is absolutly possible to run long distance with diabetes. Since my diagnoses I have run 2 100 mile races in less than 30 hours. also many 50 mile races. Some that I took first place in the womans division. It is a matter of testing frequently( very frequently) knowing your body and being smart. Diabetes is not a crutch. We are not limited in any way. If you want something bad enough, having diabetes should'nt stop you from achieving it. But That is just my personal opinion!

[samdavid6]

thanks trailrunner. Gives me some hope..!!

I just got back from my early morning workout. I woke at 5:30, had a banana and took a liter of diluted juice with me. Again (this is happening so often of late), I could barely finish 30 min on the stepper. I felt totally sapped of energy and felt slightly giddy.

I guess I should eat something before going. I just dont know what. (Any suggestions..?) I try to burn about 1000 calories a day and am worried if I am eating before I go, that all I will be doing is burning what I eat. I havent been told to test my BSL yet, so I'm not really sure whats going on.

[Neiler]

Hey there samdavid6.

Personally, I need to have some food before I do any exercise in the morning. Not a lot, but I do get up a little earlier if I'm doing an early morning workout and have at least something like: Whole Wheat Toast, Peanut Butter and Banana; Whole Grain Cereal and Milk.

A question I'd ask you is, "why you don't eat before your workouts?" If it's because you don't like the feeling of food in your stomach when you exercise (which can be a problem for some) - maybe if you eat right away when you get up your stomach will be settled after you then move on to get dressed, gather your gear and travel to the gym???

If it's because you're looking for weight loss (which is a technique some use) I think having the calories available for your workout will be of greater benefit than trying to workout on an "empty tank". The benefits that you'll achieve don't actually happen during the exercise but moreso as your body recovers from the stress that it's endured. So I'm told - haha.

I think having a Goal is at a great thing (5K, half-marathon, full marathon, etc.). As mentioned by the others in this thread - any distance is a great accomplishment. Pick something realistic for your current situation and train to cross that one off the list.

Good Luck,

Neiler

[volleyball]

First you need to test. You have to know where you are at before you can treat it. You don't want to treat a high with more sugar.
Reading threads you'll quickly learn what foods to try and which ones to be cautious about