D-Blog Week: Day 3 - One Thing to Improve

Holy moly (wow did I just say that?), one thing to improve on.  I can actually come up with a whole bunch of things I need to improve on diabetes wise and I think this will be true for a lifetime.  I have learned that this disease is pretty unpredictable so will require a lot of hard work forever.  

However if I think of one thing I would like to improve on at this time to make things run smoother, it would have to be balancing my insulin and food intake before and after exercise.  I am on MDI right now and am finding this a struggle.  When I exercise I like to go for it.  I crave the challenge and discipline and don't like to do things half-assed.  I love to run, really and truly love it.  When I was diagnosed the first thing I thought was "how will this effect my running?".  Then I suffered with the terrible pain in my feet and legs and was unable to run for 6 months - it was torture.  As soon as I could stand to wear my shoes I started to run again (as well as swim, bike, box and weight lift).  I realized right away that it was going to be a challenge as my blood sugars tanked during my first 8km run.  

Since getting back to exercise I have started to notice different trends with different exercises.  My blood sugars stay relatively stable during an hour swim, when lifting weights and during yoga.  For boxing as long as I start with a blood sugar hovering around 9.0, I can finish my hours class in the clear.  Running is a whole different story.  It is very unpredictable.  Sometimes I can leave the house with a blood sugar hovering around 10 and come home after 10km with a nice 5.0.  These are the great days!  Then I have days like yesterday for example.  I took two units less with my lunch in anticipation of my run and before I set off for 11km I was at 11.3, a bit on the higher side.  I ran for just over an hour and when I got home I knew I was low right away.  Tested and yup, 3.1.  Not sure why.  I do carry dextrose in my sports bra and carry a phone with my credit card just in case.  I never feel the lows during my runs which is not good.  I have to learn to test partway through and treat if necessary, even if it showing a downward trend.  I have to learn what is the best to eat before and also after as I tend to go high about an hour after running and then can go low hours later, like in the middle of the night. Needless to say I am an experiment of one.

So to summarize - I need to track my workouts, what is eaten before, what my sugars are before, during and after and try to fine tune my routine.  I really want to get back to the longer distances and know I have to work on this before I can.  My goal is to be training for another marathon by next year so I will continue to experiment and work with my diabetes team!  I hope that one day, sooner rather than later, I will be able to get a pump (very expensive here in good old Alberta!).  I think this will help me and my goal.

To keep with the theme of running, today's picture is one of me running.  It was my fourth marathon in Winnipeg Manitoba and where I got my current PB of 3 hours 48 minutes.  This picture is about 1.5km from the finish and I was determined to get under 3 hours 50.