Running Low

I am into week four of my half ironman training plan and so far so good.  I have been putting a lot of miles in the pool, on the treadmill and road and on the bike!  It is definitely a challenging schedule, but I am loving it.  I find that I like being pushed and I am already seeing improvements in my performance, particularly in the pool.

I have only had a few lows during and after training which I am pleased about.  My insulin requirements have decreased due to the increase in activity, which has also resulted in losing a couple of pounds.  Luckily over the last few years I have been learning a lot about how my body reacts to intense activity and have found things that work for me - most of the time.  Of course since Diabetes is generally a total ass, it likes to throw me curveballs to try and catch.  Last week I had such a curveball thrown.  

I can usually feel a low coming on during exercise and can treat it before it gets out of hand.  Usually a few glucose tabs and swig of juice and I am good to keep going.  Last week I had one of those weird lows that crept up on me with weird symptoms and hit me pretty hard. 

I was about 20 minutes in to my 45 minute recovery run.  I was feeling great and just chugging along at a nice and easy pace.  My blood sugars before the run were where I wanted them to be, I had no insulin on board and had decreased my basal by 50% for 1.5 hours.  So there I was, running along listening to my play list when I started to notice my legs felt kind of numb.  They were moving just fine, I just could not really feel them.  It was like they were fuzzy.  I remember thinking in my mind, wow this is kind of nice, running without really feeling my legs.  Then I thought about how ridiculous that was and it was likely a sign something was not right.  As all of you know that have had low blood sugars, the thought process can slow down and we don't always make great decisions.  I knew something was not quite right, however I just kept running because.....why not?  After nearly 5 minutes of this I realized that I was sweating a ridiculous amount for the effort I was putting in.  This finally convinced my sugar deprived brain to stop and test.  2.6 mmol - ack!  I got off the treadmill, treated the low and waited it out.  By then I was shaky, dizzy etc.  all of the fun stuff.  

I only had 15 minutes left of the run to complete and could have easily called it a day.  Nope!  My stubbornness, and by then anger at having stupid Diabetes, had me back on the treadmill after I was recovered and I ran the final 15 minutes.  

I now know that if my legs start to feel numb or fuzzy I should stop and test!  Anyone else experienced this kind of low symptom?

I want to play! Things about me..

I first read this over on Scully's blog and then a bunch of other blogs.  A great way to post somethings you may or may not find interesting, as well as get the writing bug in gear.  Here goes.

1. Four names that people call me other than my real name:

1. J or Aunty J

2. J Bird or The Bird

3. Pickles (Ryan's name for me.  Not sure where it came from)

4. JAM (my older brother has always called me this)

2. Four jobs I’ve had:

1. I consider all of the weekends of endless chores on the acreage growing up as my first job

2. Working in a pub in England (best job ever)

3. Working as a waiter at a Conference Centre (had to wear a tux, hated the job, lasted 3 weeks)

4. Paralegal

3. Four movies I’ve watched more than once:

1. Annie - absolute favorite (the original, not this new age Annie where Jamie Foxx is Daddy Warbucks - WTF?)

2. Mary Poppins

3. Dead Poet's Society

4. Rocky Horror Picture Show (never ever gets old)

...I like movies with singing!

4. Four books I’d recommend:

1. Lord of the Rings (favorite of all time)

2. Lonesome Dove

3. Anything by Bill Bryson (technically not a book, but I could not choose just one)

4. Into Thin Air

5. Four places I’ve lived:

1. Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, England

2. Manchester, England

3. Edmonton

4. St. Albert

6. Four places I’ve visited:

Only FOUR!? 

1. Australia

2. Greece

3. Ireland

4. Germany

7. Four things I prefer not to eat:

1. Tapioca Pudding (blech)

2. Soggy Cereal

3. Liver

4. Anything with Gluten (have no choice but to not eat this)

8. Four of my favorite foods:

1. Tomatoes

2. Cheese

3. Dark Chocolate

4. Big salads

9. Four TV shows I watch

1. Parenthood (guilty girly pleasure)

2. Sons of Anarchy

3. Walking Dead 

4. Game of Thrones

10. Four things I’m looking forward to this year: 

1. Half Ironman in July (eek)

2. Summer Camping

3. Going to Vegas next week (yahoo)

4. Having fun doing the things I love

11. Four things I’m always saying:

1. Basil and Kasper - get inside (mainly at 2:00am when they need to go outside and sniff stuff)

2. Can you turn the TV down?

3. It's hot in here 
4.  I love you

Feel free to copy and paste this! It's entertaining to write and read.