For some people, myself included, running is all about the shirt.  When I run an event and the shirt I get with my entry doesn’t fit, or is of poor quality, or I don’t like the design, I’m disappointed.  I have run crazy events in the past for the sole reason “it’s a technical tee!” (Technical = sweat wicking, not cotton)

My recent marathon shirt is a great one.  I’m very excited to wear it, and try to do so as often as possible. 

BUT NOW WE ALL HAVE THE CHANCE to earn a shirt for ourselves!! 

Sunday is World Run Day.  I like World Run Day because it’s a worldwide event that anyone can participate in.  Anyone willing to run a block, I mean.

Check it out:

What is World Run Day?

For the past decade, World Run Day is a running event held annually in November to celebrate running and charitable giving. It is recognized as both the International Day of Running and the International Day of Charity. Your support will help it grow into the largest running event on earth.

Why did World Run Day decide to organize this event?

World Run Day is a celebration of running. Runners can participate anywhere: a road, a treadmill, in a park, on a beach… anywhere they can run! Group events form randomly and are organized by passionate runners in cities both large and small. Our goal is to connect with other runners worldwide and make charitable donations to local causes.

What is the main goal of the event?

The main goal for the event is to celebrate running and also highlight the health benefits of running to the local media. In a time where obesity and other health concerns plague areas throughout the world, running is one of the best remedies towards a healthy lifestyle.

So maybe this weekend you’ll be inspired to set out for a little jaunt with friends or family.  It’s your call when, where, and how much you do.  Celebrate your health and your ability to move your body and celebrate your achievements in your life on a day everyone is celebrating worldwide and running by your side.

Go for it!

Yesterday I ran my second marathon.  I was lucky to have a friend find me and get me through miles 11-26.2 much speedier than I would have if I were by myself.  I didn’t want to let him down, and he wanted me to set a PR (personal record)!!  I finished the 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 26 minutes.  Not bad!  I completed my first marathon in January in 4:36 so I peeled 10 minutes off my time yesterday.  Yay!

I was lucky twice yesterday.  The blood sugar gods definitely smiled on me.  I’m not sure why, but I went with it.  I was fortunate to know in advance they would be passing out my gu of choice– Accel Gel.  Accel Gel has 20 grams of carbohydrate and 5 grams of protein in each packet.  (And there is a chocolate flavored one I can choke down with less difficulty than the other flavors.)

From my heart rate graph, it looks like I stopped running 14 times over the course of the event.  I know I used one of my early stops to call my husband and complain that I was running too fast!  I used that break to re-start my pace to a slower, “marathon pace” for myself.  (I can run much faster in a 5k run than I can in a 10k run, and can run much faster in a half marathon than I can in a full marathon.)

I checked my blood sugar it looks like 5 times during the 4.5 hour run.  I don’t have a plan for most of this; it’s how I’m feeling each run that will determine when I check and what I do.  When I eat a gu, I take 0.1 or 0.2 units just to have a record of when I ate that I can see quickly with a look at my pump’s status screen.  It helps me from overloading on gu and it helps me to remind myself I may be due for the next one.  I’ve learned from experience that on a long run I do best with a gu after 3.5-4 miles for some reason, and that if I skip the gu due to a high blood sugar I will regret it and have a horrible run: I must stay fueled!

So here’s my rundown, in case you’re curious.  Like I said, I’m absolutely amazed I wasn’t higher than this.  I kept my basals between 33% and 67% of my normal rate beginning an hour before the start of the run. 

14 stops overall; stop = walking through water break

Most (all) of this comes from years and years of trying to figure out what works for me.  I’m posting it FYI and not as a recommendation.  My recommendation is to learn what works for you through trial, observation, and error. 

Have fun!

(If you’re interested you can check out my complete marathon data here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/55068794)

I sometimes think you would like to read a blog entirely about my diabetic life.  And then I think, I don’t really HAVE a diabetic life… I have MY life!  So just like my life, my posts have a lot to do with diabetes but they have a lot to do with other things, too, like exercise and how I think physical movement and exercise impact my diabetes and the rest of my life.  And how having diabetes affects my thinking.  And on and on and on!

I ran an errand on my way home from bootcamp this morning and passed by the high school after the students had started class.  This meant I drove past the track as the students were in P.E.

Woah.

Now, I know for a fact that not all high schoolers like physical activity.  I know for a fact that not all high schoolers like, um, well, ANYTHING. 

But they DESERVE something more than a saunter in circles for their P.E. class: yikes.

And not one of them looked or acted like their heart rates were elevated.  At all.

Not one.

This is what concerns me about telling people to take a walk.  “Walk” can simply mean almost anything to anyone, so let’s lay some ground rules for walking.

1. Walking at any speed is preferable for our health to most other modes of transportation.
2. Walking for transportation is different than walking for exercise.
3. One cannot walk for exercise AND hold a cup of coffee.  (Sorry.)
4. One should sweat and be out of breath during and after walking for exercise.
5. One cannot walk for exercise AND hold a cell phone.  (Still sorry.)
6. I’ve seen friends walk for exercise and it turns into a stroll-and-chat.  Good, but not the “moderate exercise” so recommended for everyone’s health.  If you are going to walk for exercise with a friend or family member, speak together before you go out and discuss the goals: is it to walk quickly and raise your heart rate and keep it elevated, or is it a stroll-and-chat?  You will slow down if you aren’t both on the same page.
7. One cannot walk for exercise AND carry a shopping bag.  (Sorry again.)
8. Walking for exercise is free.
9. Walking for exercise can be performed in almost any weather.  (Really.)
10. Walking for exercise gets you outside in the fresh air.
11. Walking for exercise is easy to do.  Just… walk.

So what are we waiting for??

Yesterday was an interesting day on the Diabetes Outside Facebook page.  If you haven’t checked it out, please do!  www.facebook.com/diabetesoutside

I wrote yesterday about sharing management of my disease by asking for someone else’s help when I am low.  Even if I don’t need the help, it’s nice to know someone else is going to get me juice!  But through the day different topics came up: (1) is it a responsibility you share if you ask someone to bring you juice and (2) would you ask anyone for help or just certain family members and (3) how do you handle telling others you have diabetes and you are low and you need sugar.

I don’t have answers for any of these questions, only responses that change with every situation and every person.  But before I could start in with thinking about writing about those answers, something came up for me that you may identify with in some way.

I am going on a long run tomorrow (20 miles, my longest before the marathon on 10/31).  I have been absolutely dreading this run.  I tried it two weeks ago, went out barely 2 miles and turned around and went home.  I even walked the 2 miles home.  I repeated this process every morning for three days in a row before I realized there was no physical problem—I was sick of running and needed a break.  So, I took a break for the rest of the week and did not let myself run. 

I felt better last week and running felt good and fun again, but I didn’t have the time to run 20 so I cut it to 14.  Let me tell you, 14 miles is completely different than the 26 miles I need to get through at the end of the month.

So when I got an email from a man I know from bootcamp yesterday asking me how my training was going and offering to run with me, I jumped at the chance.  He is a very fast and experienced runner and marathoner and is signed up for the same event; he is a bootcamper at a different location but he knows me from the weeks I’ve been at his spot.  He is a great guy and I’m looking forward to our conversations through tomorrow’s miles.

I’m really excited to run with him and to go on a route I’ve never seen.

But it brings up a question for me: what do I do if I’m low or need to check during our run together.  I already feel badly that I’m a slower runner than he is, and I don’t think he is as likely to stop and walk as I am.  I think he knows I’m diabetic but he isn’t a normal bootcamper of mine so he probably hasn’t seen me eat or check during class very often. 

If I am low or need to check I will absolutely stop and do so—it is never worth trying to make it through a run of any length without admitting I need to deal with some aspect of my disease.

Now, I have friends I run with who I have run with for years and who know that when we run together, I may need to stop and walk.  We’ve talked about it and I am comfortable that they are comfortable with that plan.  I know that if I run with someone else, I really really truly do not care that they may naturally run slower than I run.  (Most of the time, I’m perfectly okay with that!)

Yet I still am a little nervous for tomorrow.  I don’t want to disappoint him when we run together. 

I’m sure I won’t, and I have to remember that I will run 12 miles to his house before he even starts running in the morning so he will likely have realistic expectations of my abilities at that point.

And still.  I know in my head he will be PERFECTLY FINE if I need to walk and check or walk and eat.  I know that.  And I’m still a bit nervous that I will disappoint him.

See, I told you I don’t have any answers.

I know some of you have toyed with the idea of starting to run… but how?  You see my mentions of these crazy-sounding 15-20 miles and two of your friends just ran a 10k… but you’re feeling stuck at the thought of running down the block!!!

First of all, it is critical for you to realize every single person you see running started running by taking a step or two.  It was someplace a heck of a lot slower than what you see and a heck of a lot harder than it looks like now.

Which is all good information to have: we have all been there. 

Second point: some runs are good ones and some ones aren’t so good.  Don’t go out expecting to feel fantastic each day… that’s not the way the cookie crumbles.

Third point: running requires self-motivation.  I can’t make you enjoy running if you hate it, and I can’t make you lace up your shoes and keep putting one foot in front of the other.  That stuff comes from YOU. 

Last point: learn from others.  You will have to figure out what works for you and your diabetes, but overall, there are a ton of knowledgeable runners out there.  No need to (ha ha) reinvent the wheel.

In keeping with that last point, I post here an excerpt from Jason Karp, Ph.D.’s newsletter.  You can find Dr. Karp at www.runcoachjason.com

For beginners, the most important part of running is to make it consistent.  The focus should be on getting out the door every day to run.  Once you have developed a running habit and have a solid base, it’s time to add some quality to your running to increase your fitness. Start by adding one quality workout per week.  Do that for a while and then you’re ready to train using a planned training program.  Rather than follow a generic plan, however, look for one that is skewed to your strengths.  If your strength is endurance, focus more on mileage and tempo runs and less on interval training.  Run longer intervals, trying to get faster with training, such as 1,000-meter repeats at 5K race pace, increasing speed to 2-mile race pace or decreasing the recovery as your training progresses.  If your strength is speed, focus less on mileage and more on interval training.  Run shorter intervals, trying to hold the pace for longer with training, such as 800-meter repeats at 2-mile race pace, increasing the distance to 1,000 meters or increasing the number of repeats as your training progresses.  Work your strong points and train using the whole continuum of paces, from slow running speeds to very fast speeds to enhance both your aerobic and anaerobic abilities.

I’m  going to try and run 20 miles this morning since yesterday’s run was a bit of a bomb (my foot, knee, and hip weren’t feeling like they had 20 safe miles in them!) so I’m stealing from Joslin since I won’t have time to write a blog today (20 miles takes a while).  This is good information to have in your brain when it comes to exercise… the more you know, the better you’re able to handle what life throws at you!

Low blood glucose is defined as a blood glucose level below 70 mg/dl if your meter measures whole blood, or 80 mg/dl or below if it measures plasma glucose (a plasma blood glucose of 90 mg/dl or below with symptoms is also a sign of hypoglycemia).

One of the most common causes of low blood glucose is too much physical activity. In fact, moderate to intense exercise may cause your blood glucose to drop for the next 24 hours following exercise. This post-exercise hypoglycemia is often referred to as the “lag effect” of exercise.

Basically, when you exercise, the body uses two sources of fuel, sugar and free fatty acids (that is, fat) to generate energy. The sugar comes from the blood, the liver and the muscles. The sugar is stored in the liver and muscle in a form called glycogen. During the first 15 minutes of exercise, most of the sugar for fuel comes from either the blood stream or the muscle glycogen, which is converted back to sugar. After 15 minutes of exercise, however, the fuel starts to come more from the glycogen stored in the liver. After 30 minutes of exercise, the body begins to get more of its energy from the free fatty acids. As a result, exercise can deplete sugar levels and glycogen stores.

The body will replace these glycogen stores but this process may take 4 to 6 hours, even 12 to 24 hours with more intense activity. During this rebuilding of glycogen stores, a person with diabetes can be at higher risk for hypoglycemia. Here are tips for safe exercising.

Guidelines for preventing exercise related hypoglycemia

• Check your blood glucose before exercising to make sure your blood glucose is sufficient and/or consume an appropriate snack.
• Avoid exercise at the peak of your insulin action.
• Avoid late evening exercise. Exercise should be completed 2 hours before bedtime.
• Avoid alcohol consumption prior to or immediately after exercise.
• Avoid hot tubs, saunas and steam rooms directly after exercise. These continue to maintain an increased heart rate and may continue to lower your blood glucose.
• Limit your exercise sessions to 1 or 2 per day. Additional sessions increase the likelihood of hypoglycemia.
• In the past, it was believed that injecting insulin into exercising muscle increased absorption of the insulin resulting in hypoglycemia; now it is believed that the timing and action of the insulin are more likely to be the key factors.
• Check your blood glucose immediately after exercise to prevent low blood glucose from occurring hours after exercise. It may also be necessary to check your blood glucose more often for 2 to 4 hours after exercise. Moderate intense exercise may cause your blood glucose to drop for the next 24 hours following exercise

If blood glucose is less than 100 mg/dl immediately after exercise

• Follow post-exercise snack guidelines. If you are not scheduled for a snack or a meal for 30-60 minutes after exercise, 15 grams of carbohydrate should be sufficient to prevent a low blood glucose. If no meal or snack is scheduled for more than one hour, take 15 grams of carbohydrate and 7-8 grams of protein.
• Increase carbohydrates before exercise.
• Decrease the dose of active insulin for the next exercise session.
• Consider decreasing the insulin dosage following exercise.
• If your blood glucose at bedtime is still less than 100 mg/dl, double your bedtime snack, or if possible, decrease your insulin dose acting during bedtime.

Guidelines for unplanned exercise

Sometimes exercise or physical exertion occurs spontaneously or is unplanned. You may need extra food at these times in order to maintain the balance between your insulin or oral medication and the energy needed to exercise. A number of factors will determine if you need food and how much food is necessary.

• Snacks may be necessary for exercise beginning 2 hours or more after your last meal.
• Snacks may be needed for exercise lasting 1 hour or more.
• Long duration or all-day activities may require both a snack adjustment and an insulin adjustment.
• If you are attempting to lose weight, adjust your insulin or medication rather than eating extra food.

Be sure to talk to your diabetes educator for more information about how exercise will work best with your diabetes.