Cardiovascular fitness is a big thing for me: I like knowing I can run if I need to, and I like knowing I can keep running longer than most.  I find my long runs perfect opportunities to work out whatever obstacles have arisen in my personal and professional life since my last run.  I enjoy the sense of accomplishment I feel after running X number of miles (when X > 10) and I think it’s fun to tell people at lunch how many miles I ran before they woke up that morning.  I generally think any run less than an hour shouldn’t really qualify as a workout.

Yet I know I’m in the minority.   (It has also taken me nearly a decade of running to reach that point, for the record.  I’ve worked to get there because it was something I wanted to do.)

I’m not saying I’m right and I’m not saying I work harder or less hard than anyone during a workout.  I’m saying that for me, running gives me a lot. 

And it also takes a lot.  A lot of time.

Good thing that several shorter bursts of cardio throughout the day can have multiple benefits for your overall cardiovascular health!

Give yourself 10 minutes before you take a shower in the morning, 10 minutes at lunch and 10 minutes before you read your mail at home, and you’ve squeezed in 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity that day.  You’ll get your metabolism kick started several times throughout your day, you’ll have the energy to make it all the way through your shorter session without too much fatigue, and you won’t have as many mental demons to battle for a shorter workout.

You know you can fit in those 10 minute segments.  Honestly; you know you can. 

I’m not saying that if you’ve signed up for a 5k all you need to do to prepare yourself for the run is to jog for 10 minutes three times a day.  I’m saying that if your goal is increased cardio health, try taking smaller bites out of the apple and choke down that exercise in a manageable way for yourself. 

My experiences with exercise and my insulin needs deal almost exclusively in exercise sessions longer than 30 minutes.  I know that for me, I need to be exercising at least 15-20 minutes before I sense any drop in my blood sugar (absent any other strange happenings in my day).

When I first started to exercise, I couldn’t jog a block.  If I did, I’d be low within 15 minutes.  So watch yourself and your effort levels and how they affect your blood sugar levels if you are just starting out.  You can easily benefit by having several shorter bursts of exercise spread throughout your day—if you do it regularly enough you may need to lower your overall basal rates due to your increased metabolism.    

Pretty cool.

Get Up, Get Out!  and No Child Left Inside!  Are two slogans of the Karno Kids Foundation, organized by ultra endurance athlete Dean Karnazes. 

Dean blogged today about the fact that kids are not participating in being outdoors in nature and being as active as any of us would like for them.  I think we all have fond memories of the summers we spent on our bikes or skates or flip flops to and from the community pool.  We want that for today’s kids, too.

Yet how do parents of diabetic kids feel comfortable taking their kids out and having them run and play and fall and scrape and get all mucky and then check their blood glucose with dirty fingers? 

(alright, that one was an easy one: alcohol swabs and more snacks and less insulin)

I think with diabetic kids it’s easy for a parent to see them as “broken” because they do have a malfunctioning pancreas.  Yet it is essential for them to get out and behave just like any other kid and get their elbows scraped, knees skinned, and every now and then an arm broken, just like their friends.

Our lives are more complicated by diabetes, absolutely.  Yet we still need fresh air and sun-streaked hair and dirty knees, too.

The blog comments are fascinating at Dean’s blog today; if you are a parent and/or someone interested in helping get kids out and active, I suggest you check it out here!  I’ll stop writing so you still have time to go over there and read.  

But, in case you don’t have that kind of time, here’s one of my favorite comments posted by Jason Hayden:

It’s up to us as parents to set an example for our kids. We should be our kids best role models and expose the to all of the amazing activities out there. Bring field guides when you hike so that you can look up everything the kids find, teach kids how to fix their bikes, get out of your own comfort zone and try new things so that the kids see it’s ok to be uncomfortable when trying something new.

It shouldn’t matter what the weather is the kids can still get outside…20 below or 100…appropriate gear, appropriate hydration and food, appropriate duration for the conditions…everyone can still have fun if you plan these things out right.

Ah, yes.  Weight loss.  A part of our lives whether we like it or not.  Whether you run ten miles a day or haven’t run ten steps in a decade, we all need to be aware of our weight. 

And I’m not talking about the obligatory stand on the scale at the doctor’s visit. 

I’m talking about how you move and how your clothes fit.

Since continuing to endure the July 4 sausagefest that my life has turned into, I thought it was high time for a reminder about body weight maintenance and weight loss.  It’s a constant thing to keep a close eye on.  Remember that insulin not only facilitates glucose usage, but it also facilitates fat storage so keep a close eye on how much insulin you take—aim for only taking what you really need to manage your blood glucose.

I read in a Runners’ World magazine once that you could finish a marathon something like 10 minutes faster if you weighed 5 pounds less.  That was pretty impressive; the idea of actually trying to run faster is sometimes too much when I’m trying to run that many miles.  To think all I need to do to get faster is to weigh less is kind of nice.

So, straight from the Runners’ World archives, I give you today some good basics for weight loss.  The basics apply to everyone, not just runners.  People living with diabetes have the extra joy of needing to eat to manage low blood sugars, too, not unlike distance runners who need to continue a run after depleting their energy stores. 

Nancy Clark is a well-known nutritionist and the woman who coined my favorite two phrases: you can’t gain weight at breakfast and you can’t gain weight at lunch.

Here’s to that.

Weight Loss For Runners

THE 10 RULES OF WEIGHT LOSS

Nutritionist Nancy Clark shares 10 tips all runners should know if they want to drop some pounds.

By Nancy Clark
PUBLISHED 03/05/2008

1. To lose 10 pounds of body fat a year, you need to eat 100 calories less per day. Cutting too many calories from your daily intake will sap your energy level and increase your hunger, making you more susceptible to splurging on high-calorie foods.

2. Don’t skip breakfast. Eat within two hours of waking.

3. In fact, eat more breakfast than you think you should. Trade in some of your dinner calories for more calories at breakfast.

4. Don’t allow yourself to get hungry. Eat at least every four hours, and split a meal in half to make sure you properly fuel up pre- and postrun. For example, eat part of your breakfast before your morning run (a banana) and the rest of your breakfast afterward (a bagel with peanut butter).

5. Eat at least three kinds of food each meal from these four categories: breads, cereals, and grains; fruits and vegetables; low-fat dairy and soy; and lean meats, fish, and nuts. Breads, cereals, and grains should be the foundation of each meal, with protein as an accompaniment.

6. Shoot for a gradual loss of body fat. You’re more likely to put the weight back on (and more) if you drop weight too quickly.

7. Liquid calories add up fast and can lead to weight gain. Minimize the amount of sodas, juices, store-bought smoothies, sports drinks, coffee drinks, and alcohol you consume.

8. Eat closer to the earth, enjoying fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Minimize the amount of processed foods you eat; they tend to offer less fiber and are less satiating.

9. If you can’t resist fast food, ask for nutritional information before you make your choices (or check in advance via restaurant Web sites). Avoid any menu items with the words “fried,” “crispy,” and “special sauce,” which are guaranteed to be high calorie.

10. Remember that the calories in the energy bars, sports drinks, and gels you consume during a run add up, even though you’re running. Consume them only as needed.

If I could only do two activities for physical fitness for the rest of my life, I’d choose to run and do pushups.  Which is kind of weird, when I think about it, because I can’t say I enjoy pushups like I enjoy running. 

Pushups are just a really great exercise.

I remember a few years ago I had a bootcamper snort when I said that about pushups.  He said “yeah right” as he snorted.  Then we spent some serious time working on his form and he learned what I was talking about.

(I pay extra special attention to the snorters, and their form.)

So how can we make pushups something everyone can do?  There are a lot of different ways to modify a pushup until you are strong enough to do a straight-leg pushup. 

***NOTICE: there is no such thing as a “girl” pushup or “boy” pushup.  No.  Such.  Thing.  There are “straight leg” and “bent leg” pushups.  That’s it.

1. First of all, think about the chest muscles you use to perform a pushup.  Chest muscles really only have a few functions they serve on their own: pushing away and gathering in, like during a hug.  The fibers themselves run in a fan shape from your shoulder joint and armpit across your ribs to your sternum.  You will mainly be using the fibers that function to push away from your body when you do a pushup (or bench press; a chest flye with dumbbells will recruit the fibers used in a hugging-type motion.)
2. Secondly, think about where your hands and arms are in relation to those chest muscle fibers.  Make sure to keep your hands roughly underneath the muscle fibers you are trying to recruit in a pushup.   If you have your hands too far in front of you, you are likely to not only miss the effectiveness of the move but also put your shoulder joint at risk. 
3. I should also mention, you must bend your arms when you perform a pushup.  If you aren’t bending your arms, you aren’t doing a pushup.  (I’m not sure what that is, but it isn’t a pushup.)
4. Third, keep your body as straight as possible when performing a pushup.  Think about your heels, knees, hips, shoulders, neck and the crown of your head forming a straight diagonal line.  Maintain that same line whether you perform the pushup on your toes or on your knees.  (Keeping my body straight takes the most effort for me—after 75 pushups, I feel them not in my chest but in my abdominals and back from working to keep my spine and body straight!)  If you see your toes, you’ve lost your alignment.  Look at the ground halfway between your hands or even six inches in front of your hands.
5. Work to bring your chest down to the floor and keep your upper arm parallel with the floor—anything deeper than that will likely cause you to lose your form and alignment and recruit other muscles to help you perform the move.  Wait to make them fancy until you’ve built a solid base of strength in all of your muscles, not just your chest and shoulders.

Listed from easiest to hardest on the scale of basic pushups:

1. WALL PUSHUP

Wall Pushup-- Easiest since you aren't supporting your body weight

2. KNEE PUSHUP with your hips straight above your knees—your straight line here includes your hips, shoulders, and head

3.  ELEVATED KNEE PUSHUP keep a straight line with your knees, hips, shoulders, and head but with your hands on an elevated surface you won’t be pushing as much weight as you would if your hands were on the floor

4. KNEE PUSHUP with your hips past your knees – now your straight line includes your knees, hips, shoulders, and head

5. ELEVATED STRAIGHT LEG pushup- keep on your toes and your straight line includes your heels, knees, hips, shoulders, and head but again with your hands being on an elevated surface you won’t require as much strength to perform the move

6. STRAIGHT LEG PUSHUP—here’s the fun one to perform as your next party trick!  Keep that body ramrod straight and show off your hard work.

Then tell those snorters to snort off.