Wednesday - Group Run

   Tonight's run was to be an easy taper. 2 things here...#1 I ran a PR instead of tapering (I know , I know), and #2 my glucose dropped a little too low for my liking. According to the CG it hit 97, so I assume it was somewhere a little below that since I was a bit low on energy and the HR was a little too high. Downed some gel and off I went. Fixed it within a few minutes. In fact, after taking gel I realized I could PR the run, so I pushed it a little. I wouldn't have, but all felt well and I don't feel like I put in a hurtful effort. This AM I'm feeling like I do after a mediocre run, so all is good. I also tried a new sock tonight. Man I like'em so far. I'll try them one more time and probably use them Sunday. It's made by Injinji: and called a toesock. I received a pair of socks like this years ago as a Christmas gift, but hadn't thought of their possible use for trail running. Saw a friend with a pair the other day and asked where she got them. So, I snagged a pair before the run last night and tried them out. They wicked well and felt better then most of my current running socks. We are folks who not only as runners but as diabetics have to take good care of our feet and this is a great way to do that. I'll say if you have problems with blistering, these will help significantly.

Monday - Farther Between

     That is the distance in between my posts of late. This I can easily not care too much about. Why, because how does blogging about training effect my trail marathon on Sunday? It doesn't. So I care little about missing some posting as I have missed much. I do however want to post a few things to remember.


    I'm on taper. I'll run a little Wednesday or Thursday night...but a little and just as a reminder to my legs. I seem to find my body handles race day if I taper for a little longer then the average Joe.


    A week and a half ago my insulin pump died. It was like it was having a seizure of it's own. Buttons systemically quit working, etc. and it was a nostalgic weekend. From losing the pump for the day to not having up-to-date basal rates at the house. Two notes here for myself.

#1 - It's probably a good idea to be able to fall back on insulin shots if ever necessary. Don't forget where you've come from!

#2 - For goodness sake keep an up-to-date copy of your basal rates in the supply closet. Get one printed every time you see your Endo.



    So, I'm reviewing and preparing for this weekend. I've had a few daunting realizations during this period. One being the following statement on Marathon Guide dot com..."Ankle-twisting, knee-popping, quad-burning, face-planting, diabolically relentless climbing... in other words, GREAT!!!! Thanks to all of the support staff and organizers. I have run 40 marathons and this was by far the hardest course, but the most beautiful I have done!!" This along with an 3 time IM and ultra trail running friend, I run with Wednesday nights, saying that M3 was definitely the hardest on her list has me laughing a little at myself. I am not a seasoned athlete/marathon runner in the slimmest, and yet I somewhat naively sign-up for this behemoth. HA!!! That settles it...I've proven to myself that I've got more than one screw loose.

    Details, details. #1 - I WILL finish this 14,000 ft elevation gain and drop marathon. It will not kill me and my diabetes management will work. It's just a long trial run! Enjoy it.

#2 - I'm estimating 6 or less hours, but we'll just see about that won't we.

#3 - Think about this for a minute. I'll be packing about 3 qts of water, 2 (6 count) pkgs of PB&J crackers, 2 full gel flasks, Endurolite, 1 insulin pump, one full bg meter set-up, cell phone, and the bladder pack that's going to carry all of this. Now, the cell phone may be a little much, but it's a necessity in my mind. Think about what kind of weight this is going to be, roughly 8 lbs. Now think about the weight of what the average Joe will be carrying. You could easily drop 1-3 lbs depending on the individuals level of dependency on aid stations. Over 26.2 miles that starts to make a difference. So, I'm gonna have to work harder and maybe in the future learn how I could lean down a little. I may even only carry 1.5 qts of H2O and just refill between aid stations, but I need to think about that.

Any thoughts to share here?

Much Running

    I'll skip the data intro and just post the runs. Last Wednesday I got out to group trail run a little earlier and did a very pleasant 13+ miler. It's a ridge line run, out to Edward's Point, with some hills down to the water every once in a while. OK, so you cross water 16 times, but it's all good and enjoyable. I'm liking those long Wednesday runs, but most of the time the group isn't with me when I do that, so it kind of defeats the purpose of a "group run"...then again I'm the slow one in the group and usually don't kill myself trying to keep up anyway.

   Friday - I'll just say that I hate missing a good run. I hate it even more when it's on a Friday (I don't have to work Friday's) and it's a brick I miss as was the case last Friday.

   Sunday's run was in the neighborhood. I don't like doing this too much anymore, but it had to be as nobody would have been out there on the trails I would have preferred to run...so safety and big hills were the winners. Did 5+ miles and pushed hard. The calves were a little painful, but that's probably because I started out too hard. I also had some other issues which forced a short run, which are explained below.

   It's never fun, when the device you rely so heavily on every day, fails. And that's exactly what mine did Saturday night. So, there were a few events throughout the weekend that waylaid a good workout. I also forgot to apply the post-run bolus and temp. basal after Sunday's run. This in turn put my glucose through the roof. Before the run I was low, compensated very effectively for it, did the run, and then just slipped and forgot to take the bolus/basal step.

   In addition to this, I'll also note that there are phases I go through that sometimes have my system requiring the same amount of insulin and other times much less insulin post exercise. Right now, I'm in a phase that requires much less insulin. It's tricky. I'm not able to keep things as exact when this happens. It has a tendency to give me what I call the "Summit to Sand" effect. In other words, my glucose levels will peak and drop often. Touchy times that's for sure.

Thursday - Oops!!

   The Summer. Where did it go? I'm at least not the only one whose training gets in the way of blogging and who has just not had time to blog. I'd rather run or ride than blog any day. So, I've lost a month of posts. Oh well. I've gotten some good training in. I'm enjoying the speed workouts at the track and had some enjoyable rides afterwards. Bricks on Friday. Those Sunday runs have gone well. At least until I pushed 3.5 hours Sunday and got some nice micro-tearing. Hmmm that's fun. It'll slow me down but not stop me. Wednesday nights have continued to be enjoyable trail runs with the gang up on the mountain. I had a steller run a few weeks ago. I was in the zone legs, cardio, blood sugars, and all. Man that was a heavenly ~12 mile almost 2 hour run. I wish I could have more like that. Just changed out the trail shoes last night also...as Sundays run tortured my feet and I knew it was time. So I slipped on a new pair of Brook's Cascadia 4's.....man those bad boys are awesome.Funny thing is it's been raining the past few days so I knew Wednesday night's trail run was going to be a degree of sloppy. The runners store had a grey and darker grey model of the shoe on the wall. I thought that would be great because man I'm gonna probably trash these poor shoes within the first 10 minutes out. Wouldn't you know it the shoe I like happens to be the Cascadia...trick is it's not grey..it's bright yellow and with with some black striping on it. I laugh to myself knowing their beauty is doomed. It's gonna happen at some point on the trail anyway, why not the first run out. Who cares my feet were in heaven at least.