Reboot, Rebuild, Retry...

So here we are, two weeks after the marathon. In no particular order:

1) I'm back to a decent workout level, but certainly not recovered. I ended up doing more than 15 miles over two workouts last Sunday (that probably wasn't brilliant), and while I was initially excited about that, I found I wasn't fresh enough to run again until Wednesday. So Thursday, I hopped on the bike (which I hadn't done for over a year) and banged out a nice lunch time ride). I'm planning on running trails over lunch today, resting tomorrow, and knocking out 8 or so on Sunday.

I'm going to make it an effort to cross-train 1-2 days per week for the time being so that I can keep up my fitness while my legs recover from marathon pounding.

2) I am hopeful I get a little spring back in my step, as I'm planning on doing a half marathon next weekend, followed by a 5k the following weekend. The distance won't be a problem, but I'm a little curious if I'll have any speed.

3) I'm testing out a vial of Apidra insulin. Because I'm a lucky diabetic, I have rarely switched insulins. Simply put, whatever's on the market tends to work for me. 20 years ago, I was still on Pork and Beef insulin when it was discontinued because there were so few diabetics who hadn't switched to human.

One of the reasons I wanted to try out the Apidra was a hope that a newer more efficient insulin would require a smaller dose. Less insulin usually results in lower weight retention for me (my cayenne pepper experiment notwithstanding), and I would like to lose five pounds and get back to my PR weight (without actually dieting).

Three days into it, I'm a fan. My CGM line has never been more level and my basal dosage is down 20%. Whether or not that will translate to weight, time will tell.

And yes - Apidra is more expensive. Thank God for good insurance.

My doc also gave me a bottle of Novalog to test and I wish I would've tried that first, because it is a bit cheaper, but I decided to try the newest and coolest stuff first, and I'm not sure I'll be interested in trying something less new and sexy. (And what's it say about me that I'm referring to the sexiness of insulin?)

4) I must be dumber than I thought because I'm pretty sure I'm going after another marathon next spring. After my last disappointment, I was seriously considering putting the marathon thing on hold, but the past few weeks have given me perspective and an extremely generous offer for some coaching from someone I highly respect.

Coupled with the fact that the training would mostly occur Jan-April, when I usually run a lot but don't have much opportunity to race and you're left with an opportunity for a guy who's too stubborn for his own good to go for Boston one more time.

But my very long ramp-up for that isn't scheduled to start until October 31, so for now I'm still in the serious contemplation mode.

So that's that -- thanks for all of the comments, particularly those after the marathon melt-down. It's good to see I'm not the only moron on the roads. ;)

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