Sweet Victory

I'm so grateful for all of the comments I get on this blog, but I've always been partial to Al's. Why? Because he's not a diabetic. His son is and he reads my blog for insight into how to be a better parent. As a parent of two little riddles, myself, I soooo get that. At any rate, Al posted a great comment last week: "Have you always been so successful with controlling your bg levels? My son really does "care" about his diabetes, but struggles with roller coaster bgs. In your early 20's at college, were you as successful controlling your diabetes as you are now? He adds: Right now he is very scared of lows and therefore runs high a lot." Since going on the pump eight years ago, I haven't had an A1C over 7 that I can recall. Before that, I had tons of 7's with a smattering of 8's. During phases in my life where I didn't test as often, I'd rarely go beyond 8 but do recall a few 9's and one time (I think it was college) being...

When I was in high school, I was one of 4 diabetics (that I know of). This week, the second one of the other 3 died of diabetic complications. And yet, even writing that, it sounds absurd. After all, I'm sitting here, more than 25 years into this thing, without a single complication and a nearly non-diabetic blood sugar of 137, 30 minutes after eating a bag of chips. There's a lot I don't know, but probably the biggest thing I don't know is why this disease is fairly easy for me, compared to so many Type 1 diabetics. On one hand, I could take the credit - say I *care* more than others, or stay up on the technology more than others or say I can count carbs faster and more accurate than others. Those things could be true. But on the other hand, maybe I'm just lucky. Maybe my body chemistry causes me to process artificial insulin the way the chemists intended. Maybe my fat content is ideal for sticking a thin needle in me and delivering the goods. Maybe running 30-50 ...

I really don't blog much these days, so hopefully you've been finding some good things to read. As I hinted a few weeks ago, I've climbed out of my post-marathon-blow-up and yesterday, started training for my 4th marathon, which isn't until the middle of May. So how does someone go from saying they're done with the marathon to beginning a 26-ish week plan for one? Welll.... a few things happened. 1) I'm stubborn and stupid. If you're a runner, you know that's a big part of it. Don't discount it. 2) I'm not a bad runner. I just ran a particularly crappy race. In the month following the marathon, I had a 5k PR and a near half-marathon PR. Those short races helped me believe that while my marathon hadn't gone well, I'm not that old or fat, yet. This weekend, I'm going after a 5 mile PR, and I frankly like my chances. 3) An offer I couldn't refuse. After my last marathon, Missy Foy reached out to me, and offered help in getting ov...

At the end of the day, I'm an age-grouper. Though, I've never read a definition, here's what that means to me: 1) You'll never see my on the "podium" after a race. I'll never take home money and never be in the Top 3 overall. 2) However, depending on who shows up on the starting line, I might sneak into an age-group award. Age group awards are particularly whimsical. I won first place at a local 4 miler in 2008, only to come back and finish 6th a year later. I should add, I actually ran faster the second year. Like I said, whimsical. That being said, Knoebels Lumber 5k has been my bitch since 2007 when I showed up and said, "Isn't there anybody here my age??" And apparently there wasn't, as I ran a 20:30 the day before a 20 miler. In 2008, I did the 20 miler the day before and allowed myself to "let it all hang out" on the 5k. But there ain't much to hang after a 20 miler, and I came in 20:11, but also good enough for the se...

As a reader, I can tell you: sporadic blogs suck. When I'm enjoying reading someone, I expect them to post regularly, and I haven't. But as a writer, I made a deal with myself a long time ago: I write what I want, when I want. There's no need for another chore in my life because, believe me: I've got plenty of them. But still, I do have some things to say. First up, running. Last weekend was the Hands on House 1/2 Marathon, one of the bigger 1/2 marathons I do and my 3rd time on this course. It was also my first race since my marathon melt-down three weeks prior. While I expected to be a little tired, I was also a little eager to repair my ego. Due to construction, the course was re-routed and that led to some problems, most notably when the 4th mile marker gave way to the 5th after only 1/2 mile. Yes - you heard it correct: the course was off by more than 1/2 mile. From that point on, the pack was made up of 2 kinds of runners: those who were amazed at their fitness an...

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...

Well, that's probably not true, though it seems to feel that way to me this year. During this year's marathon plan, I averaged 46 miles per week and ran a 3:33. Last year, I averaged 32 miles per week and ran a 3:23. In 2007, I ran 30 miles per week (plus two days on the bike) and ran a 3:18. Sort of flies in the race of that, "to run faster, run further" talk, eh? Honestly, I don't know. I'm eager to blame the poor day on a lack of speed training, but am still wrapping my head around it all. The best part about blowing up your marathon plan so early in the season is that it leaves a lot of fall to race in. I'm looking forward to the Hands-on-House 1/2 Marathon in two weeks (where I have my current 1/2M PR) and a week after that will try to defend my title of two-time age group champion of the Knoebels Lumber 5k. Big dreams, folks, big dreams. Technically, the 1/2 marathon is three weeks after my marathon, and you're supposed to wait a month before ra...

Apparently, Invisible Illness Week was this week? I didn't even know it until now. At any rate, there's a meme going around about it, and though I don't usually play, I did. Enjoy... 30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know 1. The illness I live with is: Type 1 Diabetes 2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 1984 3. But I had symptoms since: A few months before. 4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Wow. I must be well-adjusted because nothing comes to mind. 5. Most people assume: I don't have diabetes. 6. The hardest part about mornings are: usually before I've had coffee. 7. My favorite medical TV show is: none of them unless by medical you mean the part in Road House where Swayze got stitches without a local. 8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my insulin pump, blood sugar meter and my CGM. I'm a diagadgaholic. 9. The hardest part about nights are: when I've had a very fatty meal (like a big steak) and can't tell what it wi...

Well, that didn't go as planned at all. DISCLAIMER: I've found that there are three kinds of people in this world. A. People who don't set goals. B. People who set reasonable goals because they get mighty upset if they miss them. C. People who set stretch goals and are cool with missing them. It's important to note that I'm a C. While what follows could be taken as ripping my performance apart, I'm really not. Well, I really am, but I'm ok with it. Understand, that I'm eternally grateful to complete my third marathon and that I'm especially grateful to be healthy enough to run at all. That being said, yesterday pretty much sucked. Reader's Digest Version: I finished in 3:33:45 . 5th out of 30 in my AG (I mistakenly Tweeted 4th yesterday) and 37th out of 305 overall. It was 15 minutes slower than my fastest marathon, and ten minutes slower than last year. The Summary: I went out according to plan and did a pretty good job of running 7:23 miles. I...

The Lehigh Valley Marathon is in 48 hours. Actually, in 49 hours I hope to be finishing it, in a Boston Marathon Qualifying time of 3:15:59 or better. This is my third shot at it, after an encouraging 3:18 two years ago and a somewhat disappointing 3:23 last year (both at the Harrisburg Marathon). I've been asked what my chances are and I've said I've got no reason to think I'm necessarily fitter this time around, but I have trained quite differently this time. In that spirit - and because taper madness has rendered me fairly useless for the regular duties of the day - I'm offering up 9 Reasons I'll Qualify for Boston This Time and 5 Reasons I Might Not... The good news... 1) I've put in more miles. Mind you, not dramatically more. My peak month last year was 182 and this year it was 191. However, my peak month this year came just last month, whereas in my earlier plan it was three months prior to the race. Common sense says to be a faster runner, run more...

Those who follow diabetes dust-ups intently (I'm not one of them) have been pointing out an Op-Ed piece by Wholefoods CEO John Mackey in which he said, "Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices." Reaction from the diabetic community has been predictably unfavorable , particularly from the Type 1 diabetic crowd, where we are the lottery "winners" of an autoimmune disorder and have no ability to prevent anything. I've found that diabetics don't like getting blamed for the disease and there's no reason we should, since there's nothing that would've prevented it. And while it's true that stupid editorials from guys like Mackey don't help the public understanding of the disease, here's the thing: it will have...

After last Sunday's 22 miler, I'm now in taper mode, which could also be described as "voodoo" mode for me. Over the next 20 days, I'll be taking every supplement I come across that offers promises of enhanced performance (not THAT kind - I've got enough spam about THAT), but the kind that might help me shave exactly three minutes off my marathon PR so I can get to Boston. One of the substances I'd been curious about is FRS , which I first learned about when I clicked on a banner ad with Lance Armstrong a few months ago. Think of that: I don't click on many banner ads, but Lance Armstrong's face was enough to make me curious enough to stretch my mouse a few pixels and click. While the website was interesting and believable, the fact is that at $2.50/serving, it ain't cheap. The market for something to believe in might be infinite, but my budget isn't. But over the weekend, three things happened: 1.) I stumbled across this article in Men...

About a month ago, I started The Cayenne Pepper Experiment. In an earlier post, I discussed how one of the things that hasn't gone well with this particular marathon season is that I'm 4 pounds heavier than I was last season and 8 pounds heavier than I was 2 years ago when I had a 3:18 PR. While this still puts me at an "ideal" BMI, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that carrying extra weight around during a marathon isn't ideal for PR's. At the same time, my diet is mostly-somewhat-reasonably healthy, so outright "dieting" when I was running 50 miles a week didn't seem to make sense. However, I remembered that when I went on my insulin pump eight years ago, the more efficient use of insulin changed my total daily dose from 60 units to roughly 42. When I did that, I lost 15 pounds without changing anything. This caused me to conclude that if I could lower my average insulin dosage further, maybe those 4 pounds would just slide away. ...

After 62 days of wearing the Dexcom, my A1C is either 6.2 or 5.8, depending on which chart you believe. According to both the Dex and my labs, my average blood sugar for the period was 131. (More on this in a minute.) According to this chart , that converts to a 5.8. According to my lab paperwork, however, that's a 6.2. I don't know why that is, and I also know that 6.2 is good - in fact probably the best A1C I've had in 25 years with diabetes. But dammit, I expected a 5.8, so something that starts with a 6 kind of bugs me. That being said, my Doc seemed a little worried that my actual blood tests per day had dropped from 4-5 to 2-3 and that I was trusting the Dex so much. But I'd say if the Dex says my average blood sugar is 131 and so did the labs, I think it's reliable enough. I also talked to the doc a little bit about trying Apidra. When I look at my Dex wave, my meals have a habit of taking me quite high (220-250) and then it's a good 2.5 hours 'til I...

I've done a lot of things different on this marathon plan, but one of the most important has been switching from a wide variety of less expensive fueling systems to Hammer Nutrition . Hammer had first been recommended to me by a local Ironman athlete who joined me for a few long runs last year. At the time, it was too late in my training to risk adding something new to the mix, but I've been using HEED and Hammer Gel for several months now. (Side note: My Ironman friend told the about reading that Hammer was formulated well for diabetics. I found it a little strange that a non-diabetic would know this until I became a Hammer customer. Simply put, Hammer sends copious amount to education to their customers. While the material is always marketing their products, there's gobs of research and education in the newsletters. Impressive stuff.) Until this past weekend, though, I'd never tried Perpeteum , which is the specific Hammer product for events greater than two hours. Wh...

Let's face it: this obsession with Boston is something only runners understand. To most of the non-running community, saying you're running the Boston marathon doesn't mean much. Half the time, you'll get the, "Oh a marathon.. how far is this one?" But very few people outside of us idiots know what it takes to get there . Even so, I wonder about the standards a lot. For me, I love them: they were made for a guy like me who on a good day, with a good plan and a good tail wind might get there. Yet at the same time, I read a lot of running blogs. Some of the writers ( these two come to mind) would be embarrassed if all they could say was that they qualified for Boston. These guys don't get out of bed for anything slower than a 2:50. A slothly 3:15 would be a tremendous failure in their world. And that's not a bad thing: it's just how their world is. Meanwhile, guys like Steve Walker are the epitome of the word "runner," yet - and I think ...

While at the beach last week, I enjoyed 4 of my 5 runs on the boardwalk. I use the word "enjoy" somewhat loosely, though I was certainly entertained. To the buff guy who raced me for a mile at 6:30 pace, only to suddenly stop and call it a day while I still had 3 miles left, I say, thanks for the company. To the kid on the bike who drove like he needed a breathalyzer test, I say move it over. And to the girl who ran every day in a bikini and loafers, I wonder: were you Jenn Shelton ? I'm pretty sure you were but couldn't think of a way to ask without sounding creepy.

Summer vacation 2009 is history. As is typical, I spent the time either drinking more expensive beer than usual, consuming gut-busting amounts of seafood, assuring my children that despite what shark week says, the surf is safe... or running. The day after arriving in Ocean City, I went for what was supposed to be my first 20 miler of the marathon season (which has 3 total). This was basically the course I had in mind . While the course was 19.25, I knew some places I could pick up the difference. In the end, though, I cut it at 19.6 because I was whooped. Other notes: 1) If you wish to copy this course, be forewarned you're not supposed to run on the Route 90 bridge. There is a decent sized lane, but you're not supposed to do it. Also, if a car were to swerve, your only move is to vault over the railing into the bay. 2) Fortunately, there's not a ton of traffic when I went over it at 7:30 AM. 3) If you want to get off Route 90 onto Ocean Parkway, keep in mind, this isn...

Hal Higdon's Intermediate II plan has two "recovery" runs per week. By recovery, Hal means they should be leisurely, fun and relaxed. They're designed to help rejuvenate your muscles and spirit, while increasing your running economy. All of which will help you focus and perform better on your key days. I think recovery runs do all of these things. Except they also suck. The worst part, I've found, is that without putting myself into either a "zone" or oxygen debt, my mind has time to think about a lot of things. But what it thinks about mostly is how this isn't much fun. When I do a marathon pace run, I don't have time to worry if a dog's on a leash. If he's not, I'll just out-run him. I don't worry about the strange twinges in my knee or shin or foot because all of that will be dealt with only after I've put those marathon pace miles in the bank. But on the recovery runs, I just feel like an old guy with ADD shuffling throug...

If running were only allowed to be done in the morning, I would not be a runner. There, I said it. Not only that, but I'm incredibly jealous of those you who bop out of bed at 5am (or earlier!). How do you do that?? When do you sleep?? Here's my deal: I'm mostly a lunchtime runner, thanks to shower facilities at my employer. The only time I get out of bed to run early is on the weekend. Most weekends, that's only one day and on that one day, I find it crazy crazy difficult to do. The creativity of the groggy whining in my head at 7am on Saturday surprises even me. Today, however, I had a client coming to the office around lunchtime. Tomorrow, I have a morning long run planned. Running after work would mean barely 12 hours between two hard workouts, which meant: a morning run for me today, too. I should also mention that while walking the dog PRIOR to my run at 7am, my neighbor drove by on the way home from his 5:30am run, playing loud music and waving frantically. God, ...