Running

hills, speed, lsd

Waiting out the low

Diabetes, Running, Uncategorized

Last Friday, I hated Dear Diabetes, like really, really hated it. If I could, I most certainly would have kicked it in the teeth. Most certainly. It all started minutes before I was to go on my long run. I always test my blood sugars before a run with the rule of thumb that any reading below 7.5 gets a dose of carbs, anything above I wait until my first walk break. But Friday morning, when my BG read 5.7, I did not feed it with carbs – all because I trusted BLOODY technology over my own knowledge of my own body. I recently got myself a Dexcom G4 Continuous Glucose Monitoring system, which, for those of you not in the diabetes know, essentially shows the trend patterns of your blood sugars. And so, just before my run, after testing, I looked at the CGM and it showed a slanted […]

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Bananas and blood gushers

Diabetes, Running

THIS: Ah bananas, they’re like the runners’ go-to fruit. So many benefits: instant energy boost, spiked full of natural electrolytes, and easy to digest… maybe a little TOO easy. For me, bananas have never really been a first choice. I’m quite picky on the type of banana I eat. It cannot have any indication of brown spots forming, but it also can’t be too green. Really, it’s a small window for bananas and me. And following a hard-run race, I can’t even look at a banana, not even at a fully skinned banana; they induce an instant urge to hurl. But on Sunday, just before heading out for a quick-paced tempo run, I noticed my BG plummeting. I needed something quick, and I needed something easy on the belly. The only thing that came to mind was banana. Half of it in my mouth and out the door I went.

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Tales of a lonely runner

Diabetes, Running

It’s been more than two years since I last had a running partner; it’s been a hard two years. Er, wait, let me rephrase that, it’s been a hard year. (One of the aforementioned years, I was preggers and a new mom, and wasn’t running much.) When Big Ring and I decided to make our family three, I knew there would be changes. I knew it wouldn’t be as easy for me to drive 45 minutes to run with my favourites, if even possible at all anymore. And I knew it would be difficult, but I thought eventually I’d find a new group of running gals to keep me company, keep my long runs not feeling so long, keep me motivated, competitive, excited to run. But, to date, there has been no one. These are the woes of a lonely runner… And it’s not for lack of trying – this

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This is me listening

Running, Training

When the running community tells you don’t run, you don’t run. Our community is a pretty hardcore community. We run in all weather, super hot, humid temperatures, torrential downpours, snow, sleet, hail; we run in the wee hours of the morning and the late hours of the evening; we run when we’re miserable; we run when we’re sad; we run when we’re hurting, physical pain shooting through all regions of our body, and we’re still out there. And when we’re sick, eyes watering, stuffy nose, sore throat sick, we run. But the chest, that’s another story. I’ve known the rule for years: anything below the neck, stay home. But sometimes, I need a reminder. Like, you know, after battling a persistent cold for a month, and already missing out on a week of running due to said cold, and being miserable, stuck inside, feeling frumpy, worrying about the missed mileage,

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Confidence. Belief. Self Efficacy.

Running

You can’t control the uncontrollable, so don’t waste tears trying. That was probably the most valuable piece of information I walked away with following the running symposium I attended this weekend at Burnaby’s Fortius Sport and Health Centre. Sports psychologist David Cox (who works with the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Canadian Olympic snowboarding team) had just 20 minutes to share his expertise in getting the mind ready for race day. He didn’t waste any time. Talking a mile a minute and frantically chicken scratching notes on the whiteboard he spewed out key words: Confidence. Belief. Self Efficacy. He threw his hands up at negative pressure, he slapped outcome goals in the face, he weighed the cancer of extrinsic values to the reward of intrinsic. As runners, we are so hung up on times, on the “brutal” win-or-lose mentality. But why not invest more on our performance goals, those things that

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