Nav-rine

My son's graduation from Field Medical Training. He is now "DOC" with the 7th Marines. HORAH. Being an ex-Army Ranger I'm proud that my son has decided on a combat post. Being a father I have nightmares about loosing my son. Funny, I never knew I put my mother through this with my choices. I'll just put it in gods hands and trust that we'll all be good.

This weekend and week were really tough with the training. I am sore everywhere. I did a 3 mile run on Tuesday, 40 min bike on Wednesday, 6 mile run with 3x1600 meter repeats on Thursday, Saturday I did 1.5 hour bike at 17 mph avg, and an 11 mile long run on Sunday. Now I get to do it all over again this week.

For the most part I followed the diet lifestyle pretty well. Was even able to splurge a little bit without guilt. BG's mostly under control, a few highs but not like it was. The changes I made to the pump have been working pretty well.

Helping Others

We all know that giving is important, but so few of us dig into that pocket unless there is something in return. I’m no different than anyone else. I did a bike century (100 mile bike ride), for the American Diabetes Assoc, to raise money and awareness. I kept telling myself I was giving. The more I think about it I realized that I wanted the jersey they were giving away and more importantly I wanted the cure and treatment that the money could buy.

I have a friend, Brian Howe, that I’ve know for over 25 years. He has never, and I mean never, had an ulterior motive other then what he tells you. That’s not to say he doesn’t do things for himself but when he does things for others it is for others and usually at great cost to him. Brian has taken on a challenge to race a half marathon over the mountains in central California to raise money for a good cause. He’s raising money to fight Crohn’s disease. He needs our help raising money for this cause. Any amount would really help. I don’t have the money to give him but I know that he’ll need the help. I found some money I hope you will also. Please go to his website to help him help others: http://www.active.com/donate/napa08laoc/BrianHowe

My training this weekend was rewarding but definitely difficult. I did a short swim in the ocean on Saturday not much surf and a bike ride to do so I didn’t stay out. I talked Michael and his buddy into going for a ride with me. They were able to keep a 14-15 mph pace that kept me aerobic and even put in a little speed play. Sunday I did a 10 mile run but I waited till the afternoon to work in the heat. That was one tough run.\

My eating? Well let’s just say I love pizza but it doesn’t agree with my sugars or my diet. I ordered pizza for the kids on Saturday and a big salad for myself. I just couldn’t go without a piece or 2, I did stop at 2. Even with the exercise the sugars are hard to control. I gave myself a big bolas but pizza comes back at you a couple hours later.

I spent a good hour with my pump and the BG reports to modify the basal and bolus settings. So far it’s working really well.

Race Director

I had lunch with Jessah today. We talked about how to get the kids more excited about doing the Crazy-Ass Triathlon (duathlon option). They expressed interest at first but like most kids interest soon left. Chad is training for it because he gets bored and wanted to do something active. Jessah and I got this idea to make it more like a real race. We started talking about finisher medals, race shirts, and recruiting friends and family to man some aid stations. Jessah has a great imagination, she came up with ideas like a giant nut painted gold and hung on a ribbon or a bag of marble like you’ve lost them. She thought about getting a picture of Hannibal Lector on a t-shirt that says Crazy-Ass Triathlon Participant. We decided to take the RV down to the beach for a home base and transition area for the kids and myself. I’ve dubbed her the Race Director. She seam really excited. I’ve come up with a couple maps for the bike portion of the race. This is the one I like best http://www.mapmyfitness.com/route/us/ca/huntington%20beach/1157909417 some hills but not a real killer. Running along the beach will be best because of the drinking fountains and lack of traffic.

This week has really felt like I’m training for something and not just working out. Today I did a 5 mile run with 6 x ½ mile intervals. It was pretty hard and I feel like I accomplished something today. I’m looking forward to surfing/swimming tomorrow. I’m going to take my surfboard out and I’ll get my swim workout in pulling my surfboard along. If the surf is up I’ll even get some surfing in. My knees seem to be a little sore; I’ve not felt this before. Will have to keep an eye on it. No shin problems today and only some stiffness in the calves at the beginning of the run.

Still can’t get the BG under control today. Everything seems to be right but my insulin to carb ratio is to low. Before meals I’m were I’m suppose to be but the after meal test is way too high and I have to make significant corrections. I need to get to the Dr for some advice.

World Wide Half Marathon

The World Wide Half Marathon Challenge, another self supported race. This race is the brain child of Steve Runner from Phedippidations podcast (one of my favorites). This is from the website: “From every continent, all over the world at the very same time, someone will be running with you! Join a truly global community of fellow runners in a free, non-commercial event that celebrates the joy of running, with the challenge of a race! Share your local experience with a world-wide audience of fellow runners in the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon and "Kick the Couch" 5K road race!” Check out http://www.worldwidehalf.com/ to find out more information. I’ve done this race the last 2 years. Last year I did the Long Beach Half Marathon as my race for the WWH. The year before I just went out and ran 13.1 miles. Since I’m doing the Long Beach Marathon this year I signed up for the WWH race. There’s 431 racers signed up at this point from about 20 different countries. They were talking about getting 3,000 people to sign up, that would be really exciting.

I’ve been talking to everyone I come across about my Crazy-Ass Tri to see if people want to join me. I have 3 more people who are not runners that want to train up for the 13.1 mile running portion. That will be really cool. When I’m most tired in the race everyone will be around to help me on and because most are new runners I’ll be around to help them out.

BG’s have been great all day. Maybe it has something to do with the level 65%-80% exertion Brick (cycle then run right afterward) I did this morning that used 1600 calories before my day even got started. The diet today I thought I was doing pretty well but had the wind let out of my sails when Jessah looked at it. Jessah is doing Weight Watchers and they have a different way of looking at food, with points. Jessah figured that I can use 37 points per day. With my workout I get another 13 points. But I ate 60 points (some debate, Jessah used mac and cheese points for a casserole we ate and I think the fat content is not the same and the veggies are better for you and worth less points then mac and cheese) it was the couple slices of cheese I had as a snack. Cheese is my vise. We’ll have to keep working on it.

The Plan

The training plan is mostly complete and posted to my Buckeye Outdoors. I found lots of training plans on the web but none that work with multiple goals. I’m training for the Long Beach Marathon and my Crazy-Ass Triathlon 70.3. Not an easy thing to do. The marathon is the A race but not sure what the time goal is. I’m running this marathon with my friend Brian, it’s his first, and we’ll be running his pace. His pace is pretty close to mine. He could run faster than me if he put the training in, but his busy schedule precludes him from that. He’s also agreed to do the run portion with me in the C-A Tri.

My blood sugars have been really good except the mornings. Not sure if it’s the basal rate on my pump that needs to be turned up or I’m not dosing the bolas of my last snack correctly. I need to do a basal test but I’m having trouble finding a time that I can skip a breakfast.

The diet has been great. Even the 4th of July eating was good. I made grilled shrimp with pineapple, a Greek potato salad with Kalamata olives, and grilled veggies with a pineapple cilantro baste. Sean, my brother, added carne asada and wings which I had a very small amount of (one wing and 1 oz of meat). We also had Caesar salad and watermelon. The only negative was the 4 beers throughout the day.
Running and cycling have been great. On the 4th I took the family (yes Jessah, Chad, Virginia, Alexis, and Toni) on a bike ride to the Huntington Beach pier, a 20 mile round trip, to watch the parade. The kids and I raced around on the way home. Shins and calves are still giving me trouble but not getting any worst.

The Crazy-Ass Triathlon

I had a really great 12 mile bike ride today. Just a light spin to the beach and back keeping my HR under 156. I don’t seem to need the recovery week but I know what happens if I don’t take it. INJURY INJURY INJURY

I listened to a new podcast today, the Jetpack show. He has this idea of doing a self supported Ironman. Basically an Ironman you run pretty much by yourself. Your friends can run with you and do your aid stations, no rules just your own race. I really liked this idea. Called my friend Brian, the only one crazy enough to do it with me, about the idea and the “Crazy-Ass Triathlon 70.3” was born. We don’t have a specific date but it will be in the fall. I told Jessah and my kids about this idea at dinner. The girls think it’s a great idea and want to setup a Sprint Triathlon they can do, I was so proud.

The diet went ok today. Taco Bell has this fresco menu. They replace the cheese and sauce with fresh pico-de-gallo that cuts the calories and fat. After dinner I had eaten only 1700 calories. Low calories are not enough to fuel my body. My doctor said that this may be part of my problem. Not enough calories turns my body into starvation mode. I’ll eat a bedtime snack and call it a day.

Recovery Monday

Monday mornings? Like most I don’t have a love for the day we go back to work. But this Monday morning is about the recovery run day. Actually this is my recovery week from 3 training weeks. This mornings run was painful. I thought my legs were letting me down after a great week of training and feeling good. I forgot that my legs would need recovery time to grow stronger. The Monday recovery run is supposed to feed the muscles with oxygen and nutrients. Recovery doesn’t mean not running, it means doing things for your legs to help them rebuild. I like a light short distance run and riding my bike.

Recovery also means rest. This weekend was my Long Run of 8 miles. Not long for many runners but a great building week for me. On Sunday I picked up my Son who is a Navy Corpsman (medic). He’s down in Camp Pendleton (San Diego, California) training with the Marines. He’s assigned to the 1st Marines in 29 Palms as a combat field corpsman. They ran his butt off all week, so he was really tired and didn’t want to do anything action packed. We played playstation together and went to the movies. That’s a nice rest day for me as well.

The diet was a success this weekend. Jessah’s birthday dinner was Saturday. I did a Clam-Boil with clams, muscles and shrimp. As well as new potatoes, sausage and corn on the cob. The only fat was the sausage. Potatoes and corn are high on the glycemic index but not in the small amounts I used. Maybe a little too much wine. On Sunday I even used the remaining clams and muscles in a Manhattan clam chowder without the flour to thicken it up (ok broth not chowder but it tasted good). I kept my BG’s in control for the most part, Sunday’s a.m. was 194 but easy to get back down.

Thanks Bret

Today went great with the run, but not so great on the eating. Jessah’s birthday is today. We only had a half hour to connect for lunch. Went to Carl’s Jr. (sorry Jessah, the dinner I’m making tomorrow night will make up for it) had a Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich 610 cal, 53 grams carb and high in fat. Still doing well under the 2300 daily calories, but the fat content.

Did I tell you I enjoy run podcasts. I just found a bunch of triathlon podcasts and have been listening to them for the last few weeks. Today I was listening to Bret (texifornia) of Zen and the Art of Triathlon while on my run. This is a great podcast. I went back to last year and have been working my way forward, while he trains for Ironman Wisconsin. A must listen. Thanks Bret for taking my mind off the hard part of the run with your fixie bike ride.

I should make a list of the podcasts I enjoy. I know that I can put one in the margin of this blog. As soon as I figure it out I’ll post it.

Did I spell neurotic schizophrenic correctly?

This disease is like a neurotic schizophrenic. I got my insulin pump 6 months ago and it was like the magic ‘get better’ button had been pushed. My A1C dropped from 7.9 to 7.1 in 2 months then to 6.8. In May my doctor decided to take me off the Actos. My sugars became a bear to control. Lots of Basal checks and raising the insulin to carb ratios. I start running again and the sugar starts to get a little easier to control. Sugars are better but not great. I go for an EZ 15 mile bike ride this evening and wham I have a low (61) during the ride. Haven’t seen one of those in a while. If it’s not a 200 then it’s a 65.

The ride was fun. Just worked on spinning at a 98 cadence and keeping my heart rate under 70% (155-159). Got passed by a lot of riders and all I wanted to do was reel them in. But the evening was beautiful and the beach really looked great. Maybe the low wasn’t so bad, it made me stop and enjoy the beach I love so much while I treated it. Once I figure this blogging out I post some pictures.

Back in the goove

Today was just a 3 mile recovery run. The cool part is my body is starting to remember it's a runner again.

I guess I should explain. The last running I did was the Los Angeles Marathon (March 2, 2008) and the California Half Ironman (March 29, 2008). I was feeling really beat up and moved all my training to just riding my bike, had a century in April coming up, and some of surfing. The century came and my diabetes decided that was the day it would not let me ride. I had a 320 BG in the morning at 3:30am. I pumped extra insulin the whole way down to San Diego for the ride. At the start I got the BG down to 180, not great but it would have to do. But every time I climbed a hill (big and small and San Diego is all hills) my blood sugar would go high again and I would feel like I’m going to throw up. I was really concerned and cut the ride at 50 miles. I think the disappointment and over training lead to some depression and a two month rest.

My wife told me that she was tired of me being a stick in the mud and signed me up for the Long Beach Marathon in October. I went out for a 7 mile run with my son, who is in Marine Corp shape, and barley finished the run with several unscheduled walk breaks. I realized I would have to start from scratch building my endurance. Each run since has been like pulling teeth. I’ve been fighting shin splints and tight calves. Today was the first time I really got into the run. I was running and not thinking about my legs and lungs. I was enjoying the grace and glide I was feeling.

It’s funny how things change depending on your current situation. When I started running in 2004 I was impressed that I could run 2 miles after several weeks. When I got up to 8 miles, something I had not done before as a runner (yes we shuffled for 10 miles in the Army but it was different), I was totally amazed that I was running such long distances. Last year an 8 mile run was an EZ recovery run or something I would put 4-5 miles of tempo work in the middle of. And the long runs were 18 to 25 miles. Now an 8 mile long run is scheduled for this weekend and I’m exited like this is my first time. Lots of things you could think and say about this, I’m just happy to be running again.

A fresh start

A little about myself.
I'm a 40+ year old father of 5. I'm an ex-Army Ranger and Police Officer. Now doing time in the corporate word. I'm an Overweight, back of the pack, type 1.5 diabetic, cancer survivor Triathlete, Runner. But I can call myself a Marathoner (3 in 2 years and 7 half marathons in same time) soon to be an Ironman.