Last Monday I went to the doctor for my quarterly visit to get new prescriptions and paper work for my 3 month blood work.
I could have gone on Tuesday to get the blood work done, but decided that I’d go Wednesday morning instead. Then I decided to run Wednesday morning and postponed it to Thursday. That didn’t work out either and neither did Friday. Over the weekend I realized I wasn’t putting it off because I don’t have the time (it usually takes no more than an hour and it’s only 5 minutes away). The reason I’ve been putting it off is because I’m scared of the results.
Last time I got blood work done, three months ago, I had been on a very low carbohydrate diet for most of the three months preceding the blood test. I was following a strict paleo diet and I hadn’t really started intensive marathon training. I went to get my blood work done expecting a good result. When the results came in a few days later I was happy and surprised – my HbA1c was 6. I hadn’t had such a low result in eight years and I decided to try to do even better.
That was at the end of October (2010) and since then I have run a half marathon a 30k race and a marathon and many more long runs in between. This sort of training has required a change in my diet – the addition of what most would consider a normal amount of carbs but what to me is a very substantial change. I tried to cover all the additional carbohydrates with insulin but it hasn’t been easy keeping my numbers down while balancing the carbs, insulin and running. The truth is that I find it easy to keep my numbers down while on a very low carb diet but once a little carbohydrate is introduced all hell breaks loose.
I know, or at least I’m pretty sure, my numbers have not been as good as they were before the previous blood tests and I’m expecting a disappointing result. The one thing I can say to my defense is that I’ve had very few lows during the last 3 months. (Though I still have some issues with nighttime lows that need to be dealt with.)
So after I realized that I am just trying to avoid getting a disappointing result, I made up my mind to go first thing Monday morning and get the blood test over with. I hope I’m wrong but if not I’ll just have to deal.
I am still on a paleo diet but in order to run long distances I had to add some complex carbs. I read the Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordin and followed his recommendation to add sweet potato to my diet (not very much and only before long runs). I also added quinoa which I handle much better. Quinoa is actually a seed so theoretically it is paleo.
I have been much more in control over the last 6 months but needing to carb load once a week for a 20+ mile run has thrown me off.
I’m curious why you did not continue eating paleo while training for the long distance runs? Paleo, if nothing else, is the best diet an athlete can be on.