Although I’m no longer upset about my last A1c I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.
I’m a target oriented person. I need a target to keep me motivated. In my running I always have a next race, usually a marathon, in mind even if it’s a while away. Without this target I have a much harder time getting up early to run and find I give myself a break a little too often.
My next big target is the Amsterdam marathon which will take place October 21s. I registered for The NY city marathon, but for the second time did not win a place in the lottery. Although I very much want to run the NY Marathon, I am not disappointed since this year there will be a large group of guys from my running group going to Amsterdam (six have registered so far).
The marathon is still six months away meaning I’m officially two months away from marathon training but having this target has jump started my running. Im actually surprised at the effect it has had on me. I feel so motivated to get faster and stronger that I’m worried I’ll burn out or suffer injury before The marathon.
In away I feel the same about my A1c. I’ve decided to try and treat my periodic blood tests as races. Trying to do better by training for them. Well, not exactly training but taking each period between blood tests as a separate training period, trying to turn it from a endless line of testing, injecting and carb counting in to a project with an end and a goal – better A1c.
In this way I can try and improve a certain aspect of my blood sugar control during one of these periods.
I’ve decided, during my first A1c training period, to try and tackle two issues the first is my night time sugar levels and my dawn phenomenon. For this I have started taking metformin, which I still do not have an opinion on, and have been trying to remember to test my blood sugar before going to bed and if I have active insulin in me making sure I don’t go low, even if this means setting a 1:00a.m. alarm.
Everyone has their weakness or thing or things they don’t do or forget to do. Mine is forgetting to test my blood sugar especially before I go to bed.
The second thing I’m trying to do is test my blood sugar more frequently during the day. Before I eat and if I skip meals (something I tend to do) then every few hours, since my blood sugar levels seem to change even without eating.
Testing is key to control and frequent testing allows better control (this is why CGMs have been proven to improve glycemic control). So this training period I will be focussing on testing my blood sugar during the day and at night.
I don’t know if this new attitude towards my diabetes management will last or work but it’s worth a try.
