I haven’t run more than 12.5 miles since early July, and after running a good 11 miles on Wednesday, I felt like I was ready to break the half marathon distance again. But, on Friday morning when I woke up at 4:15 a.m. to get ready for my run, I was dazed. I felt as if everything I did was in slow motion. I knew it wasn’t just the early morning hours and the lack of sleep. I tested my blood sugar it was 438. Perhaps I had rebounded after a nighttime low. I have no other explanation for the number.
I took one unit of insulin hoping that it would bring my blood sugar down to a somewhat decent level before I started to run, without causing me to crash (the bolus wizard recommended 2.7 units).
When I arrived at the meeting place, an hour after I bolused, my blood sugar was 244. A little disappointed, I lowered my basal rate and started to run.
After 3 miles of feeling bad I stopped to check my blood sugar. It was 140. I’d dropped more than 100 in under a half hour of running.
I ran another mile until my next check. This time it was 108. I took a gel, kept running, and kept feeling like shit. Two miles later my blood sugar was 100. I felt terrible and decided to turn back towards the car. I was running by myself and worried I would pass out. I ran slowly just wanting it to be over.
I was very disappointed in myself and felt like an idiot for running on a morning that started with a blood sugar of 438. In those moments, though, it seems like the only thing to do is to bolus and continue as planned. Otherwise, diabetes wins. But I don’t even know how coherently I’m thinking with such high blood sugar combined with so little sleep.
Sometimes I push myself and it works. And then there are the days like Friday, when diabetes totally kicks my ass.
Mike, that is SO frustrating. I’ve done the same thing (in the form of taking an intense spin class when my blood sugar is stuck around 250) — I cannot even imagine how bad you must have felt at 438. It’s a wonder you even got out of bed. It’s also always amazing to me how quickly blood sugars can drop once you start moving. I wonder what the solution to a morning like this is — perhaps a correction bolus and a half hour walk before you run, just so you have a sense of where you’re going? (As… Read more »
been there and totally agree with the sentiment. If I stopped my plans everytime my sugar was out of whack I would get nothing done.