Ahhhhhh!

There are many ways to train for a marathon.  Or a half marathon.  Or a 10k.  There are all sorts of programs to follow - some are pretty moderate, some are intense and some are downright looney tunes.

The way it works at Runners' Edge is that we go hard for three weeks and then take an easy week to recharge our running batteries.  Then we go hard again.  Then rest again.  For a half marathon, we did this cycle three times.  The first and second round, we kept building up our mileage - from 10k to 22k.  The third cycle, we tapered.

With marathon training, it's pretty much the same thing except we have four cycles.  Our shortest long run was 16k and, between now and race day, we're building up to 35k and then tapering.

Sunday, yesterday, marked the official end of the first cycle.  We have finished our first three weeks of training.  We have built up to 20k on Saturdays, and conditioned our bodies to run four days a week (plus a Sunday bike ride).

After yesterday's 45k bike ride, our rest week has officially begun!

I'd do a happy dance for you but I'm busy lounging on the couch.  How about a lazy wave instead?

This week, we only run three days. Forty minutes on Tuesday and Thursday and then 10k on Saturday.

C'est tout!

My body is ready for a break.  It's been holding up quite well so far.  Runs have been good and the only problems I've encountered have been diabetes-related rather than running-related so that's good. My shins are behaving, my energy is holding up and I'm recovering well from long runs.

Still though, I'm feeling tired.  Tired of trying to fit everything in.  Tired of getting up earlier on weekends than I do during the week.  Tired of being busy most nights of the week.

I'm looking forward to this week.  To lounging around. To less loads of laundry. To having evenings that seem to stretch on forever because they start at 4:30pm rather than 7:30pm.

Join me in a toast to taking care of our bodies and having a little extra time to spend with our loved ones.

On a different note, for those of you who have been following the Saturday morning long run blood sugar saga - I have an update from this weekend's run.

For those of you who don't know, my last two long runs did not go well.  Let's just say that blood sugars in the 20s make for challenging runs.

This Saturday, I tweaked things a bit.  I lowered my basal to 50% rather than 40% and I took a wee bit more insulin with breakfast.  Not much, probably about 0.4 units.  In an effort to stave off any highs, I also checked my sugar more often than I normally would.

At 5k, I was 10.3 (so I had a gel - 24 carbs)
At 9k, I was 8.6 (so I had one date - 15 carbs)
At 12k I was 12.3 (I'm good with that)
At 16k I was 11.4
At 20k I ended the run at 8.6

Those numbers make me a much happier runner.  I got to have a gel which helps with energy, a date which kept my stomach happy and I didn't have all the awful symptoms that come with highs. So apparently the new trick is dropping to 40% basal for evening runs but only 50% basal for morning ones.

My next challenge will be to figure out what to do on race day.  We need to be on the bus at 7:30am, we start running at 10am and I'll be running, most likely, until 3pm.  Figuring out when to eat and how to adjust my basal and bolus is going to be a bit of a challenge.

Any tips my running friends?