The Ups and Downs of a Sunday Workout

I haven't written too much about diabetes lately because, for the most part, the diabetes god have been pretty well behaved. They still throw plenty of highs and lows my way but they've been pretty predictable and easily remedied.

Sunday morning was a different story and I was not impressed with their shenanigans. I guess, in hindsight, I was partly to blame but I'm still disgusted by their behaviour.

I woke up on Sunday morning to Rose vibrating next to me. I had just dipped under 4.0 (3.9) after a long slow descent over the last 5-6 hours. To deal with the low, I had four Dex4s. I also turned down my basal rate by 40% for 3 hours since I knew I was going to the fitness centre once I got up.

By the time I was up and dressed and down in the kitchen, my blood sugar was 9 and climbing. Seemed pretty dramatic after only having four Dex4s but I figured it would come back down once I started erg'ing. In fact I knew it would drop down so I had half a banana for good measure.

Ten minutes later I was on the rowing machine and, after 30 minutes of hard work, my blood sugar was 10.4 and dropping. Looking at Rose I could see that I had climbed to 11.5 during the workout before turning south again.

I figured 10.4 was a good number to start my weight training at and that I would probably keep trending downward. I did indeed keep trending downward and got all the way down to 9.0 before heading back up again.

Sixty minutes of weight training later I was 13.5 with an arrow heading straight up. It didn't make sense at the time, After my workout I bolused two units and headed home.

I kept climbing, double arrows up, until I reached 16.9. By then I had 6 units of insulin on board, was starving for breakfast and unable to eat.

I guzzled water, showered, and patiently waited for the insulin to kick in. After an hour, it finally did and my blood sugar did exactly what I expected it to. It tipped downward, gathered speed and within 30 minutes I went from 16.9 to 10.

I started making breakfast, which was technically now my lunch. By the time it was ready I was 6.4. I ate, my blood sugar climbed up and back down the way it normally does when I eat my breakfast and things were fine for the rest of the day.

Doug asked me why I went so high during the workout.

I guessed that it was because I was lifting weights. That used to happen years ago when I weight trained but I had forgotten.

The combination of 30 minutes of cardio (which usually drops my blood sugar) followed by 45-60 minutes of weights (which apparently brings it up) will take me a few weeks to figure out.

I'll start by not lowing my basal insulin next week and see if that helps avoid the awful high without triggering a low.

Good thing I like to exercise, love numbers and don't mind experimenting. Otherwise I can see how it would be pretty tempting to just stay in bed.

Strategic Strength Training

Now that I have my very own fitness centre just down the street, I figured I should probably be strategic in how I approach weight training. I mean I can certainly go in there a few times a week and lift weights but I thought it might make a bit more sense to make sure that I was doing exercises that would target specific areas in order to improve how I perform in my other activities.

You know, like do trunk rotation exercises to help my golf swing and that sort of thing.

I decided to see what I could find online by searching for weight training for a specific sport and then seeing if I could string together some sort of targeted weight training routine.

I got about that far in my thinking before I laughed out loud.

Weight training for golfers would certainly give me a few ideas for how to strengthen the muscles I need in order to be a strong and stable golfer but that would not necessarily help my running.

Or my curling.

Or my cycling.

Or my swimming (once I get my sorry a$$ back in the pool).

So I laughed at the ridiculousness of my idea.

If I looked up specific weight training exercises for each of the activities that I do and strung those together I would have to quit my job so that I could spend all of my time lifting weights.

I stared at my monitor for a few moments and then decided that the best approach is probably a varied one. Every part of my body can benefit from getting stronger and, as long as I do a variety of exercises so that I don't strengthen one part at the expense of the other, I'll probably come out ahead.

So rather than driving myself mad trying to create a routine to help with everything, I decided to go with option #2.

Book a session with one of the instructors and let them give me some guidance as to how to proceed. Which is exactly what is happening this afternoon when Doug and I meet with the Cybex instructor so that he can make sure we know how to use the machines and then answer any training questions we have.

I'll let you know next week how it all went and pass on any great tips I may learn.

Erg'ing

When I started curling, I became a member of what I referred to as my curling club. 

A few years later I took up golf and switched my membership from curling to a full membership which allowed me to curl in the cold months and golf in the warm months. So it became my golf and curling club depending on the season. 

Then my club announced all sorts of improvements including the building of a new fitness centre. After a few months on construction, the fitness centre opened last week. Better yet, the use of it is included in my existing membership. Not having a gym membership, I was pretty excited to have access to cardio machines (hello treadmill!) and weights. 

Last Friday I headed there after work to check things out and I was impressed. They spared no expense and we have brand new, state of the art equipment, lots of weights, fitness balls, mats, and everything else a great gym should have. They even have, omigod, a rowing machine! (Apparently it's supposed to be referred to as an 'erg' but I prefer rowing machine.)

When I was in university I was taught by my sister (who used to row for her university) how to row properly. I was nowhere near as strong as she was but I loved it. I used to use it all the time...but that was almost 20 years ago. I figured I'd be a bit rusty but I was excited to try.

I hopped on and rowed (erg'ed?) for 30 minutes. It came back to me instantly and I fell into a rhythm that was easy to maintain. I kept looking at the screen and watching the numbers but really had no idea if I was flying across the water or barely moving the boat. All I know is that I did 6000m in 30 minutes (is that good?). 

Afterwards I did all sorts of upper body weights using weight machines I haven't used in at least 10 years, since I cancelled my last gym membership. It was great! 

I went again on Sunday morning and hopped back on the erg again. Again, I did 30 minutes and covered just over 6000m. Again I did a bunch of weight machines afterwards and went home feeling great. 

When I was a curler, I liked my curling club. 

When I became a golfer, I really liked my golf and curling club. 

Now that there is a fitness centre too? I'm thinking I'm going to be hanging out there a whole lot from now on. 

Next Issue = Sore Abs

Alright I admit it. I like magazines. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of 1000+ page novels and other reading commitments but I do enjoy spending an afternoon lazily flipping through pages of a magazine looking at the beautiful photography and reading the short and easily digestible articles. 

Have you heard of Next Issue? I love it! It's a monthly subscription service that allows you access to a wide variety of magazines on your reading device. In my case an iPad mini. The range of magazines is pretty broad and you can pick the ones you're interested in. At the moment I have 31 different magazines I get every month but I can change that any time I want. There are probably just as many I don't get and they are adding more all the time. 

Thirty-one magazines. And some of them are weeklies. Think about that for a minute. 

I love it because I can explore magazines I wouldn't ever go out and buy and would never subscribe to. But, since they're included in my subscription, why not? I read golf magazines, cooking magazines, news magazines, financial, running, fashion and health magazines. I have National Geographic and The New Yorker. I have things for the days when I want to look at pretty clothes and nail polish colours, things when I need some workout inspiration, financial encouragement or news bites. Thanks to Next Issue I am never at a loss for things to read. 

And imagine how much more fun it is to fly when you have all those magazines at your fingertips! 

So the other day I was catching up on a few issues of Prevention magazine. One of those magazines that I had never even heard of before Next Issue and would probably never buy. It's a combination of articles like how to get in touch with your pet's emotional side intermixed with how to increase the amount of iron in your diet and a smattering of tips and tricks for how to strengthen your calves. 

I was flipping through it in bed the other night and came across one of those articles that shows a few different exercises you can do at home to strengthen your core. You know the ones I'm talking about. They have tiny photographs of a lovely looking model doing all sorts of seemingly easy poses using a kitchen chair, broom and cans of soup. I usually flip by those in a hurry to get to more substantial articles. 

This time I didn't. 

I stopped and read the intro article. I studied the 14 exercises. And I thought "I can do that!" 

In fact I took it one step further and thought "I want to do that". 

See, I'm a big fan of cardio-type workouts. I swim, run and cycle regularly. But I don't have any strength training in my routine. I used to lift weights at the gym years ago but haven't in a long long time. The workout that I read was designed to strengthen the core muscles as well as arms, shoulders, butt, legs etc. There were 14 exercises that you do for one minute each and then you repeat the entire cycle. 

Thirty minutes. 

I can do that. 

So on Sunday morning I put on my sadly unused yoga top and shorts and headed to the living room. I pulled out my yoga mat, my elastic band thingie and some hand weights I used to use (8 pounds each because those were the lightest I had). 

I worked my way through the workout and was dripping by exercise 4. Shaking by number 6 and unable to completely do the last few. I collapsed on the mat for a few minutes at the end of the 14 and then convinced myself to do a second run through. It was a little easier the second time but nowhere near easy. Thirty minutes later I was a weak, humbled, soaking mess of my former self but I was grinning from ear to ear. 

"I'm so gonna hurt tomorrow" I said. 

By bedtime I was actually a little disappointed that nothing hurt yet. I thought I must have worked some muscles hard enough for them to hurt. But nothing. I went to sleep feeling oddly bothered by the fact that I felt fine. I woke up around 3am having to use the ladies room. I was lying on my stomach so I quietly began to push myself up but quickly stopped. Bloody hell - my abs are killing me. Instead of pushing myself up and clambering out of bed I gingerly rolled myself out. My abs hurt, my legs hurt and my butt hurt. 

Yay! 

It's been a long time since I've felt that familiar ache of a tough muscle-burning weight training session. I forgot how much I used to enjoy that. 

I'm giving myself a few days to recover and will be doing it again on Thursday. 

One More Activity to add to the Calendar

Some of you might have noticed that, when I've talked about golf during the past few weeks, I also made reference to 'our golf club' or 'our golf course'.

Doug has been a member of the local golf and country club for a while now. I've been a curling member there for several winters but decided to jump in with both feet and sign up as a golf member too. At least for this summer. To see if I like it.

Being a golf member has its privileges. One of which is a small but serviceable gym.

You know, the kind with weights and a treadmill.

I haven't used a real gym of any kind in years and years.

I run outside in all weathers and all seasons. If it's just too awful to run outside, I don't run.

I cycle outside during the spring, summer and fall and cycle in the basement in the winter.

The only facility I actually drive to and pay fees to exercise in is the community pool.

Now I have use of a gym. With weights. And a treadmill.

I used to love lifting weights back in my YMCA days but haven't done that since discovering my love of cardio activities on the open road.

Now I have the use of a gym. With weights.

It's pretty much there for the taking.

Problem is finding the time in my fitness schedule to squeeze in some weight lifting.

Finding the time? Or making the time?

Considering how much I love my swims, rides and runs, and the fact that I'm taking full advantage of golf season, it really will be about making the time.

Any scheduling tips for how to squeeze it all in? While working full time, sleeping 8 hours a night and spending quality time with Doug?