Running 26.2 miles is not an easy task. In fact, it takes months of training. Months of eating right, months of running in poor weather conditions, months of early morning runs and above all else, months of mental preparation. Running any event is tough, but 26.2 miles is a challenge. It is one thing to say that you are going to do it, and another thing to actually follow through with it. It takes a lot to run a race. Whether it’s finding the right shoes, finding energy gels that don’t upset your stomach, or finding the perfect set of clothes that’s going to make you stick out come race day. One thing that most marathon runners don’t have to deal with is their blood glucose levels.
Being a diabetic athlete is far from easy. A non-diabetic pancreas is fully functioning, and it is able to tell when insulin is necessary based on certain blood sugar levels. In type 1 diabetics, it’s a little trickier. I am on artificial insulin, and my pancreas is not functioning so it doesn’t have that ‘stop sign’ to tell the body to stop secreting insulin. Once it is delivered I have to compensate for it by eating carbohydrates, or I will face the consequences and experience a low blood sugar. Confused yet? In simple terms, I have to control how much insulin to give, and if I make a mistake, I can either get a low or high blood sugar. If I didn’t exercise that would be it, and life wouldn’t be too difficult. However, I’m not that simple. I enjoy making life difficult but in the long run (get it run, I’m a runner haha) it’s all worth it. A lot of factors can control insulin sensitivity as well as blood sugar levels, and one of those factors is exercise! In endurance (aerobic) exercise, the body actually requires less insulin. Being on an insulin pump, I have the ability to adjust my settings that work for me by telling this device to give me less insulin. Depending on the duration and intensity of the exercise different protocols will require different changes. For me, shorter runs and bouts of exercise don’t require any change but the longer runs is where I have trouble. I have to give less insulin 3 hours prior to my run and I stop insulin delivery completed during the run. It took me a long time to figure out what worked for me because everyone is different and there is not one formula to figure this out. To make things even more confusing, in anaerobic exercise there have been instances where I actually require less insulin. Due to the short duration of the activity, the adrenaline being used actually causes a spike in my sugar so I have to actually give more insulin prior to and after strength training. I experienced months of complications where I couldn’t exercise at all because no matter what I did I would have low blood sugars. Long story short, there is a lot that needs to be done before I am able to exercise, and there is a lot that I need to consider before exercise, and if I forget, trouble could arise. I never thought that I’d be able to run again. Racing wasn’t even on my mind I just wanted to get back on the roads. Being a diabetic athlete is difficult but is very manageable and even if it may seem impossible at first, just take it one step at a time, and it will all work out. I started off this post talking about how running a marathon is not easy. Speaking from experience, it is very hard to find motivation to run long runs when no one is there to accompany you. Even after running 20 miles by myself, I still hate to imagine not running with someone for longer workouts. As a diabetic runner, I don’t just think about marathon training but my ‘diabetes training’ as well. Diabetes definitely has its highs and its lows (but that's for a different post), but one thing I can say for sure is living with this disease has made me stronger both physically and mentally. I am not going to let diabetes win, and I am going to continue to get stronger and do the undoable. For me, what is the undoable? Well you’re going to have to stay posted in order to figure out, but one thing I can guarantee is that all of this is possible, but you just can’t give up and ‘throw in that towel.’ Trust me, I’m a runner. -The DiaRunner
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November of 2011 is very memorable. Hurricane Irene hit my town hard, my house lost power, and school was closed for a little over a week. I was a sophomore in high school at the time, and one of the top runners on the cross-country team. Throughout the season, I drank a lot of fluids in order to stay hydrated, and to perform to the best of my ability. As a result I didn’t see anything wrong with my everlasting thirst, and constant need to urinate. “On your marks, BANG,” as the gun went off the six other members of the cross-country team and myself were running the last race of the 2011 season. All was well, until I felt a stabbing pain in my groin; I had to stop the race short, and went to an orthopedist in order to figure out what had happened. November 21, 2011: my half birthday…it started off with a memorable trip to the orthopedist I was told that I was going to need to take a couple months off in order for my groin to heal. Low and behold, no one knew what was wrong with me, and it was a mystery to all. Heart breaking news as running was my life, and I couldn’t see myself without it. I wanted to run winter track but that wasn’t going to happen. Would I be able to run spring track? Is this pain ever going to go away? Why me? Little did I know, but that was just the beginning of my disappointment. November 21, 2011: later that evening… it was time for a check up with my pediatrician, and as soon as she went into the room she asked me a question that was going to change my life forever. “Have you been thirsty?” I had no clue how she had known but apparently my urine test detected traceable sugar in it, and off to the ER I went. November 21, 2011: the day I was diagnosed with diabetes. A bunch of thoughts were running (I mean I am a runner) through my mind. Aside from the thought that this can’t be happening to me, I was also thinking about how I was not overweight so how could it be possible? Well, diabetes isn’t that simple. Heck if it was that simple I wouldn’t be writing about it right now. Wait, so you have diabetes? 1.Are you allowed to eat that?
Misconceptions about diabetes are not just common, but they are very understandable. People are not educated about diabetes and the different types associated with it. The main source of education is from friends who have the disease, television/movies, and family members. My goal is to help educate anyone interested in learning more about diabetes, and end misconceptions for good. I hope this post has helped enlighten you more on common misconceptions that I have noticed, and my personal experience from my diagnosis. -The DiaRunner Hello everybody, and welcome to my blog. I have decided to create this blog in order to share my experiences living with, and competing with diabetes. A little about myself, I am currently a sophomore at Stony Brook University, and an athletic training major, and one day I want to become a certified diabetes educator. I am from the wonderful state of New Jersey, and a type 1 diabetic. I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 15 years old, and after my diagnosis, I thought that I would never be able to run again, and that my life was never going to be the same. All those thoughts did was show how uneducated I was. Despite this hurdle, I ended up succeeded in track while in high school. To date, here are my personal bests (updated 3/26/2017):
mile - 4:53.00 2 mile - 10:42 5k - 18:10 (fun run in college) marathon: 3:24:07 In high school, I suffered some unfortunate events pertaining to proper diabetes control, which effected my running. There was a point where I wanted to throw in the towel, and I almost did. Despite all of the obstacles, I didn't give up, and it gave me more of a reason to want to succeed. I am going to be running my second marathon on May 1st (New Jersey Marathon), and the 2016 NYC Marathon next November. I hope this blog helps anyone in need of a little motivation, advice, or just needs someone to talk to who knows what they're going through. I hope this serves that purpose. -The DiaRunner |
JacobMarathoner, diabetes advocate, college graduate, Certified Athletic Trainer Archives
December 2020
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