Balance

Date of run: 1/5/2010
Location: treadmill
Start Time: 5 p.m.
Miles: 4
Time: 35:58
Starting Glucose: 144
Ending Glucose: 178
Glucose 1 hr later: 132
Glucose 2 hrs after dinner: 102

Yesterday was kind of a hectic day, for me anyway. After my morning routine of walking our 4 dogs and taking care of things around the house, I went to the Madison Mutts training facility and temporary holding shelter to help with laying a floor, moving furniture, and cleaning. I was planning on running at 10 a.m. and then going to help over there, but time got away from me so I ran afterwards. I was planning on leaving there at 2, but didn't get out until after 3. Then back to walk our 4 dogs again.

Happy new year! Boy you can always tell its a new year at the health club. My wife and I are members at a small club only a couple of blocks from our house. Low key, and for the most part very good. But trying to exercise in the evening in January is a dicey proposition. Luckily I was able to get on the only treadmill available when I came out of the locker room and do a quick (relatively!) miles. I am more of a late morning/early afternoon runner, so I tend to avoid the crush of after work athletes, but not last night. Interestingly, I would have normally been really bent out of shape with all those people, so I don't know if I was ok with it because I was expecting it or because I had been busy and active the whole day, and that helps me deal more appropriately with high activity levels.

My run on the treadmill was better than Sunday. I was on a treadmill I was used to (though no fan!) and ran at a steady 6.8 mph after the first .25 mile. I finished the last 4 minutes doing pickups (increased running pace for short intervals) to a Kelly Clarkson song: My life would suck without you. It has a perfect tempo for slow/fast/slow/fast/slow/fast finishes. For that last song I did 6.6 mph on the slow segments and 8.4 mph. on the fast segments. And this probably accounts for my higher blood glucose reading immediately after getting off the treadmill. Stress, particularly impact stress, raises cortisol levels, which in turn can lead to short term glucose spikes. When I first started run running I was very alarmed by these spikes because I was only familiar with how nutrition inputs effect glucose levels. There is so much more to it than what goes into your mouth, and I will be covering those subjects in future posts.

Balance? I was reading an article in Runners World by Kenny Moore about Bernard Legat, and Legat was discussing the balance between body and mind, particularly how important education was to him. I've spent most of my adulthood focused on mind, either ignoring body or actively abusing it. And now that I'm delving into studying the body and using the body in positive ways I've never been happier. Of course I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Lisa. My Life Would Suck Without You. And How.