Hey Diabetes! I am kicking your butt!

I go see my doctor next weekend for my regular 3-month bloodwork and diabetes checkup. I have been maintaining a good eating regimen and checking my blood glucose levels pretty regularly since my last checkup in July. So I am pretty confident that I have been managing my blood sugars well. I am hopeful that my doctor will decide, based upon the bloodwork results we get, that I no longer need medication to manage my blood sugar levels. Right now, I am off of everything except a very low daily dose of Metformin (500mg). Going off all medications, and managing my blood sugar via diet and exercise alone, has been a primary goal of mine since I was first diagnosed back in April 2010. This might be it!

I am so excited about this possibility, that I couldn't wait until the appointment. So I went to the drugstore and purchased a Home Self-Test Kit to analyze my blood sugar levels over the last 90 days. This is called an HbA1c Test, which can assess your average blood sugar level over that period based upon your red blood cells (which have a 90-day lifespan). So I took the test this morning. It takes about 8 minutes to administer the test and receive the results.

A1cNow shows my awesome test results!Awesome news!! My A1c percentage was 5.5! Why is that good? Because the regular range for NON-diabetics is between 4-6%!! (For a diabetic, having an A1c around 6.5% is considered good.) To be at 5.5% is awesome! What is even better news is that I have scored below 6% on these tests since March. Because of this, the doctors have been cutting back on my medications a little bit at a time to see if my blood sugars remain stable/good. Well so far, that has been the case. So, there is a good chance the doctor will make the decision to stop the Metformin at my next checkup!

I cannot tell you how great this makes me feel right now. With the adoption of better eating habits, food choices, and portion control, and the significant increase in exercise into my daily routine, I have been very successful at lowering my blood sugar and losing weight. When I started this journey, my A1c percentage was 11.7 -- very high -- and I was 108 lbs heavier than I am today. Now, I am at 5.5% and wear a size XL shirt (instead of the 4XL I used to wear).

And the journey continues. I still have 52 more pounds to shed so I will stay the course. I am bound and determined to reach my goal. In fact, if all goes according to plan, I will be running in the Illinois Half Marathon just about the same date two years ago when I was first diagnosed. So finishing that race (actually, finishing both the 5K and the Half) will be a sort of culmination for me -- a milestone of achievement in both health and fitness. There might be tears that day, just sayin...

In other news

I ran 3.5 miles on Thursday to finish up my second maintenance run for this week. I was feeling pretty strong during the run which I took at a 11:15/mm pace. I took a different route, running over to Woodscreek Elementary, then down to Golf Course Road, to Miller Road, and then back to Glacier Ridge Elementary, and finally back to the house. It was kinda cool to run to the two elementary schools that my children have all attended.

Tomorrow, October 1st, I am running in the Chicago AIDS Foundation 5K Run in Grant Park in Chicago. It should be a fun race, and it supports another worth cause -- research towards the fight against HIV/AIDS. I am proud to be supporting this research and if anyone feels similarly called to help with this fight, you can lend your support at my pledge site. This will be my third race in as many weeks so I will have to admit that I will relish the next 15 days before my next race to rest and just do my training runs and strength training. Races can take a lot out of you, and I was definitely feeling a bit tired this week. But I am feeling ready for tomorrow!

This week LifeTime Fitness published my fitness journey article on their public 'weight loss' web site, along with a 'before and after' set of photos (which you can see on the About Me section of this blog site). They actually contacted me about a week ago and asked if they could republish this story because they felt it would be encouraging to others who are going through similar journeys of their own. If you want to read it, click here.

Polar USA, the makers of the RS300X sport watch that I use for training, also published an article about me on their web site. It is a little harder to find it since I cannot put a direct link to it. But if you go to their "Polar People" site, you just have to scroll down the photos on the left until you see mine and click on that. Then the article will appear on the right.

A little tired this week

With all the fun of the past two weeks, I woke up on Monday feeling tired. Two races in two weeks, plus the training runs and the strength training is wearing on me I suppose. So I decided not to do strength training this week and just get some extra sleep those two mornings (instead of waking up at 5am, I could wake up at 7am). I decided I would listen to my body and just take it easy. Especially since October means time to add striders to my training runs each week.

I have been pleased so far this week with my recovery from the 10K race. My last 10K in August left my legs pretty sore (of course, it was a trail race and those work your legs and ankles a lot more) and it was a good 8 days and two massages before I felt like running again. But this time, my legs felt pretty good post-race. And while they were a little sore on Sunday, they didn't "hurt" and I was walking normally. I take that to indicate my training is working, my body is getting used to the distances, and the extra stretching and foam rolling are making a difference. Yay!

So Tuesday, I had to do my easy run in the club because it basically rained all day on Tuesday. No point in running in the rain if you don't have to (like I had to do last Saturday). My thighs were still a little sore so I just took it real easy on the treadmill -- 30 minute run at 12:00 pace for the most part. The last three minutes I increased my speed at each minute (5.5 mph, then 6 mph, then 6.5 mph) just to close out the session before my cooldown. It felt good and the legs were working fine.

Then I saw my trainer, Meghan, and we talked about the recent 10K race and what she wanted me to do for the 5K race this Saturday. I think she would rather me treat it as a 'fun run' and not shoot for a new PR. She cautioned me not to overdo things and risk injury. Good advice for sure. I told her I would play it by ear on Saturday, see how the body feels and do what it tells me.

I have been doing a lot of stretching and foam rolling since Saturday and it is working pretty well. I foam rolled the quads at Meghan's urging -- I hadn't bothered since they felt just fine -- but boy did they need the rolling! Ouch! I need to remember to roll them out as much as I do the hamstrings, IT band, and calf muscles!

October only has two races for me (both 5Ks that fit into my training plan's cutback runs) so it is really going to focus on training for the half and get me up to the 8-9 mile distance. This will prepare me for my November Hot Chocolate 15K race, which I am going to use to assess my 'race pacing and fueling plan' for the half marathon in January. Oh, and did I mention that my 1:06:38 time in the recent race qualifies me for Corral D in the Hot Chocolate race? I won't have to race with the "Open" group! Another first for me. :)

Tomorrow is an easy run day, only 30 minutes. Hopefully, I can run it outside, take a route through the neighborhood to Woods Creek Elementary school and around for a nice 5K loop. I am looking forward to it!