World Diabetes Day

I’d like to bring some attention to awareness of diabetes and the events being planned for “World Diabetes Day”. I know most people choose to support research geared to diseases which have afflicted their loved ones and I am no different. There are several people whom I am close to who deal with this disease on a daily basis. Through them, I have become much more aware of the long-term damage that diabetes can do to a body. I’ve also become aware that these side-effects can be greatly minimized by keeping tight control of blood glucose levels. Strict blood glucose control generally requires a combination of nutritional diligence and a regular exercise regimen.

As a result of my interest in both diabetes and professional cycling, I have been following a team of cyclists whose goal is to be included in the Tour de France in the near future. Four of the fifteen cyclists on the team are diabetic and it has been fascinating to follow their season on the team blog and see details of how they are using the latest technology to help them maintain their control. I believe non-athletic diabetics can use their success as a motivational factor to start a fitness or exercise program.

Excitement

I finally feel as if I might be able to make some progress towards correcting my poor eating habits. My company is partnering with a local fitness club to promote the “Strength For Life” fitness program. It is based on the book of the same name, written by Shawn Phillips. We have had two meetings to introduce us to the theories of the program. While I admit that I do not fully agree with the nutritional recommendations for the first twelve days of the program, I will commit to those requirements for the twelve days. Who knows? They may make a believer out of me. My main concerns – no dairy or bread (even whole wheat). I guess I will be filling up on salads! This will be the first time that I’ve followed a structured exercise and nutrition program, so I’m not sure how I’ll fare. Once past the twelve-day “base camp”, the exercise regimen will consist of weight training, which I’ve never done before. Much like the credit card challenge, I have my doubts; but since the credit card challenge opened my eyes to new behaviors, I’m hopeful that this program will do the same for me.

Tracking physical activity

I am a natural “data” person. I enjoy facts and figures, comparisons and visuals of how I am performing. In past years, I’ve gotten a little too wrapped up in data keeping and have spent so much time documenting my progress that I end up with less time spent exercising (not a significant amount of time, but some nonetheless). Most of my data in past years has been tracked on my own spreadsheets, but for the true triathlete geek, I found “BeginnerTriathlete” to have the best free tracking site. However, if you’re not interested in getting that technical, I also found a couple of sites which encourage simpler tracking (one based on mileage, the other based on time). The "President's Challenge" awards points for virtually any activity you can imagine (mowing your lawn, gardening, baton twirling (!), trampoline, etc, etc) and tracking is done by minutes, so logging is extremely easy. The other site I've become fascinated with is from a researcher at Berkeley who has developed a transcontinental virtual trip across the United States. Each time you enter your mileage, it is added to your total and shows you exactly what you would see if you had been traveling from Yorktown, Virginia to Florence, Oregon. For example, if you ran two miles one day, walked four miles the next, and cycled six miles on the third day, you would see the views at 2, 6, and 12 miles west of Yorktown on days one, two and three. They also provide maps that show your progress. The disadvantage to this site is that they only provide for walking, running and biking mileage. Since I do many other things, it's nice to use the other sites to track progress. However, it is neat to explore the site and see your progress on the maps. I have been tracking my daily mileage since June 4th and I'm already at 176.5 miles, which puts me near Woodridge, VA , just south east of Charlottesville. Pretty cool. Both sites allow you to enter activities retroactively, so you don't have to log on the computer daily. Happy walking!

The Mountain Goat

I did it! After much hemming and hawing, I decided to go for the 10-mile race. I figured I could always walk if I needed to and still finish under the time limit. I’m very happy to say that I didn’t have to walk at all and I finished in about 1 hour and 44 minutes. I loved it! This particular event has been run in Syracuse for 30 years and the community really comes out to support the runners. There were spectators all throughout the course cheering on all competitors. There were musicians along the way, even a high school marching band playing as we went by. Even amongst the competitors, there was a spirit of camaraderie and support which was very inspirational. What a day! I’ll be back for next year’s event!

I’ve gone and done it, part II

I mailed my pre-registration for the Mountain Goat Run (http://mountaingoatrun.com/) today. This will be the 30th running of the event in Syracuse. I have not participated before, but since it fit in with some long-term fitness goals, I decided this was the year to try. The distance is ten miles, longer than I’ve ever run before. I have been running fairly consistently lately and am gradually increasing my mileage so that I should be able to complete “the Goat”. I may have to do a little walking, but that’s okay by me as long as I finish.