Back in the saddle again

It's time to shed these pounds after a couple months of hibernating. I have been hiking on most days off, but nothing I would consider training. I have done a little training for Oktoberfest, but that's another post for another day! This weeks is full of work. Games are scheduled every night for the TD Garden including a double header for Saturday. The good thing about working game days is that I typically don't have to be in until about 1pm and this will allow for some am exercise. Factor in 2 dogs and my options are limited! Factor in 24 degrees.... and I wish I could take my dogs to the beautiful gym inside my apartment complex and put them on the tread mill!

This week I am trying to get out everyday and include the dogs in MY training instead of making my exercise be hiking... again. So I piled the dogs and my Cyclocross bike in the car and headed to the Fells, with a lot of layers! I figured I had time for about an hour ride and that would suffice both the dogs and I. There are quite a bit of dirt roads at the Fells and the water department keeps them clear. There are a few hills I could work out on and make an OK work-out of it. When we got out there most of the roads were packed in and frozen foot traffic, so pretty bumpy!


I woke up with a BG or 119 (spot on) and set a temp basal of 55% of regular basal about 1 hr before my ride. I ate a Cliff Crunch (27 carbs) and did not bolus for it. This set me up perfect for a 180 BG at ride start. I like to start exercise about 160 normally, but in the winter I like it to be 180. When I am outside in the cold my blood glucose seems to drop quicker than normal.

I rode for about 1 hour and let the dogs play in the open field with some other pups while I rode circles to cool down for about 10-15 minutes. Finished with a 147 BG, headed home, showered and went to work. I was low 3 times later in the day and quickly realized that I did not set a post ride temp basal. One of the joys of being busy, however it also meant I got to eat M&M's.

Today, I didn't really have time to repeat the ride from yesterday. It was effective for the dogs but the car wasn't available today so instead I went for a run. I HATE running. It is an awful activity. But the dogs needed it, so I agreed (with myself) to go for a quick run with them and then ride my bike to work. Got the Dogs ready and prepared for about 1.5 mile (24 degrees) run..... the first run in 2 or 3 years. Take a look at the heart rate chart. Pegged! Granted this was a short run and the dogs were pulling quite a bit, but a 173 bpm over a mile and a half is really high! I hate running. I digress. I got home and showered and dressed to ride into work. It is only like a 5 mile ride in to work so I tried to make the best of it and did some short intervals. I love biking. My body was meant to ride not run!

Today was pretty much the same story with blood sugars except I didn't get the lows post exercise. I remembered to set a temp basal of 85% for 4 hours once I got to work and that did the trick. A rather large snowstorm is in the forecast for tonight so as long as the roads are navigable I will hike with the dogs tomorrow, but I will up the tempo. I love the dogs and wouldn't trade them for the world, but it does take a lot of extra time and some compromises. I would rather stay in and use the gym, but they need to get exercise too!