Crazy Dream

Last night I read an excellent essay on the movies Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. These are two of my favorite movies, and it was great to read such an in-depth exposition on all the cinematic elements each scene contains. It reminded me how much I love those movies, and David Lynch movies in general.

But it also reminded me of some of the really disturbing images used in those movies. Suffice it to say, it creeped me out a bit, especially considering that it was dark outside and I'm in a largely empty house. Typical movie stuff.

Not surprisingly, when I went to sleep, the surreal David Lynch imagery followed me into my dreams. To complicate things further, I went hypoglycemic in my sleep and wasn't able to wake up to treat it. If you didn't already know this, diabetics often have strange nightmares when they're hypoglycemic in their sleep (much like a fever dream). In my case, I was driving a car along a large, barren segment of freeway on a sunny day. The surrounding area alluded to the Salt Lake City area, however, I couldn't really see the surrounding area because there were tall concrete barriers on either side of the road. The final touch on the environmental backdrop is that this particular patch of freeway is a recurring dream setting of mine.

So on I drove, not a car in sight, until eventually two cars pass me. The first was an early-90s white sedan of some kind, driving normally and only slightly faster than I. The second was a new maroon luxury SUV, similar to one I saw in real life a day or two ago. The SUV was driving much faster and more aggressively. As it passed me, it immediately changed lanes, almost cutting me off, and then hit the brakes as it came up behind the white sedan. I decelerated, but could no longer see in front of me very well. In the meantime, more traffic was coming up behind me. 

We all came to some debris on the road just then. I had decelerated enough to be able to see it and steer clear. The SUV had no such luck, and began to swerve and dodge until it finally lost control. Cars began to collide, but I was able to act quickly, and I left the collision behind. Looking over, I noticed a young Phil Collins (yep, that Phil Collins) driving a convertible. People in passing vehicles would see him and wave excitedly. Eventually, he pulled over and started signing autographs. He was friendly and accommodating to his fans, but he was visibly uncomfortable with the fact that people were acting as though they knew him. They didn't know him. They were strangers to him.

At this point, I woke up, realizing that I had been hypoglycemic and that it was now too late; I was hyperglycemic now. (When a diabetic fails to treat hypoglycemia, the liver fills the bloodstream with large amounts of glucose as a defense mechanism. This fact often leads to the large pendulum-swings of poorly managed diabetes.) It was three o'clock in the morning and hot outside. I grumbled, turned over, and went back to sleep.

The Marathon: Part VIII - Fartlek Training

One of the most useful training methods for a runner is called fartlek training.

I was exposed to fartlek training for the first time when I was in the seventh grade. My track coach, Ms. Maldonado (sorry, Ms. Maldonado, I forget your first name :( ) announced one afternoon that we would be engaging in fartlek training. You can imagine how a thirteen-year-old boy might react to a word like fartlek. In fact, forget thirteen-year-olds; you are probably thinking much the same thing right now. And so it goes for any English-speaking person who first hears about fartlek training; every introduction to these workouts requires a hand-waving explanation about the world itself. So, here it is:

For the record, ladies and gentlemen, fartlek is a Swedish word that means "speed play." 

Now that we've all grown up a little, we can get down to it.

What You Stand to Gain from Fartlek Training

Physiologically speaking, fartlek training offers all of the same benefits as interval training, namely increased speed, muscle strength endurance, and VO2-max. In fact, fartlek training is just a variety of interval training.

Another major benefit of fartlek training is that it subject the runner to a variety of running speeds over the course of a single outing. As beginners, runners are accustomed to thinking of running from the perspective that it is a singular act. What I mean is that beginners often only have one speed: jog. (I have already warned you of the dangers of jogging. See here for an important discussion of why runners must always attempt to go "beyond jogging," so to speak.) By engaging in interval training in general, and fartlek training in particular, runners acquaint themselves with not simply a "jogging speed" and a "sprinting speed," but with the full spectrum of additional speeds in between those two poles (tempo speed, race pace, goal pace, easy pace, etc., etc.).

For a runner, having a spectrum of speeds from which to draw is like a painter's having more than two colors on the palette, or a carpenter's having more than just a saw and a hammer. In my opinion, fartlek workouts are the single best way to develop a ready source of various running speeds and learn how to apply them in different contexts.

Forget about the abstract explanations; let's get practical. You have heard that you should always increase your running speed when running uphill or downhill during a race. You may have heard that doing so gives you an important edge against your competitors. Yet, if you were to actually sprint every uphill or downhill, you would run out of energy before the finish line. For this kind of approach to running and racing, you need something faster than race pace, but slower than a sprint. What is that pace? Fartlek training can help you learn what it is.

Not a racer? No problem. There will be days when your energy level is such that you cannot commit to a full-on workout, but you neither want to take a day off nor an easy day. You'll need a pace that is slower than usual, but faster than easy. Enter: fartlek training.

Differences Between Fartlek Training and Traditional Interval Training
The key difference between a fartlek and traditional interval training is also its major benefit for non-competitors, aging athletes, and novices: subjectivity.

During the course of a traditional interval workout, you may be tasked to run a given distance (say, 400 meters) at a given speed (say, 1:30, or six-minutes-per-mile pace), a given number of times (say, four times), with a given amount of rest between each repetition (say, ninety seconds). There is little-to-no room in such a workout for runners who find the pace, the amount of rest, or the total workout length inappropriate for their own needs. To make matters worse, most runners aren't even aware of what is appropriate for them, and find themselves continually frustrated as they attempt to engage in solid training that is confounded by the fact that their individual bodies need a more lax approach.

In contrast, fartlek training applies subjective speeds, distances, and durations to achieve the same basic physiological result. No one runner is forced to adhere to the broad, on-average standards of a typical workout regimen. Here we may benefit from some specific examples.

Examples of Fartlek Workouts
Tomorrow, we're scheduled for a fartlek workout. In the spirit of the occasion, I'd like you to choose your own fartlek workout. Here are some examples of fartlek training; I'm certain you'll find something that works for you.

Example 1: Team/Group Fartlek in a Single-File Line
You'll need no less than three other friends or teammates for this workout. Here's how it works. Plot a running course as you normally would. Begin running as a group, in a single-file line, with the leader setting the pace for the entire group. The leader must set an appropriate basis pace, somewhere from easy to moderate (perhaps 6 to 7 on our subjective intensity scale). As the line begins running, the person at the back of the line runs hard to the front of the line, then resumes the original pace (or sets a new one, again from easy to moderate). As soon as that person has reached the front of the line, the new "last person in line" runs hard to the front of the line. The process repeats in that way until the workout is over.

Example 2a: Simple Timed Fartlek Intervals
The easiest way to do this is to simply divide your workout into even segments and alternate pace accordingly. For example, during a 40-minute run, you may divide your time as follows:

1. 5-minute warm-up at easy pace
2. 6 minutes at tempo pace
3. 6 minutes recovery at easy-to-moderate pace
4. 6 minutes at tempo pace
5. 6 minutes at recovery pace
6. 5-minute cool-down at easy pace
   

You may divide the time segments into shorter or longer segments as desired.

Example 2b: Getting Elaborate
If you have a good watch (see here for details) and some prior experience with fartlek training, you can consider more elaborate workouts, such as this:

1. 5-minute warm-up at easy pace
2. 7 minutes tempo pace
3. 3.5 minutes recovery
4. 6 minutes tempo pace
5. 3 minutes recovery
6. 5 minutes tempo pace
7. 2.5 minutes recovery
8. 4 minutes tempo pace
9. 2 minutes recovery
10. 3 minutes tempo pace
11. 1.5 minutes recovery
12. 2 minutes tempo pace
13. 1 minute recovery
14. 1 minute tempo pace
15. 5-minute cool-down at easy pace

This is a long workout, but very rewarding if done once every two weeks or so.

Example 3: The No-Brains Fartlek Workout
If this is all getting a bit too complex for you, you still have options. Here's a dead-simple way to engage in fartlek training without a running group, a watch, or the memory of an elephant. Run on a street or a path lined by streetlamps or power poles. Alternate tempo pace and recovery pace by a chosen number of power poles that you pass (say, tempo until you reach the 2nd power pole, recovery until you reach the next one, repeat). You can even do this with nearby bushes, visible cracks in the sidewalk, fire hydrants, or anything you please.

Oh and Uh, One More Thing...
My training schedule does not specify the length of time for this workout. Again, consider it a choice. Try to make sure it is longer than an easy run and shorter than a long run. Other than that, the choice is yours.

Happy running!

Sore Muscles

Here's an interesting bit of medical wisdom from Dr. Gabe Mirkin, M.D. (please resist the urge to snicker at his last name):

You finish a workout and feel great; then you get up the next morning and your exercised muscles feel sore. We used to think that next-day muscle soreness is caused by a buildup of lactic acid in muscles, but now we know that lactic acid has nothing to do it. Next-day muscle soreness is caused by damage to the muscle fibers themselves. Muscle biopsies taken on the day after hard exercise show bleeding and disruption of the z-band filaments that hold muscle fibers together as they slide over each other during a contraction.

Of course, this doesn't diminish the importance of proper hydration and a good cool-down, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Dr. Mirkin recommends utilizing the burning sensation as a training tool. What you do is increase running speed up until your muscles start to burn, then back off. Repeat this until your muscles start to feel stiff, and then stop working out altogether.

The idea can be applied on track and fartlek training days, neither of which I have yet covered here. (Our first fartlek workout is this Tuesday, which means you can expect to read about it here on Stationary Waves some time tomorrow.) Feel free to give it a try yourself this Tuesday, especially if you've never before engaged in fartlek training.

The Lay of the Land on Week 2

I had a great day of working out today. The morning's workout was delightfully challenging, and the evening's easy run was pleasant and relaxing. Mentally, I'm starting to feel myself getting into good physical shape.

It's a funny feeling, because I was already in good shape. But when the body starts to change, the mind understands what's going on. I have said in the past that when a person gets in really fantastic shape, their brains also benefit. In my experience, top-tier athleticism (for oneself) mentally feels as though the world is moving in slow motion. It's an unparalleled high. If you're interested in experiencing a feeling like that yourself, I encourage you to take up the challenge and commit to my 18-week training regimen. It just might change your life.

But has it changed mine?

Where I Am, Day 7:

• Weight: 151.6lbs. (I should point out that I do not anticipate losing any weight while training)
• Estimated Body Fat : 16.4%
• Estimated Bone Mass: 7.9%
• Estimated Water Mass: 61.0%
• Average of All Blood Glucose Readings for the Past Seven Days: 9.89mmol/L (includes postprandial readings)

I note here that my blood glucose is notably lower (3%), however three percent is within the margin of error for a home blood glucose monitor, so I'll take this with a grain of salt. Perhaps of more interest is the fact that, measured by the standard deviation of blood glucose readings, my blood sugar control has already improved. I attribute this to the fact that I am working out twice a day; no one workout is disruptive enough to cause a huge swing in my blood sugar.

However, it's also conceivable that I take a bit too little daily basal insulin, and the twice-a-day workouts are chewing up more blood sugar than I otherwise would.

All in all, things are going well for me. How are you doing?

Week 1 Recap and Tomorrow's Workout

Thus ends Week #1 of my 18 marathon training regimen. How did you fare? 

A couple of things to keep in mind:

First, if you slacked off on one day or missed a day or something, don't worry about it. Not only do we have 17 more weeks to prepare for the Montreal Marathon, but it serves no useful purpose to beat yourself up over a lost workout. Remember, fundamentally we are doing this for fun, so enjoy it. 

Second, I know some of you are still on the sidelines, watching me do this without taking the plunge yourself. Sure, you sit this one out. But you're not going to have half as much fun as those of us who make this a consistent part of our lives for the next four months. In the end, we'll have something to show for it (and we'll look pretty good, too). But a lot of you would love to do this and just think it's too late. After all, a whole week's gone by. Well, friends, don't let that stop you. The slope of the incline - so to speak - is gradual enough that you can join right in at Week #2. Do it! I guarantee you'll feel better than you ever have in just a couple of weeks. 

How Do I Feel?

I have to tell you that my body feels fantastic after this week. There's something about starting something new that activates all the right chemicals in the body. My abdominal area is already carrying a bit less mass, and my abs are returning to their six-pack state. (The Situation, eat your heart out.) I feel happy when I wake up in the morning and jump out of bed to do my morning workout. I can't wait to get out of work and start my afternoon run. This is what it's supposed to be like, my friends. 

Sure, the first part of the week was pretty rough, but by the time I got back from my long run, I felt like I was once again a physical force to be reckoned with. I wonder what Week 2 will be like...

Tomorrow Morning

I've scheduled a Hyperfitness workout for tomorrow morning. This one is a bit of a long shot for the general public, because most of you haven't read Sean Burch's book and won't be able to look the workout up. (That's not a very good excuse, though. I mean, you can get his amazing, phenomenal book for under seven dollars if you look in the right place.) To complicate things further, I'm unsure of whether or not I can reprint one of his workouts without violating copyrights. (I'm not really in the mood for civil disobedience tonight, but if you're a stickler for these things, you can take it up with Stephen Kinsella.) So I am at a bit of a loss as to how I'm going to provide a workout to you, the audience, today.

If you can follow along in Hyperfitness, then the workout I'll be doing is the Week 1 / Week 2 Climber workout for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

In the worst-case scenario, you can repeat last Monday's workout with push ups, crunches, squats, and a 30-minute jump rope session. That should provide a close approximation of our workout today.

Remember to push it a little harder than usual tomorrow morning because our evening workout is an easy run. 

I'll be back with more diabetes facts, physiology, workout tips, and the usual send-up of music, economics, and philosophy next week. Until then, I'm going to bed. See you later.

The Marathon: Part VII - The Long Run

Perhaps the most universally recognizable aspect of training for a marathon is the long run. As the furthest distance run in the course of the week, it is often a runner's go-to point when answering the first question asked of all runners by all non-runners, "How far do you run?" It is simultaneously the most common "group run," and the classic solitary trek. It is the run that takes you out into nature with your dog, or the run that weaves you through every familiar city street. It is the greatest source of pride and accomplishment for a runner. It is the sport's archetypical workout.

My long runs have taken me out into the desert without water, or deep into the forest without a map. I used carefully plan my long run courses and stash emergency food and water along the way. I have run through portions of protected North American forests that few if any other human beings had traversed in years. I have discovered hidden waterfalls and met lonely and dangerous animals along the way. Every runner has a great story about an epic long run. (Those of you who know me have probably heard my bull-charging story a few times.)

No blog out there does a better job of capturing the essence of a long run better than that of my old friend Anton Kleparek. Do check it out when you have the chance.

Where a Long Run Takes You
Whether you're training for a marathon or a shorter race - or even just running recreationally - the long run is an integral part of any approach to conditioning. It's not sufficient to simply run every day, lift some weights, do a little speed work, and hit the races. Every runner has to teach themselves to run much further than the maximum-encountered-racing-distance.

For marathon runners, long runs are a unique challenge, since it is extremely impractical for most people to frequently run ultra-marathon distances as part of their marathon training. The goal for us, then, is to acquaint our bodies with extreme distances gradually, so that the final marathon offers no surprises.

Long runs serve a variety of purposes in the training regimen.

First Purpose - Tolerating Distance
It goes without saying that long-distance running is something you have to learn to do. "Long distance" itself is entirely subjective. When I started running at age seven or eight, a mile was a long way to run. I learned to do it, and proclaimed myself to be a distance runner. Even in high school, the 1600m run was considered a race for distance runners. By the time I went to college, though, the 1500m was middle-distance. By age 21, I had long since concluded that the 5K was virtually a middle distance race, too. Top-tier marathoners can run every 10-kilometer split of their marathons faster than my fastest one-off 10K.

As you can see, what constitutes a long distance depends on ability and experience. The only way to acquire that is to go on long runs.

Second Purpose - Muscle Tissue Development
One of the surprising things about the human body is that it contains two kinds of muscle tissue analogous to the "light meat" and "dark meat" of poultry. Among runners, this renders itself as follows:

Sprinters, on one end of the spectrum, mostly possess muscle tissue that is optimized for anaerobic cellular respiration. Marathoners, on the other end of the continuum, predominantly possess muscle tissue that is optimized for aerobic cellular respiration. Everyone else has varying degrees of each.

For any athlete, ideal training optimizes the balance between light and dark meat. In our case, we'd like to train our bodies to excel at aerobic respiration. A major benefit of this is that we will become experts and burning fat tissue and blasting carbohydrates. What most people try to accomplish via "boot camps" and P90X programs we will accomplish by going for consistent weekly long runs. You will shed pounds and inches and, the more you do it, the more efficient your body will be. Have you ever dreamed of being able to eat whatever you want and not gain a single pound? This is how you do it.

But more practically speaking, we want to get to the point where we can go for a two-hour run every week without feeling tight, sore, and shaky the next day. By the time our 18 weeks are over, you'll be there.

Third Purpose - Training Variety
Many people underestimate the need to have lots of variety in any training regimen. There are physiological benefits to this, but perhaps more important than all of that is the fact that people who aren't bored continue working hard.

After a week of waking up early for strength training and hurrying home after work to get in a "basic run" or a do some speed work, it is nice to be able to sleep in one day of the week, relax, take the day as it comes, and then head out for a nice, relaxing long run during which your only responsibility is to enjoy yourself.

Fourth Purpose - Rest
Yes, believe it or not, long runs are an opportunity to give your body a much-needed rest from all the strength training and speed work we encounter during the rest of the week.

During strength and speed training, your body uses up a lot of stored glycogen. Just as water vapor, CO, and CO2 are the natural byproducts of burning fossil fuels, CO2 and acid are the byproducts of human exertion. That acid remains in your muscles until you drive it out with water and, counter-intuitively, additional physical motion.

Long runs are lengthy periods of extended - but easy - physical motion, and they give your body a chance to work out some of that acid build-up. (Of course, proper hydration goes without saying.)

How to Properly Execute a Long Run
Now we know why; what about how?

There are competing theories on the correct way to go on a long run. For you Level 1s out there, I suggest simply relaxing and taking it easy. Don't worry if you have to stop a while. Take a snack, take some water. If you're going somewhere interesting, take a camera and snap a few photos when you get there. Enjoy yourself.

If you're more serious about your long runs (i.e. Level 2s), your focus should be on maintaining a consistent pace. It's easy to have a widely varying pace over the course of two hours, but you'll need to fight that if you want to run a solid marathon. To that end, think about pacing yourself right from the start. Exercise a little restraint and consider whether your initial pace can be sustained for two whole hours.

But there's a catch: By starting out too slowly, many runners shoot themselves in the foot. If you run too slowly, you compromise your running form. Two hours of inefficient running will exhaust you as much or more as two hours at a very high running pace. This is why you may find that by starting out slowly, your pace slows down even further than it would have had you started out faster. Therefore, remember to strike a balance with your long run pace. (Don't worry - it takes practice to get it right!)

If you consider yourself a Level 3 runner, my recommendation is to start out briskly and challenge yourself not to lose speed. You may increase over the course of the run, but never decrease. Fight hard against pace decay. Plan a well-known route that will allow you to gauge your success. If such a course is unavailable to you, you can try an out-and-back run in which you commit to running the 2nd half faster than the first half. This simple approach can provide a lot of success.

So that's it! Good luck tomorrow!

Almost Done With Week #1

We're off to a great start, and I hope you feel it, too.

Tomorrow morning, easy stuff. Do your basic strength training workout of push ups, crunches, and squats. Then, in the evening, it's time for another basic 45-minute run. We've established the routine. Now we conquer the world.

Up Next: The Marathon: Part VII - The Long Run

The Marathon: Part VI - Strength Training

There are essentially three forms of strength training, and my Level 3 training schedule is designed to use all of them.

For marathon training, the key is to develop good muscle strength while keeping mass to a minimum. Countless runners underestimate the importance of muscle strength training, but it is a key to making running easier and more efficient. This will help you improve and feel better, regardless of your skill level.

What You Stand to Gain
One of the most important benefits to running of strength training is the improvement in overall posture. Take notice of the people you see over the course of a day. People with weak upper body muscles tend to sag at the shoulders, their necks hunch forward, and they are constantly shifting their body weight from one side to the other as they stand. This is not just a question of an unhealthy body; these poor folks cannot even hold themselves upright! Imagine the extent of their muscle atrophy that they are too weak to carry the weight of their own spine.

That a person can run an entire marathon despite having a weak upper body and core does not mean that everything is okay. Developing core and upper-body strength means being able to sustain proper running form over the multiple hours required to run a marathon. This reduces the probability of injury, as well as increasing your speed.

Speed is the other major benefit of strength training. When I say "speed," I am not merely suggesting that you can improve your time (although that is true). I realize that many of you are only interested in finishing the race strongly. That's okay.

But keep in mind that running for four hours is far more difficult than running for three hours and forty-five minutes. Every minute you shave off your time is a minute made easier on your body. Again, you will reduce your risk of injury. Beyond that, running will be a far more pleasant experience for you overall.

Let's face it: it feels good to run faster than your nearest competitors, whomever they may be. This is a valid and important aspect of running, no matter what your peer group is. Weight training will help you get there.

High Resistance Training
The first of the aforementioned three forms of strength training is standard, classic resistance training with heavy weights, and fewer repetitions.

The physiological objective of this kind of training is to increase the size of your muscle fibers. As you work out, they start to tear. You can think of it almost like metal fatigue or an elastic band in that the activity slowly and imperceptibly breaks down the tissue involved. The body rebuilds this tissue to withstand a greater workload in the future. Namely, the muscle fibers are rebuilt thicker and stronger.

There is a lot of information - and misinformation - out there when it comes to resistance training. Most experts agree that this kind of weight training is most effective under the following conditions:

• Training is done no more than 2-3 times per week. (Only one day per week is dedicated to high resistance training in the Level 3 schedule.)
• Repetitions are limited to about 6-12 per set.
• Proper form and technique is utilized at all times; weight is reduced if proper form cannot be maintained.
• The athlete aims to just reach muscle exhaustion by the final repetition.
  

Low Resistance / High Repetition Training
This form of strength training works a little differently in the body. Rather than increasing muscle fibers, lower resistance / high repetition strength training increases the plasma content between muscle fibers. This also increases muscle size, but not quite in the same way.

The rules to this form of strength training are almost identical to high resistance training, except that weight is significantly reduced while the number of repetitions significantly increased.

A common myth in the fitness world is that this kind of weight training "tones," whereas high resistance training "build mass." In reality, both forms of exercise build a different kind of mass, and you should expect to see your muscles increase using either technique (or a combination of both). Marathon runners need not worry about muscle size, up to a point. Besides, it is unlikely that a runner could build up a detrimental amount of muscle mass in an 18-week training regimen; nor would a body-builder be particularly interested in running a great marathon.

Plyometric Training
The secret weapon to any strength regimen is plyometric training. In simplified terms, plyometric exercises improve the body's ability to convert muscle strength into speed.

This is accomplished by repetition of "explosive" movements, such as jumping. My workout schedule involves plyometric exercises such as squat jumps and clapping push-ups. Believe it or not, these exercises will help you develop running speed and function as a refreshing reprieve from the typical hours of track work included in most training programs.

Most people find plyometrics incredibly difficult initially, if they are not used to them. After a week or two, however, they become much easier, and much more fun. So if you find your heart pounding and your lungs gasping for air in the beginning, take my word for it: you will thank me in a couple of weeks.

Strength Training: Catch-up

Sorry, folks. I blew it yesterday. I needed to provide some more information on this morning's strength training workout, but things got busy and I just didn't have time last night.

The workout I intended for this morning is a standard upper-body strength training workout:

• Two sets of 12x pull ups or lat pull-downs
• Two sets of straight rows
  
• Four sets of 12x bench press
• Four sets of 12x chest press

If you feel up to it, you can also do some crunches, but that's not necessary today.

Since this is a high resistance / low repetition day, keep the weight pretty high, but not so high that you can't do the exercises correctly. You should reach the point where your muscles are just exhausted by the last repetition. And if you have to bail on one of the sets or cut down on the reps, that's okay. 6-12 reps will do you about the same good, provided you are lifting with proper form and technique.

Tonight's run is another 30-minute tempo run. Same rules. Keep at a nice clip. This one will be a little easier than Tuesday's.

Diabetes Basics

Diabetes mellitus is the generic term for a group of symptoms involving the body's failure to utilize the hormone insulin. There is no such thing as "the" diabetes. Each type of diabetes is a very different disorder and must be treated and conceived of as such. What these disorders all have in common is a set of symptoms.

Insulin is the one and only hormone that carries glucose into cellular mitochondria so that they can produce energy. You can think of insulin as the spoon with which human cells eat. No other chemical in your body fulfills this role, therefore, insulin is necessary to survival.

If your body cannot use insulin, for whatever reason, then your cells cannot eat. The food you eat ceases to be absorbed by your body. You starve to death.

Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes, however, as I mentioned above, it is itself a collection of symptoms. There are a few different kinds of type 2 diabetes, each with their own underlying causes and, therefore, treatment guidelines. What they share in common is the fact that in all instances of type 2 diabetes, the body continues to produce normal - or even excessive - amounts of insulin; yet that insulin no longer has any effect on the body.

In general, type 2 diabetes can be separated into two categories: (1) genetic type 2 diabetes, and (2) acquired type 2 diabetes. Keep in mind, I am over-simplifying and that in many cases, type 2 diabetes is a function of both genetics and lifestyle.

In the case of genetic type 2 diabetes, an individual is predisposed to insulin resistance due to their genetic make-up. Often they are of Asian or South Asian descent. They may be normal, healthy people, but by middle age, the insulin produced in their pancreas is no longer sufficient to keep them alive.

"Acquired" type 2 diabetes is the one you have heard about. This kind of diabetes occurs when people fail to lead healthy lives. They eat too much sugar and get too little exercise. Their pancreas is constantly called on to produce insulin. The body develops a tolerance. Eventually, it has little effect. This kind of type 2 diabetic is often overweight, and likely also has high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep apnea, muscle atrophy, hypertension, and so on.

This Is Important
Although "acquired" type 2 diabetes is the most popular, not everyone with type 2 diabetes brought it upon themselves. We have heard a lot about the "obesity epidemic" and "preventative medicine." This kind of thinking is simplistic and unrealistic. If we cured worldwide obesity, we would still have a type 2 diabetes problem on our hands. That's because there is no "the" diabetes, and diabetes in and of itself is not a disease. It is a symptom.

Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is radically different from type 2 diabetes and, other than sharing symptoms, they have nothing in common.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body no longer produces insulin. A vital hormone used by every cell in the body is therefore completely absent in a type 1 diabetic. Their bodies may be just as sensitive to insulin as a perfect newborn child; but there is no insulin for them to use.

Most commonly, this is caused by an autoimmune disorder in which the body's own immune system attacks and kills pancreatic beta cells. However, in many other cases, type 1 diabetes is caused by pancreatic bacterial infections. Still other cases may be caused by internal injuries that damage the pancreas. Remember, there is no "the" diabetes, and diabetes is only a set of symptoms.

Type 1 diabetes cannot be cured or alleviated by dietary adjustments, Chinese medicine, holistic healers, homeopathy, naturopathy, exercise, or hard work. We diabetics don't have functional pancreases; herbs and lifestyle choices do not impact this fact.

People with type 1 diabetes will not be "okay" if they just have "a little bit" of whatever treat you're offering them. This is due to the fact that anything a type 1 diabetic eats merely floats around in their blood stream, causing headaches, eye problems, heart problems, etc., unless and until they inject themselves with insulin.

Nonetheless, people with type 1 are free to eat whatever food or drink they please, so long as they inject themselves with sufficient insulin to metabolize it. The insulin they inject, however, does not behave like naturally occurring insulin. Typically, injected insulin takes longer to metabolize food; when type 1 diabetics eat something very sweet and sugary, they often experience hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) even though they have taken enough insulin.

The result is: headaches, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, vision problems, and/or vertigo. Type 1 diabetics do not "miss out" on sweets and candies; they dislike them. They feel bad when they eat them. It is not worth it.

Although exercise makes all people healthier, type 1 diabetics do not necessarily gain better control over their diabetes with exercise. For those with type 1 diabetes, exercise and their disease are two separate issues.

I have type 1 diabetes.

Ouch.

Well, that one's over. I admit, I felt a little weak during the second half of the tempo run. But doggone it, I finished and finished strong. How did you fare today? How was the first tempo run of the year?

In hindsight, today may have been a bit stacked. Therefore, I am going to make tomorrow's morning workout optional. Do it only if you feel up to it. Thursday is going to be another difficult day, and you don't want to exhaust yourself before your long run this Saturday. Use your judgement.

Broadly, this applies to every day of the program. Running is not the kind of sport where you can schedule every day 18 weeks in advance and never deviate. There is always some level of "feel" involved.

Part of being a non-beginner is knowing and understanding what your body is telling you on a daily basis. Don't just bang through a calendar of workouts because you signed up for it. Pay attention to what's going on, analyze, assess, prescribe. You are in control of your body, so take control. That's what running is all about.

I'll be back with those Diabetes Basics later on.

Lessons and Impressions

One of the realities of type 1 diabetes is that it is quite often impossible to account for every variable you encounter in the course of a given day.


Case in point, my evening workout was thwarted last night by an episode of hyperglycemia. I was certain I had done everything correctly yesterday, however, when I reviewed my tracking log, I discovered that I missed a single unit of insulin during lunch. That, combined with the extra activities I had undertaken over the long weekend, was enough to push my blood glucose into the proverbial Alps.


It's tempting to beat myself up over this a little. How could I be so stupid as to miss out on 30 whole grams of carbohydrates at mealtime? And to top that off, this had an adverse impact on my workout and my evening jam with my band. These things have a tangible impact on my life.


Realistically, though, nobody's perfect. It would be impossible to do everything perfectly, all the time. I am not a robot. So there are a some lessons to be learned from this:

1. Don't feel too bad if you don't nail your insulin ratio. It's serious and potentially injurious, but after you've taken care of the problem, let it go. You did the best you could.
2. "Stray carbs" such as carrots and a tablespoon of peanut butter here and there can potentially add up, so be very careful when you count your carbs.
3. I never would have caught my error had it not been for my prototype food/exercise/blood sugar spreadsheet. I really need to finish this up and make it available to the rest of you. Perhaps we can "open source" it and develop something really useful. Stay tuned.
4. If you have to cut your run short, cut it short. Don't give yourself a guilt trip over it, just take your medicine and try again tomorrow. My morning workout was already a good success.

Well, I think that's it.


As an aside, I'm testing out Blogger's email posting feature. If this post pops up several times or not at all, you'll know why.


Up Next: Diabetes Basics

The Marathon: Part V - The Tempo Run

My suggested training regimen describes the following different kinds of running workouts:

1. Run
2. Tempo Run
3. Easy Run
4. Fartlek Training
5. Track Workout

I've promised to cover each one of these in greater depth as we come to them. Tonight's run is a thirty-minute tempo run, so now I'd like to explain what a tempo run is and how to approach it.


There is beauty in brevity. Tempo runs are one of my favorite workouts because they cover so much training ground in such a concise way. Tempo runs help you work on your speed, your pace, your endurance, and your mental grit, all in a total elapsed time much shorter than other workouts would. When you don't have time for a full workout, they're also a great way to squeeze a quick one into a tight schedule. They also provide some much-needed variety in the daily running grind.


I covered intensity scales earlier. Tonight, we'll aim for something at about an 8, or perhaps 80% of your maximal heart rate. My coach in college used to say that tempo runs are supposed to be "at race pace, minus thirty seconds per mile." So if you're aiming for a 3-hour marathon, you'll want to do your tempo runs at about 6:30/mile pace. (Need help figuring out what your pace translates to? Try this handy marathon pace calculator.)


More organically, you should be pushing yourself to the level of significant discomfort the whole way. If this feels bad to you (especially considering our substantial strength workout this morning), you need to remember that it is nothing compared to the last 10km of a marathon. Tough it out. Besides, it's only a 30-minute run. You can definitely bite the bullet through a quick thirty-minute jaunt down the road!


What you can hope to achieve from this is a better familiarity with how to push your body beyond the feeling of wanting to give up or slow down. You'll also help acquaint your body with a rapid running gait, which is an important psychological counterpart to speed work. You've heard of runners' highs and endorphine rushes? By the end of your workout today, you'll feel one if you've managed to keep yourself on pace.


You'll know you need to speed up if you feel yourself stop sweating. That's the tell-tale sign that you've reduced your speed. 


I know it can feel difficult, but if you manage to push through today, you're ready for the other 17-and-a-half weeks for sure!

Tomorrow Morning: The Matrix

Tomorrow, we'll wake up bright and early to tackle a workout I developed with my lovely wife. We call it the Matrix, because we developed it around a 4x4 grid. Each column represents an exercise, and each row represents a set.

I warn you in advance - this is a pretty tough workout. It combines classic lifts and core exercises with both upper- and lower-body plyometric moves. Why plyometics? I'll cover that in a future post.

The idea here is that each set works four major muscle groups and contains two "average intensity" moves, one "high intensity" move, and one "low intensity" move for maximum variation.

Here's how it works:

First Set:

• 30 squat-jumps
• 30 push ups
• 20 upright rows
• 50 alternating crunches (right elbow to left leg, left elbow to right leg, etc.)

Second Set:

• 30 unweighted squats
• 30 clapping push ups
• 20 upright rows
• 50 hip raises

Third Set:

• 30 jumping lunges
• 30 clapping push ups
• 15 pull ups
• 50 V-sit crunches

Fourth Set:

• 30 jumping lunges
• 30 one-legged bosu ball push ups; jump from one foot to the next with each "up"
• 30 bent rows (each side)
• 50 trunk-twist crunches (With your knees bent and in the air, do a full crunch; then, while in the "up" position, bend your right-side torso toward your right knee. Repeat on the left side.)

Up Next: The Marathon: Part V - The Tempo Run