We are, and my mood has just taken a turn for the way better. 
I dislike thinking I understand something only to find out it’s not real. Not the case. I only miscommunicated something. I can deal with that.
New understanding. New tool. I’m gonna go smile at somebody. 
Check out the only thing I brought out with me to pick up my son today. That and 6 tubes of chapstick, but there’s hope for that yet. 
That is downright sexy!
Yep, that is my next project for you.
So I did 1/2 mile at 9:15 pace, then the three sets as written above (3/4 at 8:30 and 1/4 at 7:30) and then I finished with a 9:15 pace cool down. RPE was like 5… I felt so good as I finished the three sets that I had to go back and make sure I hadn’t missed one.
About my BG… I was going to start my run at around 9:45 this morning. I got home from volunteering, and my BG was around a 75. I had about 30 minutes until my run, and I was tired. I figured I would have a small cup of coffee, and if it looked like I needed to start earlier, I would just do that. The coffee didn’t do anything to my blood sugar, so I brought my banana over with me and ate it PLUS 3 glucose tablets right before starting. My starting BG was an 82. Because I was running in the morning, like we discussed yesterday, and I knew my Levemir was relatively fresh, I went ahead and had 15g of carbs at mile 2.5 even though I didn’t feel any symptoms of a low. I finished my workout at a 98. Within about 10 or 15 minutes, I saw I had risen to a 118 so I did 1.5 units—- and stayed between 85 and around 100 the rest of the afternoon.
Perfect, right? Like some kind of spooky magic trick!
You are doing great with these, and your BG stuff is coming together exactly like we want. Awesome stuff today!
Was this on the treadmill? 8.0 mph on the 1/4 mile intervals, right?
All of this is going well. The week after next we will start to ramp it up.
Did you ask the guys at the running clinic about incline work? Is that okay for you?
Still doing your stretching and core, right?
Yup. 
Completely forgot. I can send him an email.
Yup.
That might be the fewest words in a DN post ever!
Won’t let it happen again. It was terribly boring to write. 
It looks like it has been a phenomenal couple of weeks for you. You did the running clinic, you are running without pain now, you are nailing every single one of these workouts, and your BG has been outstanding! Great stuff, right?
Oh, quick follow-up. The running clinic was supposed to give you the name of an orthopedist to look at your MRI. Did you hear from them yet?
It’s in my email.
Today was easy and short. I was supposed to do a 25 minute easy run at 10 minutes a mile, and I did. I had a coffee about an hour before starting and watched my blood sugar just continue to hang low. I had a banana about 30 minutes before starting, prepared to jump on the treadmill at first sign of a climbing blood sugar, but, again, it continued to just hang low. So I ended up having 5 glucose tablets with a starting BG of 85, and that held for the duration, giving me an ending BG of 76. It was a very good day, and I look forward to my run tomorrow. 
I’m a little low right now and a lot of sleepy, but I want to get this down before I forget it all.
I had a wonderful run. My starting BG was a 118. I had a coffee and banana about 30 minutes before starting because I was at around a 65. I figured I could take a few glucose tablets at the start if need be. I did my full 19 units of Levemir at 6 am, and my run was at 11:45 am. Anyway, I decided to have another banana before starting my run, and I STILL needed 15g of carbs at mile 2, ANOTHER 15g of carbs at 2.25 miles, ANOTHER 16g of carbs at 3.1 miles, and 8 more at 6 miles. So that was a whopping lot of carbs, BUT my blood sugar, according to my Libre, never went above a 134 or below a 96 (Dexcom showed a little spike at 100 and dropped to 58– but I don’t think I was actually that low)…
That’s confusing, I think. What I was trying to communicate is that I had a starting BG of 118 and ending BG of 125 for a 60 minute 6.5 mile run. I had a small banana just before starting and then 40 grams during my run. Because I had had so many carbs in all of that, I decided to do a 1.5 unit bolus when I was done, and then when I saw I was starting to rise about 30 minutes later (this was a 130 on the Libre, but no fingerstick), I decided to do another 2.5 units. I overshot. Big time. One banana, one yogurt, 2 Welch’s fruit snacks, 25 crackers, and 4 glucose tablets later, and I’m all sorted out. 
So I feel like I did a really good job getting myself through a long run without having to run my numbers high and without crashing. Then I think I just wrong. I was afraid all of those carbs were going to really make me take off, but my Libre was only showing a 130, and that may have really been a 110… and I gave myself 2.5 units of insulin after an hour long run.
Okay. I’m still happy. 
My 2 cents is that it sounds like you handled it really well. Not that it worked perfectly, but that you made reasonable choices and handled everything sensibly as it unfolded. You are competent.
I’d like things to go a little better than they have today, but this is good for me, too— learning to deal with situations in whatever form they present themselves. I made it through the run by eating all those carbs, then ate all those carbs after the run, then ended up eating three bowls of spaghetti and meatballs. I’m about to pop. All of these reasonable choices and handling everything sensibly have left me feeling like today was another holiday. And like undoing that top button.
Thank you. I’m getting that feeling a little more each day. Today, not all that much.
Some good things to talk about here.
The big difference in doing a run with your full basal versus being able to turn off your basal with a pump, or doing the run when your Levemir basal is tailing off was apparent on this run.
Also, the big difference between shorter runs and longer runs.
With your full Levemir dose, you just have to feed the basal throughout your run. That is the best way to do it. If you take a big sugar bump before and try to get everything in before your run, you will spike, and that sucks. So on these runs when you are at full Levemir, you just need to feed it throughout.
When you run at times when your Levemir is tailing off, you won’t need to feed as much. I am sure you could see the big difference for that today.
Also, the longer runs are going to tap deeper into your glycogen stores, so you have to take in more when you finish. I think it is great that you had so many carbs after you finished. Your body is much more efficient at replenishing glycogen soon after you finish, rather than later in the day. So all the carbs afterward is a good thing.
Summed up here:
For long runs, consider cutting your morning Levemir dose in half if you are going to run in the morning.
For long runs, feed the basal frequently if you have not cut your Levemir dose.
Plenty of carbs after a long run is a great thing to do. Long runs will take more from your glycogen stores than the shorter runs, so replenishing afterward is very important.
Don’t be afraid to take that bolus when you are finished. There is nothing wrong with that. I take insulin and chocolate milk after every run, no matter what my BG is.
Awesome!
I think you did great today!
The only critique I have for you is…well, you probably know what it is…
Check your BG, DN! Don’t rely on your CGM for something like that, especially after a long run!!
Other than that, it’s all wonderful stuff.
That is really good information. I’m a little stubborn about this and still want to believe I can just do more at the beginning. Not only do I spike, but I think these might be the runs where I spike and then continue to rise all throughout. Is that possible? That exercise with a fast and significant enough rise in the beginning could maybe cause it to get worse?? Or maybe it’s that I just did that many carbs. Regardless, I like the idea of doing enough carbs to get into it and then just keeping afloat by adding carbs. I also love the Transcend glucose gel. It is a lot like sucking down dental fluoride in the middle of my run, but it’s better than trying to not choke on chalky tabs. Are there other alternatives??
Felt like Thanksgiving.
I was thinking just that. I could start next Saturday as I know I can run in the morning, and I know it’s a longer run. For now, I can time my weekday runs to coincide with the tail end of my morning Levemir.
I had never done this before meeting you. Exercise lowers my blood sugar, and I’ve never thought to do insulin on top of it. When you had me suspend my pump prior to starting, I began to have an idea just how much to try to cover after resuming again. It has been harder to figure out on injections. I used to be afraid of lows, and now I’m averse to those highs. Maybe I book in for a series of smaller boluses just to see how things are looking.
That was just silly. I know better. 
Yes. Your body is insulin sensitive when running, but once you get above a certain BG, a lot of that goes out the window, as your body responds to the stress of the high BG and you become more insulin resistant.
It is the same reason it is harder to correct a 300 than a 150!
There is never a good reason to purposefully go high or spike before exercising, unless it is an exercise that does not allow you to eat while doing it. Like swimming.
You can try the GU’s like I sent you with your Christmas present. Or try Huma Gels.
The Huma Gels are really really my favorite, of all the running gels I have ever tried.
Get some Huma Gels! Lots of different flavors, and some of them have caffeine!
Good, try the lowering Levemir and see how it works for you. And compensate by not taking as many carbs throughout, but just taking a few as you feel that you might be needing them.
Remember this thought we’ve discussed before - there are two things you need for muscle glycogen replenishment, carbs and insulin. Either one alone does not do it.
I take a lot of insulin after I run because I have had a suspended pump for a while. If you are on Levemir, you don’t need as much insulin, but you will still need some to allow those carbs to be used when you are finished.
Dark side! 
It’s all good. Suffering is an extraordinary teacher.
Which runs did you do on the treadmill last week?
Make sure you give me RPE and all the BG/carb/dosing specs for each of these runs coming up, and also if it was on the treadmill.
I have been giving you the more significant runs on Tuesday and Thursday, and the long runs on Saturday. The rest of the week has been foundational miles or rest days.
After this week, I want to move your significant runs to Monday and Thursday. That will give you an extra rest day between those harder runs.
Okay with this?
Also, log your food this week!
All of them. It was really, really cold last week. It was warm on the treadmill.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
I’m gonna start that tomorrow. There can be no written record of what happened in my pantry today. BUT… it did not involve chips. So. 
