Joining a running club!

Hi @Libby3781 well done Libby

Firstly tell your club if you haven't already, have you checked with your doctor to ensure you're ok with this type of exercise ? I can tell you what I do and see if it suits you, I check my levels before I run, I like to ensure I am over 6/7 mmol/l before I start with no quick acting on board and carry glucotabs as well as meter on me, I run for around 30/40 mins a time and never hypo unless it's hot weather. Your club will help you with a training plan to build you up. I've been running for a year and have built my fitness up gradually over time, I've found it great for controlling bg levels as well as keeping fit so highly recommend it.

Libby3781 said:

I’m currently on NovoRapid 3 x daily.

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Be very careful to understand the relationship between food, insulin and exercise.

Exercise opens up pathways in cells called GLUT4 - Glucose Transporters 4 - which let glucose in to be used as energy and that will lower bg. If you add in insulin on top, which provides another pathway, that can lead to a double whammy of both insulin and glut4 acting in tandem to really lower bg.

If you were eating x grams with y units and not doing anything much afterwards, you'd have to really think about reducing the y units if you were going for a run afterwards.

Probably best to try to arrange things so that you're not injecting before a run, and remember that glut4 can still be active for a while after exercise, so you might need to tail off the dose amount after too.

Hi @Libby3781, The following from my experience as a T1D, not as professional opinion or advice. Seeing your DSN sounds like a great idea to work out the best way of managing your exercise, food and insulin.
1) ask the club for the best type of running shoes and try them on to ensure they fit well enough (a bit loose first thing in the morning but comfortable after walking around on carpet all day.) By doing that you have a chance to see if you are still comfortable when your feet swell and can still return them to the store if they are not suitable. Prevention of rubbing spots etc is important. When I walk I wear two pairs of socks so that there is more protection of the skin of my feet and it is better for the socks to rub against each other than my skin rubbing as much.
2) wear suitable clothing which reduces the risk of over heating or becoming too chilled and allow for the sun (e.g. waterproof sunscreen), weather (? googles etc for blustery days) etc
3) by testing my BSLs before and at the end of exercise I was able, after several measurings, to confirm that my BSL rises with exercise and drops later.
4) I have heard of others where their BSL drops during exercise and still others whose BSL do not to change much during this time.
5) with BSLs rising during exercise I dd not eat before exercising as this just raises the BSL higher. I reduce my insulin that is acting through the exercise time until at least 6 hours after. usually 20 to 30% depending on the degree and length of exercise.
I also pay close attention to the my BSLs
6) I have heard of others who reduce their insulin a bit and also eat before exercising (fluids etc with some glucose but not cream buns etc)!!! as their BSLs drop or do not change much. The warning about the later BSL drop still applies.
Best Wishes for a fun time !

Well done Libby, let us know how it goes. My advice is start slowly, as you are quite new to using insulin you won't have had many hypo after exercise experiences. More testing is obviously important, but it sounds like a positive step forward. Good luck, and hope you enjoy it.

Libby3781 said:

Hi JuicyJ,

Thanks for the response much appreciated. I’ve asked the diabetic consultant who very encouraging when it comes to fitness. She wants me to do from 30mins to an hour of exercise daily. So I’m hoping with the running club to gradually build up to run for this length of time. Tomorrow is going to be my first session with the club, so obviously it’s a priority to tell them about the diabetes and insulin.
It’s my routine to carry the insulin and monitoring kits. Currently, I’m testing 4 times a day, prior to meals, I have to take the NovoRapid. So adding a few more tests in to the routine won’t be a problem.
I’m also scheduled to see my DN on Tuesday morning, so I’m hoping she’ll give me some guidance. I do carry an emergency kit as well so that includes all relevant food and drink to get out of a hypo.

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It really helps if your DSN is encouraging fitness as they will have some sound advice to help you, it's important to note though that if your new to running that you might not be running for 30 minutes straight off, we are all different and so some may start running for say 5-10 minutes then walk, run again walk etc, listen to your body and try not to push yourself too hard, the most important thing about running is that you enjoy it so stressing less about the diabetes and enjoying the moment with fresh air, feeling alive and doing a run.

I have to admit when I first started running I was quite nervous as I didn't know how my bg levels would respond, over time my confidence has grown due to knowing my body, knowing what works for me and enjoying the exercise. It's a beautiful day today so hope you enjoy your run and look forward to hearing how you get on

I do a lot of running and my advice (diabetes-wise) would be:

• Always carry your meter (I use a CamelBak, but got by using a bum bag)
• Always carry dextro tablets (I figured I need 2 every 15 mins)
• Test before running and every 30 mins (you can make adjustments to your next dextro dose depending on the result)
• Do blood tests, don't rely on a Freestyle Libre for rapid changes in BG. I was running a trail half marathon once and Libre was telling me I was in the 10s, when I was in fact in the 2s!

Libby3781 said:

Well I made it to the running club .

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the time flew by.

Unfortunately, due to the length of time it took me to get to the venue.
I was unable to do a blood glucose reading beforehand.

I had taken a reading prior to going tho, when I had my late lunch.
I then did a reading when I got home, my bg levels had come down slightly.

Is that about right??? I’m going to the club again on Wednesday, so hoping to be more organised.

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Well done Libby, I love running but when I first started I remember 'running' for about 2 minutes and being absolutely kn**kered. Don't worry, in the first few weeks you will have at least 20 opportunities to do a finger prick test when on a 30 minute run!

KK123 said:

Well done Libby, I love running but when I first started I remember 'running' for about 2 minutes and being absolutely kn**kered. Don't worry, in the first few weeks you will have at least 20 opportunities to do a finger prick test when on a 30 minute run!

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Ha! Good point, it's sometimes a great excuse for a rest..."oh no, I've got to test my sugar levels again, sorry!"

Libby3781 said:

Well I made it to the running club .

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the time flew by.

Unfortunately, due to the length of time it took me to get to the venue.
I was unable to do a blood glucose reading beforehand.

I had taken a reading prior to going tho, when I had my late lunch.
I then did a reading when I got home, my bg levels had come down slightly.

Is that about right??? I’m going to the club again on Wednesday, so hoping to be more organised.

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Sounds great, well done! I personally wouldn't want to run without testing first, as I might be in the 4s and I could end up hypo half way round.