Exercise

This blog first appeared on the Diabetes UK blog site on March 26th 2013

Like many people, I have a love/hate relationship with exercise.  And like many people, I suspect I'm not the only one who finds the hardest part of it is actually getting up off the sofa in the first place.

My particular weapon of choice when it comes to exercising is running.  I remember thinking when I got diagnosed that it was the end of my dream of running the London marathon.  I couldn't see how I could manage something as complex as diabetes whilst doing something as gruelling as a marathon.

Thankfully my specialist care team at the time helped me see that diabetes doesn't have to be a barrier to things if you don't let it.  Whilst I'm sure he might already be one of the most famous diabetics, Sir Steve Redgrave is someone that probably personifies that attitude more than anyone else.

Training for a marathon is a pretty tough business as you can imagine and adapting that regime to take into account diabetes makes it that little bit more complex.  I started by working out a plan for how often I could expect to run.  I suffer from a few other, less glamourous, conditions (mild asthama and shin splints) that hampered me a bit but it gave me a place to start.

After that, I was back speaking to my specialist care team and trying to understand what effect my training plan would have on me.  This was back before I'd been on a DAFNE course so a lot of the information felt brand new (despite how long I'd been diabetic).

The upshot of it all involved running with one pocket full of jelly babies and the other with my blood glucose tester packed in a little plastic zip-lock bag so I could monitor how I was responding to the exertion.  Happily I found I could do about 10 miles before I needed an energy boost and that 4 jelly babies would get me about 4 miles.  That made running on the day a lot simpler!

I learned a few important lessons from that training which I think can apply to any kind of exercise you're thinking about:

• Always have fast acting carbs with you.  I learned that one pretty quickly after having to abandon a run when I went unexpectedly low
• Speak to your care team before you try something new, be it a marathon or any kind of physical activity. The hour I spent with a dietician made a world of difference
• Monitor your BG.  I found that even having pretty good control before I started training, my routine mean things changed (e.g. my sensitivity to insulin at certain times) and monitoring is the only way to understand that
• Don't be afraid to adjust your doses.  While I was on my two insulin regime, I'd never appreciated I could adjust my basal insulin (nor did I know by how much).  If you're doing lengthy exercise, this could help
• Do some research - websites like Runsweet are packed with information and tips for all kinds of exercise
• Make the most of the opportunity.  I was incredibly well supported and raised £1500 when I ran the London marathon.  If you're taking on any kind of challenge, then encouraging people to sponsor you can provide extra motivation for you whilst raising money for good causes.

I think the most important tip is to find something that works for you.  I know that running isn't for everyone but I genuinely believe that  20 minutes of something a couple of times a week not only makes you feel better but can have a significant impact on your quality of life as a diabetic.  I finished the year on an exercise bike in front of the TV as I couldn't run comfortably and that was just as good as dong miles on the pavements.

I'm happy to report that I completed the marathon last April in a respectable, if not earth shattering 5 hours 30 minutes (about 30 mins slower than I would have liked).  My plans for this year are a little more modest, but do include some unfinished business with the Sheffield Half Marathon in May (an injury training for that race in 2008 set me back a lot) as well as four 10km races.

As always, I'm raising money for DiabetesUK and The Children's Hospital Charity in Sheffield (specifically to raise funds for a summer camp for children with diabetes).  I'm aiming to raise £500 this year and if you'd like to contribute, you can do so by visiting my fundraising page (note all money is split 50/50 between the two charities)

Half Year Review

Whilst the title of this week's post sounds like one of those awful things your manager makes you do at work, I'm hoping that this will be slightly less turgid.

I'm going to review the first 6 months of 2012 against my New Year's Resolutions to see how well things are progressing.  It's obviously not the most accurate barometer of success/failure, but I it's better than nothing right?

I was searching for my earlier post where I discussed my resolutions when I realised I never revealed what they were so apologies for that.

1. Run the London Marathon

Well this is a pretty easy one to tick off.  As anyone who read this blog before May this year will tell you, this has been my main goal for quite some time and I can proudly say that I managed it without too many problems in the end.  I've bored you to death with tales of the marathon for a few months now so I won't go over it again.  If you're not familiar with it all, here's a link to the post-race blog

2. Raise at least £1000 for charity

This is another one that I'm proud to say that I've achieved, though I definitely couldn't have done it without the help and support of so many people.  My marathon fundraising brought in a total of £1500 for Diabetes UK and The Children's Hospital Charity in Sheffield for which I'm incredibly grateful.

I've definitely caught the running bug though (despite my appalling lack of fitness since the marathon) and I've entered into two more 10k runs this year.  I'll be doing the brilliantly named Cannon Hall Run in August which is a course from Barnsley town centre to Cannon Hall.  I'll then be doing the Great Yorkshire Run in September which will start go from Sheffield city centre to Hillsborough Stadium and back.

Once again I'm running for the two charities above, hoping to raise a modest £200 in total.  If you'd like to donate, you can do so by visiting my fundraising page

3. Get a photograph published or sold

This is a difficult one in many respects.  I've struggled for both the inspiration and motivation to use my camera as lot this year which is something I'm determined to change in the second part of this year.

I was fortunate enough to be able to take some press photos for a Wakefield band call Skint & Demoralised for the launch of their new album earlier on this year.  A few of those got used as promo pictures as part of that launch which I was really pleased with.  You can see those photos here.

I'm hopeful that something else may come up later on this year but I'll try and get more pictures out there which I've always been a bit nervous of before.  I'll leave this resolution half ticked off for now.

4. Carry on training to run the Sheffield Half Marathon 2013

I've recently got back out running after a good few weeks off after the marathon (down to injury rather than apathy).  I've forgotten how hard it was to build up a base level of fitness and I mentioned a few weeks ago about how I felt like I was starting over in many respects.

Running is really my only form of regular exercise and so I'm determined to keep to about 10 miles a week for the rest of this year which should give me a solid platform to build up to the Sheffield Half Marathon next year.

For those of you not familiar with my history with this race, I injured myself whilst training for it in 2008 and the recovery took quite a while.  I see it as my nemesis a bit now and so I'm determined to beat it next year

5. See at least 12 gigs

I enjoy live music a lot and so I struck a compromise with my wife that sees us get at least one night out a month.  She meets up with friends and I go out to see a band.

So far this year I've seen 7 gigs and I have 3 more on the calendar so I'm confident of meeting this one by the end of the year.  It's difficult to pick a favourite as they've all been different, but Mile Kane in Leeds, Ladyhawke in Sheffield and Jay-Z & Kanye West in Manchester could possibly be my top 3

6. Read at least 10 books

I completely realise that this sounds like a pretty poor target but I'd wager that I probably read less than 10 last year and that was something I wanted to change this year.  Whilst 10 is a modest target, I think it's achievable and I think that's the main thing.

I've ploughed through 6 so far which isn't too bad if you consider the first four months of this year were almost exclusively spent running.  Reading Guitar Man by Will Hodgkinson inspired my Birthday Resolutions and I've just finished reading Just Kids by Patti Smith which I enjoyed immensely.

I currently have three more on the go but I'm focussing on Whoops by John Lanchester which is non-fiction and explains how the world financial crisis cmae about.

7. Continue my blog after the marathon

This sounds like a bit of a cop-out resolution but I really enjoyed blogging about the marathon and the training and I wanted to continue writing this (albeit less frequently) if I could.

I'm finding things to write about a bit difficult to come by at times, but I'd like to think I'm doing a decent job of only writing when I have something to say rather than blogging every week just for the sake of it.

The one year anniversary of We Were Promised Hoverboards is on the 9th of September so hopefully I'll be able to make it through to that and have something to celebrate.

8. Support the community via sponsorship/donations etc

This came about because I was asked to support a few things in my local community last year and I wanted to try and do that again if possible.

I'll be honest in saying that I've not done much on this so far this year but I'm hoping I'll be able to contribute and make a difference before the year is out.

I did recently sponsor a charity festival in Harrogate which allowed a friend to raise about £1400 for charity so I suppose that would count.  Hopefully I can do something closer to home in the next few months.

9. Expand the smaller areas of my company

This is another one where I haven't really done anything worth shouting about.  I work for myself doing consultancy work for the most part, but I've tried to develop a bit of a sideline in doing web design and some photography.

As I alluded to in point 3 above, I haven't really done as much there as I'd like and, despite some advertising, there's not been much call for the web design service I'm offering.

Again, I think there's the opportunity to change this before the year is out, but I'll not be too disappointed if this is the one that gets away as my main line of work takes up most of my time.

10. Make some friends

This sounds like a bit of a poor resolution as well, but it's not without ground.  I moved back to my home town early last year and whilst everything looks incredibly familiar, the people I used to know are now really just Facebook friends and nothing more.

Working for myself means I'm often changing jobs and so developing "work friends" as is normal in most jobs is a bit more difficult for me.

I've been really lucky to connect with a good group of people on Twitter who all share a common love of Sheffield Wednesday and we've all got together before a few games this year.  I'm sure we'll all manage that again a few times this coming season too.



So really that's how the first half of my year is going against my "plan".  I've got the original list of resolutions taped up against my oven at home and it's good to have them visible as a bit of a reminder.  I'm not convinced I'll be able to tick all 10 off by New Year's Eve, but if I get through more than half then I'll be veyr happy.

Thanks for reading - appreciate I've gone on a bit there.  Hope you enjoyed it.