Running

[Posc]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to keep blood sugar normal during exercise. I recently started running and was diagnosed with type 1. When I don't run, I have symptoms of high sugar and when I run it crashes and is low all day. I can't seem to figure it out. Has anyone found anything effective?

[Mark1e]

You need to experiment until you figure out how much and what sort of carb you need before and during exercise. Bear in mind that, during the first 15-20 minutes of exercise, the energy you are using up comes mainly from glucose. Which is why you blood sugar drops quickly. From then on, fat becomes the main source of energy, and blood sugar drops more slowly. You will also find that aerobic exercise (like running) lowers blood sugar more quickly than anaerobic exercise (like weight lifting), which utilises glycogen in the muscles more heavily.

Before I exercise, I test my blood sugar. If it is in the target range, I normally eat a banana, and that will see me through a 1 hour workout. If I was running, in addition to my banana I would probably need to consume about 10 grams of carb every 15-20 minutes during exercise.

We are all a bit different in our glucose requirements. You just have to test and measure until you find what works best for you.

Mark

[SamQKitty]

You're all probably gonna laugh at this, but I swear it's true....I'm so exercise sensitive that my blood sugar drops when I even THINK about exercising! Seriously...every time I decided I'm going to use my treadmill in the morning, my blood sugar goes low before I even get on the darned thing!

At any rate, Markie's right in that it's a bit of trial and error, but that you will probably need to eat something before you start your run, and then test and possibly eat more every 15 minutes. At some point you may be able to do this just every half hour, but it'll take you a while to figure out just how much you need to eat and how often you need to test while exercising.

Ruth

[Posc]

Thanks for the suggestions. I always eat before I run, usually fruit and I try to put some juice in my water that I run with to keep my sugar up, but that's about it. Has anyone found a food that's eas to run with and effective in keeping lever sugar. I run for about 6-20 miles at a time depending on the day and find my sugar to be all over the place. I don't want to give up on running, but I want to make sure I'm health.

Does anyone ever change their insulin does before exercise and if so how long before?

[Mark1e]

Originally Posted by Posc

... When I don't run, I have symptoms of high sugar and when I run it crashes and is low all day. I can't seem to figure it out. Has anyone found anything effective?

What you are probably seeing is the short-term effect of exercise on insulin sensitivity. After a run, your muscles will be a lot more sensitive to insulin, which means that blood sugar drops quickly and stays low. The effect is compounded by an increase in metabolic rate, which lasts for up to 36 hours after exercise has stopped.

You can try reducing your basal insulin on days that you run. But you have to be careful with this, especially if you are using Lantus. If messing with your basal insulin makes your blood sugars more unstable and unpredictable, just keep your basal insulin constant and eat extra carb on days that you run.

Mark