Training Log – Weeks 3 & 4 – Motivation

Weeks #3 & #4, by the numbers:

29 miles run on the road.  11 miles on the treadmill.  139 miles on the road on the bike. And 1.5 hours on the trainer.

I had one two/day workout days.  4 rest days.

Average Blood Glucose: 127

No significant pattern of low blood glucose.

No significant pattern of high blood glucose.

Comments about training for the past two weeks:

These past two weeks were a hodge podge of getting out when I could and enjoying time with family.  Certainly maintained fitness, and spent more time on the bike (due to being off from work for the holiday).  Sure enjoyed it.  It’s good to break up training with something like this every now and then so you don’t burn out.

 

Motivation:

There are a number of motivating factors, but let’s start with the obvious one:  I hate having to figure out how many carbs are in my cake, so I don’t mess up my blood glucose levels.  I just want to enjoy the piece of cake.

Here are some stats about living with T1D from the Dawn Study (http://www.dawnstudy.com/) completed by Novo Nordisk.

2010 – New Jersey: 1 million people living with Diabetes, $9.26 billion in Direct Medical and Indirect Societal costs.

2010  – USA: 32 million people living with Diabetes, $299.3 billion in Direct Medical and Indirect Societal costs.

40% of family members report a high level of diabetes related stress.

61% of family members are worried about hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) events

These facts are true on the general scale, and they hold true in my life.  My family members are worried about my health, now and in the future.

But these items are NOT my true motivators.  When I am tired and don’t want to train, I think of my kids.  Abby-BloodDraw2

I have talked about how my kids are in JDRF funded prevention studies.  Jacob is in TRIGR (http://trigr.epi.usf.edu/) and Abby is in TrialNet (http://www.diabetestrialnet.org/).  Both are producing antibodies know to cause the development of T1D.  Abby is producing all 4 and Jake is producing 2.  What the TrialNet research results to date tell us is that it is most likely just a matter of time before Abby is diagnosed, and Jake will most likely be diagnosed at some point in his life.

I can’t stop it from happening.

There is no cure.

So, what’s a father to do? (A Type A nut-job, control freak of a father at that?)

I’ve teamed up with the most aggressive folks in the world of treatment, prevention and cure therapies:  JDRF (www.jdrf.org)  There is no better organization focused on improving the lives of those living with Type 1 Diabetes.  Not to mention, they were listed as one of Forbes Magazines Top Five Non-Profits last year because of their efficiency rating.

I’ve worked with my JDRF team mate, Scott Kasper, to start Hope on 2 Wheels.  Riding between camps for children with T1D, this ride team is focused on motivating kids to live successfully with T1D.  We partnered with Riding on Insulin (http://ridingoninsulin.org/), a non-profit program that has snowboard and BMX camps for kids living with T1D.

Support the research, support the kids who are currently living with T1D, and now to test the system.  The system?  Yeah, my body.  My T1D body.  Push the envelope, and do it while my kids are young and impressionable.

They need to see their T1D father push the envelope, swing for the fences.  Fail, overcome failure, and succeed.

I need to push my physical capabilities, so I know how a T1D body will react.  Because its different, no doubt about it.  Training, fueling, recovering…..its different than someone without T1D.  So, I am going to experience it, so that when my kids get to high school and college, and participate in athletics, I will be able to speak to their focus, drives, and hurdles. If they don’t participate in athletics at those levels, then I have merely provided for a life lesson in facing adversity and overcoming.

It’s starting to work, too.  The kids in the neighborhood decided to sell lemonade a couple of weeks ago (because it was in the 60’s!).  My daughter asked or talked most of the kids in to donating their profits to the JDRF.

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So, its great that $9 is being donated to the JDRF on behalf of the kids of the neighborhood.  However, I am just excited that my daughter understands how important JDRF is in our lives.  She thought she was just helping me and others who currently live with T1D.  She didn’t even realize that she was helping herself.

That’s why I’m training for long distance triathlons.  That’s what motivates me.

Thanks for everyone’s support!