Game Day

I did it.
It's done.
I rode my bike 40 miles through all 5 boroughs of New York City.
It was pretty fucking awesome.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures to share. You know....because I was on my bike.

But it was incredible. In fact, it's what I imagine the apocalypse to be like....before the zombies come in and start trying to eat our faces. Riding my bike up 6th Ave with not a single car on the road as if I (plus 32,000 others) was the only person awake was surreal.

Diabetes management was not nearly as difficult as I would have thought either. Here's how I managed.

First, rather then buy a "too-cool-for-school (or Sizzler)" fanny pack, it was cold enough for me to wear a light fleece with plenty of pockets. I loaded myself up with a snacks, including granola bars and applesauce packets plus what ever additional freebies were given out at the rest stops.

I ate a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, sliced banana, and soy milk eaten with a little less insulin then normal. I figured it was better to go into the tour with a slightly elevated blood sugar then low. When I checked my blood sugar right before the race, it was 168. I lowered my basal insulin to 50% of its normal dosage. Ah, the wonders of the insulin pump never cease to amaze me!

About 5 miles in, my riding partner needed a potty break, where I checked my numbers again. In 5 miles, I had dropped to 98 BG. I ate a mini Larabar without insulin (only 8g of carbs). After another 7 miles, my riding partner needed another break, which gave me time to eat some raisins and half a bagel. This time, I gave myself the proper dosage of insulin, figuring the bagel was going to keep me even (high carbs, high activity rate). At mile 15, we stopped again (she had a very small bladder). This time, I ate a banana, more raisins, and a dose of insulin.

Things were going pretty well until about mile 35. It was the longest stretch we had gone without stopping and snacking. It also happened to the hardest part of the tour, which was the BQE and over the Verrazano Bridge. About midway through the bridge, I was feeling a little shaky and not just from the uphill climb. Luckily, I came prepared with snacks and was able to quickly suck down a GoGo Squeez apple sauce packet (Apple Grape!), a diabetic's best friend.

By the time I arrived at the finish line in Staten Island, I was spent! And hungry! And had a 125 blood sugar! Which meant I could go to town on the free samples and eat an amazing vegan black bean burger with vegan cheddar cheese and relish from Bareburger at the tour's finish line festival.  Holy crap, I'd bike another 40 miles just to eat another burger!

So....that's how it went.

I didn't die. I made through all 40 miles without keeling over from exhausted or hypoglycemia (always a success in my book). I experienced the city in an entirely different, glorious way. I ate a delicious burger. And now have a much better sense of what to expect during the zombie apocalypse (sans zombies).

All and all, quite the happy experience!

Fanny Pack City

The 5 Boro Bike Tour is quickly approaching (this weekend EEK!) and I have to say that my "training" has been less then stellar (if we can even call it training). I'm sure 40 miles is NOT going to go quickly. One thing I have been considering as d-day approaches is diabetes management.

How am I going to bike for 40 miles and not pass out from hypoglycemia? Conversely, how am I going to manage my diabetes so that my blood sugar doesn't get so high that it dehydrates me? It really can be such a delicate balance.

Up until this point, my planning has been....light. In that I hadn't been doing very much at all. Mostly because I figured the day before, I'd throw some applesauce packets, juice boxes, and granola bars into my backpack and consider myself responsible.

Except, recently, the 5 Boro Bike Tour people sent an e-mail with new security precautions as a result of the tragedy of the Boston Marathon. While I appreciate the increased security, it has led to a bit of a diabetes dilemma. New security protocols state that there will be no backpacks, saddlebags, or hydration packs allowed. Well, piss in my Cheerios, what am I going to do now?

It's time to start Plan B-ing it. Which is really Plan A-ing it. Because I hadn't really started planning at all.

Fanny Pack City, here I come!

For My Consideration

I have been neglectful in sharing that I will be doing the NYC 5 Boro Bike Tour in less then a month!

Whaaaaaat?!?! I know, right?

It is 40 mile bike ride through the 5 boroughs of New York City, where you're able to bike over a number of the amazing bridges all over the city. It should be awesome. I love to ride my bike and this has given me a great excuse to get on it as much as possible.

What was pretty amazing about the registration experience is that diabetes did not come up at all. Not for me. Not for the good folks who manage registration. It was just a straightforward "I want to do this. I am signing up for it. Oh, look, done." There was no debate about whether I could/should do it with diabetes.

Yay for being over diabetes!

But then the reality set in. It was great that diabetes didn't play a role in my decision making AT ALL in doing the bike tour, but now it definitely has to be part of the training plan. My longest ride so far has been 10 miles. A far cry from 40, I know. Each time I've gone riding, I have come home with a low blood sugar. As I move forward in my training process, and on the day of the tour, I definitely need to do some planning.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Final Week

In exactly one week, we will be leaving for Barcelona!!!!! Wahoo!

I couldn't be more friggin' excited! That means I only have one more week of getting in shape for this trip.

Truth be told, I haven't seen much movement on the scale. In fact, there are some days where I've been up a pound or two. However, I am noticing a difference in how I feel. I feel stronger, tighter, and just generally more in shape. I've been running a few miles a couple of times a week, hitting the gym much more regularly, and eating better in the day to day (weekends DEFINITELY excluded).

This week, I'm hoping to tighten up my diet even more and plan on going to the gym every day. It's ambitious, but we'll see how it goes.

August Challenge Page

Okay, I've been yammering on about my countdown to Spain, my need to get back into shape, blahblahblah and all that good stuff. We leave for Spain in exactly three weeks.

THREE WEEKS!!

Which means I need to get a jump on things. This past week, I've gotten back into the habit of going to the gym (going 5 days out the last 7 and taking a 9-mile hike). I definitely feel good about that.

However, my eating has not followed suit. I'd like to think it's because I've been doing this whole Tata Exposing countdown in stages, the first being exercise and the second being diet.

But that would be total bullshit. I'm just a fat kid.

This week, I hope to change that. One way I hope to do that is to hold myself accountable using this blog. I've created a new page dedicated to the "challenge" of the next three weeks, which I'll use as a food/exercise log.

A hopeful by-product of such a page will also be better blood sugar control. While my blood sugars have been okay, they haven't necessarily been great. I've had a lot more high blood sugars then I'd like in the last month or two. In fact, I'm a little concern that my A1c will be higher when I go for my endo appointment in September. While I accept that this is the natural biorhythm of being a diabetic, it doesn't necessarily feel good.

Of course, I don't expect anyone else to be interested in my daily diet.

But that's why this is my blog. And not yours. :)

Official Weigh-In

It's official. I weigh the most now then I have in the last three years. And I'm definitely feeling the difference in my body. Hello rubbing thighs. So nice of you to show up in this 90 degree heat!

I know what you're thinking, "What happen to this countdown for Spain, where you were supposed to be losing weight, Bonnie?"

Well, for a while there, it looked like our trip to Spain wasn't going to happen. With Jerry being out of work and us not knowing if we would make the next rent payment, all planning for Spain had come to a halt, including my great plan to lose weight to feel comfortable exposing my tata's on Europe's topless beaches. I think my mom is a little relieved about that one.

Now that Jerry is back to work and it's looking more and more hopeful that our trip to Spain is happening, I need to get back into Tata Exposin' shape! Our recent trip to Virginia definitely took me far off track, where at least 15 meals a day were consumed and exercise was significantly reduced.

That being said, I think I need a little bit of a jump start, which is why I've decided to do another detox. I'm not sure if it'll be for a whole month like my last one, but definitely at least a week or two.

I imagine that a detox won't be too hard since I'm in love with all fresh produce and have been eating salads at almost every meal anyway. Some of the rules of the detox are to definitely cut out all processed and refined sugars and definitely, definitely, definitely the use of portion control. No seconds at meals. No desserts. Nothing!

Plus, a return to the gym with a focus on yoga and HIIT (high intensity interval training) is certainly in-store.

Of course, with any great diet and exercise plan, it will start on Monday. Not today. Because today...I have some eatin' to do! :)

Tightening Up

Countdown to Spain: 55 days

Oh yes, the countdown has begun.

And when one of my countdowns gets started, there's usually a weight loss/exercise goal attached to it. Because I'm crazy like that.

This trip is certainly no different. In fact, it's even more intense as we will be visiting some Tops Optional beaches during our trip. While I'm not completely decided on whether I'll show my girls (and by "my girls," I really mean nipples because that's all I have), I still want to feel comfortable in my skin around others who might be showing more then just...nipples.

With that, I'm hoping to be starting a regular exercise and diet routine to help take off a few extra pounds everyone else claims not to notice. I may even throw in a detox just to really liven things up! Party. Animal.

In addition to an ass/tummy/everything else that jiggles tightening, there will also be a tightening up for finances. Jerry and I have recently stumbled in a bit of quarry as we've just booked a few expensive trip to Europe just a few weeks prior to his company having a lockout of all unionized employees. Fun stuff.

I'm trying to put a positive spin on it by saying that losing weight and saving money really go hand-in-hand. What better to way to save money then to stop buying groceries! Okay, that's dramatic. It'll probably look more like a reduction in spending money on groceries, going out to eat, and a reduction in bar nights. I foresee us drinking our way through the entire contents of our liquor cabinet this summer!

Be prepared for some serious goal-listing to occur in the next week or so!

Pain in My....

...knee.
When one goes away for a weekend of beer drinking and overeating, it can only be assumed that a 3 mile run is part of the weekend plan. Oh wait! That's only if you're fucking crazy, like me.

For the last two years, a part of my TAP Fest ritual (in addition to wearing a beer box on my head) is to do a quick run the morning of the festival. It helps me feel better about the gluttony that will occur later on in the day. Except, the only thing is, I hate running!

Okay, okay, maybe hate is a strong word.

In fact, I really, really want to be a runner. I want to be one of those people who run marathons well into their 70's. It's one of those things that I feel like all the cool kids are doing and I'm just sitting on the sidelines. My interest in being a marathon runner only increased when I was diagnosed with diabetes. I wasn't going let some stupid chronic illness hold me back from doing something I had never, ever actually planned on doing before! Yeah, that's right, Diabetes! I'm going to spitefully complete a marathon because of YOU!

Except for the tiny, insignificant detail that I'm just not meant to be a runner. As much as I try. As much as I want it to happen, every time I start a running program, my hips, ankles, knees, and toes (knees and toes....sorry, couldn't help it) start to feel sore. And not in a good "Wow, I'm really working out!" way. They feel sore in a way that makes me feel like long-distance running is not what's best for my body.

This weekend, I started off my run, expecting it to feel awful since it had been a while since my last outdoor run. The first mile actually went pretty well. A 10-minute mile, which for some is a warm-up, but feel me and my short, little legs is pretty good. As I finished the second mile, my knee started to feel a little sore. I figured I'd just run through it. Because that's what makes the most sense when you're in pain, right?  Not to stop and take it easy? No, no, no, but to push through the pain so you can limp back the last half mile and have knee pain for the next week and a half.

Yes, brilliant idea.

Asshole.