A Good Mornin’.
Every time I think life is about to slow down a little, something else pops up to keep me busy. Every time I turn around there a new work project/D.O.C. thing/volunteer thing/birthday party/insert time-consuming-item here And I feel like I’ve been complaining about not having enough time for everything for like….ten years in a row now. So I’ve decided that I’d like to be a person who has more time. I’d like to budget my time better so that I can be more efficient. I want to be a person that works out in the morning, before work.
Ug. Just typing that makes me tired. But I’m putting it in to words because I know that if this is a goal I hope to achieve, I gotta make it real and I gotta stick to it. I’m not a traditional “morning person.” I don’t spring out of bed when the alarm goes off (more like a couple of snoozes), and you really and truly don’t want to be within 500 yards of me unless I’ve had some coffee, but I love mornings once I get up and get that caffeine in. I feel so accomplished when I get up early and get things done. Getting the must-dos out of the way in the AM means I don’t stress the rest of the day. And since it seems like it’s been harder and harder to get to the gym later after my day has already gotten away from me, I want to start the habit of working out before work, at least three days a week.
I already do this on a sporadic basis - when I have an especially busy work week, I’ll force myself out of bed early one or two mornings and knock out a quick run. I’m always so grateful to have it out of the way, and seeing the kind of freedom that buys me on days I get up and go makes me want to make a habit of it. Trouble is, habits take a while to form (30 to 90 days, according to the Internet machine…), so until this becomes second nature to me, it’s gonna be a bit of a struggle. And don’t think I’ll be going for this without a mini-caffeine hit pre-workout- that’s what single espresso shots are for, right?
I’m determined to make this a habit - I’m so much happier when I get my workouts out of the way in the morning. It lets me start the day off fresh and focused, and truly gives me so much more time in the rest of the day, just by setting the alarm an hour earlier. My desire to make this a lifestyle is there, but I also know the monkey wrench is going to be our good friend diabetes.
Ah yes, the ‘betes and the morning workout. I see two main problems on my horizon, both of which I’ve blogged about before. One, there’s always the possibility of early morning lows thwarting my exercise efforts. Many of us are prone to dipping a bit in the wee hours of the morning as we hit the home stretch of fasting while sleeping. Also, I know I have issues with long-lasting high blood sugars occurring the hours after my morning workouts. This is due to the liver - when you work out on an empty stomach, the liver (not food) provides the energy (glucose) for us to get through the workout. In us folks with diabetes, the liver doesn’t know how to shut off once we stop exercising and have our breakfast. The result is hours of high blood sugars that are super-tough to get down with insulin (this is because insulin doesn’t address shutting off glucose output from the liver, only removing insulin from your bloodstream). I’ve been working on this latter issue for a while now, trying to adjust my basal rates, breakfast, and bolus doses to combat this issue, and I seem to be getting somewhere. As with everything with diabetes, you have to keep trying different things until you find something that works.
Diabetes issues aside, I’m really dedicated to making this change to my workout schedule. Next thing you know, I’ll turn into a “morning person” too.
HA!!! Kidding. There’s no way that’s happening, workout or not 
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Comments
Steve - that’s not a bad idea - I see your reasoning - maybe by eating it will force my body to pull from the food and not the liver. I had not thought of that but oddly enough, I woke up a little low this morning so I had, ironically, just over a quarter of a Cliff bar before my workout, and I didn’t turn down my basals and I DID NOT have the rising BG problem. I’m going to give this method a try a few more times and see what happens! I love crowdsourcing! Good idea Steve!
Taylor - Glad you understand - those highs after the workouts are AWFUL. I’ve found that not dialing down my basals as much as I think during workouts seems to help, as well as taking a quick, half unit or unit bolus right when my workout ends helps abate things.
Hey- I have the problem of going sky high with am workouts- I’m talking like 300 without eating a thing! Let me know if you find a way to finetune things. I’ve always used that as my excuse to sleep in the morning and put off workouts
Good luck!