Well, day 10 was spent concentrating on blood glucose levels. Another day of close monitoring and making adjustments. These adjustments took to form of diet. I started the day off with a bg of 82mg/dl. Pretty low compared to my normal. I used some coffee creamer to get my bg up into the 120mg/dl range. Managed to keep it right around 100mg/dl most of the day. 

I reduced my basal insulin (LANTUS) to 27u. I won't be able to track my bg today. I grabbed the wrong meter and have no test strips in it. So, I'll have to go on feel today. 

My weight continues to drop slowly. Today's weight was 216lbs even. 

If anyone is interested in following along, I track all this on LIVESTRONG.com. My stats can be accessed by clicking here. I share this in hopes of helping others and to also hold myself accountable.

Yesterday was a day of lows. That is to say I had low blood glucose readings a couple times yesterday. Now that I am getting active again, I am going to need to make an adjustment to my basal insulin (LANTUS). 

I hit the gym last night and did 30 minutes at around 150bpm hr. I felt great! I sure have missed being able to ride. Now getting my legs spinning again feels great! I wore my RED RIDER jersey to help motivate myself to do the full 30 minutes I had planned. IT WORKED! 

After the spin, my bg was 58mg/dl. I had blurred vision and had the shakes. I ate 10 Dex4 glucose tablets to get back up to 127mg/dl. 

As I continue to work to recover from 6 months of inactivity, I know there will be many adjustments to be made. 

I made it through the weekend and managed to keep the bg and weight under control.

I slept in Sunday morning. First time I have done that in a very long time. I headed to the gym and had what I think was a good work out. I started by warming up the shoulder with the arm bike The resistance setting at Zero. (don't really know the name of this exercise/machine). Then on to weight lifting with a focus on the arms and shoulder muscles. 

Next was 30 minutes of spinning. Felt good to get moving.

As you can see if you are following this blog, I don't post everyday. Life is hectic, complicated, and often I am not in the mood to write or there is simply no time. 

I have been very focused on my blood sugar of late. Something that I've let slide since the bike accident. I can't express the impact the bike crash and injury have had on my psyche. I have and still feel as though I am broken on several levels. I hope by getting back into shape and once again gaining good control of my diabetes that I will once again be able to be the man I once was.

I am now taking 80u of Lantus before bed. To some it may seem odd to take insulin before going to bed. For me, it is to cover the "Dawn Effect." This is where you blood sugar levels increase while you sleep with the highest levels just before dawn. With the Lantus, my waking BG has been hovering around 150mg/dl. Without it, I was in the mid 300s. 

I am juggling many things, as we all do. I hope I can keep them all in the air. I don't feel as though I am very good at it. I just keep telling myself, "Work hard. Keep trying. Have Faith." Getting active again should be a huge help. I must attend to my health. 

I made it to the gym last night. For the first time in over 6 months was able to get on the Giant Spin bike. It is a road bike type spin bike allowing full road bike simulation. It felt so good to be able to get into the road bike position and spin. I stayed on for about 30 minutes, then walked laps. Finished it all on the "arm bike" type machine much like the one I use at PT. 

I had a little pain in the open fracture area, but not as much as I had feared I would. Boy it felt good to get my legs spinning!

BG @ 530AM this morning was 196mg/dl. Still much to high, but getting better. Before bed last night I took a 70u bolus of Lantus. Forgetful me didn't remember to grab my Apidra pen out of the fridge to bring with me to work today. 

 My first weigh-in this morning was 218.8lbs. Put on 10lbs over the holidays. Still down over 10lbs from the time of the bike crash. 

 My Journey Back - Day 1

June 30, 2010 was a day that changed my life. I crashed on my bike commute and shattered my right humorous. I have been under strict physical restrictions since then. 

Just before Christmas I got a CAT scan which confirmed I have one of the many fractures which has healed/closed. The doctor said that since all the other fractures had healed well, it is no big deal. He released me to get active again with a 25lb lifting restriction and one of "if it hurts, don't do it." Also back to PT twice per week. 

Well, I've been away since then. This week is the first week where I can start working out again. I have no upper body strength left. I have wasted away in that regard. Legs too. So I am going to try to get to the gym 3 days per week to get things moving in the right direction again. 

I think I've put on some weight too. I'll weigh myself first thing in the morning to get that bad news. 

So, it is my sincere hope that I will be able to stick with a routine to get my physical fitness back by cycling season. Gym 3 days per week. PT two days per week. Mental health professional visits every-other week. That is the first part of the plan. The second part is to go back to hyper-low carbing. It worked for me before, it should again. 

I know there will be those who will take pot-shots at my plan and point out when I fail to meet the exceptions I am setting for myself. I hope to prove them wrong in a big way.

I will need all the POSITIVE support I can get as I am still dealing with some significant mental issues regarding the crash, life, and the road back to fitness.

Thanks to anyone who lends a hand to my journey back to fitness.

- Zin

 I stopped in to a local VSP Vision provider after work last night for an eye exam.

Vision Care Specialists, P.C. in Denver gave me great, even friendly service! I felt welcomed and right at home with each person I interacted with! I found this refreshing since my previous exams had been in those "eye care" places located in big discount stores like Walmart and Shopko where the service didn't compare. 

I was very impressed with the technology they had! They had this machine which took a digital photograph of the inside of my eyes! The technician said they could see 200% more of the eye than with a dilated exam! So, I paid the small fee to get this high-tech exam! Now, they will have these images for comparison over the years!

People with diabetes normally must undergo a dilated eye exam. Diabetes is hard on the eyes! In fact, my type 2 diabetes was diagnosed due to a vision issue. If it weren't for an eye doctor, I may have gone undiagnosed for many more years. Get a dilated eye exam people! Your vision is far to valuable to risk! 

We are going back this evening after work to pick out frames! WooHoo! I'll be style'n in new casual frames soon, and even better yet, for the first time in my cycling career I will have Nike prescription cycling shades thanks to VSP Vision's sponsorship of Team Type 1 and Team Type 2! 

Thanks VSP! 

I am currently experiencing some difficulties taking my riding to the next level. I am a type 2 with a great A1C of 5.8. Lately my performance seems to have topped out. I try to keep my daily consumption of carbs to somewhere around 150 grams, but I do not think this is enough. When I ride more than a couple of hours my ending BS is almost always higher than my beginning BS. For example I recently did a cold, wet, hilly and windy 100k tour. My beginning BS was 120, I took in about 120 grams during the ride and my ending BS was 16). I also think the constant low card is impacting my recovery. I am currently on Metformin and just started taking Januvia. I do not use insulin or any other fast acting medications. I am hoping the Januvia helps some, but... Any thoughts as welcome.

Since I have been mostly low carb’ing and have dropped 10lbs of water weight. I intend to continue to LC to get my weight back down to the mid 180lbs range. I felt best at that weight. I think I looked fairly good too. 

Here after RAAM, I am in love with my bike again. Not just in love with it, but I seem to have this bug gnawing at me. This bug to do more races. I'm just not sure what races, or what type of races. Think I'll get with Keith to see about racing with Cobras. 

My vision for RAAM is a one-two finish for Team Type 1 and Team Type 2. How cool would that be? I have a plan and will be working to implement that plan over the next 11 months. 

Today's breakfast/lunch was a 4 egg cheese omelet using shredded "taco" cheese topped with taco sauce. It is important to make the food interesting. Helps keep me on track.  

 Since I began using Apidra as part of my diabetes treatment and training regimen I have seen seemingly remarkable improvements in my performance on the bike. I now have a tool to actively manage my blood glucose levels, rather than the passive management most type 2s have. Before beginning Apidra, I managed my blood glucose levels passively with radical carbohydrate restrictions and aerobic endurance cycling.