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Tom's
Page > Fitness (updated July 11, 2003)
| My Fitness Program This is the second half of my own personal weight loss program. You see my food intake was only half of my problem. My previous favorite activity was eating. Had I walked even a few times a week I would have avoided diabetes for a few more years. Let me assure you that regular exercise is absolutely essential. And if you exercise enough you also get to eat more! The first time I ever went to my gym I was embarrassed by the way I looked, particularly in a pair of shorts. The program I enrolled in included a monthly meeting with a trainer. Getting into an exercise program with a professional trainer is a must! At the first meeting with my trainer, Mike carefully weighed me and determined my body fat composition. He also noted I was out of breath after walking up a set of stairs to his office, maybe it was a quick way of determining my overall fitness. Mike found I weighted 281.6 lbs., my body fat composition was 33.5%. The average male's body fat is between 15% and 18%, I was nearly double that. Mike started me on a very slow workout, ten minutes on a recumbent bicycle. My condition was so bad that I was exhausted after just that 10 minutes. The next step was to slowly double my exercise time to twenty minutes. It took me nearly a month to complete my first twenty-minute workout. At my next appointment my trainer wanted me to walk on a treadmill for ten minutes (working up to twenty) after riding the bike!. A month later found me again at another appointment. Now the trainer wanted me off of my nice comfortable bicycle and onto some type of torture device called a cross-trainer. A cross-trainer requires you to move your feet back and forth in order to keep from falling down. He put the settings at their lowest levels and asked me to increase them as I could. I continued for another month. At the next appointment I found he wanted me off the treadmill because he said I needed something harder, a stair-climber! I tried to explain to Mike that it was a long-held religious conviction of mine never to use stairs. And I certainly wasn't going to climb them and not get anywhere. He was having none of that and I started using the freakin' stair-climber. From June 2000 through January of 2001 I was at the gym six days a week (they're closed on Sunday). During that time missed exactly two days, Thanksgiving and Christmas, only because the gym was closed. Each month Mike increased the difficulty of the machines I was using. By that time I was doing a full twenty minutes on the cross-trainer, another 20 minutes on the stair-climber. Oh, and now the masochist trainer was having me do weight training three days a week, too. I'd also lost 39 pounds. My initial goal was to weigh less than 200 pounds. In fact, I did reach 204. I was wearing a size 15 shirt and my 34-inch pants needed a belt to stay up. My face was drawn and people kept telling me I should have practiced safe sex. Although I was almost at my what I considered my ideal weight another session with Mike showed I was still losing fat and lean muscle mass. He sent me to my nutritionist who increased my protein intake by one-third. Even with the extra protein I continued losing muscle mass. I had reached the point where weight loss was possible with my diet but it necessitated stopping my weight training and to start running. Initially I looked at running as work and weight training as relaxation. I was lifting 40-60 minutes, three days a week. I felt a lot better leaving the gym than when I came in. My 2001 physical showed my average blood sugar is 112 MG/DL and my cholesterol at 129. My blood pressure was 117/78. In January of 2002, Dr. Metzler took me off all diabetes and blood pressure medication. In December of 2002 I started running. I was on the cross-trainer one day and wondered if I could run, maybe, a couple of minutes, so I gave it a try. I finally worked up to 60 minutes of running (150-170 reps per minute) on the cross-trainer daily. That works out to about six miles a day, Monday through Friday. On Saturdays I worked up to a 2 1/2 hours (yes, two and one-half hours) and am estimated distance of 14 miles (yes, fourteen miles). Sometime during December I had this crazy idea that I could, maybe, run a marathon. You know, outside on a real road, not on a cross-trainer in the gym. That transition is something that can only be experienced. One of the really great things about the cross-trainer is there is no impact, unless you count the time I’ve fallen off. The first time I actually tried running on the street my legs hurt for days. Oh, well, here I am again. Another challenge confronts me, another goal beckons. I learned to run. I run outside on the street, a slow waddling pace with lots of walking. But, I am a runner. I now run marathons. My first was a 5K (3.1 miles) on April 12th, the Indianapolis Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the CureŽ, one of a series of marathons held across the United States to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer. My time was 42 minutes and 30 seconds. That's not a particularly good time but I did finish and I wasn't last, either. My second marathon was a 15K (9.3 miles) on April 19th in and around Downtown, Indianapolis. It is actually part of the training program for the Mini-marathon. I 'placed'' 821st out of 984 persons who finished. My time was 1:58:43, an average of 13 minutes per mile.  My most
recent marathon was the 2003 Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon held on May 3, 2003. The course was 13.1 miles long
and included a lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There were over 28,000 people
entered and 22,352 people finished, I was 16,617th. I completed the first five miles in 1
hour and 20 minutes, not a good time. But I completed the next five miles in 59 minutes
and I finished the marathon in 2 hours, 58 minutes. My average pace was 13 minutes, 36
seconds per mile. Click
here is see my official results from the 2003 Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon.There are necessary considerations for diabetics who run. I was lucky to get some great advice from Barbara Dougherty a runner who works for Lincoln County Health & Human Services in Newport, Oregon. She suggested that I try a carbohydrate gel supplement before I run and then every 45 minutes while I am running. When I'm complete she further suggested a protein bar after the run. The difference in how I fell in taking these supplements is tremendous. I no longer experience huge mood swings as my blood sugar level drops while I'm running. My favorite supplement is GUŽ Energy Gel. I take a packet of GU 15 minutes before I run and a protein bar (PowerBar Protein Plus™) after I’m done. If I am running for more than an hour I have a second packet of GU with me and take it while I'm running. Be sure to drink plenty of water with both the GU and the protein bar. Both of these supplements are kind of pricey. The cheapest place I can find them is at Performance Nutritionals in Santa Barbara, CA. I need also mention a book, which has been instrumental in my fitness as a diabetic. The book is The Diabetic Athlete: Prescriptions for Exercise and Sports by Sheri Colberg, Ph.D. It is a very complete book written for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics and very specifically deals with all sports and the recommendations for blood sugar levels and the best way to maintain proper levels during exertion. I also need to mention the best place to buy running shoes in Indianapolis. It's the Athletic Annex Running Center located at 1411 West 86th Street in Indianapolis. That's on the southwest corner of 86th and Ditch Road in the Northbrook Shopping Center. They have the best customer service I've ever experienced, by very knowledgeable people. The best recommendation I can possibly give is that I buy my shoes from them! Another place I get my stuff is Road Runner Sports in San Diego, CA. They have a great catalog with a lot of products for runners including shoes, socks, shorts and shirts. I don't get a thing for mentioning these companies (not that I would mind doing so). Again, the highest recommendation I can give is that I buy my stuff from them. I need to acknowledge a great debt of gratitude to John "The Penguin" Bingham. He is the person who inspired me to run. He didn't start out as a runner, he started as an overweight middle-aged man (sound familiar?) who found he could run. He has written three great books, The Courage to Start: A Guide to Running for Your Life, No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running and Marathoning for Mortals: A Regular Person's Guide to the Joy of Walking or Running and Half-Marathon or Marathon. I urge you to visit his web site, WaddleOn.Com: The Internet Guide to becoming an Athlete if you have the least bit of desire to become fit. Again the best recommendation I can give is that I bought his books. While training for marathons I run six days a week, about 75 minutes each day. That's approximately 5 miles a day. It’s still a slow, waddling run with lots of walking breaks. I was told I was addicted to running. Addiction or not, running makes me feel wonderful. When I am not preparing for a marathon I’ve learned not to concentrate on a single area or single type of exercise. I can't just run, I need more. Training in another discipline is essential. After the Mini I will be following this training schedule: Three Days a Week: Combination of five minutes running and five minutes of walking for 75 minutes. Hey I know it doesn't sound like I'm doing a whole lot but that's how I did the mini and it works! The Three Other Days a Week: 20 minutes on a cross-trainer, 20 minutes on a stair-climber followed by 30-40 minutes of free weights and interval training.  Since I am apparently now addicted to exercise I also schedule myself to
one day off each week. I don't schedule it in advance. It varies week-to-week due to my
schedule and weather conditions.I really hadn't intended to run after the 500 Festival Mini Marathon, but I probably will. I've found I love to run. I am entering the 2004 Mini. I'd like to break 2 1/2 hours, we'll see. But there are a lot of other things I can do. I was invited to join a 'spinning' class (my first session begins immediately after the mini). I am also rock climbing, trail running and mountain biking.  In any case my weight is consistently below 214. Getting below 200 pounds
is again a goal; hopefully the running will get me there. My SMAC blood sugar is 111
MG/DL, cholesterol is 129, blood pressure is 118/70 and my body fat content is 12.9%. My
shirt size is now a 16 slim (yeah, baby!). I was hoping to fit into a pair of size 33
Levis 501 jeans but I don’t think this will happen. Although my waist will fit, the
muscles in my thighs and hips are becoming larger. It looks like I’ll be wearing a
size 36 real soon.I am as surprised as anyone. See ya at the marathon, but look toward the back of the pack! Tom Wood  My diet and supplement page My weight loss page Return to Tom's Page The Wood Family Home
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