Diabetes Blog – Happy-Medium.net

Athletes… Do you get this feeling too?

Do you get that feeling, when (you think) you’re nearly finished with your workouts, when you can see the goal in sight, and you just feel… tired? When you just want it to be over?

Okay, maybe not that bad. I don’t really want the bike riding to be over. But seeing my 55-miler coming up this weekend, I have to say that I’m really feeling like I just want the training to end. I want to enjoy the ride again.

It’s probably because this is the last event for me this year. Nothing on the athletic schedule after Saturday. When I can see the end of the serious training for the year, often my mind will start to think about the week after this one, when I don’t have to get up early in the morning and get into the spin class at 6:00 a.m. if I don’t want to. When I’m not out on the road at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday or Sunday morning.

But this is also when the most progress is made. True, I only have today and tomorrow to work as hard as I can, then rest until the event. But grinding it out now will undoubtedly mean working less hard once the weekend gets here. If I run into trouble, the hard work put in the last couple of weeks means I’ll be able to overcome difficulties on the fly. If everything goes smoothly, it means I’ll be able to enjoy the whole thing a little bit more.

Does this sound a little like diabetes? I know that if I can just tough it out even when I have unexplained high BGs or energy-sapping low BGs, I’ll be happier in the long run. And believe me, it’s hard to see beyond those moments sometimes. It’s not fun to keep trying when you just want to call it a day and give in to those highs and lows.

But unlike my biking, I can’t just skip a regularly scheduled item on my diabetes calendar. I can’t meet a goal, then take it easy for a few weeks. Diabetes doesn’t play that way. It’s relentless. So just like my workouts this week, I’ll keep reminding myself that trying when it’s hard makes me stronger. I may have to tell myself thousands of times over the course of my life with diabetes, but that’s okay. The people who depend on me make the effort worthwhile.

Are there people in your life who make the effort worthwhile? Tell me about them.