Pump It Up In The Gym

Now is the season for the fashion week's to take place, the main one's being in New York and London and also those in Paris and Milan. As a fashion graduate I do like to pay particular interest at what's going on at this time of the year. But whilst I can appreciate that not everyone with diabetes is into fashion. Most are interested in finding way's to wear their pumps that doesn't inhibit their everyday lives.

I've been doing athletics- mainly sprinting for the last 9 years and have been on a pump for the last 5. At first when I went onto my pump I didn't know anyone else with one. So had no idea where it would be best to keep it. Initially I used to use an arm holder that would normally be used for an mp3 device or phone to put my pump in. The one's that jogger's use to go running with and also put their key's etc in. And then I would feed the wire of my pump through my top, that would then feed the insulin into me. This method of holding my pump during exercise was handy, however it wasn't water-proof and when I was doing block start sessions. The arm wallet would move slightly and didn't give me enough room for movement.

So then I did some searching in different sport's store's and managed to find running leggings with pockets inside them. They used to have a zip pocket at the centre back of the tights that was just the right size to fit my insulin pump into and then zip back up. This option felt a little bit more secure again. And was really handy when I used to train at the athletics track which was outside, in full-length tights. But then I changed my training group and started training indoors. Where the temperature was an awful lot warmer inside than out, without the weather. Which meant that it was now too warm to have my insulin pump in my back pocket of my running tights anymore. And with being warm and sweaty in full-length tights inside, this would increase the weight of the tights and I'd have to keep pulling them up.

Last year I tried training without having my inulin pump on. For no more than half an hour at a time, it didn't have an effect on my diabetes as such. Or if it did it was masked by the adrenaline rush post-training that often caused a slight rise in my blood sugar's. But when I had my latest clinic appointment with the consultant. She said that the effects of training would be much much better if I kept my pump on during exercise. She said this was because the muscles needed glucose to work at their best and with the insulin being the thing that pushes the glucose into the muscles for the energy to be made. Then I needed to have some in my system.

So up until recently the tight's were still the best option I had for keeping my pump on during exercise. Although I still had the problem of being indoor's in the heat, so when I wore short's to cool down I had no where to put my insulin pump. And then I found the running top pictured below with two deep back pockets that are perfectly pump sized. The pump slots into the pocket and because of the stretch in the fabric it stays there, even when I'm sprinting at maximum speed. There's a pocket on each side, which again is great because I need to move my pump from right to left depending on which side the set is in. It's pink so it's not too masculine looking and even has the on-trend animal print going on. So that once again no one is paying any attention to my pump and I can get on with my performance.