Semester 4.. half ways there..?

..I kid myself. Halfways through the didactic portion of my D.Sc, which is now in conversion to a Ph.D program. At the very best, I will complete the last on-site session in May 2011 and complete the associated work by September. Then the fun begins, with a comprehensive exam and final defense before the IRB prior to the launch into the dissertation phase.. And the final end point? The RMUoHP program allows a student to take up to 7 years from intake (for me and my OS4 cohort, that would be last March 2009) and the majority complete within 5 years, the average is 2.5 years following the exam and IRB defense. Eeek.
Not to get to bogged down with the future, here is the present line up of heavy hitters:

CC 612 Biostatistics 3 Dr. Stephen Allison (thank God for him, what a treat)
CC 626 Directed Independent Study: Case Report. Dr Darlene Sekerak.
CC 635 Case Report Methodology: Dr Sekerak
OS 4 604 Ankle and Foot: Dr Cheryl Maurer
OS 4 605 Hip and Knee: Dr Mike

This past week in Utah, we spent many hours sitting, compressing the Gluteii into flattened shadows of themselves, but after prosections and classroom lectures I tried to shake the booty loose and clear the brain with some fun bike rides  into the canyons to Bridal Veil Falls and around Provo. There is a cool bike trail along the Provo river that goes the whole way from Provo Bay into the mountains, totally sheltered from car traffic, it was the perfect way to unwind. At the top of the canyon is a girlscout ranch, complete with trefoil logo. After 15 miles mostly uphill, in 90 plus degrees, I could've downed a handful of GS cookies for the return trip!

So, the requirements for this session, in order that I think that I will complete them:

1.  Biostatistics: Article reviews
2.  Biostatistics: Homework submission
3.  Case report methodology Exam
4.  Case report article critiques
5.  605 Technique paper/ case study paper
6.  Biostatistics Exam
7.  Case report outline
8.  Case Report reviewed + final submission
9. 604 Article critiques 2 x 5
10. 604 Opinion paper x 2
11. 605 Exam

Somewhere in this, I will continue with my full time, full-on MSPT work, find time to train for TransRockies and have some hang time with the wonderful Dennis..without whose support I would be a quaking glob of jello. 

Bring on the caffeine, I am ready for the next semester..

Next Utah trip, November 2011..

A penny saved is a penny earned BullS***: aka mean people suck

A long morning of getting stiff and chilly while sitting in front of the computer prompted me to warm up outside, in the 19 degree cool air. Dennis and I wrapped up in our winter bomb-proof suits, and started off into the woods. 45' into it, I felt that unmistakable feeling of metal snapping, and shouted ahead to Dennis, "hey, I think my bike is sick, it feels like it is going to break".. so we stopped. He quickly diagnosed a disgusting rear cog, with way too mucky grime accumulating and potentially causing a chain skip. I knew the prognosis was bad, it was much worse than that. As he scraped the layer of oily black gook off with a twig, my rear cog snapped in 2/3 and 1/3 fell off into the dirt. S'funny I was JUST thinking I should swap it out for a x17 tooth insted of the x18 that it is.. and cccrrrack.. there it goes..
I wonder if Chris King will replace it? :)    At 127 lbs, I am not the heftiest rider on their cogs, and it really should withstand more than I have delivered to it, dirty grime an' all. Whatever the outcome, I will definitely be replacing it with the upgrade, a stainless steel version of the x18 gear. Having baulked at the $55 sticker, I had gone with the frugal aluminium option, leaving the SS version for Dennis, 50lbs heavier and much crazier on the bike than little ol' me, and now as I jogged down Old Northwest road in my mountain bike shoes, I regretted every dollar I had saved in the purchase.
As the shiny Landrovers (3) and Rangerovers (2) and BMWs (2) and Lexus (1) passed me (jogging, with my bike, chain dangling, helmet on, quite obviously not riding my bike) I began to realise that either my community is not as friendly as I thought, or I looked, in my helmet, black windproof lycra and bootie covered bikeshoes, like an axe-wielding maniac..Having run 3 miles (at 7.4-7.8 mph) clopping along with my bike in one hand, I got fed up enough to flag a car (Landrover) down, asking the driver (female, blonde, 40's) if I could toss my bike in the trunk and she could give me a ride to the end of Swamp road. She looked in the back seat, told me she COULDN'T, that she had a CHILD in the back.. and drove off.. I can only hope that her child never grows up to be a single woman, standing in the frigid weather with a broken down car.  Clip clopping along, I made it back in 45' or so..Back home, I salvaged the afternoon with a workout on the trainer and a hot cup of Barry's (Irish) Gold Blend tea (thanks Rikki).

Semester3 @ RMUoHP

Here I go again, launching into Semester #3 at RMUoHP. the first 2 were challenging, but very worthwhile, despite the sudden shift my life had to take. I kind of liken it to what some friends I know go through when they get pregnant and have a babby, except at the end of all this (much longer than 3 trimesters BTW) I will have a Ph.D, not a screaming child.. Phew.
One gruelling week in Utah later (snowboarding followed by serious schooling)
Courses as follows..

• OS 707.2 Radiology: Dr Ken Schreibman
• CC 611 Biostatistics 2:  Dr. Stephen Allison
• CC 710 Research Methodology: Dr David Brown
• OS Pharmacology: Dr Charles Ciccone
• CC 707.2 Foundations of Educational Practice: Dr Stephen Chesbro
• OS 706.2 DIS Grant writing / research funding: Dr Darin Padua

Heads down, the work began last week with Radiology exam already completed and submitted..
Now the heavy stuff starts..
Next stop, June 2010, beginning of Semester #4!

A clean bike is a happy bike..

While the thermometer is plummeting and the wind is whistling around the door, it is time to head into the basement.. This is a perfect time of year to do some winter cleaning, adjusting and preparation to the bikes prior to the not-so-distant spring.Some time spent now with basic bike repairs will allow you to get the most out of your bike, improve your bike longevity, and even prevent catastrophe later on in the season. A couple of pointers for the novices, some reminders for you old hands..grab an allen wrench set, some sponges, degreaser and a couple of old cut-up t-shirts..the work is going to begin! First you will need the following:

• a good sized bucket or basin, or an old spackle bucket (cleaned)
• dish soap fom the kitchen.. if it is good enough for your bike, it is good enough for your dishes!
• a sponge, (big old car sponge, smaller dish sponges: all the ones you wouldn't use in the kitchen, but still have life left in them)
• a large brush (an old toilet bowl scrubber works great), otherwise an assortment of toothbrushes, small nail brushes etc)
• clean rags
• a quality citrus degreaser, available at any good bike shop
• chain lube
• Music! Music makes even the nastiest jobs seem a more fun..crank up the tunes, imagine yourself n few short weeks powering through the trails and roads on a shiny happy bike..

1. Clear the area in which you will be working, use a canvas drop cloth or an old blankie to soak up the gunk from the bike..trust me, your partner in grime will thank you..

2. Pop the bike in a bike stand: all the better positioned at eye level to prevent you straining your back! With a bucket of warm soapy water and some old car sponges: gently remove last years grime from the frame, wheel rims, and tyres.Wipe down with a dry, soft cloth.

3. Spray (citrus-based) degreaser generously onto the derailleur, chain, cassette: allow to soak in for a wee bit..

4. Shift the gears into the smallest cog in the rear.. Spin the cranks and watch the chain run through the derailleur. Familiarize yourself with the routing so that you can return the chain along the same path of travel once you have cleaned it..

5. Open the brakes and pop off both wheels for better access to cleaning the brakes and the wheel rims, cassette etc.

6. If you have a chain cleaning tool fill it with degreaser, attach to chain and run the pedals backwwards while the chain gets magically clean. If you don't have such a tool, get one of these! it will save you hours in un-necessary manicure repairing, and dozens of band-aids.

7. Use an old toothbrush to get the junk out of the pedals, the remainder of the chain links and the brake calipers. Check the chain for cracks, stiff links. Lube the links and if they remain stiff, get a new chain.. if not, you risk it snapping mid-ride and leaving you stranded. Ask your mechanic about chains with replacable links and learn how to install the chain using a master link..

8. Check the brake pads for wear: if there are no grooves left on the pad surfaces, you need new ones! If you have disc brakes, carefully remove the pads, they have a spring clamping them into place. Removal and replacement is a good way to both check for wear, and to understand how they are put together.. trust me, these skills learned in the warmth of a basement without pressure, will come in handy when you are a few hours from home, hungry and cold..

9. Check your tyre sidewalls for cracks: if you have lots of tiny wrinkles of cracks, they are suffering frm dry rot and can fail when inflated in the spring.. get a new set if in doubt, a worthy investment.

10. Get up close and familiar with your clean, soap-free frame: check for dents,dings, paint loss, exposed frame: paying close attention to the welds and underbelly of the frame down by the bottom bracket, (where the pedal cranks are attached onto the frame).

11. Replace the squeaky-clean wheels onto the frame, remembering to center the wheel in the brake calipers. Make sure you do this while the bike is on the ground, first pulling the derailleur all the way rearwards over the outermost ring or cog of the cassette. Release the pressure on the derailleur, and jiggle the rear skewer into position in the dropouts. Tighten the quick-release, making sure it is snug, leaving a little dent in the heel of your hand as you push it into place.

12. Run some teflon dry lube onto all cables and along the chain. Rotate the pedals for a couple of revolutions to get the lube distributed evenly, remove excess with a dry cloth.

13. Release the cable housing from its position and get a couple of drops of lube down into the plastic housing and onto the steel cable itself. Replace the housing and squeeze and rlease the beakes a few times. If there is sgnificant resistance to braking still, you might need new cables and housing (usually good to replace yearly).

14. Check all other moving parts, get as much grime off as you can with toothbrushes and small rags. If you are in doubt about your ability to replace parts on the bike..don't take them off: simply clean it as best you can, then take it to your friendly bike-repair shop. Believe me, they enjoy working on clean bikes..

Below is a list of our local bike repair people, some with fancy store-fronts, some with special services of pick-up and drop-off or pre-race tune-up deals. Use them, support them. Instead of rushing off to do your grocery shopping, buy them a cup of java and ask if you can watch while they work on your bike. You will learn a bunch, and possibly save yourself so time and money in learning how your machine is put together.

Whether you have professional tune-ups, or whether you like to fiddle about with your own tools, a good bike repair book and a bit of time spent messing about in the basement can go along way towards a better bicycling season.

Dave Krum, Sag Harbor @ BikeHampton: 631 725-7329  http://www.bikehampton.com/

Myles Romnow (mobile) @ Eastern Cycology: email: ilovetoracecross.com, 631 255-9568

Rick Laspesa, Southampton @ Rotations: http://www.rotationsbicyclecenter.com/  631 283-2890

Kevin Otto (mobile)@ kevinsbikeworks: 631 875 7507

Twin Forks Bicycles, Riverhead: http://www.twinforksbicycles.com/  631 591-3082

Country Time Cycles in Mattituck: http://www.ctcycle.com/ , 631 298-8700

Imagine rolling in the sand covered in sun tan lotion, then getting into nice snug bike shorts and sneakers, then going for a run for an hour.. this is what your bikeparts feel like when they are covered in grime and mashing against each other..not fun, not efficient, not a good feeling.. Do them a favour, clean 'em up, lube 'em up and enjoy the coming season!

endless swimming in the snow

Winter journey from 2009 into 2010

Dennis and I drove the 8 hours off the ferry, to BogBrook cove in Maine, to visit our friends David and Alan. Arriving at their farmhouse on the morning of New Years eve, we left our car (low profile wheels, 2WD, no traction in the predicted 2-3 feet of snow) at the end of the driveway 2 miles away, and hoofed it back to the house, ready to get buried in for the weekend.

A beach walk with Lola and David brought had all of us skating on pond ice and crunching salty icicles. We made the short drive to Lubec to search for lobsters, but being the eve that it was, the old smoke house was shuttered tight so we wandered to the wharf where there was some life in the diminishing light. Alan procured some fat scallops right from the boat, with the fisherman popping one in his mouth, fresh from the shell for good measure!

Dennis and I trekked over to the barn for a pre-dinner swim in the endless pool.. how spoiled are we? I didn't feel like doing very much swimming, so I happily ducked under for long breath-holding spells to watch him swim and to give feedback. I love this pool, not purely for its situation on the base of a rocky promontory overlooking the ocean, but for its utility in teaching, with instant feedback, about body position and efficiency in the water. Are you listening Santy?

We feasted on a wonderful dinner celebration with tons of champagne, local scallops and shrimp and good company rounded out the year, as the snow began to blanket us..

New Years day began with waking to the crashing ocean while tucked up in bed in the "grainery", an 18th century crop storage building renovated as a bedroom on the farmhouse..The new year was heralded with a pre-breakfast swim where I was totally lost in the endless pool, working on drills, experimenting in the water, refining stroke components and having fun! I totally understand the connection with Terry Laughlin's "total immersion" concept, and am able to apply it much more readily in this circumstance. I thoroughly recommend this tool to anyone who is curious about swimming, who wishes to master and refine their technique or who simply want to explore their physical function in a watery way..Here is one of my wintery swim workouts, which can be modified and replicated in a regular pool, but is specific here to the endless pool, endless fun!

Warm up: 10 minutes, @ low speed, (10 x 1 minute/ 50 strokes: 10 sec rest interval (RI)

Drill set @ very low speed: push off back wall to glide in streamlined position, allow current to return you to wall, try to maintain fuly streamlined position and land close to, or at the starting position. Allow your knees to flex deeply upon landing, pause then push off into the current again. The purpose is to develop body position sense and work on alignment in a fully streamlined prone position, as well as working on the plyometric components of the swim turn. Repeat 10-20 or more times or until you feel like your take-off and landing positions have the same footprint, ensuring control during the explosive phase, and optimal positioning in prone phase of swimming.

Warm-up set: (5-10 intervals@ moderate speed/ 100-200 strokes (2-3' intervals with 20 sec RI) with focus on alignment and elongation from previous drill.

Recovery 1-2 minutes @ low speed

Main Drill Set: @ low speed: Side-lying kick drills: 3 sets of 3-4 intervals on each side until "failure" point, 30 seconds to 1 minute each with recovery of breaststroke for 30 seconds: the point at which you are unable to maintain a consistent position in the current: pushing into the center of the pool in a side-lying position, once you have found the "sweet spot" that Laughlin refers to, maintain the balanced streamlined position and continue to flutter kick in sidelying. Try to alternate face down and face up while maintaining this position, using a point on the ceiling (in my case, one of the barn beams!) or an object on the wall as a visual guide. Alternate with Catch-up drills, with breathing on alternate sides. Here you will really feel the difference in balance from one side to the other, don't be reluctant to drop the speed of the current further in order to master the drill at a lower speed, before nudging the speed up for an increased challenge.

Main swim set: 3-4 x 5 minute steady open-water pace swim @ moderate pace, 1' RI @ low speed, inching the current up from the first to the final interval. Focus on the practices worked on during the drills, balancing right and left side glide while breathing, extending the reach upon hand entry, following though to complete the pull.

Finish with 5 bursts at full speed, maintaining central positon in the pool while concentrating on minimizing the splashing!

Cool down with low speed breaststroke, multi-directional walking against the current, or some on-deck stretching.

The snow was dumping about an inch per hour all day as we moved with reading material and coffee, from the kitchen to the living room and back to the kitchen before settling in front of the fireplace with a full-bodied zinfandel and some snacks. A brief trip (by Toyota Highlander Hybrid AWD) to get wood from the woodshed had the truck battery crash, while deep in snow, and resulted in us hoofing several armfulls and bagfulls of birch back to the house while the wind and snow whipped us sideways with 30 knot icy blasts. Having left the SUV buried, we were finally totally stranded! Our tracks each time, were totally obliterated, so we waded in increasingly deep waves of snow, through the fields and back to the warm farmhouse.

The next morning we feasted on Danish pancake dumpling things that Alan whipped up, resplendent in a sauce of maple syrup and farm-grown blueberries, from the lower fields outside the house. Rest assured, I ate many, many more than these few..Fully loaded for the winter weather, Dennis and I schlepped down to the cars to dig them out and prepare for the return journey to the real world! Some hot tea, more reading, some school work, some chatting followed by more tea, some short hikes in the deep heavy snow, and a final swim before preparing dinner for the final night..

Truly, a great break from the final wind-up of Christmas and Winter 2009 and fully recharged for 2010..

NEXT post: Goals, races, plans for 2010..

2009 finish line in sight..resolutions 2010

The final days of 2009 draw to a close, the days are short if not sweet, the wind is howling and the mercury is plummeting. Time to light the fire, pour the wine and reflect on the year past, the year to come. However silly it seems to break the passage of time into relative chunks, I can’t help but do so, all the better to chew it up and spit it out if I need. Here goes, or rather, there it went.. Jan: Hilarity in Ballina, then home to the peeps in Wexford, quiet pints in Slade and windy hikes around the Hook lighthouse. Resolve to do more of this whether home or away. Feb: Hunkering down in winter. Enjoying the odd MTB ride, odder run, swimming like a fish. Resolve to keep it going every winter, for my brain, for my body, mostly brain. March: Utah, first session of my D.Sc in RMUoHP, the beginnings of a challenging chapter in my life. Resolve to complete dissertation on a topic that I can wake up with, go to bed with, love it as I hate it,.. gotta be a biking topic. April: Rain rain rain. Is it ever going to stop raining?. Resolve to remember that I grew up with this weather, and need to befriend it again if I am to avoid missing a while month or two or three! May: Block Island Shad Bloom 10k, with Dennis, A-Wal and Rikki: must be my favourite trail run. Resolve to bring more friends out to do this and share the love, the cliffs, the ocean views, the martinis at the Atlantic Inn! June: Rush home to visit auntie Phyllis in hospice, tears flowing as she wakes from a coma to eat scrambled eggs and ask me about Obama’s election. Resolve to see my family more often, before they are on death’s doorstep. Or bedside. July: July 4th. Sailing to Long Beach for macaroni and coleslaw, warm beer and burgers. Holy Crunch time, 4 papers to submit, exams, barely time to swim and sail. Resolve to be better organized so I can swim and sail more in the summer. Aug: Back out to Utah, Session #2 RMUoHP, hot and dry, good riding, great brain filler. SeptVermont 50 Absolutely my favourite MTB race. Only question was 32x 18 or 32 x 19. Wrong question. Should have put new brakes on before the race, and practiced running to prepare for the peanut butter mud. Resolve to be a better bike-mechanic, looking after my own gear. Oct: Bermuda 10k swim with a fun gang from home, resolve to swim further, faster in 2010.! Visit Maine with Dennis, fall in love with Bog Brook Cove. Resolve to spend more time here, maybe even save like mad and buy something here.. Nov: Rush home to see Mam and her badly broken shoulder, trying hard to be a PT (not worrying) versus a daughter (worrying). Crashing my cousins wedding, dancing with cousins that I hadn’t even met before. So drunk on family, lack of sleep and 72 hour visits to Ireland. Resolve to do more of this! Mountain biking with buddies at night, ducking the trees, wiping out in piles of dark leaves, sweaty night rides. Fun and laughter. Resolve to keep it going through the winter..(minor caveat) as long as it is above 19 degrees. D.Sc converts to Ph.D, the bar rises again.. eeek Pounding out the papers on the computer, force-feeding biostatistics into my small brain. Resolve to get help before I need it! Dec: Dark days of Christmas: Reality check, friends injured, friends sick, friends losing body parts to cancer, friends wife’s suicide. Curling up with my good squeeze, a warm fire and a decent brew. Planning races for next year, as long as my legs, my lungs, my will hold up. Thankful for making it past the shortest days, through the darkest nights. Resolve to enjoy it all, the whole damn rollercoaster, in 2010. G’night, happy new year!

Lessons in Procrastination: visualize the end, then go for a swim

Nearing the end of semester #2 at RMUoHP, I still have a biostatistics exam to get done (Allison), review 6 more articles for shoulder and upper quarter pathology (Ellenbecker) and complete a paper outline (Caputo). I should be at a SPOKESPEOPLE meeting right now and I need to book flights to Ireland to check on the mammy with her broken wing. Instead, I am cooking a big pot of brown and wild rice risotto with shitake mushrooms,threatening to open a bottle of Bordeaux, and burst my lamps into tears..

I still, at this ripe old age, have tremenduous difficulty in prioritizing things when I haven't been swimming. Somehow, being in the water helps me regulate my mind, in the way that biking can't, and left to its own devices, my little brain is loath to manage. Even now, with a little taste of panic rising in my throat, I can solicit the calm I need from just thinking about tomorrow mornings workout, from envisaging the weightlessness in the water, and the deep quiet it brings when I leave.

Some late fall mornings at the YMCA, the sun is rising just as I am finally warming up in the pool, 30 minutes or so into the 4500 yd workout, and the rays pierce the water's surface lighting the depths of blue. An incredible vision to push off the wall, face down, rotate to face up, break the surface and for a split second before hitting the air, have a pillar of light deflected by still submerged, outstretched arms. I am never bored while swimming. My mind is never still while swimming, always feeling the water, always searching for perfect pressure through the pull, for optimal positioning to be longer, leaner in the juncture between liquid and air. I mentally struggle with every stroke to find the yin and yang, the power of relaxed effort. I have been doing so for decades now, conciously for ten years. It is my yoga, my meditation, breathing with motion, regulated breath with body movement, forced exhalation with effort facilitating the next inhalation, the next stroke, the next thing on my list to address. Already feeling better. Can't wait to get in the pool.