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Bringing It All Together

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

January 30th, 3:40pm


Over the past several months, the sport of cycling has come under intense scrutiny due to the seemingly rampant use of performance enhancing drugs by some of the sport’s top athletes. Many riders have been fined, sanctioned, disqualified, or otherwise penalized for proven or suspected transgressions. I would like to take this opportunity to report that I have never knowingly ingested or otherwise utilized any type of performance enhancing substances including erythropoieten, human growth hormone, synthetic testosterone, Enzyte, Comcast’s “high speed,” or any products resulting from dabbling in the black arts.

I have no current or previous relationship with Dr Eufemiano Fuentes or The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. And I wholeheartedly support WADA’s chairperson, Dick Pound’s efforts to get his name in print as much as possible because it just sounds dirty.

Any questions can be directed to my public relations manager, and chief of paparazzi credentialing.

Monday, January 28, 2008

January 28th, 9:14pm

Saturday (1/26) was another EARLY morning. This time, up to Maine to help with my alma mater, the University of New England, with physician assistant applicant interviews. The PA program gets about 700 applicants, and of this, about 150 are asked to come in for interviews. From there, about 50 are offered seats, resulting in about 40 people choosing to attend (many people apply to multiple schools). I’m really impressed with the caliber of applicants—some of these people are truly shining stars, both academically and professionally. I don’t know how I slipped through the cracks, but they can’t take my degree away from me now! Anyway, I gave a tour of the campus to some friends, as one is hoping to attend PA school later on down the road of life. Anyway, by the time we had lunch and I made the drive home, I only had time to hit some weights for my workout that day.

Sunday (1/27) was a day off from work, yeah! Jean and I did about an hour and half on the indoor trainers, with our nemesis, Coach Troy. Then our friends Mike and Jo came down for some quality social time.
Monday’s (1/28) workout was an outdoor run (c-c-c-cold) with Luna of about 4.25 miles. So far, so good!

Friday, January 25, 2008

January 25th, 1:00pm

So, my last entry was January 15th, huh, well, I’ve been busy; sue me.

Last week work was busy and I was a little slacking in the work-out department. I was able to justify the low activity level somewhat by saying that I was “resting” to make sure I was fresh for my fitness test on the 19th. Let’s get into that a little bit… Saturday morning I was at CycleLoft (in Burlington, MA) for VO2 max testing (maximum volume of oxygen that your body is able to utilize during exercise), aerobic threshold (turning point of when your body’s metabolism becomes mostly anaerobic) and resting metabolic rate (a measurement of how many calories I use in a day). I had done this about 5 years ago too. I performed fairly well back then and it was helpful information to put together a training plan. I knew that I had fallen out of shape over the years, but I had no idea how much. Now I know, and it’s sad. But hey, like they say in G.I. Joe, “knowing is half the battle.” My VO2 max is down (from the high 50’s in 2002 to the mid 40’s now) and my weight is up (about 20lbs), and this data just verified what I already knew. Now, I’m motivated and it’s game on.

As soon as I got home, I went out for a good spin on my ‘cross bike, but I had to keep it short to get to work. I pulled the overnight shift on both Saturday and Sunday night.

Monday (1/21), after sleeping my overnight shift off, I was pulled off an hour on the trainer, then Tuesday morning (1/22) I was able to get another hour in on the rollers (I worked 10a-10p), followed by an hour run on Wednesday (1/23—I had to go in to the hospital for a 4hr meeting). Thursday morning (1/24) I did another hour on the rollers (before heading in to work the overnight), and here I sit on Friday (1/25), looking forward to some more saddle time. Indoors though, it’s still damn cold out there.

In no particular order, here are some other highlights from the past week or so:

  • I had my first patient that came in as a result of a unicycle accident.
  • I went to take my XC skis out, and found that they had both delaminated and looked like they were unpeeling like a pair of bananas. Hopefully REI will fix ‘em.
  • Jean got a flat tire on her road bike—it’s on the Computrainer! (How???)
  • Sadly, my friend’s bike shop is going out of business, so I went in and bought some stuff that I didn’t need.
  • I booked an Emergency Medicine CME conference in Orlando, including non-refundable flight, only to have the conference cancelled two days later. Well, of course, I ‘m still heading down to see my mom and now I’ll call it a “training camp” too ‘cuz I’m bringing my bike.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

January 15th, 9:45pm

So, we had a Nor'easter on Monday. Bummer. All of our snow had finally melted, some of the trails were rideable, and it seemed like we'd be getting a break. No such luck. I did a ride around the 'hood with Luna on my SS with Nokians. Here's a short clip...

Week Ending 1/13/08

So, the overall theme for this blog is supposed to be my quest to get in shape. With that in mind, here's a recap of what I was able to achieve in work-outs for the past week. I was just starting to feel a little more like myself, after my battle with the flu, but my schedule was tough, with four days at the hospital (with two overnight shifts) and one day at my part time job. The weather was also uncooperative with heavy rains on Friday morning (my morning off). In the end, I was able to get three runs done (on the road=4.5, 3.5 an 3.0 miles), a short stint on the rollers, and a good Sunday ride on the road. I've got three cemeteries right near my house, and they've each got some great hills--I'm able to get a good 10-12 mile ride with hill sprints done, all within a couple of miles radius of my house. Very convenient! Overall, it was a decent week. I'm scheduled to go for my VO2 max an lactate threshold testing this coming Saturday. Once that's done, I'll start my real fitness plan! Yee-haw!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Canine Houdini



So, our little Luna hates her crate. She's hated it since day one, and she's found many, many ways of escaping. I can't count all of the times we're locked her away in her crate (in the car, in our house, in other people's houses), only to find her out and about upon our return. I thought I had finally contained her in her most recent crate. First she had broken the pins that allowed the cage door to open/close/lock, so I replaced them with rods from Home Depot. In case she was able to break those, I also drilled holes in four corners of the front and locked the cage door with four heavy-duty locking caribiners. This held her for a while, but she has been working on chewing her way out! We're starting over with a new crate...

Thursday, January 10, 2008

January 10th, 8:44pm


So, today was finally a mellow work day. I put in a shift at my per diem job, in a health services office. It's a stark difference from my job in the emergency department. My patients here are remarkably healthy, with a minimum of (if any) complaints. I feel like shaking them and saying, "what do you mean you don't have all over body aches and fevers and chills and nausea and vomiting and headaches and chest pain and shortness of breath and a horrible peeling rash all for the past 3 years after twisting your ankle?"

The work environment is so different too... it's, um, what's the word... quiet! At the hospital, I'm bombarded by wailing drunk patients, screaming children, boisterous nurses, beeping monitors, buzzing alarms, phones ringing, blaring sirens... oy. Of course, for some reason, I like the crazy, hectic, chaotic environment. Yeah, but a slow day in a quiet clinic isn’t bad once in a while.
It’s a busy week, with four 12hr shifts at the hospital, and a day at the clinic today. I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning off—AND the weekend. Can anyone say “I’m going riding”?

Monday, January 7, 2008

January 7th, 10:55pm

After my bout with the plague, SARS, or whatever afflicted me (ebola maybe), I'm almost feeling myself again. Sadly, Jean still has one slender foot in the grave. I'm rooting for her white blood cells! I worked the overnight shifts this weekend, which were pretty hectic, but after sleeping until noon today, I was finally able to get up and be active. Luna and I did a 4-mile jog around the 'hood to loosen some phlegm and help clear the lungs. I can't wait to get back on the bike!

Friday, January 4, 2008

WTF?

Oh, and isn't it fantastic that on the day after the Iowa caucuses, CNN's Larry King has his whole show devoted to Britney's latest mental meltdown. It's good to see what's important to our country. Are we really that dumb? Oh, yeah, Huckabee won, so I guess we are...

January 4th, 6:50pm--the week in review


So it's Friday, and it's already my third post of the week. Crazy. Jean and I were supposed to be going to her work holiday party tonight, but instead, we're home fighting for our lives. Our adversary? Well, I don't know for sure, but I think it's a little string of nucleic acids known in some parts of the world as a virus. As a man of the cloth (blue scrubs cloth that is), I consider this a personal attack against my work as a healer. They say that viruses aren't alive, but if that's true, how could this one have found its way in to my home to brutalize us?
How indeed?
I've finally turned the corner--thanks to a generous amount of acetaminophen, phenylephrine, guafenisen, dextromethorphan, albuterol, budenoside/ formoterol, vitamin C and zinc. Better living through chemistry, right? Anyway, I felt like my lungs were made of old leather and bacon while Jean and I were in Vermont. It wasn't the best way to ring in the new year, but we still had a great time and we got one good snowshoe hike in. Of course, now she's feeling the fevers, aches, cough and phlegm. Ours is a house of love and phlegm. Ack.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

January 3rd, 2:31am

Yeah, still awake. Anyway, here are some pics from our New Year's Eve trip to Vermont.

January 3rd, 1:23am

Okay, so it's a new year, and this is a new adventure. I'm going to make a real effort to be in good shape this year, and by making my efforts public, I'm hoping that it will force me to deliver with 100%.

That's it for my first post. It's about 1:30am, and I should be asleep right now. Hopefully, the 50mg of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) will kick in soon...