Fun music pic

I was browsing the Pittsboro Bach Society website (see link at right), and I found this picture from a concert we did back in February. This is me looking over my music during a break (I don't have the long hair anymore!). The Pittsboro Bach Society was founded about 3 years ago by a man named Ted Ehrhard, a violinist and fellow parishoner at my church. We are a group that organizes bimonthly concerts and is dedicated to the joy of social music making.

Training-Week 6 summary

Half marathon: It is still really hot and humid, so the massive stink and sweat production continues. I am now in the 30-35 weekly mileage range, which is more than I've ever done before. Today's long run was a record 11 miles. Unfortunately my ipod battery ran out right around mile 6, so the last 5 miles of my run felt like a long time since I didn't have my music to distract me. Now that I am into the heavy weekly mileage (well, heavy for me), and since it will keep increasing, I have to really make sure that I eat enough carbohydrates and drink lots of water. The former isn't too hard; I do like my carbs :) However, I could always be better about hydration, so I just need to make sure I keep my water bottle full.

6 weeks down, 10 to go.

Comps: Well, we're entering the home stretch. I'm almost finished going through all the topics; I just have a section on anaerobic training left to go over. After I finish that; I will work on the remaining study questions and review notes. In my Seminar class, our professor is going to give us some test-taking strategies to help us with time management on test day. One really good piece of news: there is a strong possibility that we get to type our comps answers this year.

6 weeks down, 3 to go.

A new semester

Well, the fall semester officially began this week. Campus is crawling again with students, and classes are back in session. On the one hand, I feel like I had a pretty long summer vacation, but on the other hand, it feels like I never left. I only have 2 real classes this semester: Seminar in Exercise Physiology, and Exercise Testing and Prescription in the Healthy Population, and then I am also taking 3 credit hours of thesis research. My assistantship is a bit different this year too. Last year, I taught a bunch of PE classes, and I was the TA for the undergrad Human Physiology class. This semester, I am only teaching 1 PE class (YES!!!!!); for the rest of my assistantship, I am once again the TA for undergrad Human Physiology, plus I am a research assistant to one of my thesis committee members. I think this is going to be a good year. I am looking forward to getting my comps out of the way so I can propose my thesis and start collecting data. Other highlights of the semester will include applying to the PhD program in Human Movement Sciences at UNC, and maybe applying for some predoctoral fellowships.

Training-Week 5 summary

Half marathon: This week got a little more intense, as I not only inreased the overall mileage, but also the pace. It is still really really hot and humid. I went out early Thursday morning to do my tempo run, and it was like 76 degrees and 90% humidity, even at 6:30 in the morning! Needless to say, I have reached new levels of sweat production, both in volume and stink. Yes, that's right, girls sweat too!

5 weeks down, 11 to go.

Comps: I had gotten a little behind when Ben and I were on vacation in Asheville, but I played catch up this week, and now I'm back on schedule. This week, I'm learning about all the wonderful physiological things that happen to us when we age (good news, exercise can help slow some of it!).

5 weeks down, 4 to go.

The fun has begun!

Yesterday, my schoolyear officially started with TA orientation. We did usual things like going over policies and procedures, but we also did team-building activities on at the ropes course at UNC. I think we definitely got closer to one another, in that by the end of the day, I was covered in not only my own sweat, but that over several other people. It was also cool to meet the new first year grad students. Classes begin on Tuesday, so I still have a few more days before the REAL fun begins. Until then, it's back to studying for comps.

Nephews

The latest pic of our two nephews: Ethan (born just over a month ago) and Isaac (3 1/2 years old)

Try saying these 5 times fast

Basic tongue twister: "cinnamon anemone"

Advanced tongue twister: "Yosemite cinnamon anemone"

Training-Week 4 summary

Half marathon: This past week was intended to be an easy running week, with all easy runs and no long runs. The weather was still really hot and humid; man am I ready for fall! We went to Asheville Tuesday-Friday, so I had to rearrange my running schedule at bit, but I got it all done.

4 down, 12 to go.

Comps: I am a little behind schedule because we were out of town, but that's okay because I planned for that when I was creating my study schedule. I can't believe that I've been studying for this thing for almost a month now; I mean, I've covered a lot of material, but there's so much more to go! In any case, I ploughed my way through the endocrine and immune systems, which are the most confusing and complicated in my opinion, and I'm not sure I really have a great handle on them. This week though, we relax a bit with some sports nutrition topics like body composition and dieting.

Incidentally, comps are exactly one month from today. (cue ominous scary music)

4 down, 5 to go.

Training-Week 3 summary

Half marathon: The mornings this past week was hotter and more humid than in the past, in my opinion. It's a good thing I decided to slow down my easy runs because otherwise I would have been very uncomfortable. Today I hit a milestone as I did my first 10 mile run. Haha, I've broken through to the double digits! When I finished, I was soaking with sweat, really really thirsty, and a little bit sore. I am really looking forward to cooler weather.

3 weeks down, 13 to go.

Comps: I did some practice questions on metabolism, muscle, cardiovascular, and respiration physiology and started delving into the endocrine system. The endocrine and immune systems are next on my list, and this is the point where I start to get a little scared because we went into a lot of depth with these topics, particularly in our Advanced Topics class this past spring, so there is a lot of information to process. Also, this past year was the first year we had and Advanced Topics in Exercise Physiology class, meaning that there aren't really any previous comp questions about the immune system or in-depth endocrine topics for me to practice writing.

I think I need a bigger brain with more memory and a faster processor!

3 weeks down, 6 to go.