The grind

I've been grinding away at work. It is getting harder and harder to turn my bike into the school's driveway, especially when it is warm and sunny. A lot of my friends who don't have cushy public school teaching jobs are meeting up several days a week at 8 am to do 4 and 5 hour training rides. Seeing the emails going back and forth on the listserv as they set up times and routes is just killing me. That just means that I have to take advantage of every opportunity I get to ride in this beautiful weather!

My wife, Golden, and I got to go do a long mountain bike ride (thanks Mom and Dad for watching Owen) as we start to prepare for the coming 6 hours of Warrior Creek mountain bike race. We got to go ride for 3 hours off road, something we haven't done in a very long time. It felt great. I felt great.

During the ride, I came to a realization: I'm not nearly as paranoid or racked with self-doubt about my physical capabilities as I used to be. I've been in good physical health for a long time, but there was always a little paranoia about riding for a long time; of being "out there" where if I had a problem I would be in a difficult situation to get back. My paranoia was really unfounded, but I couldn't help but comment to Golden about this new confidence (or lack of self-doubt). I'm wondering if this is another effect of the Apoqoeurin supplement that I have been taking. Now granted, I don't know if I'm on a placebo or not, but I'm noticing all kinds of positive cognitive changes since taking the trial supplement and I am really hoping that there is a reason for all of it. Golden thinks I'm giving too much credit to the supplement, but I know how my brain feels and it is definitely different (and much better!).

I hit mile 750 this week. Right now, I am about 14 days ahead of the 10 miles a day average needed to cover 3,650 miles this year. My friend Eric made a per mile pledge through the Facebook link and has been harassing me about not riding TOO many miles! His bet is that I'll do 6000 miles this year. We'll see...

Light me up

photo by Brapke (a)artwork

While I don't know if I am taking a supplement that has the light-emitting jellyfish protein or a placebo, I am feeling different. I just started noticing that I am remembering to do little tasks that people ask me to do without any mental effort on my part. I normally spend a great deal of mental time trying to remember things, either keeping it in my active memory, "Don't forget x. Don't forget x." over and over again, or "There was something I was supposed to do..." I often found myself apologizing to people for having completely forgotten to do what they had asked me to do. I don't like being undependable and not being able to remember things is a pretty big thing in the dependability department.

So when I remembered to do a small task that my wife had mentioned for me to do, and not just remembered, but remembered it easily and without effort, I took note.  If this stuff works, I'm all for it.

Grad school has kicked into gear, a new teaching semester has started and the bike shop is continuing with the normal stresses of running a small business in these difficult economic times. Having a clear head that isn't filled with fog is a nice change of pace through this. But a supplement alone isn't the magic answer. 

People I work with think that I ride my bike to school every day as some sort of green-ecostatement kind of thing. No one can fathom that it is exercise. I see teachers eating garbage food, working a stressful job, getting little exercise and gaining weight surely and steadily. Coworkers who don't know me very well are flabbergasted the first time they see me eat lunch, often commenting,"I didn't think you really ate that much!" I try to explain to them that by riding my bike 4 miles to school in the sub 20 degree morning, I probably burned more calories than they will burn all day, but that usually isn't the end of it.

Nothing beats having a tough and stressful day melt away on the ride home. Riding is stress release, exercise, and a workout of my nervous system that I am convinced does more to keep my MS almost completely in remission than anything else. I wouldn't mind some warmer weather though...

Ratcheting up

It's the time of year when lots of obligations and responsibilities ramp up in my life. As a teacher, the end of the semester is the time for state standardized tests, which this time around has been punctuated by school cancellations and delays due to snow and ice.  As a grad student, the new semester is upon me and I am finding out the projects and assignments that I will need to successfully accomplish this time around.  As a small business owner, the economic climate of our small town does not give any sense of comfort or predictability.  Of utmost importance is my wife and son.  It is imperative that I not let other responsibilities take away from my most important role as a father and husband.

It is a juggling act that is easy sometimes and incredibly difficult at others. Daily exercise helps ease the effects of stress, but it always lurks. The hardest part of it all is simply remembering what I should be doing, what I need to do, and about a million other things that I need to keep track of.  My memory- especially my short term memory, is getting worse and worse.  I'm trying to develop habits that help to counteract the effects of this cognitive deterioration, but I haven't struck a natural workflow that I can rely on.  Online calendars/to do lists, paper notebooks, paper calendars - none of these things has become habitual.

I've started a trial supplement study for Apoqueorin, a chemical derived from light-emitting jellyfish.  I don't know if I am taking the true supplement or a placebo this first go round, but I will definitely get the supplement in the second round trial.  Apoqueorin is being tested as a supplement to aid in cognition, fatigue and sleep quality in MS patients. It will be interesting to see if this has any effect on my personal cognitive issues.

What are your solutions to keeping track of your busy life?