Saturday 26 September 2009

Hallam Freshers




Hallam Freshers XC ride today.....great group that went out :-) We rode out through the parks in Sheffield turned around at the top and came down the singletrack which was really nice. Everyone that turned up was really keen, so it looks like the social will be good on wednesday.

Got some great ideas for the Cycling Club this year, so will be looking round for some team sponsors.


Bled my brakes yesterday so that a mate could borrow this bike. Spot the mistake (above).....


Finally managed to get hold of my supervisor for placement next week, after a day of ringing every number possible at the Hallamshire every 30mins or so. Had a stinking migraine yesterday, so I was pleased to wake up this morning without.


Thursday 24 September 2009

Sweden Training Camp

The Sweden Training Camp in April has been confirmed today that it will be on the 8-11th April so as not to clash with the WRE in Portugal :-)

After being kept awake for 3 hours until 0430 this morning by drunk housemates playing drinking games, I was pretty tired when in the gym training. Yesterdays long day at the sports fair didn't help either, so I'm feeling whacked out today. Just wasted 2 hours of my life in a lecture and have another 4 this afternoon..... :-(

As it turned out, the lecture this afternoon was actually great fun (I got to be a team leader for the group!) and I enjoyed being in control and directing the discussion. Spent most of the evening chilling on the sofa, and watched Dragon's Den: Peter Jones' Story, which has got me thinking about the best way to earn as much money as possible when I graduate! I've been mulling over a few ideas for the last 4 months, but not sure how to go about getting them going and also whether there is enough demand to make a profit etc etc!

I've started to implement my skills with organising my training and racing into Physiotherapy and the rest of my life, and I'm enjoying having a lot more control over everything I do... plans for the future are still very open and subject to change, but I'd like to think I am ready to get a job (mum and dad will be pleased!!) ;-)

Ciao x

Tuesday 22 September 2009

World Ranking/Cup MTBO list UPDATE


Just received this list in a very round-about way from the IOF! This is the list for the 2010 MTBO World ranking and World Cup races.

?8-11 April - Sweden Training Camp
17-18 April - WRE Portugal
23-25 April - WCup Hungary
13-15 May - WRE France
22-23 May - WRE Denmark
3-6 June - WCup and WMOC Poland
3-4 July - Finland
3-4 July - Pre Woc event in Chaves, Portugal
2-8 July - ?GB training camp Pre WOC
9-17 July - WOC Portugal
5 August - WRE Estonia
4-5 September - WRE Austria
23-24 October - WRE Australia

List accurate as at 20.00 on 22/09/09 :-)

Sunday 20 September 2009

Sunday Training

It was a bit difficult to drag myself out of bed this morning, but the view from the Peaks was worth it. Cloudy in Sheffield and beautifully warm and sunny out on the tops :-)
It's day's like today when everything brightens up, you can see for miles, that make me remember why I get up early to train.

I had a headache after 10 mins of biking, so I did 80mins instead of the 3hours I had planned. But no worries....these 3 weeks are my pre-training phase of the season and its my first week back after 4 weeks off.

Decided to pop over to my old house and see if there was any post. Found a big box full of my new Craft kit which was particularly pleasing! :-) Lots of lush kit in this seasons colours: browns and whites.

Saturday 19 September 2009

Twilight

Oh. My. God.

Best film ever....! Twilight is absolutely beautiful, stunning.

Watch this even if it's the last thing you do.

Mountain Biking


After a late night last night (due to friends coming round and having a film fest) an early start this morning was out of the question! Headed out on my Merida for a few hours of MTB'ing in the Peaks which was rather enjoyable. It hasn't rained (touch wood) in Sheffield for a few weeks, as per usual in the Autumn, so everywhere was wonderfully dry and fast. It's surprisingly warm, and I didn't really need my thermal, but sometimes it can be warm in Sheffield, and windy and cold on the tops.
This picture was Stanage Edge a months ago.


Sheffield City Council/National Park people really should consult the cyclists before re-laying the bridleways and paths. The first one they did was the bridleway up the steep hill at the end of the parks, so it now isn't a challenge to ride up it, and they've just started on the Yellow Brick Road (Lady Cannings-Fox House) which is one of the best bits of biking close to Sheffield. Fortunately they've only done the initial hill heading south from Ringinglow, but if they do the whole it will be very upsetting. It means that all the best mountain biking will be the footpaths which, if you get caught on them, you get a hefty fine! It's not fair! They'll be doing Burbage Moor next or Blacka Woods. Grrr....At least my rant in my head got me over the big hill when biking, so by the time I hit the nice stuff again it was all down hill!

It's moving in day for the Freshers today, so Eccy Road was jammed, which was fun trying to dodge the traffic all the way down from the top. Had 4 near misses (sometimes I think cars try to hit you on purpose) in the space of 1km from Hunters Bar to Cafe Rouge, and I had a close call when track standing at the lights and nearly over balanced! Saved it in time :-)

That's about it really. Physio has decided that my nerves are pretty jammed up so it will take at least 2 sessions to complete the full assessment she needs to do, let alone think about exercises to give me! It tends to be sitting on a bike for a long period of time that really sets my problems off, but tomorrow shall be the big test when I head out with Clive and the Hallam team for 4 hours.

Ciao for now :-)

Tuesday 15 September 2009

Early Morning Training


As part of my new training regime, I am going training at 7am monday -thursday, so that my evenings are clear for me to do Uni work.
This morning it was out on the Road bike for an hour, up Ecclesall Road and across to Ringinglow and Lodge Moor. The road that traverses the edge of the Peak District was just at the cloud line which made for a fitting sun 'rise' which was rather nice to look at early in the morning.

Sunday 13 September 2009

How?


Question: How does it take four people, 90 minutes to get around Tesco spending £200?
Answer: When you go shopping with housemates who will struggle to make a decision between two kinds of soup, with 1p difference and spend 30minutes making a choice of fruit and veg!

Yes, we did spend over £200 between the four of us, and yes, it did take 90 minutes (it's only a Tesco Express too!). My shopping filled 3 bags, but between the four of us, it was two trolleys full which we then ended up taking from the supermarket, walking 500m down the main road to home :-)

Saturday 12 September 2009

Training Season 2009/2010



Monday 14th September will see me start 3 weeks of pre-training to re-build the fitness I have lost over the last 4 weeks of doing nothing!
I will be starting my actual training season on 5th October whilst on my next placement! I have some cunning training ideas, most of which are going to be tough sessions :-)

Friday 11 September 2009

Finished placement

Today was my last day working in Grimsby on placement. Had to do a presentation in the morning, which was a case study of a patient with COPD, and a current chest infection. Presentation went well, got absolutely grilled by my supervisor at the end, who knew that I knew all the answers so was quite happy reeling off this huge list of questions! I think the questioning took longer than the presentation and it went through everything I'd learnt on the placement.

Passed the placement which I knew I would anyway. Really sad to have left, but I will be going back in November/December to run my dissertation work by them. The clinic is the leading place in the UK at the moment, and my supervisors set it up, so they really know their stuff. Might be going on the christmas party too..... I will become a permanent fixture at this rate :-)

I miss it already :-(

But there are only 9 months left until I graduate (which is a cert now I have got through my 2nd year, 4 months after everyone else!). Bit scary really...

Saturday 5 September 2009

MTBO Races 2009/2010


Here is a semi-complete list of upcoming MTBO races both in England and internationally. A list of the British Series will be available soon.

26th Sept - Hurn Forest, Dorset
Dec-Jan Around Aldershot date unknown
8-11th April - MTBO Training Camp, Kristiansand, Sweden (scheduled date is 15-18th April, but is likely the camp will be moved.) http://www.mtbocamp.dk/2010/
17-18th April - World Cup, Leira, Portugal www.fpo.pt
24-25th April - World Cup, Veszprem, Hungary www.mtbo.hu
3-4th July - Pre World Championships, Northern Portugal www.fpo.pt
2-18th July - Team GBR training camp, Northern Portugal
9-18th July - World Championships and Junior World Championships, Northern Portugal www.mtbwoc2010.fpo.pt

Friday 4 September 2009

Finally Passed Year 2

I had a bit of a 'mare in Jan-April where I was training 20 hours a week, on placement and writing assignments. One of them was the disseration proposal, IEPP1. I failed this the first time due to it being a very bad piece of work. Failed the second time, due to being on placement, training, an acute neural injury, and grandparents in hospital. This stress from this meant I just didn't write well enough.

I went to Board on June 21st to get an exceptional 3rd attempt at the module. Being a Health Professions course, you get your 2 attempts plus a 3rd in exceptional circumstances. I got the extra chance at the module due to the Physio team understanding my circumstances, and excellent marks in the other modules.

Got the marks today..I passed....at last 9 months later! Stressful year. This basically means that once I get the marks for my placement next friday I will have finally passed my second year! I got good feedback today from placement so I should imagine (touch wood) that a pass for this is in order. It doesn't mean I'm a bad physio though!

Placement

Another fun day :-) Spent the day with the respiratory physiotherapist so I got to carry out some initial assessments of patients, asking them questions about their lung condition and listening to their chest. Normally my supervisor will listen to the chest, find an interesting noise and let me listen. This time, I was doing it first and telling him what I could hear :-) Awesome. It's amazing how many different noises there are: Coarse and fine crackles, inspiratory and expiratory wheezes, abnormal, diminished, pleural rub, and each one means or implies something different.

Another part of the assessments was feeling secretions in the lungs, simply by placing your hands in certain points and applying a firm pressure. It's pretty cool as you can feel the sputum and secretions moving under your hands.....it's rather soothing for the therapist!

In general, I definately feel like my skills have improved in 3 weeks, I know so much more than when I started! :-) Happy Happy Happy!

Thursday 3 September 2009

Interesting Day...!

Craft and Ultrasport will be continuing their support by sponsoring me once again for the 2010 season.

As for my day today... well, it has been something of a very good day, but also a bit of a ditzy one!
I am on placement in Grimsby, so am commuting from Sheffield everyday. The placement was deferred from May due to my racing commitments so 17/08 to 11/09 is the only time I can do this 4 week block. It is just my luck that my placement coincides with the rail from Doncaster to Cleethorpes being out of use.....! I am awake at 4am, and get home at 8pm, 8 hours of Physiotherapy work for 8hours of travelling. I am really enjoying it, and will be upset to leave next friday.

I usually do one stupid thing per day, but today I had 3 moments. Firstly, I managed to get my feet tangled up in the desk chair , and both the chair and I went flying. I didn't think anyone had heard, until my supervisor walked out of the office next door 5 seconds later and saw me sprawled across the floor! Secondly, shortly after the chair incident, I managed to throw a cup of water all over myself and the floor (how? I have no idea!). I suppose I am getting old before my time....either that, or working with elderly people for the last 3 weeks is starting to rub off on me!

And finally, whilst taking a patients Blood Pressure, I dropped the screw that lets the air out of the cuff. So I have a patient in a chair with the cuff up to 160mmHg, cutting off the blood to their hand, and myself, 2 other physio's and 6 patients are crawling around on the floor looking for this small black cap! Fortunately the cuff went down by itself, so this wasn't a problem. Between the 9 of us, we couldn't find it. I know I saw it bounce on the floor, but where it went was a mystery as all the tables and chairs made it difficult to see. We decided to give up after 5 minutes and get on with the pulmonary rehab class. As I walked in the gym I put my hand in my pocket of my physio uniform, and felt a small round object..... Needless to say I had the p*ss taken out of me for the rest of the day, and felt pretty stupid too.

I also have at least 3 old men per day, make comments about not having had 'a young girl on their knees in front of me for years'! Perhaps I should explain that when taking the BP, its easiest to crouch down its easier to chat to the patient!