ResearchKit

I don't know if you've noticed but the Apple Watch seems to be dominating the news this week. Apple made another one of their very fun to watch product announcements and, since then, everywhere I look I see this:

Not that there is anything wrong with seeing this. It is very pretty. 

What I'm not seeing as much of is something that was introduced in another part of Apple's presentation. 

Something that Doug brought to my attention and insisted that I sit down to watch for myself. 

Something called ResearchKit (click here for the link to their site and a great promotional video).

As Apple says, it is "an open source software framework that makes it easy for researchers and developers to create apps that could revolutionize medical studies, potentially transforming medical research forever".  

Basically what it does it is turns your iPhone (with your permission) into a diagnostic tool that can be used to help further medical research. Researchers can create apps that allow users to provide all sorts of medical data. The accelerometer in a phone can be used to conduct a gait analysis or to evaluate motor impairment, the microphone can be used to evaluate speech etc etc. 

Apple has partnered with several large research institutes and together they have developed the first five apps. These apps will help further medical research for breast cancer, parkinson's disease, cardiovascular disease, asthma and, you guessed it, diabetes. 

Users who choose to download one of these apps and participate in research will be able to complete consent forms, fill out surveys, complete tasks or whatever else a particular research study is looking for people to do. 

Users choose what research they participate in, control what information they provide and get to see what data is shared. And Apple does not see any of their data. 

The potential for what this can do to help medical research is enormous considering how many iPhones users are out there. The potential for recruiting people for large-scale studies is incredibly exciting. 

On a personal note, I probably spend less than 5 minutes a year thinking about what a cure for type 1 diabetes might be like. Any more than that feels like a waste of time because a cure is a long long way off and my life is happening right now. 

But as I watched the talk about the potential of ResearchKit for providing vast amounts of data and helping to move research forward at a much faster rate, I was surprised to find my eyes welling up with tears. I was even more surprised to hear a little voice in my head whisper 'maybe this will be how we find a cure'. 

Erg'ing

When I started curling, I became a member of what I referred to as my curling club. 

A few years later I took up golf and switched my membership from curling to a full membership which allowed me to curl in the cold months and golf in the warm months. So it became my golf and curling club depending on the season. 

Then my club announced all sorts of improvements including the building of a new fitness centre. After a few months on construction, the fitness centre opened last week. Better yet, the use of it is included in my existing membership. Not having a gym membership, I was pretty excited to have access to cardio machines (hello treadmill!) and weights. 

Last Friday I headed there after work to check things out and I was impressed. They spared no expense and we have brand new, state of the art equipment, lots of weights, fitness balls, mats, and everything else a great gym should have. They even have, omigod, a rowing machine! (Apparently it's supposed to be referred to as an 'erg' but I prefer rowing machine.)

When I was in university I was taught by my sister (who used to row for her university) how to row properly. I was nowhere near as strong as she was but I loved it. I used to use it all the time...but that was almost 20 years ago. I figured I'd be a bit rusty but I was excited to try.

I hopped on and rowed (erg'ed?) for 30 minutes. It came back to me instantly and I fell into a rhythm that was easy to maintain. I kept looking at the screen and watching the numbers but really had no idea if I was flying across the water or barely moving the boat. All I know is that I did 6000m in 30 minutes (is that good?). 

Afterwards I did all sorts of upper body weights using weight machines I haven't used in at least 10 years, since I cancelled my last gym membership. It was great! 

I went again on Sunday morning and hopped back on the erg again. Again, I did 30 minutes and covered just over 6000m. Again I did a bunch of weight machines afterwards and went home feeling great. 

When I was a curler, I liked my curling club. 

When I became a golfer, I really liked my golf and curling club. 

Now that there is a fitness centre too? I'm thinking I'm going to be hanging out there a whole lot from now on. 

FlexBar Report

Last Friday I wrote about my golf-induced tennis elbow. Also known as tendonitis for those who prefer the more technical name for things.

I also wrote about ordering something called a FlexBar that is supposed to help strengthen the weak areas that lead to tendonitis.

I was pretty happy to have my FlexBars (I ordered a few different ones so that I can increase the resistance as I get stronger) arrive on Friday morning. I've now had three days to use them and can give a FlexBar report for anyone who is interested.

The first thing I learned is that using a FlexBar is all about subtlety. The movements you need to do to address different problem areas are not big broad movements (like the kind that usually cause the problem) but small and precise ones.

I read the instructions and (thought I had) figured it out. The movements seemed to stretch the area that they was supposed to.

Then I went online to read more details about how to do the exercise and I discovered that I was doing it all wrong. Not a little bit wrong but almost completely backwards from what I was supposed to be doing. Once I started to do it correctly, I really really felt the stretch in all the right places.

The instructions say to do the exercise 5 times in a row, three times a day. They say that it will probably hurt afterwards. They say that the discomfort should go away after a little while and, once I can do 5 in a row without pain, I should increase to 10. And then 15.

By Sunday I was doing 10 in a row with the second highest resistance. There is still pain afterwards but less of it. I can also grip my water bottle and lift it without pain which is something I could not do last week. So I'm willing to say that, while it's still early days, things seem to be moving in the right direction.

Flexbar

We played 6 games of golf while we were away.

Six games of golf...in 7 days.

Before every game of golf, we went to the practice range and hit balls. A bucket of them.

In 7 days (I'm guessing here) I swung my golf club 1000 times.

Considering the fact that the last time I golfed was October, that's kinda like not running for four months and then easing back into things with a hilly half marathon.

So it should come as no surprise that my body responded with an 'I'm not very happy with you' message.

My elbow started hurting in a way that it has never hurt before and got steadily worse at the games went on. It began to hurt every time I gripped the club in my right hand it and hurt when I then tried to lift my arm while holding the gripping club.

I carried on figuring it was only a few more days and then I had at least two months to recover before golf season in Canada began.

Well I've been almost two weeks since my last golf game and my elbow still isn't happy whenever I try to pick something even remotely heavy up with my right hand.  I have to force myself to lift my water bottle with my left hand to avoid the now-familiar twinge.

So I decided to research 'golfer's elbow' to see what the deal was.

Turnsout I don't have golfer's elbow. I have tennis elbow. Which golfers can get too apparently.

Anyway, I read all about treatment and prevention options and most articles I found kept leading back to the same thing.

This:

 

 Introducing the Thera-Band Flexbar

Apparently the key to fixing and avoiding a recurrence of tennis (or golfer's) elbow is to strengthen the muscles in your arm that become irritated. Doing so is difficult using regular exercises but this little baby does the trick. Check out this article about it in the New York Times if you're interested.There is also photos and a short video to show the move you need to do to strengthen the affected area.

So I texted my friendly neighbourhood chiropractor to get his thoughts and then, with his approval, ordered my very own. It should arrive on Monday and, if it's anywhere near as good as it is touted to be, I should be feeling much better and stronger by the time I swing my clubs again.

Which is a good thing because I plan on spending a lot of time this summer swinging my clubs.

Vitamania

One of the best things about road trips, in my opinion, is getting to listen to all sorts of interviews on the radio while we drive. Interviews that I would not normally have time for, often on topics that I wouldn't naturally gravitate towards. Whenever we hit the road, Doug and I switch back and forth between CBC Radio One and NPR depending on our moods and the topic of the hour.

Last year when we drove to Florida and back I heard several authors interviewed and came away with a list of books that I wanted to read. I downloaded them all and, over the year, have worked my way through them. This year, I had my notebook and fountain pen ready and was not disappointed. I now have 6 more books on my 'to read' list.

The one that I wanted to read first was a new book that just came out called Vitamania: Our Obsessive Quest for Nutritional Perfection. It's written by Catherine Price. She was interviewed for almost an hour and we listened with fascination while she explained what vitamins actually are, what they do and how we have been convinced that we need megadoses of these things in order to be healthy. She talked about the history of vitamins and how devastating it can be if someone is deficient (scurvy anyone?). She talked about how dramatic vitamins could be and how having something as simple as a few oranges could miraculously bring someone back to robust health.

She also talked about how it's not yet clear how much of any of these vitamins we really do need to consume and what the long-term risks are of getting too much. She also talked about how unregulated the production of vitamins is and some of the risks associated with taking pills when we don't know for sure what they contain.

Oh, and she has type 1 diabetes too boot which upped the coolness factor by a few notches.

So I got the book and I've started reading it. We heard that interview last week. Since then I have read an article about her in the National Post and I have seen mention of her book on Diabetes Advocacy Facebook pages. It sounds like she's reached the 'tipping point' (which by the way is another interesting book) and I'm guessing you'll be hearing a lot about this book if you haven't already.

On a personal note, I've been interested in nutrition as long as I can remember. I read everything I can get my hands on about it. Over the years, I've learned that the world of nutrition a slowly evolving one where things like fats, carbs, protein, vitamins, omega 3s and other things come in and out of favour as our knowledge increases. It can seem frustrating as the messages change (I've lost track of whether eggs are good for me or not) but I take comfort in the fact that the messages change because we are learning more.

So I will read Catherine's book with fascination and add what she says to my knowledge base. I may not clean out my vitamin cupboard but I expect I may pare it down a bit and spend a bit more energy trying to get what I need from my diet rather than my pharmacy.

February Roundup

I'm a few days late but here is what February looked like in terms of exercise and activity. 

February is a short month to begin with. Add a few snow storms in there and a two-week vacation and it didn't add up to as much activity as I would like. But it does add up which is always better than not adding up. 

So, for better or for worse, here's the report. 

Cycling

Because of all the snow I did have to sacrifice two runs and hop on the trainer instead. So I cycled 5 times in two weeks which is more than I usually would do. I covered a total of 83km in just over 4 hours. 

Running

I only managed to run 5 times which is a lot less than I normally do in a month. I ran twice at the beginning of the month but the constant snow made it too treacherous to do any more than that outside. I did run three times in Florida which was great but then didn't run at all during our second week of vacation. So the grand total is 52km in 6 hours. 

CoreFit and Tabata

2 sessions. That's it. Just two. Two were cancelled due to weather and then I missed two weeks while I was away. Sad. I did do a bunch of weights on the weekend when we got back and was shocked to see how quickly things fall apart. Oh well, March is a new month! 

So my total distance covered this month was 135km. 

In January I covered a total of 216k which, when you string them all together, took me from my front door to Barrie. Add February's distance and I'm now just north of Parry Sound, Ontario. 

Regina, Saskatchewan is still 2,396km away but, with half marathon training coming up, golf season almost here and outdoor cycling fast approaching too, I'm pretty confident that I can cover that distance in the next 10 months. 

Road Trip 2015

Hi!

I'm back!

Back from a two-week road trip. Back from several thousand kilometres of driving. Back from palm trees and golf courses and stores that sell guns and ammo (and craft supplies!?!) and lots of 'how y'all doing?'.

We went to get a brief break from a rather tough Canadian winter. We went to visit our friends. We went to revisit some of our favourite places in the United States.

Here are a few of the highlights for you.

We learned how Floridians protect delicate fruit such a blueberries when the temperatures dip below zero. Cover them in ice. 

We discovered a beautiful golf course called Providence (not in Rhode Island Jeff!) and I posted my best golf score ever! 

We went to Bay Hill to play a game and ran into its very famous and very charming owner and designer. (In case you don't recognize him, his name is Arnold Palmer.)

We spent as much time photographing the Bay Hill golf course as we did playing it. Such a beautiful place. Oh, and I got a par on the 18th hole. Which will make it fun when we watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and I get to see how the pros tackle that same hole...from a few feet further back than where I hit from. 

After Florida, we drove to Pinehurst, North Carolina for a few games of golf but the weather had other plans. So we gave up on our golf games and photographed the snow and explored the charming little town instead. 

The very old and very famous Pine Crest Inn where we stayed. We even got the same room we did last year. 

We headed north to Washington DC, one of our favourite cities for two days of exploring. First stop, the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.

Stealth Bomber

I spent a lot of time checking out Discovery. Such a beautiful old gal. 

It was nice to see the Canadarm standing guard beside her. 

Discovery looking very Stars Wars-like from behind. 

We also explored the Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural Science (my favourite!). We saw Archie Bunker's chair, Dorothy's ruby slippers, Julia Child's kitchen and THE Star Spangled Banner. 

We're home and pretty much back to normal. Laundry's done, groceries are restocked and we got our first snowy run in.

Tomorrow: my February workout report.