Life After Grad School

indecision
: a wavering between two or more possible courses of action

I am frequently plagued by bouts of indecision. Sometimes it’s driving me crazy, other times it’s just funny. And it’s the little things that get me. Like last night. I left work a little after 5pm and went to the MIT student center to read a few more chapters of the book that’s been hogging all my attention these days. I read for an hour until it was time for swim practice and then … decided that I’d really rather go home than plunge into a cold pool. So, I packed up, walked over to the bus stop, stood there in the cold for what seemed like an eternity, no bus came. At this point it occurred to me that I was being ridiculous and, since I was already there with no ride home approaching, I might as well go to practice. Which I did and very much enjoyed. Could one possibly be less decisive?

… the hour swim, that is! Not that it wasn’t painful, particularly when the Z center folks reset the clocks in the middle of our swim. When I thought I was done, I had five minutes left. Longest 5 minutes of my life ..

So, yes, it was long and not the most exciting thing I can imagine doing on a Sunday morning, but we all survived, did well and a big thanks goes out to our good friends, who are such good friends that they sat on the side of the pool and recorded our splits for an hour - quite possibly the one thing that’s more boring than actually swimming for an hour straight. As predicted in a previous post, I did indeed swim just under 2.5miles (4285 yards), which isn’t bad for somebody whose favorite race lasts about 28 seconds. And as expected I didn’t really find any solutions to mind-boggling puzzles. Instead I must have looked at the clock about 150 times, got very inspired every time one fellow swimmer passed me and tried to keep up for about 15 yards, then dropped back to normal pace until coming close to passing the other fellow swimmer. In the end it seemed like a hare and hedgehog game. I also pondered the fact that the distance I covered was roughly equivalent to the first leg of an Ironman triathlon. How anybody can bike 112 miles and run a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles is truly amazing to me.

Later that day I had my piece of cake - or two. I had baked a Kaesekuchen (a German cheesecake) after discovering that Greek yogurt has a similar taste and consistency as the hard to find Quark (no, not the elementary particle). A great discovery, it turns out, the cake was moist, refreshing and delicious and the perfect post hour swim dessert (we had had brunch at the big table at Toscanini’s earlier, where we polished off a delicious fried egg sandwich in no time and enjoyed the fabulous coffee).

It’s January and that means the dreaded arrival of the USMS One Hour Postal Swim. It’s not that swimming for an hour is the problem, we regularly swim longer than that in practice. The real issue is swimming for an hour straight - with no destination in sight nor any music to help us along - just the sound of our own breathing and the view of the black stripe at the bottom of the pool. This may be a distance swimmer’s dream, but us sprinters only remember the boredom, the agony and pain, caused by our inability to let go and just enjoy an hour of relaxed swimming (ok, so we’re competitive!). To make matters worse, Coach decided to actually prepare us for this event. Not only are we doing this once at the end of the month, but we’re being subjected to long distances in practice. A 20-minute swim on Tuesday, a 30-minute swim on Wednesday … I’m skipping practice for the rest of the week for fear that he might continue on this trajectory (well, really I’m busy, but I’m not sure I could handle a 40-minute practice swim tonight).

I’m collecting ideas on what to ponder during my hour swim. Current candidates include: achieving world peace, stopping climate change or maybe something a little more achievable, such as figuring out how to keep my calendar from filling up weeks in advance. Who knows what amazing solutions can be discovered while swimming 170 lengths of the pool uninterrupted at a speed of about 2.5mph?

To continue the theme of exercise and food, a recent study suggests that instead of downing a sports drink after workout, we’d be better off drinking our daily chocolate fix. With the right mix of carbs, protein and fat found in chocolate milk cyclists were able to perform better at their next workout.

Luckily the Taza Chocolate Lounge, which recently opened up in Cambridge, provides an inviting atmosphere and amazingly rich and satisfying chocolate drinks. The Parisian hot chocolate combines dark Colombian chocolate with a slight orange flavor while the Mexican version will tickle your tastebuds with hints of vanilla, cinnamon and chile - truly the beverage of the Gods, as the Mayans believed. Of course there are a variety of other chocolate treats to enjoy, such as chocolate fondue, ice cream and chocolate samplers. Check it out every Thursday night in Central Square, you’ll likely find me there to refuel after swim practice!

Exercise and food complement each other beautifully. Of course, you’re probably thinking, you need adequate nutrition in order to sustain exercise and conversely, exercise burns up those extra calories consumed in form of chocolate, cheese and three-course dinners at your favorite restaurant. During and after swim practice, long bike rides around Boston or day hikes in the White Mountains the conversation invariably turns to food. And particularly in those moments, when food is not readily available and we’re just a slight bit hungry, the descriptions of culinary delights can be painful - or so I’m told when we’re waiting for our brunch at Sunny’s diner after Sunday morning practice and I start in on tales of last night’s dinner or the amazing pastries I scored at the market the other day.

Well, my descriptions don’t even begin to measure up to those on my friend’s blog. Not only is she in the process of becoming the world’s most amazing pastry chef, she’s also an excellent writer and reading about her creations will make your mouth water. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Her blog can be found here!