Cruising Mahahual

Erica and I had a great time spending her spring break down in Mahahual, Mexico last week.

I only managed to run 3.5 miles last week while we were there, but it was a pretty sweet 3.5 miles.

Sea-Ice Algae

ScienceDaily (2011-03-07) -- Sea-ice algae -- the important first rung of the food web each spring in places like the Arctic Ocean -- can engineer ice to its advantage. The same gel-like mucus secreted by sea-ice algae as a kind of antifreeze against temperatures well below minus 10 C is also aallowing algae to sculpt microscopic channels and pores in ice that are hospitable to itself and other microorganisms.

I want a dog

Why it's a good thing beets don't stink

Check out this Cool blog post about beets and mouthwash. Beets contain lots of nitrate. Nitric oxide was recently shown in a Swedish study to increase the production of ATP from a given amount of oxygen. Even cooler, they figured out the mechanism. Nitric oxide increases the efficiency of aerobic respiration by activating a protein that reduces the permeability of mitochondrial membranes to protons. Thus a higher percentage of the protons making up the electrochemical gradient established by the electron transport system end up flowing through ATP synthase rather than leaking through the membranes of the mitochondria. Pretty sweet.

In order for the nitrate to be converted to nitric oxide, though, it must first be converted to nitrite (in which nitrogen has been reduced). We don't have the enzymes necessary for the conversion of nitrate to nitrite. Instead, we rely on salivary bacteria to do this for us. Mouthwash kills bacteria; even the good kind. Another study measured the plasma levels of nitric oxide following beet consumption. Beet eaters who gargled had significantly lower levels of nitrogen oxide in their plasma.

It would be a bummer if garlic was our best source of nitrate.

In Defense of Running

Recently, probably because of experiences like the "slush run," Erica and I questioned the sanity of our decision to run more. She finally convinced me to write up a defense of running for her blog. It can be found here.

Slush Run

I've been running this winter through the wet and cold and limited daylight of New England. I felt like a hardcore adventure athlete who laughed at the elements and couldn't be held back by things like snow drifts, frigid air temperatures, and patches of ice...for about thirty seconds. Now I just experience the familiar realization that I had no idea how awesome I had it growing up in California. Running here in the winter sucks. It takes forever to put all the layers on, find my gloves (running in gloves?!), and figure out whether or not I should strap on the yak tracks. During the run, parts of you are freezing while other parts roast, your lungs hurt from the freezing air, you constantly have to worry about hitting an ice patch and breaking your neck, and a snot slurry covers your face, sleeves, and gloves. The amount of lung pain even post-run cannot be healthy.

So, I've been spending quite a bit of time at the gym on a treadmill. 

Earlier this week, though, temperatures approached the upper thirties, the sun was out, and I really wanted to avoid going treadmill (similar to postal) on the people at the gym so I decided to run over to the local track. Miserable. And of course not a bit of the track was visible through the slush. Oops.

Slushy. It was worse where traffic forced you to run on the "sidewalk."

I had to turn off the watch and trail blaze a few times, and I ended up doing a few laps around a big parking lot which was wonderfully plowed compared to the roads.

Back to the treadmill for a while.

Skiing...

...the most fun way to beat yourself up:


Yes. That is the size of a softball. I won't show you the ones on my hips because it's a little inappro-pro.

In all seriousness, I love skiing, and it was an awesome way to get in my 1.1111...and then some. But I am not yet good enough to avoid falling. Luckily, I am lacking the gene that makes me fear falling. Unluckily, I still feel like I've been hit by a truck...