50 Miles

One of the Three Loops

A couple of months ago I decided to sign up for the Pineland Farms 50 Mile race in Maine on May 29. At the time, I thought it would be good motivation to get myself into shape. I always wanted to try a 100 mile race, and I thought that this would be a decent reality check that would probably get the crazy 100 mile idea out of my head. More than anything else, though, when I signed up May 29 seemed so far away that I thought I had more than enough time to get prepared. May 29 now seems way to soon, and I'm beginning to regret the whole idea. All of a sudden, it seems pretty dumb to try to run 50 miles when the farthest I've ever raced is a half-marathon. Looking forward to seeing how this one's going to turn out.

Here's the course description (My favorite line-"Although there are no major climbs the rolling terrain is unrelenting." Great.):

Participants in the 50 mile race will completea 3.5 mile loop, then 3 laps of the 25km course. The race course is a 25 kilometer off-road roller coaster on well-maintained XC trails that twist, turn, and roll their way through forests and across pastoral, working farmland. The trails are level, wide (12'), and non-technical with no roots or rocks, but very hilly. Although there are no major climbs the rolling terrain is unrelenting. The surface of the trails is mainly grass and dirt sprinkled with pine needles, pine cones, twigs, and small stones. From time to time runners will be directed off the main trail system and into fields. In the fields the course will follow a path cut by local farmers using their haying equipment. The grass is rough and can vary in height in different places. Some of the cut grass may still be on the path making running more difficult. There are no stream crossings on the course per-se, however, the grass in the fields can be very wet in the morning, and there may be wet and muddy spots if it rains just before the race. The paths in the fields are often not level, tilting severely in all directions. Trail running shoes are not necessary, but they are recommended.

Prospect Hill Park

Boston in the distance

One of the worst things about living in our apartment in Waltham is how difficult it is to get away from the traffic and noise of the roads and find a nice place to run. Many times I have repeatedly run up and down the same sidewalk just because it was so nice to actually have a sidewalk to run on. Today, though, I discovered a pretty sweet little 100 acre park called Prospect Hill only a couple of miles from our apartment. As you would expect it is hilly, but it is crisscrossed by 4-5 miles of paved and unpaved trails and rewarded some of the steeper climbs with nice views of Boston. I know it's surrounded by urbanity, but it was quiet enough to hear the snow flakes as they hit the leaves on much of the run.

Garmin's Version

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.