Author: jank

I feel fine

One of the largest supervolcanoes in the world lies beneath Yellowstone National Park and scientists say activity there is increasing.Though the Yellowstone system, which spans parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, is active and expected to eventually blow its top, scientists don’t think it will erupt any time soon. Supervolcanoes can sleep for centuries or millennia before producing incredibly massive eruptions that can drop ash across an entire continent.

Activity discovered at Yellowstone supervolcano – LiveScience – MSNBC.com

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Strange things are afoot at the Circle K

So, Ars Technicais reporting that there may or may not be a new state of matter, and that electrons may be one expression of a multi-dimensional super particle in our slice of the universe.

…Wen and Levin postulated something incredible: what if electrons were not fundamental particles, but merely the ends of long strings of other “true” fundamental particles? With this idea, the pair developed a new model for matter where it was made up of these strings woven together to form what they dubbed “string-nets.” Developing and running computer simulations of this model showed that it gave rise to both conventional particles as well as the quasi-particles, those which carried a fractional charge that began this whole adventure. Then they discovered something completely unexpected.

I, for one, welcome our new multi-dimensional overlords.

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Equinox

If you aren’t a regular listener, let me put in a plug for Garrison Kellior’s “Writer’s Almanac” (Available as a podcast, so you don’t have an excuse not to listen). This morning’s pean to spring was absolutely wonderful, so good that it would have brought a smile even to Jon’s face, equaled only by a national body dedicated to tracking blood donations.

But, somehow, with the equinox, it seems like things are evening out in my fitness life. The legs are feeling good, the death rattle that’s been in my lungs since the fruit of my loins brought pestilence into my home a couple of weeks ago is down to a minor inconvenience, and I feel that I’ve bested nature once again by surviving a New England winter.

Oh, and I’m running again without feeling like crap.

With a new car, I’ve been looking for little tips and tricks to reduce the mileage I drive. One of the upshots of this is that I’ve found some additional access points for Arcadia State Park, literally right off of the shortest route home. AND, yesterday, I stopped into EMS at lunch, and saw a pair of Vasque trail-runners for 30% off of 30% off. Sweet – $90 shoes for $40. I know I’ve pooh-poohed specific trail-runners in the past, but I figured that in the worst case, I could use them when hiking with the cub scouts.

So, on the way home, I stopped to crank out three on the North-South trail. There was still pretty good snow/slush pack in the forest from the storm at the end of last week, and the portion of the forest I was in was rockier than where I usually ride. So, I slogged up hill and slipped down dale – and life was good. Never before have I been so happy with running 10 minute miles.

Today – vendor meeting in the AM, offsite, and a stop by Gym 109 on the way back to the office. 3 miles on NAVSTA, holding back to keep the HR down (and hopefully the stress on the legs down). Sunny, but mid-30’s and mildly windy (as opposed to just breezy). Good run – the last mile was with the wind, so I was nice and toasty when I came back into the gym. The wind was from the north, so I was tempted just to sit in the sun in the lee of the gym and soak up rays when I finished. Ahhhh, spring.

Anyway, ladies and germs, that’s my little bit of life. Not perfect, but nothing at all to complain about. Next time I’m whining, remind me that “this, too, shall pass.”

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CRN, or the Blogging Runner’s Recreation, being a discourse of ROADS, WOODED TRAILS, RUNNERS & RUNNING

(With Apologies to Isaac Walton)

Just wanted to make a quick post. I was a slacker today – I think I pulled a muscle in my chest while coughing – it’s been hurting to raise my arm above my head for the last few days. So, I blew off heading to the gym/pool. And, it was too snowy/melty to bike today.

But tomorrow, I’m out to begin the road to Wellville – baked up some Matisse and Jack’s bars today (Yummy cranberry) thanks to Jeff’s recommendation. They’re tasty, but I think they’re going to take a little bit of liquid to chase down on the bike. I think they’re going to end up as breakfast – bar, fruit, and coffee, maybe yogurt to hit about 500 cal to get me started.

Anyway, I really wanted to do some cross-promotion here. As I’ve mentioned, I do some (not enough, I know Mark – the beatings are improving morale, though :) work for Complete Running. I finally broke out of that writing slump with what I think is a pretty decent bit on my plans for comeback.

Anyway, it’s a plug. The folks there put out consistently good information, and have done wonders to connect running bloggers. While I’m not svelte or fast, the support network that Mark and Aaron set up way back when (When? Spring 2004 is when. way back in the dark ages) has kept me running for the last three years, my longest period under 175 since I was in high school. The RBF has meant a lot to me, and these are the people who have made it happen. I’m just happy they let me rant once in a while.

In the mean time, it’s off to bed – lights out before 11 has been doing wonders for me mentally.

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A goal slips by, a goal becomes achievable

So, if you’re looking for something interesting to read, swing by Cory Doctorow’s website and download one of his books. I’d recommend starting with his first – “Down and out in the Magic Kingdom”. If you like ’em, buy it. I stole the title from this post from “Someone comes to town, Someone leaves town”.

Anyway, I blew last week’s running schedule. And I blew off this weekend due to it being cold as crap, and me still feeling somewhat under the weather.

But, I did run twice last week, three miles each time, without any trouble with tendons. So, I think I’m close to being over the trouble I had. As always, my mileage may vary, but I think it’s there. And, assuming I can stay healthy, I think that I may still be able to make a fall marathon. I just need to listen to my body.

The short term goal that I’m really, really excited about is back on the bike. A bunch of guys from the church are going to ride Bike New York in May. From the sounds of it, it’s not much of a physical feat – slow due to the crowds, etc. But, I’m pretty excited since it’s getting me back into riding with other folks. I will probably do it on my old MTB, with a pair of slicks on.

I will get a new, comfy seat.

Oh, and we picked up a new bike for my oldest boy this weekend – a sweet Jet 20. It’s on the big side for him, but he’s loving it – it’s got “real” brakes, and big tires. He’s way, way faster than he was on his 12″ wheeled Specialized. I can’t wait until the weather’s nice. He did about a dozen laps around the new Mystic Cycle Center building when we picked it up.

And, since I still feel guilty about my mail-order bike (Which rides well), I got the bits I needed to move the rack onto the new car while I was there.

Anyway, here’s looking forward to good weather next weekend.

I could recommend a couple of brains for dissection:

So, exercise is good for the brain (for sure if you’re a mouse, but maybe even if you’re a person. Slashdot linked to a CNN bit

“Once these findings were established in mice, we were interested in determining how exercise affects the hippocampal cerebral blood volume maps of humans,” … They of course could not dissect the brains of people to see if new neurons grew, but they could use MRI to have a peek. (The experiment) also measured the fitness of each volunteer by measuring oxygen volume before and after the training program. Exercise generated blood flow to the dentate gyrus of the people, and the more fit a person got, the more blood flow the MRI detected, the researchers found.

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Podcasts and Nike+

So, Susie asked

Question for you–there’s no way to use the Nike+ with a podcast, right? I miss Phidip when I’m trying to measure my runs:(“

In case anyone else is interested, I’ve got two hacks that should work:

  1. Create a playlist called “Podcasts” (or whatever) prior to the run, and to drop the podcasts you wanted to hear, in the order you wanted to hear them, into the playlist. Sync prior to the run, and when you get to the point in the setup where you select a playlist, choose “Podcasts”, and the first podcast in the setup should be there.

    To make it more transparent, create a “Smart Playlist” (File->New Smart Playlist). Under rules, set “Artist” “Contains” and the artist of the podcast you want to add. Then, whenever a new episode is downloaded, it will automatically be added to the “Podcast” smart playlist. If you aren’t sure what the “Artist” field is for the podcast you want to add, right click on the column titles when you’re looking at “Podcasts”, and add the column for “Artist”. Or, your smart playlist could just consist of “Podcast” ” is true”.

  2. Alternately, you could start listening to the podcast prior to the run, and when you get to the choose music for the run, choose “Now Playing”, and the podcast will continue playing. You’ll miss a couple of seconds while the voice starts you off, but will hear the rest of the podcast.

Hope this helps.