Tralfaz

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  • Fitness in the Desert-Hydration

    I grew up in the SF bay area, a place with very mild climate. Yes, we got a couple of triple digit days a year, but in general the humidity was mild, it never got too hot or too cold, and I never really worried about hydration.

    When I got to Arizona, it became a significant concern. I wasn’t going to let the climate curtail my activities, but suddenly, hydration became a huge deal. Even in the winter time when the temperatures are very pleasant, the humidity is so low that water is just wicked out of your body at phenomenal rates. In the summer, when the temperatures are in triple digits for three months, humidity is in the 20’s, you really need to be careful.

    Water is important, but unless you are exercising for only a brief time, you need something that will help replace your electrolytes. I am definitely one of those who puts more salt out in their sweat, so anytime I am out for more than a half hour I have to rely on supplement.

    My top hydration product I use is Accelerade. It is a mixture of carbs, electrolytes, and protein. This combination really helps keep me going for longer rides. I typically mix it a little weak. The amount for a pint, mixed into 24 or 32 ounces is about perfect. However, I can’t just have accelerade, even mixed weak.  I have to have water with me as well. With this combo, I can easily go for 3 or 4 hours even in 110F temperatures. The one down side is that it causes me to retain water like crazy. After a day of riding or hiking, I will actually gain 3 pounds or so of water weight.

    When I am less aggressive in my exercise, I use a product called Nuun. These are tablets that you add to a pint of water. Mildly flavored, it has no carbohydrates, and a good mix of electrolytes. This is good for medium exertion efforts, my lunchtime jogs, mid distance walks, and when I cycle to and from the office. We discovered this product when we were preparing to hike the grand canyon. Space and weight were crucial considerations. We saw these little tubes full of hydration tablets and just popped them in our basket. Fast forward three years, and I rediscovered them, and am now a religious user.

    One product that I prefer not to use is Gatorade. It really has too much sugar in it for while I am exercising, and it is too heavy when I am recovering.  I just don’t like it.

    As a sufferer of coronary artery disease, I try to keep a low sodium diet. That works when I am not exercising, but when I exercise I quickly get the symptoms of hyponatremia, and that is far more dangerous than having too much sodium.  So I walk a fine line in balance, monitor my weight, and my blood pressure daily to understand where I am (and of course, I take lots of medicine)

    All part of life in the desert.

  • The itch. It will pass

    Out on the bicycle today, putting in my usual punishing 26 mile loop, I got to thinking how much I miss off road cycling. Alas, with my health concerns, I can’t get back on a motocross bike and roost like I used to, but I can get back on a mountain bike.

    I have had mountain bikes in the past, first a Diamondback Ascent EX (which came with the shittiest wheels EVER, replaced them with wheelsmiths, and they were bulletproof), and much later a Pretty reasonable Specialized Stumpjumper Comp M2.

    After moving to Arizona, I got out of the habit of off road bicycling. Yes, Fantasy Island in Tucson was a pretty good set of trails, but the mountains and hiking were much bigger calls to me.

    Now that I am in Phoenix, and the hiking is less close at hand, the desire to get back onto a mountain bike is tempting.

    My last ride, the SJ Comp I bought back in 1998, and rode the hell out of it. I lived in the San Jose area, and there were tons of great trails, not far from where I lived that were surprisingly bereft of other riders. I put a lot of miles on that bike. But, in the move last year, I sold it.

    A while back we walked into a local bike store, and as always, I drooled over the mountain bikes. My, a lot has changed since 1998. Good suspension, better brakes (disc brakes) and 29″ wheels are all cool, and drool-worthy.

    Alas, I will probably be able to resist this urge. I would have to drive the bike out to good trails, and if I am going to do that, I will probably just hike.

    But it is fun to dream.

  • One year in Chandler – Time flies

    On this date, one year ago, we were busting our humps with the movers to get our stuff moved into our house. There were boxes everywhere (most where they belonged), and furniture that was almost in the right room.

    That day was a blur, but it felt good to arrive in Chandler and get down to settling in.

    I remember the AC was flakey in the south side of the house (the living area), and the sod that was recently put in was turning into a rainforest in the back yard, but it was “home”.

    The next couple of days were a blur of unpacking, getting the gas turned on (the one utility that I forgot to do before move in), and get to a state where we could cook and eat. Literally hundreds of boxes were unpacked. Yes, there are still a few to go (need to get enough ahead to buy some furniture and cubbyholes), but it is home.

  • Refresher: Set theory and logic

    Yesterday, while I was waiting for my computer to be reimaged due to some serious funk happening with my outlook mail, I had a couple hours to burn. After I killed a longer than normal walk at lunch, I sat down in the lobby with a good book.

    Background: my products are reliant on a lot of technology, but one aspect is critical in how they work and are used. This being a PID Servo Control system. While you don’t need to know in depth what that is to use one of our instruments, having a deep knowledge does indeed help you get the most out of it.

    Control theory is something you would imagine to be the realm of electrical engineers, but curiously, it seems to be the realm of mechanical engineering. And at the root of it is math. To understand what is really happening, and how it works, you need to know a branch of mathematics called “Discrete Mathematics”. This is the foundation of computers and computer science, dealing with the world broken into discrete pieces and processed algorithmically. (As an aside, my education is in Physics, and there we deal in continuum mathematics, similar, but distinctly different).

    So I picked up a textbook. I might have mentioned in the past that Dover publishing does a wonderful job of keeping classic science and math texts in print, and affordable.

    The early parts of this text are a deep dive into set theory, function representation, and logic (mathematical logic is not the same as what most people think of logic). Being a child of the 70’s, and the evolution of mathematics elementary education, I had always some concepts of sets, and operations on sets. But beyond this informal early introduction, I never really dove into the subject. Some of my physics topics touched upon it, but again, it was using set theory to get to a solution.

    The first chapter was an eye opener. I realize what I had learned earlier was very shallow, and cursory, but now I have a much deeper understanding of these foundations of modern mathematics.

    A good way to spend a couple hours.  Next up is counting (combinatorics).

  • What a wasted day

    The joy that is Windows. Every so often you need to blow it all away and start from scratch. Today was that day.

    Outlook had been a piece of garbage for quite some time. Lots of bandaids, duct tape and baling wire was keeping me up and running. But today it finally gave up the ghost.

    So, back up all my files, and off to IT to reimage, and get me back to a stable state. Alas, a lot of software needs to be installed to get me functional.

    So, I really got 2 hours of work done today, and tonight I need to leave it running to complete the encryption of the disk (paused now).

    Happy, happy, joy, joy, joy

  • Things you can’t unsee

    This is going to be gross.  If you are squeamish, click away now. There is no shame.

    Still with me?

    I have long been a bicyclist. Early on, I learned the benefit of cycling shorts. The chamois in the crotch that provides protection to your boys when on the saddle. However, I have always ridden with ordinary underwear on under my bike shorts. I assumed that it was just how it is done.

    But today, on my ride into work, I saw someone who obviously doesn’t use the traditional cycling shorts with the chamois insert (i.e. ordinary lycra workout shorts), and if that wasn’t bad enough, he was commando. Ewww

    Stretched Lycra is pretty transparent, and without the tidy whiteys, I got a far too close view of a full moon.

    <shudder> Somethings you can’t unsee, and will haunt you forever.

    (No picture)

  • One thing I hate about Chandler

    In general, I love living here in Chandler. Great neighborhood, great neighbors, lots of quality restaurants, and good shopping.

    But there is one bad thing. We have biting ants. Not the usual fire ants that you can see and avoid. These little black ants that swarm up your legs and sting like crazy.

    We had a nest in our yard, fortunately the pest control people eradicated it post haste last year. But lately, we have had some rain, and rain brings out the bugs. On the walk with the dogs this morning, I got attacked. hundreds of them swarmed up my legs, and were stinging up my calf.

    Ouch. About 10 minutes of swatting and wiping them off, and I am covered in bites.

    I hate nature sometimes.

  • Quickie: School starts. My commute sucks for a few days

    Ah, the children are back in school this morning. Apart from the fact that it is only July 22nd, and that is a sucky/short summer vacation for the kidlets, it also means chaos on the drive in.

    School buses are learning their new routes (they practiced last week, but it always seems like it has kinks when there are actual pickups). Kids are doing lots of dumb things getting to and waiting for the buses (playing grab ass, and squirting into the street). And the helicopter parents who much drop little johnny off at school are kamikaze dive bombing, running red lights, blocking intersections, and cutting across 3 lanes of traffic to get 3 cars earlier in the queue.

    This means it takes me about twice as long to drive in, and much head shaking behind the wheel (forget about cycling in this week, too dangerous).

    But it will pass.

  • Wow, what a race. Marc Marquez wins Laguna Seca

    What an amazing race. Today, the USGP motoGP race in Monterey at Laguna Seca.

    Marc Marquez, who became the youngest rider to win his first MotoGP race at Austin earlier this year, and who won the last round in Germany, went out and had a blistering race today at Laguna. Starting from second, he had an OK, start, but quickly got into 2nd place, following Stephen Bradl. Probably the best moment is when he went around Valentino Rossi on the corkscrew, on the outside and running it on the inside on the way down, just like Rossi did to Casey Stoner in 2008.

    Marquez had a ballsy pass on turn 11 before the start/finish straight, and never looked back.

    Marc Marquez is leading the championship points chase, and he has won three races this year so far (all of the races to date in the US). What will this man do in the future?  I can hardly wait to see him in the next race. Keep an eye out for #93, big things are sure to come!

    Phew, glad that the Tivo recorded it, because I am going to have to watch this one again.

     

  • Product Review: Road ID

    I have always been an “outdoors” exercise aficionado, and I continue to get out on my bicycle, hiking, or jogging. When I was young, I never gave a thought to what would happen if I got seriously hurt. I guess I could have carried my ID (drivers license, health insurance card), but it never happened.

    A good way to carry your critical information with you
    A good way to carry your critical information with you

    Then, three years ago, I had the big one. A heart attack. Suddenly, I began to worry about what would happen if I had a repeat while I was out cycling, or jogging.

    I now always wear a Road ID. The first one I had was the simple version, with as much of the pertinent health history as I could fit, but recently I went the Wrist ID elite, and got the subscription that allows me to have my extended health record available to first responders.

    Getting it setup is easy, and the service provides both an internet lookup, as well as a 24 hour call center. First responders can use the code and PIN on the back of my ID, and get quick access to my records.

    Entering your records is painless, and you can decide what you will share with first responders, and what you will keep private.

    I also keep in my wallet a summary of my records, and my medications, but I rarely have my wallet with me when I am out pounding the pavement.

    Highly recommended, especially if you have health issues that might affect how the emergency crew responds to an event.