Scott Adcox

The new Digg has launched, and gives us Oregon Trail when it doesn’t work!

Filed under “Experiments With Bodily Functions”

I’ve been riding the spin bike a lot lately. I had some self-induced mechanical issues with my TT bike for a while. And it was hot. And I usually don’t get a chance to ride until after 10 pm anyway. So it’s been really convenient. But I’ve noticed that I have a really hard time getting my heart rate up on the spin bike. I’ve done some interval workout videos where the folks on the video are working in the mid to high 160s, while I’m at a perceived effort level of 4/5 and not getting over 140. And the averages for these rides are always in the 120s. I know what pushing feels like, and I “feel” like that’s what I’m doing, but the HRM doesn’t show this work I’m feeling. And when I’m just spinning at a perceived level of 1/5, I’m lucky to break 110.

Yesterday I went out on my TT bike for the first time in a looong time. Weird, but no problem getting my heart rate up there. I was sustaining ~160 on 3 minute intervals, and averaged 144 for the 20 mile ride. During the cool down portion of the ride, my heart rate was ~133, and that was with a perceived effort level of 1. I could have sung opera (if I could sing).

The one major difference between riding the spin bike inside and riding a real bike outside is temperature and humidity. With the spin bike, I ‘m sitting directly beneath an air conditioning vent and a ceiling fan. But still, riding in a cool and humidity-free environment couldn’t have that much effect. Or could it?

I must employ the scientific method to find out for sure–had to collect some data.

During lunch today, I put on my my HRM and sat in the floor, leaning against the sofa for one minute. I then started a split and collected HR for one minute, and got an average rate of 52.

Then I went out to the driveway and sat down, leaning against the car. I waited for 5 minutes…just long enough that my feet were no longer cool and I felt like I was about to start sweating. Another minute with my HRM, and I got an average rate of 67.

So it takes me 15 more beats per minute to do nothing in the heat than it does to do nothing in the cool! And it was only in the mid-80s today!

One thing I’m not exactly sure about is how I can accurately extrapolate that data based on temperature though. Do I use a constant change of ~15 bpm when comparing hot weather workouts to cold weather workouts, or do I use a percentage (30%?!?!) difference. I’m leaning towards the first option, but I probably need to collect more data.

That means more spin bike. Outside. In the heat.

Torture.

Grilled Cheese Academy – A real education

Financial Illiteracy Is Killing Us – Seriously, are there any non-profits focused on teaching financial literacy to kids? I will volunteer to help.

Tooth Regeneration Gel Could Replace Painful Fillings – Just ordered up some jelly beans to celebrate this news.

Facebook Places vs. Foursquare – Foursquare has a game/awards (kinda). The question with FB places is “why?”. Then again, you could probably ask that question about 90% of the content there.

Furman’s FIRST Running Program – No. Junk. Miles.

Lifehacker: Our List of the Best Android Apps – Already using most, so I’m linking to this mostly to validate my choices.

“I think the Internet is the most dangerous thing invented since the atomic bomb” –John Mellencamp – Sounds like Johnny Cougar doesn’t like having his cheese moved.

What Should I Do About My Virtual Life After Death? – Adding this to my list. It’s pretty far down, but on there nonetheless.

Real Estate’s Gold Rush Seems Gone for Good – hmph

Moving on – An early shot fired against book publishing. There will be more.

Fake Drink Spills save seats – Genius!

Lottery Ticket Art – Don’t throw away those scratch off tickets…you could still be a big winner!

Be emo. I’m ok with it.

But please go back a few years and do your homework to see how whining is properly done…with good melody and kick-ass guitar.

Heard this disclaimer as read by Boortz…hilarious! Nineteen seconds of commercial, followed by a lot of disclaimer, followed by another 20 seconds or so of commercial. It may be safer just to keep smoking.

It reminds me of the old SNL Happy Fun Ball commercial:

Kid 1: It’s happy!

Kid 2: It’s fun!

All Three Kids: It’s Happy Fun Ball!

Announcer: Yes, it’s Happy Fun Ball! The toy sensation that’s sweeping the nation! Only $14.95 at participating stores! Get one today!

Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball.

Caution: Happy Fun Ball may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.

Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.

Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.

Discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs: itching, vertigo, dizziness, tingling in extremities, loss of balance or coordination, slurred speech, temporary blindness, profuse sweating, or heart palpitations.

If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.

Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin.

When not in use, Happy Fun Ball should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration. Failure to do so relieves the makers of Happy Fun Ball, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.

Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an unknown glowing green substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.

Happy Fun Ball has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

Happy Fun Ball comes with a lifetime warranty.

Announcer: Happy Fun Ball! Accept no substitutes!

Disney Princesses, Deconstructed – All you can really do to fight it is to push a fascination with ocean dwelling killing machines instead of Princesses. But it’s an uphill battle.

Muscles Remember Past Glory – I strongly suspect fat bellies have the same memory ability.

Thanks No For Skipping Your Immunizations! Whooping CoughIs Back – I wouldn’t let Jenny McCarthy give me dating advice when I was 19. Why would I listen to her parenting tips?

What Happened to Yahoo – Bottom line–nothing was happening at Yahoo, so things started happening to Yahoo. And why is that when I change my Yahoo! password, my Del.icio.us password doesn’t change. Exhibit A.

Ragnar Central Florida – Always wanted to do one of these…I may have found a team!

Endless Bummer – Don’t worry, it’s safe for work.

Unsuck It – Pretty useful, especially if you are low on bandwidth and need to bucketize terms.

The Third Stage of Personal Finance – Good motivator to start your day.

Facebook bug spills name and pic for all 500 million users – Uh….awsum?

Complete Guide to Maximizing Your Android Phone’s Battery Life – When following these instructions, make sure you’re holding the phone correctly.

14 Famous Man Caves – And not one has a spin bike or a punching bag. Where does all the anger go?

7 Discipline-builders for Remote Workers – I found this article very distracting.

Girl quits job on dry erase board – I like TechCrunch too, but if you spend an hour a day there, you must be reading at a remedial level. It’s not Faulkner.

Michael P. Fleischer: Why I’m Not Hiring – Interesting…and I thought it was just because he was a racist.

The Great Reset of Urban Development in Economic Downturns – Metropolitan corridors. I don’t like the sound of that.

Internet gambling freedom boosted by House committee vote – It’s comin’….

Rdio – Even more music.

Zone 12 Project gang: Little Blue Egg – I will put this right next to the outdoor shower. Or maybe inside the outdoor shower.

Build Your Own Outdoor Shower – Coming soon to a side of the house near me. I hope.

Second time I done it on my own…

I first started running in 2003. Not that I didn’t run before that, but that’s when I became “a runner” (arguably). That’s when I started running with running performance as the end goal instead of running with rugby as the end goal. The first thing I did was seek out some people who were already runners and drain their brains of whatever info I could. One of the best pieces of advice I got was to keep a training log. Back then, lots of people who logged their training did so in a hand-written training diary, but I was lucky that I was beginning at a time when CoolRunning was already available. This meant I could have all of my training logged online without having to go back and re-enter old information.

CoolRunning was great–nice analysis tools, kept up with miles on shoes, etc. But then they sold out to Active, and I didn’t like the interface as much. So I started trying other sites like MapMyRun and Livestrong. It’s great to have the ability to map training courses, but they are all lacking something. There are either too many ads, not enough analysis tools, whatever. As a result, I have training data spread out across multiple logging sites, and what I really want is one place to keep all of my data.

Now I’m the one who has to re-enter old information when I find a logging tool I like.

I recently started using DailyMile, and I like it a lot. Sure, there are a couple of issues with it too. The analysis tools and interface are great. It’s also social–sort of like the “Facebook for training”. But you can’t go back and do analysis on lifetime data (yet). It’s also difficult to import old data. They have an API, and some guys have started a Java client library, but there’s still a lot of going back to the sites I used before and collecting the data.

What I’ve been doing is entering my new workouts as I do them, then going back and entering the data from the same date on previous years. If I have time, I’ll go back and enter some other old workouts as well. This seems like a hassle and something that would be best to do automatically.

But there’s an upside to doing it manually too. As I’m going back, I’m actually reading my old training logs and doing mental analysis on them. It’s helping with my current training. For instance, it’s encouraging to see how far I’ve come in the swim compared to the first swims I logged back in 2005. And holy crap…I was on a training tear in the summer of 2004. And while I feel like I’m so much slower right now than I was when I was marathon training in 2003, it’s nice to see that my times and splits are comparable to what they were then.  I’ve also noticed that I was much more negative about my training back in 2003 (maybe pressing too hard?). I expected every outing to be a PR and to feel great all the time. That’s funny to me now, knowing how “normal” it is to go out and have crappy training days every once in a while.

What I’m getting at is that it’s great to keep a training log, but it also may be worth your time to go back and review it periodically so you can see your growth and improvement. That isn’t always going to show up in the calculated pace from the workouts. A big part of it will show up in the notes you kept. Even if you have hand-written training logs, it may be a good idea to spend a few minutes each day going back and reviewing your logs from the previous years on that exact date, just to help keep things in perspective.

Keeping a training log is a good tip. I’d say reading your training log is a good tip too.

Image Credit

The SIL sent me this cool behind-the-scenes video of AstroRobonaut. COOL!

Kind of makes you think that maybe there really are viable alternatives to manned space flight. As you can see in the video, this thing has some pretty fine motor skills.

I think we need a whole army of these to be built to fight the wild herd of Space Bigfoots that threaten our freedom.

Our defenders against the Space Bigfoot threat

Oh yeah, this is going to go over really well…

First, it was kegs, then couches. Now, Cocoa Beach will consider banning booze on the beach.

It’s a sad day when a man can’t sit on his couch and drink a coldbeer (on the beach). Why don’t they just ban “acting-like-a-drunk-idiot”. That would give them the ability to not only persecute the intoxicated, but also the people who are stupid without the help of alcohol.

I will admit that there have been times that drinking coldbeer and acting like an idiot weren’t necessarily mutually exclusive for me. It’s a long process, but that’s actually how one learns to eventually enjoy one without the other.

I say we go after the people who leave their cigarette asses on the beach first.

Ok…I like seeing the improvement. This is the exact same workout I did a few of weeks ago, but the 100s were all faster and most of the kicks were faster. The only thing slower in the Devil Workout this time around was the swim down.

I think it’s supposed to be that way.

Warmup: 10:04

• 300
• 100kick
• 100

Meat

• 100 – 1:34
• 50kick – 1:16
• 50kick – 1:45

• 100 – 1:37
• 50kick – 1:23
• 50kick – 1:29

• 100 – 1:39
• 50kick – 1:26
• 50kick – 1:25

• 100 – 1:38
• 50kick – 1:20
• 50kick – 1:28

• 100 – 1:40
• 50kick – 1:25
• 50kick – 1:25

Swimdown

• 250 – 5:01

Free Nature Work/Sleep Mix You Control – Awesome…sometime music is too distracting. Want to try an mp3 for running.

Gmote Turns Your Android Phone Into a Remote Control for Your PC –

TweetEffect- When did you lose or gain twitter followers? –

FreshBooks – Online Invoicing, Time Tracking & Billing Software – Pretty cool for people who are one man shows.

Hey, Michael Moore, I’m calling you out – Random Mumblings – Big stick time.

Shit My Kids Ruined – I caint have nuthin' nice.

Appcelerator Developer Center – This looks cool…write your app in JavaScript and Appcelerator maps it to native code for multiple mobile platforms. Hmm…..

101 Fast Recipes for Grilling – Grillicious! Can't wait to get back to regular grilling. And by that I mean entertaining the kids in the pool while the real grill master does her thing.

Dishwasher Rules to Clean By – The "Quick Rinse" is my new favorite dishwasher feature.

Fannie Mae Cracks Down on Strategic Default – Do you really need someone to tell you that "strategically" defaulting on a mortgage is wrong? Sorry, but I don't feel pity for someone who is behind on their mortgage while they have sea doos and dirt bikes in their garage.

Thanks @raowen. This has spawned all kinds of cool ideas for me.

Like “Cat-Fight Club”.

If you want a real playlist to run to, you don’t need anything but 13 Songs.

You can’t be what you were
So you better start being 
just what you are
You can’t be what you were
the time is now is running out 
is running out 
is running running running out
You can’t be what you were
So you better start living the life
That you’re talking about
You can’t be what you were
The no movement, the no movement, the no movement
In a bad mouth
It betrays a bad mind

It’s days like today when I reminisce about all the times I visited the Wal-Mart Super Center in Alcoa. Oh the things I saw and heard..

“Upon getting the cell phone to ‘unlock’ and work properly, the Wal-Mart employee saw a picture on the phone of a female subject that was topless and whose breasts were exposed,” the report said.

At that point, the man who brought the cell phone into the store became “furious about anyone seeing his ‘private pictures’ and demanded that the cell phone be destroyed.”

The employee complied with the man’s request by hitting the cell phone repeatedly with a hammer until it was in several pieces.

…

But at 3:11 p.m., video surveillance at the store recorded the man re-entering the store through the Tire-Lube Express entrance while carrying a plastic bottle containing what appeared to be “a brownish colored substance,” which he allegedly poured onto five laptop computers at the store.

…

The brownish substance was believed to be tobacco spit.

…

The suspect was recorded by video surveillance driving away in a green-colored Pontiac sedan with hubcaps missing from both front tires.

If I could make stuff like this up, I’d be independently wealthy.

HT Michael Silence

Photo Credit