women

yes, you are all blessed with a second post today. don't you feel fortunate?

today marks the third time in almost as many weeks that i have been blatantly hit on by a customer. this strikes me as incredibly wierd. yes, it's happened before this, but this latest streak has been craziness. one was in high school (!!!), the second might have been, and this last one was definitely not. but this isn't the crazy part.
when i've gone out on dates in the past, i shave, shower, and am pretty psyched up for the evening. in all three of the last incidents, i hadn't shaved, had been in a hot store for several hours sweating my nuts off, and felt like ass for one reason or another (reference the previous post for today's reason).

women of the world, would you make up your damn minds? if you want a clean cut, nice smelling, smiling guy, that's cool by me. however, your current trends dictate that i should pitch my razor, stop showering, and make sure i walk around with a hangover 24/7. just tell me what i should do, alright? thanks.

and yes, my ego is now enormous. big swingin' dick coming through, look out. somebody get me eva longoria's phone number.

the simanek six: the 30/5 brick

today was my first true outdoor brick workout. i went out for a 30 mile bike ride followed by a quick transition in my garage and then headed back out on the trails for a 5 mile run. here's what happened.

- those retractable dog leashes are hard to see. i came up on a woman standing on one side of the path looking across to my side. only when i was about 20 feet away (and at 25mph) did i see the leash in her hand. when she finally sees me she holds it up so i can get under it. um...thanks, but you're all of 5 feet tall and even laying flat on my handlebars, i'm still 5'6. i ended up skidding out my rear tire and ditching into the grass to avoid a big mess involving spokes and black lab pieces.
- dump trucks are scary. very scary. i was out on a sparsely populated road cruising along when a one of these steel behemoths turns into me. i look up at this guy's grill and think "oh shit...i'm not going to get thrown over the top...". i got on my brakes and braced for the impact. somehow, the driver saw me at the last minute, hit his brakes and turned just enough so that i slid right by his bumper. i almost wet myself.
- cyclists look out for each other. i got a bit lost during my ride today and some random guy in a G35 watched me as i turned around. he stops, backs up, rolls down his window and asks me where i'm trying to get to. i tell him and he explains that he rides too and tells me which roads in the area to avoid and how best to get where i need to go.
- clif shot bloks are amazing!! i used to be a big proponent of power gel and gu, but after trying these things, i'll never go back. for any sort of distance cycling or running, you can bet that i'll be carrying these.
- chasing semi's is fun. i enjoy chasing traffic. it burns like crazy but feels really good when you're doing the same speed as a car. even better is using a semi. the hole they leave in the air is so huge you can be 15 feet back from them and still use the draft. you also get some pretty priceless looks from car drivers when you blow through an intersection at 35mph. next time i'll wear the elvis sunglasses and really entertain the shit out of myself.
- i'll take my time making up route sheet next time. i got lost twice today and what was supposed to be a 30/5 brick, ended up being a 32/6. it may not seem like a big difference but you tell that to my legs. they feel like pudding...jello brand, bill cosby pudding.

dehydration

for the longest time, i had myself convinced that whatever torture i put my body through now would make future runs easier. this included distance, intensity, and physical readiness of my body for each run. oftentimes, i would go out for a 6 to 8 miler having had nothing to eat or drink for a good period of time. even worse, i would go for 12 milers on a hot summer afternoon with no water. by the time i would get finished with these, i was barely sweating and my pee was the color of apple juice (bet you don't look at that stuff the same way anymore). these runs would hurt, but i'd get through them and be proud of myself for having done so. now you might be saying to yourself "what an idiot" but my logic had me convinced that if i wasn't dead or feeling like i was endangering myself, then i must be helping myself. kind of a 'whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger' thing.

it turns out that i was VERY wrong. according to the gatorade folks, if you are dehydrated by 1%, your performance suffers 10%. if you are dehydrated by 5%, your performance suffers by 40% and you are almost guaranteed to damage yourself.

as you exercise you create both peruvic acid (aerobic exercise) and lactic acid (anaerobic exercise). when you sweat, you lower the ability of cells to dispose of it. the combination of these two items causes acid buildup and changes the pH in your body. neurons don't like acidity so much and fire a lot more slowly when there is a high pH (a.k.a. fatigue). this explains why, after a good hard run, i feel drunk. alcohol, just like acidity, is a depressant (i don't know the chemistry behind alcohol but it wouldn't surprise me if it had a similar pH effect).

What is really scary is that long term exposure to changes in your bloodstream pH will cause your muscle structure pH to change (for as long as a month!). you end up slowing yourself down instead of speeding up because you neurons are constantly taking a bath in lactic acid.


jeez, and you thought tsandhol had boring crap. =)