Random Notes, Monday Meanderings

[pshaw_raven]

1. Georges Lake needs to check their weather station. But this little screenshot is neat because it shows the microclimate that we're in. Microclimate or not, I seriously doubt they have three percent humidity.

2. ysabetwordsmith was posting about native bees, which led me over to the Florida Wildflower Foundation and this article on sweat bees. I see these bright, shiny bees in my yard in the mornings, but because I have a brain like a sieve, I always forget to look up what they are. They're especially busy in my squash plants, if they can wedge themselves in there around the bumblebees :D

3. The Right Stuff hydration pouches. NASA developed this and now someone's selling it to athletes, and I only have two questions. One, does the citrus flavor taste like Tang, because it really ought to. Two, I thought we needed glucose to perform electrolyte transport. Not a ton of it, not saying you need to be a hummingbird, but I don't quite get how sugar free hydration blends are supposed to work, unless they assume you're also consuming things like energy gels that DO have a bunch of sugars in them?

4. Matcha milk spread, which I think I'll make today and enjoy on my waffles. I made a batch of liege waffles to munch on while running. Today I'll be doing my running inside since it was already hot and humid when I woke up. Might as well take advantage of the treadmill and not run the risk of crashing out a couple of miles from the house. I know Fox would drive out and pick me up, but I also don't enjoy the feeling of bonking that hard.

Comments

[cdayzee]

I'm glad you touched on the glucose/sugar in hydration products. I've been experimenting myself between the two because there's the school of thought that 'sugar is bad!' So in this case, it's beneficial for hydration then, yes?

Did you make the matcha milk spread?? Sounds delicious!

I've started running again but the heat & humidity. Yesterday my heart rate topped at 182. I need a comparison. What does your heart rate average during a run? Granted, I realize you're in much better shape than me but I need something to compare it to because I think mine is too high. How exactly do I go about training myself to get it down? I don't know if my body is capable at this point. I've worked out that my brain interprets stimuli very sensitively [read: goes overboard]. But I need to tone my body. Running is the only thing that seems to help. But at the same time, I can't make my brain cooperate & parse the stimuli correctly. Such a catch-22.

[pshaw_raven]

It turns out, you don't specifically *need* glucose, but the addition of it can improve salt and electrolyte transport in your small intestines. You can still hydrate with plain water, but in cases where you're sweating a lot, the electrolyte replacement obviously is a serious need. So it looks like folks using the sugar-free mixes are still getting SOME benefit, but using sugar makes it work a lot better. Source

So I'm starting to run more indoors on the treadmill, which is great if you've got one. I assume where you are it's also miserably hot, which is going to make your heart rate higher, and make your effort feel much harder. I tried running fast intervals outside this morning before it got "too hot," and I not only didn't hit my paces, it felt much harder running at a slower speed.

If you haven't been running in a long time, your heart rate is going to be higher. The only way to bring it down is by training, but if it feels very hard, you'll want to slow down. Running slow can be weirdly difficult. But it does help! I'm not sure how long it takes to start having lower max heart rates, but rather than look at some time table, I'd simply go by how I feel. Your body doesn't know "zone 2" or 50% of max or anything, it knows effort. So I'd keep easy runs easy, walk as much as you need to, and focus more on being consistent for now than being fast.

Easier said than done sometimes, considering my brain was screaming at me for being slow today, when part of me was like, "It's 100% humidity out here, it's like trying to breathe molasses, this is all the speed you're getting."

Plus the easier running might help your brain get more familiar with the physical sensations and freak out less.

The matcha jam is delicious! I'm wondering about chilling it in the freezer for a little while before eating some, because I think if I froze it solid, it would be too hard to eat, but if it were a little colder than fridge temps, it might be like the filling in those mochi ice cream things.

[cdayzee]

Thank you so much for the info & wisdom! Of course it makes a lot of sense!

Yeah, I no longer own a treadmill, only an exercise bike which lives in the garage. It gets pretty hot in there as well even with the door open & a fan on.

Chilling the jam in the freezer definitely sounds like a good idea! I'm imagining how good it tastes! lol :P

[dorchadas]

That matcha milk spread looks delicious! It'd be a good way to use up the culinary matcha powder the in-laws gave me, too.