nootrome

jala netti

Jala Netti - the ancient folk method of snorting salt water up your nose, ROCKS. All sorts of nasty scary crap came out of my sinuses after my first try.

I don't understand why this hasn't caught on as a daily routine in the west. Go figger.

feel the burn...

So everyone once in a while, I feel all hyped up and a total badass ready to take on any mountain. My relatively effortless recent hikes at Mcnee Ranch and Buzzard's Roost fueled my delusions. Today, I was beaten down ala red-headed stepchild style by Mission Peak, where I proceeded to slog up the hill, taking many 5 minute long water breaks, and finally, the sloooow final descent with the off-trail path I was on having at what seemed at least to be a 35% grade. FYI, you can see far far *far* out from the top (supposedly to Mt Shasta).

Of course, it could have been a combination of fatigue from the previous workouts, carrying a shitload of water weight among other useless crap in my pack (what was I thinking carrying an umbrella???), the sun relentlessly bearing down, but most significantly, probably the 3 ciggaretes I wound up smoking right before I went on the trail, obliterating my quota for the day.

As my parents were in town, I was forced to ease off the smoking for a while, and I am continuing to try to limit my smoke intake if not quite altogether.

Here is how the math breaks down for me:

- Kcal burned per ciggarette: 10; times 1 pack a day = 200 calories burned (why ex-smokers gain weight).

- Kcal/minute I can sustain for 30 mins as a pack a day smoker on the precor machine: ~16

- Max Kcal/minute as a pack a day smoker: 20;

- Sustainable Kcal/minute while not smoking: 20

- Max sustainable Kcals/minute while not smoking: 25

- Energy output loss due to smoking: 20% (as a note to my other fellow smokers, this is just the immediate diff betwen not smoking for a couple of days- I'm sure after a month this climbs drmatically).

- Extra Minutes on workout required to burn off quitting smoking cals: ~10 minutes/day.

There is a differential equation on smoking cessation energy rates here waiting to be constructed and solved (however, I am too worn out by the climb to do it).

Tangentially, another thing to think about with calorie dynamics. 1 Calorie of food == 1 Kcal == amount of energy to raise 1 liter of water by 1 degree centigrade! 1 lb of human fat tissue == 3500 Kcal. In other words, burning one pound of someone's chunky tummy fat would bring 3.5 liters of ice water to a boil.

It's unfortunate that an excersize machine that boils water by human input isn't available. For me to lose 40 lbs of fat (about), I have to boil 140 liters (about 40 gallons) of water to a boil through sheer brute force.

Ugh such a long way to go...