(Life) Guard Dog
Adopt-a-Beach Report – April 26, 2010
I do occasional volunteer work for the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Since we’re always out at Oak Street Beach, I chose this one for the Adopt-a-Beach program. The beach is not too populated this time of year so the litter load is minimal. But as you can see, the Gold Coast “cappuccino crowd” sure needs to clean up its act!
You Won’t Lose Weight Merely by Cutting Calories
Here’s a cross post from my other site, Power Law Fitness™. It’s a cut-and-paste job right now. I’m experimenting with various plugins that don’t require this, but I have yet to find one that works.
So if any of you are WordPress.org mavens, I’d welcome any advice on this!
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In the “ridiculously obvious but necessary to revisit constantly” category, scientists in Oregon have concluded that reducing caloric intake is not enough to promote significant weight loss. Test subjects (rhesus monkeys) who substantially reduced their caloric intake but did not increase their physical activity did not lose weight. Per the researchers:
This study demonstrates that there is a natural body mechanism which conserves energy in response to a reduction in calories. Food is not always plentiful for humans and animals and the body seems to have developed a strategy for responding to these fluctuations
This makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. During periods of resource scarcity, the human (and primate) body goes into conservation mode. And conserving body fat is the easiest way to “bank” lots of calories for future energy output needs.
Bottom line, you needn’t deprive yourself of food if you want to lose weight.
Just watch what you eat (i.e. don’t eat “junk carbs”) and be sure to get in some higher intensity strength training in addition to some lighter and lower impact endurance workouts.
Remember, it’s not the body weight that matters – it’s the body composition.
Swim Report – April 24, 2010 – Another new Lake Monster takes on turbulent Lake Michigan!
Taking advantage of a mid-spring “heat wave,” I biked out to Ladder #1 to get in a weekend swim before the air temperature dropped below 50F. At 7:00am, the outside mercury read 52F with the lake coming in at 50F.
New Lake Monster Liz showed up, and we did a 1.2 mile swim to the beach and back to the north wall. It wasn’t as chaotic as last week, but we still got buffeted around quite a bit in the “washing machine.” The spring turnover has definitely arrived, though, as the lake is quite tolerable to swim in!
Liz, Lake Monster #38 (congrats!)
Today’s video report:
“What does it take to make a big race run? A lot of doctors”
Be sure to check out this piece over at CNN which highlights some of the lesser known “niceties” of marathon training. This quote, though, really got my attention:
“The single biggest reason for problems with runners is a lack of training, and without training one has no indication that something is wrong with their heart,” said marathoner and Massachusetts cardiologist Malissa Wood. “And the overwhelming majority of running deaths are related to a heart condition a runner was simply not aware they had.”
A marathoner cardiologist who warns of the potential dangers of marathon training to one’s heart. Can you say “cognitive dissonance?”
Swim Report – April 17, 2010 – New Lake Monsters brave chaotic lake!
Lake Michigan can best be described as “mercurial” this time of year…
I biked out to Ladder #1 and arrived just after 7:00am. It was a bit brisk outside (43F air temp), but I could already feel the abundant sunshine warming everything up. The official lake temperature came in at 49F – a slight dip from earlier in the week. A very mild breeze kicked up some small rollers in the swim area, but nothing too dramatic. But things certainly changed during the swim!
New Lake Monsters Scott and Bryon showed up, and we all suited up to take the plunge. Actually, Bryon went sans wetsuit as he’s training for an upcoming Alcatraz swim. I wasn’t as brave this time around!
The first half of the swim went exceptionally well, and I made great time to Oak Street Beach. But I realize in hindsight that this was because the winds had picked up substantially and I was essentially riding the current all the way to the beach. The return trip, however, was something altogether more challenging.
I had to navigate some rather ferocious swells coming off of the beach, and they didn’t subside much during that last half mile. I got beat up a bit on the way back and returned with a few souvenir mouthfuls of Lake Michigan, but I was very happy with my overall swim performance. I’ve been refining my swim technique over the last month, and I can definitely see some major progress!
Anyhow, here’s what you missed out on:
Pre-swim video
Another look at that sunrise
The author with Scott (Lake Monster #36) and Bryon (Lake Monster #37) – congrats!
Swim Report – April 15, 2010 – The Spring Turnover has arrived at Oak Street Beach!
I got a bit of a late start out to the swim site and did not reach Ladder #1 until 9:00am. I took the official lake temperature, and I was elated to see a reading of 50F. This means that Lake Michigan’s Spring Turnover is taking place right now – and the days of sub-40F water are behind us until November!
Another sign of “beach season” – the whole OWC crowd is slowly coming out of hibernation. We had Paul, Bart, and Danny stop by as well as Danielle (sp?), who’s visiting Chicago from Amsterdam. The swimming was fantastic – 52F water temps when I finally left – along with clear water and mirror flat conditions.
Dave in “The Pool”
Today’s video clip:
Power Law Fitness™ – New Site Launch!
We’ve made some big changes over the last 10 days, folks. We’ve migrated Open Water Chicago to a new platform which enables us to offer you all kinds of new features and content. But our most exciting immediate announcement is the launch of Power Law Fitness™, a new site dedicated exclusively to health and fitness optimization.
Over the past two years, we’ve posted key health and fitness information at Open Water Chicago along with our swim reports and swimming related stories. We will still do this, but from now on we will cross-post this content from www.powerlawfitness.com.
For all of you who have enjoyed our prior health and fitness posts, please be sure to bookmark Power Law Fitness™. And keep checking that site from time to time since I’ll be posting a lot of stuff there that may not make it to the OWC site.
Otherwise, stay tuned for more great announcements…
