mitochondria and zone 2 training

 

it's true that even after many, many years, despite a steadily decreasing knowledge, i retain (and why wouldn't you!) a deep affection and interest for cell biology and energy metabolism generally.

last year i finally decided to accept that i wanted to change the way i was training on the bike, partly due to a training injury, but mostly because i'm getting older, my body is responding differently and, while i might do the odd race, i really just want to be fit enough to have a decent day out whenever i want to.

initially i was doing a fair amount of zone 3 sessions interspersed with a couple of more intense sessions a week coupled with gym work. then, just as the restrictions were eased and after two years of everyday exposure, along comes covid. naturally it hasn't come alone and i've had some lasting cardiac effects since.

as a result i've eased way back on training (nothing for a month!) with a timely, and immensely fortunate for him, example in sonny colbrelli who, it appears his doctors are now thinking irritated his heart post viral infection. as such it's been zone 2 all the way with one longer ride outside which, although lovely, was a great example of why i should continue to take it easy and train inside.

that said, although zone 2 training at first was astonishingly boring i've found i've got quite into it. i saw great gains with the zone 3 training, a strange degree of remodelling in my legs, but, likely down to incoming covid, i was very tired. with zone 2 i'm able to better listen to a podcast, focus on how my body feels in order to cycle to heart rate and know my power, look at my pedaling technique.

and then i discover that zone 2 training is a thing. not only that tadej pogacar is doing it. this here then is a very long and rambling podcast ostensibly about zone 2 training but which grounds itself thoroughly in cell biology, mentions all manner of energy production processes, and is very interesting re diabetes. it's true that peter attia could've made it shorter by reining in his need to talk about himself and his numbers but, while this can be grating, i think it's just his enthusiasm showing. and inigo san millan is just a wizard!

i'm not going to lie, it goes on. but, for me, this is one of the most interesting podcasts i've ever heard, particularly if you've an interest in the metabolic component of training and specifically if you're a wee bit older and you're loking at some theory upon which to base your practice

corncrakes and language

 

the first time i heard a corncrake i thought there was something wrong with the electrics outside. i was living on the western isles at the time and i'd never, and haven't since, heard one on the mainland. not that it was always so. as i see numbers of creatures dwindle even in the short time i've been doing surveying, here's caught by the river with a nice wee essay about the relationship between the natural world and language.

werner's nomenclature of colours

the public domain review hits the mark with the wonderful, sublime werner's nomenclature of colours.  there's a very browsable version here - i make no apologies for any time lost!

on seaweeds

 

this rather lovely public domain review essay on seaweed collecting in the 19th century and the lost world of algology. anna atkins appears, of course, but a rather nice piece of george eliot trivia also.

helen keller

 

an interesting podcast re helen keller that takes as its starting point the recent conspiracy theory shenanigans re helen keller. keller comes across as a much more complex and even tragic figure than was previously suspected even as the narrators are truning themselves in knots with their modern day morality.

this complexity is perhaps better addressed here which, for obvious reasons, places keller's politics much more to the forefront.

what is also a shame is that the conspiracy theory balloonery isn't really addressed. tho maybe that's ample material for a different podcast!

the moby dick map

 

the map i didn't know i needed!

peaky blinders

 the main thing i've done (or been able to do!) while i've been sick is watch peaky blinders. which is something a lot of people have done but, for me, it's just about the only english language tv i've watched in the last ten years. and, just about all the way into series five, i have to say i enjoyed it. 

in order to do so one has to accept that, while actual people and events populate the narrative, they should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt. also, while the clothes look lovely, there are parts of the styling that can raise an eyebrow. and, as with all characters on tv, they are immune to any long term injury damage and recover substantially faster than regular humans! that said, it's good fun to have a bit of a google and to have a check on the real life equivalents of the characters on the show.

i did find it a bit repetitive towards the end but i kept going because i really did enjoy the characterisations. the actors were fabulous. cillian murphy obvs, in the lead role, the sadly late helen mcrory stole almost every scene she was in, and natasha o'keeffe looked like she was born to be a character in anything from this period. here's cillian murphy talking about it all in his regular voice. 

*did i finish it? i did not. i finished at s5 ep4 and discovered i could read again. tv just isn't for me! lol

language listening

in my very brief english teaching life one of the things i was fortunate enough to be able to do was change my accent so that learners could compare and contrast the same sentences. not quite the same but most of the way there appears you.glish. i got in initially as an english teaching aid but it does all manner of other languages. useful. check it out.