The REAL nectar of the gods...

Well, this week was a well needed break from doing anything.  Except training a TON and working a TON.  Basically it was a break from racing anytime soon, so I thought I would write about my lab.

When I got back from Columbus last Monday morning I worked almost 10hrs and was busy revising power points and final papers for my 2x REU students (Research Experience for Undergrads) who finished their 10wk appointment this past friday.

Both were rising sophomore undergrads, one at The University of Delaware and one from NC State.  They were posted in my lab for the summer under the C2B2 program (biofuels/biorefining research) and although I was only originally supposed to get one of them, I was lucky enough to end up mentoring both which, though hectic at times, was really a blessing because we got lots of high quality data and I was able to teach them a bit about science.  Unfortunately, now they are gone and the lab is back to normal (and now I am going to have to actually do things again).  Here is a little tour:



One of the projects that I am currently working on is the selective hydrogenation of fatty acids.  For those that arent familiar, fatty acids are the components of plant oils; everything from sunflower, olive, walnut, vegetable, coconut, rapeseed, canola, peanut, palm, sunflower, sesame, and the list goes on and on.  What each of these have in common is a fatty acid head group followed by a hydrocarbon tail.  The differences are in the length of the tail, and the number, type, and place of double bonds in the tail.  For example, here is cis-9-octadecenoic acid commonly known as "oleic acid" which makes up 70% of olive oil!

These oils are useful as fuels because they have that nice long hydrocarbon tail!  We just want to do things that remove the fatty acid (on the right) to make the molecule less viscous.  One way to make it less viscous without taking off the fatty acid is to make biodiesel.  This is done by transesterifying the fatty acid head so the molecule is more volatile (and less slimy-ish).  Another way would be to cut off the fatty acid completely, but this is far more difficult and energy intensive.

Besides fuels, we also like plant oils for foods because they provide us with a lot of energy compared to other food sources:
Oils/fats: ~9kcal/g
Alcohol: ~7kcal/g
Carbs  &protein: ~4kcal/g

Of course there are bad fats as well.  In the picture of oleic acid above, you can see a big kink in the middle which prevents a large group of these molecules from laying flat on top of each other.  This is a "monounsaturated fat" because it has 1 double bond.  If it had two or more double bonds (and was even more kinked) it would be a "polyunsaturated fat."  If that double bond weren't there (indicated by the = sign), the tail would be straight, the molecule would be a "saturated fat," and would stack on top of its friends (and in your arteries).  Saturated fats are also bad for fuels--can you imagine putting butter in your gas tank?

A small portion of my research delves into the issues associated with the degree of saturation, but the interesting things that I wanted to post here are my FUN SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS!!!

EXPERIMENT #1

Since I already do fatty acid analysis in lab, I decided to bring in samples of vegetable oil, olive oil, coconut oil, and walnut oil from home and analyze their compositions.  First of all, everything I measured was measured as a free fatty acid, meaning that it is free of a triglyceride structure. So you can see below, a triglyceride is three fatty acids connected to a glycerol molecule.  When the fatty acids come off they are "free!" Just like the pictures above of oleic acid, that's what we eat and that's what I analyzed (not this big klunky thing below).

Since these oils contain a mixture of molecules, I use a notation of the number of carbons followed by their unsaturation.  So, C18:1 means that it is an 18 carbon tail with 1 double bond.  In fact, C18:1 is what oleic acid would fall under!  Here is what I found:

	Other	C12:0	C14:0	C16:0	C18:0	C18:1	C18:2	C18:3
Olive Oil	2%	0%	0%	13%	1%	72%	11%	1%
Vegetable Oil	2%	0%	0%	6%	1%	64%	18%	9%
Walnut Oil	0%	0%	0%	10%	4%	28%	52%	6%
Coconut Oil	8%	49%	23%	11%	4%	4%	1%	0%

To no surprise, olive oil contained a whole lot of C18:1 indicating a large presence of oleic acid.  Vegetable oil and walnut oil were more unsaturated (there was more C18:2 and C18:3 present).  Coconut oil was the weirdest of the bunch showing a wide range of short saturated 10-16 carbon chains.  Because they are shorter, they are more likely to stay liquid but if you have any at home, you know that coconut oil melts at about 75F (so in our house it is rock hard in the winter and liquid in the summer).  Coconut oil is also "good for cooking" because it has no double bonds to react.  But is olive oil really "bad for cooking?"

EXPERRIMENT #2

I have heard that cooking with olive oil is dangerous because it can isomerize under heat and form trans fats.  As I mentioned earlier, oleic acid is good because it is bent, but the same formula can shift to a straight structure (the trans version) which is bad for your health sort of like a saturated fat, as you can see below.

So, I took home 8 sample vials and put a half cup of olive oil in a frying pan.  I heated the oil to its smoke point (200C) and took samples for 20min.  I estimated that this was a reasonable cooking time even if 200C was rather hot.  By the end, our house was pretty much smoked out and the only qualitative change I noticed was that over time, the oil had become less viscous (duh) but also lighter in color.

To my surprise, when I analyzed these samples, there was no change in the composition!  In fact, I measured to an uncertainty of < 0.5% and was unable to detect any trans fatty acids!  I checked some literature here at work, and as it turns out, there are a number of other scientific studies that did the same tests as me (well they were a little more scientific) but they found the same thing--no change in composition.

I guess the moral of the story is that oleic acid really is the nectar of the gods.  You can cook with it, eat it plain, put a little bit in your hair when youve had a rough week--what do you think holds it up, slick?  I could be biased but I go through about a liter a month of the stuff.  Still I am losing to the greeks who consume on average 23.7 kg per person per year!

Rudy

Giant Eagles, Hy-Vees, and other mythical creatures

Today was the Giant Eagle 5150 which as the blog title suggests, is not actually a real bird.  Giant Eagle is actually a grocery store chain (who knew) as is Hy-Vee (learned that last year) and both of them have triathlons named after them.  Giant Eagle was today in Columbus Ohio.

I traveled down with my friend Dan Henry from the CU tri team and we stayed with his family up in Tiffin OH about 90 min NW of Columbus.  Plenty of corn out here--it felt great to get back to some humidity and thick delicious oxygen.



Dan's dad Dean (fun to say) cooked up a great pasta dinner and we ended up getting about 10hrs of well needed sleep that night.Too bad we didnt even last through the opening ceremony of the olympics.

The day before the race was a very pleasant overcast day with another hearty breakfast cooked by the pops.  Bacon, french toast, eggs over easy <--my favorite!  That night we drove down to Columbus to set up our transition areas (it was a point to point race so T1 was 25 miles from T2) and check in to the hotel.  Oh, and I at a whole pizza to fuel up properly.

Race morning we were up at 3:30 to eat some peanut butter and banana and Dan and I sat and watched olympic reruns until leaving the hotel at about 5am.  It was still super dark and a bit chilly when we got there and I had forgotten how prevalent dew was since everything I had left overnight was soaked.  This first picture of me (courtesy of Dan's mom) was when I realized that my left brake lever was coming out of my areobars--I had to convince the bike mechanic dude to let me use his allen wrench to take out the cable so I could tighten it.  He was worried we werent going to get it back in but after about 15min it was good to go.

The race was a bit nuts from the start.  The swim paralleled the shore which was kinda weird because it was shallow enough to touch.  When I race I tend to think very simple thoughts like "oohh, thats a nice shade of green" or "turn left, swim swim, gasp for air"  or something with little philosophical depth.  Basically when it is the swimming portion of the race, all I think about is swimming, so I wasnt even considering dolphin diving although a number of others did I think.  On the second lap, I saw a few out of my right side and tried for a dolphin dive myself which basically just messed me up.  So, I went back to what I do best during the swimming portion of the race--swim.

The bike was a net downhill which helped contribute to a fast time but I also lost some time when I took a wrong turn.  A police officer was directing traffic and pointed my friend Tom straight through an intersection.  I followed realizing on the other side that it was where we had driven the course the wrong way the day before!  I flipped it hard but Tom kept riding, poor guy, he ended up not finishing.

It was a quick detour for me but I got back on track and the next shots are of me coming into T2 in downtown Columbus.

I had some trouble unearthing my shoes which I had buried the day before under a bag but got em on and started the run about 10seconds behind Michael Fox--a guy who has beaten me in every race I had done thus far.  I felt smooth during the run and held the gap until mile 4ish when I caught him, settled down, and then passed him.  (I also made some other dumb comment like "thats a pretty tree" and he didnt respond).  After that it started to get painful and I cranked it as best I could across the finish line.

I ended up with a 33:44 which was not too shabby considering the winding and kinda rolling course.  6th overall and only by 20seconds or so.  Oohh, and at the finish I saw some of my relatives who had come out to watch; my mom's cousins from the Phillippi family.  They are all super nice and it was great to talk to them afterwards.  There's just some family you cant get enough of :).

Overall it was a fun weekend, and with all the people I know in the area, I definitely have to come back next year!  Now I have a pleasant month of low commitment while everything gears up for the fall semester, whoohoo!

Rudy

Family Week Fun Times

Ahh yes, the most stressful week of the year--the week the family comes to visit me in Colorado.  I sometimes think I would rather do a Greg Bennett and pull back to back Saturday Sunday races."Stay calm" I thought, "keep a positive mental attitude" and "smile and nod as much as possible."  I like to give them a hard time, but honestly, it was nice to see them and I am glad they came.

They got here on Thursday and we cooked out a bit, walked around Pearl Street, and I gave them a tour of the new building (where the chemical engineering department recently moved).

On Sunday we loaded up the car and headed to Santa Fe NM for a few days.  On the agenda was Harry's Roadhouse (apparently it was featured on TV (and as it turns out had very good food)), the Santa Fe historic district, and the Georgia O'Keeffe art museum.  In the past few years I have become increasingly interested in art and always enjoy critiquing.

Georgia O'Keeffe was an interesting lady for sure.  According to the museum, born in 1887 she developed/established herself to 1924 when she married her BFF Alfred Stieglitz (a famous photographer who took these pictures (as well as some nude ones (not shown (for your viewing sake)))).

Although she publicly stated that her art was not related to abstract female body parts, it was still hard to ignore the stereotyped analysis of her work.  What do these look like?

But she also was influential in depicting the desert southwest at a time when still very few people lived there (New Mexico only became a state in 1912).  Some of her most famous pictures were of skulls and of the mountain Pedernal near where she lived to the NW of Santa Fe.

Honestly, her art is OK, but I am not a huge fan.  Much of it is very desolate and done in dull offtone colors.  I suppose that is an accurate depiction of the area, but I wouldnt want it on my wall.  She did spend some time at UVA though, go hoos!

Later we walked around the downtown district which was mostly loaded with trinket shops and native women peddling turquoise jewelery.  My only conclusion was that there have to be a lot of sucker tourists who way overpay for these things...

I also got some training in with a nice 2.5hr ride and 50min transition run before heading home.  Santa Fe is at 7000ft which is a tad higher than Boulder but to be honest, I didnt really notice it that much.  Maybe I am finally adapting to the altitude?

The rest of the week was more standard ending with a cookout where I ate 7 burritos.  They were delicious but the next morning I had a terrible swim.  Live and learn I guess...

Rudy

Boulder Peakalicious

Well, the weather finally cooled off here in Boulder by virtue of about a weeks worth of torrential downpours.  After last week's blazing heat and fires, this week overcast with intermittent monsoons, which at least begot favorable sleeping conditions...

The Boulder Peak Triathlon was on Sunday; the hometown race which is always fun since you know the area and dont have to travel.  The Peak is a fairly old race and is well known for the bike course which heads uphill straight from the Boulder Reservoir and eventually up a 14% grade climb adding about 1300ft.  Though it was to rain all night and more on Sunday afternoon, I figured being in Colorado, the chance of rain in the morning was approximately equivalent to my chance of getting eaten by a shark during the swim.  I'm no actuary, but as they say on PTI, zero percent chance.



The Peak is also a historically tough race due to the competition.  Every pro triathlete in their brother lives either in Boulder or somewhere nearby, so the field is always stacked; this time being no different.  For spectator viewing pleasure, the pro waves start after the age group race, so I got to sleep in and get to the race in time for the 9:35 start.  I rolled in just in time to see my friend and CU tri teammate Drew Scott come haulin in off the bike en route to his overall elite division win.

The women's wave was off at 9:20 and the men were given a 15minute deficit.  There is always a $1000 bonus to the first pro to cross the line, but a 15 minute head start for the women is a tough gap to overcome.  The water was chilly but still 71 degrees (apparently) so wetsuits werent allowed.  I was happy actually because although a wetsuit would help me tremendously, I have mentally accepted the challenge of not having one.  The Boulder Res also accepted my challenge and I came out of the water 3min behind the fastest swimmers (Cameron Dye and some other dude with webbed feet).

Oh well, I could have expected that, although my swimming IS improving, I swear.  The bike is of course the highlight of the race, as I mentioned earlier, basically as soon as you leave transition it is uphill until you hit the top of Old Stage.  I felt pretty good and kept homestay-mate Tim Reed in my sight all the way up and through the backside of the course.

Coming off the bike I lost my left shoe dismounting  and had to run back and get it meanwhile dropping my bike on the pavement/looking like a goofball #graceful.  I was in 9th or so and felt great on the first lap of the run (3 laps of out and back, again for viewing pleasure).  On my second lap I caught Laura Bennet (ie. super badass olympian) who was on her third lap.  Coming to the turnaround I was trying to stay out of her way and not breathe too hard (haha, but how bad would it be if I tripped her up or something, I mean she is going to the olympics).  Anyway, I was trying to be nimble and on the 180 degree turnaround I just fell flat on my face.  My leg was bleeding and I felt like a total goof.  From there, my dignity and pace were on the fritz not to mention that the lack of oxygen up here was catching up with me.

Thanks Dave Sheanin for the pircure!

I finished 11th in the stacked pro field, but honestly, I think I had a pretty good race.  Ive never been able to go as fast at altitude, and rather than dying like usual, I thought I kept a steady tempo throughout.  Its a bit frustrating that I am not more sore today; I mean my lungs are wrecked, my chest feels like I just benched 40 reps of 250 (cough, since I can do that cough), but my muscles arent shredded so I feel like I didnt go hard enough.  Darn lack of oxygen.  Next up for me is Giant Eagle Triathlon in Columbus Ohio July 29th.  Im flying out with my CU teammate Dan Henry who lives there; and its at low altitude.  I'll be drowning in oxygen. Whoohoo.

Rudy

Fires and other hot things...

Its been a good hot week back in Boulder after the New Orleans 5150 last weekend and of course the fires up in the mountains are stealing the show.  Colorado Springs is probably the worst case with the fires threatening to take down the city, but there was also a fire right on top of the flatirons.  The first picture is from at night, the second is one of the B-52 bombers dropping red water on the backside of the mountain, and the third and 4th are just random pictures. 

Fortunately, the fire here only lasted a couple days before they got it under control--it was never very big, but since Boulder is right at the base of those mountains, it was very close.  Plus, it was so hot last week you were stuck between keeping the windows open for a draft and closing them to keep out the smoke.  I considered sleeping in my lab office on Wednesday night actually (since it has some killer AC). 

For some reason when it is this hot I tend to lose my appetite for super sweets like ice cream.  They just dont sit well when your house is 85 degrees and you are trying to go to sleep.  Its tragic because I do love ice cream but I havent had any since before New Orleans.  I'm not too concerned though.  History tells me that one day I will be back crushing half a container at a time again.

It did actually cool off some this past weekend, or it was overcast enough that it didnt get as brutally hot.  I had an awesome weekend of training with my bud David Bobka with a long ride on Saturday and a hard ride and track workout on Sunday.  Plus summer swimming is the best.  I have been swimming at the Boulder Reservoir every Thursday morning with my Vendetta wetsuit (this week I used the swimskin and got really cold actually (whoda thought in this heat)), the outdoor pools, and of course the legendary Jane Scott (swim coach).  One of these times I will make a post just about her awesomeness.

As a fun tidbit of the week, my roommates and I went out Friday night and were dancing at Absenth House when I met a girl I went to high school with.  What are the odds?  I didnt think I knew anyone else from Virginia who lived in Boulder.

This coming weekend is the Boulder Peak Triathlon!  It will be my 3rd pro race and likely the hardest in both the course (big hill, race at altitude), and the field (basically every pro in their brother lives here) but at least I dont have to go anywhere or do anything special.  I live here, so I can sleep in my own bed, watch my friends race, and then they can cheer for me not to get lapped by Tim O'Donnell.  My race prep (naturally) includes lots of Chobani Yogurt!  It sure is a perk to promote products you like!  Until next week-

Rudy

Hot like sauce

Ahh yes, Monday in the lab.  I woke up this morning at 3am Boulder time in New Orleans just in time to catch a flight back to Denver followed by a normal day at work.  And now I am basically running on fumes.

Yesterday was the New Orleans 5150 and my second pro race.  Unlike KC, I was not about to drive to this one, so I flew out by myself on Friday morning. I was well stocked with a dozen chocolate chocolate chip cookies, cheese-its, and a loaf of bread, fruit, and some milk just in case I got stranded or something.

Direct flights must be like 8.4 times better than layovers because you get there earlier with no hassle and you only have to listen to the flight attendant speed read the takeoff procedures into a crackly mic one time.  Fantastic.  Brian Baum, local triathlete and my homestay, was there at the airport to pick me up and I spent the rest of the day chillin in the AC with he and our other homestay Tim Reed!

I had not met Tim before, but whatta guy.  We had a great weekend together with the Baum's and I learned a ton from Tim--like how to say South Africa.  Suh-the-fruh-kah.  In fact, as I am typing this paragraph, I am noticeably distracted to reading the words in my head in an Australian accent.  Inundated by kiwis and aussies this weekend.

Speaking of which, this might be a moot observation, but kiwis definitely seem to cuss quite a bit.  Its kind of hilarious. 

On Saturday, I went jogging around Tulane and went swimming in their pool, biked on the Mississippi (south-side, though they call it uptown?) levy and got the full rundown of exactly how Katrina happened.  Everything in New Orleans seemed normal, but there were still sections where you could tell that serious damage had occurred.

Sunday we were up at 4 and it was toasty already.  Plus there were strong winds across Lake Pontchartrain due to the hurricane that was coming in across Florida.  BUT, since the swim was in a harbor they didnt cancel it.  Yay.  It was a bit choppy but very warm water (again lookin fly in the Xterra swimskin) and after all the Jane Scott practices Ive been doing I managed to have a decent swim, I thought (though I still stink at swimming straight.  Tim told me I should sight more than once every 10 or 20 strokes).  A bit down from the leaders but I came out of the water with my friend Travis (from suh-the-fruh-kah) who outswam me at KC.  We were also right behind Conrad Stolz...

I actually had a good fast transition and started cranking the bike right away and somehow Conrad didnt pass me until mike 5.  But when he did he was cruisin.  I didnt feel fantastic, but I drank a lot.  And ate 2 gels this time.  Whoot.

The run was hot. Blah blah blah.  Tim, Tom (kiwi who was 5th), and I were chatting at a pool party later in the day about how every conversation starts as "oh it was a hot one out there today wasnt it."  Like yeah, no kidding, yawn.  Anyway, I think it was pretty evident since no one ran faster than 34min.  My HR was through the roof the whole time and I could tell my legs were just chillin.  Kinda frustrating actually because now Im not that sore today.  (I'm overall tired because I havent slept in 2 nights) but my legs arent that trashed.  I can still walk so I feel like I didnt get my moneys worth.

Anyway, we later went to a New Orleans Tri Club post race pool party, then to Bourbon St and got some beignets at cafe du monde (ya know all the toursty things).  Bourbon street smelled like poop, not gonna lie, and there were some very shady characters down there (still not lyin). To top it off, there were lots of very disgusting strip clubs and drunk half naked people. #definitelynotinboulderanymore.

Video wuz here. Unfortunately, I had to take it down :( So here is a picture or me and tim and tom and james instead!

After that we stayed up way too late talking about Sarah Palin (?) and the upcoming election...and bam, we were up again at 4am central time (3am boulder, ugh) to take a cab to the airport.  Flew back and have been at work all day.  Now I just want to sleep but is a bazillion degrees here in Boulder too, so that looks like that could be tough.  Hot like sauce.

Ironically, The Economist ran a special report on global warming in last weeks issue which I was reading on the plane this morning.  Special reports are displayed on the cover and the woman next to me (native New Orleanian (sp?)) saw it and tried to tell me it was all a farce.  With no evidence to back her argument, I asked if she was a conspiracy theorist after which we sat in awkward silence. I suppose its a hot topic in NO specifically since every inch of sea level rise symbolizes impending doom.

What can I say, its Hot Like Sauce. 

Rudy

The last month (or so)

Whew, what happened this last month, I havent posted anything in a while!  "I've looked into it. There's a gas shortage and A Flock of Seagulls.  Thats about it."  Well, other things happened as well.

Tomorrow is my 24th birthday.  Kinda weird.  I was born June 20th 1988.  Seems arbitrary.  Anyway, its a good day to reflect on my life.   When I think about it, I am incredibly fortunate to be here in Boulder pursuing a PhD and training for triathlons and going on night hikes and eating ice cream and contemplating the meaning of life.  I can honestly say that there is not another person in the world who I would rather be.  I just love life.  And life cereal.

I talked to my mom tonight, thanked her for birthing me, and she got on my case about not making blog posts.  She said she was bored with my blog, which is a fair assessment, so from now on I am going to post more frequently about what I am doing in Boulder.



Besides the flock of seagulls, lots been happening in boulder.  On Memorial Day weekend (should have posted something back then), I went and watched the Boulder Boulder--the local 10k race--which is one of the largest 10ks in the country.  The guys in front were impressive, as was the media truck, and of course Drew Scott.  AND, I got to see some of my other CU Tri teammates out there running!  There is some footage of Eric in here...and some fat dude riding a bike with pants that offered a little too much exposure...



I also got a clip of this annoying lady I was standing next to who kept yelling 'top of the hill and youre there.'  I used to think that I just got frustrated with those people when I was racing (presumably because I was tired and dont want to hear that I am 'almost there') but at least when you are racing you only have to hear it once...

A few weeks ago I got a sweet new yellow wooden adirondack chair off craigslist!  Recently I have been doing a lot of reading, recently finishing Capitalism and Freedom (fantastic), The girl with the dragon tattoo (mediocre), and am currently in the middle of Infinite Jest (eccentric).  The adirondack chair has no doubt been instrumental to my literary training.  I call it the chair of erudition.

Speaking of things that are instrumental to my training, Chobani sent me some yogurt!  It has been a fantastic year so far being on the chobani fit triathlon team:



The yogurt was of course delicious.  I have been eating it every day for lunch since I got it and even posted a twittalicious pic which was retweeted by @chobani.  I felt special.  What can I say, its good stuff.  Great with chocolate chips.

Oh yeah speaking of which, I got a twitter account.  You can follow me at @rudy.kahsar for live updates of my pretzel consumption habits (my favorite topic to write about #salty).  I am also going to be competing with teammate @chris.braden2 for who can tweet about chobani and the rest of our awesome sponsors the most...

For now, thats it, but I will certainly have more to say in the coming weeks!

Rudy