Health and Fitness

Recently I calculated my mileage for the first half of 2013, and came up just over 1400 miles (1411.2 to be precise). Looking at the breakdown, that consists of a median run distance of 7.5 miles (not a normal distribution), and an average of 6.5 runs per week. My frequent work travel this year has resulted in more than 45 ‘double days’, which pushes the ‘runs per week’ number up. I have run on four pairs of shoes, with ~200 miles on my old Nike Free Run 3’s before I retired those and put ~750 on my ‘new’ orange Nike…

Last week there was a big stir as the American Medical Association (AMA) made a change in their definition of obesity. While obesity was previously defined as a “major public health problem,” it is now recognized as a disease. The AMA is the largest group of physicians in the U.S. and, while their vote isn’t legally binding, they are a highly influential body that can influence medical standards and insurance policy. In other words, what they have to say matters. But for most of us, the decision of a group of doctors to reclassify something as a disease doesn’t change…

Losing weight is HARD, and has been a lifelong struggle for me. When I look in the mirror, I do not see the same person that others see. While body image and ‘yo yo’ weight loss struggles have been stereotypically associated with women, the reality is that men also struggle with their weight and are often unhappy with their appearance. There were a few instances this past week where I was reminded of how quickly people make broad generalized assumptions about you based on your appearance. Specifically, if you are currently thin, there are many people who have no issue…

I remember being about 20 miles into my first marathon, and the pacer making a very big deal about breathing deeply and in general watching our breathing closely. Even then this was not news – after getting myself into ‘fuel trouble’ on my first half-marathon, I started to pay attention to a whole bunch of running-related things such as nutrition, hydration, tapering, and breathing. Someone had mentioned to me that one of the best ways to manage breathing was to pace it so you are breathing in and out in sync with steps, and that you should spend more time…

This is one of those things I fear saying out loud, but I have never been sidelines for more than a day or two with a running injury. I recognize that I am not normal – I have a good running posture and form, good joints, and a fast recovery. I tend to bounce back from ‘doing something stupid’ (my wife’s mantra) pretty quickly As a result I avoid giving much advice – because I am always on the edge of stupidity! So when Judie decided to use a RunKeeper 5K training plan – and quickly ended up with an…