Fitness

Cheater or Sympathetic Character? It Depends upon Who You Ask.

So much of a story is about perception. Present someone’s tale as one of woe, with the right keywords and attitude, and you can make a sympathetic figure. Present it differently, and the sympathetic victim becomes the villain. Today the running news has been buzzing with the tale of Christian Hesch, an elite runner who confessed to blood doping and is facing a ban from the USADA as a result. What really fascinates and appalls me though, is the wide disparity in how it is being presented, made worse by a major newspaper whose coverage blatantly manipulates the facts. Here’s…

Health and Fitness, Outdoors, Reviews

iBike POWERHOUSE Complete Cycling Fitness Plan

Through the years, I’ve reviewed several devices for iPhones and iPods that purport to be sturdy protective mounts for bicycle usage. Keeping in mind that there are inherent dangers in listening to music while you’re cycling, especially if you have to worry about dangling headphone wires, it’s important to make sure that safety is your first concern. The iBike POWERHOUSE ensures both the safety of your iPhone and your body with its well-designed mount for the 3 and 4 series iPhones. (No luck for you early iPhone 5 adopters yet.) Add in a software solution for exercise and cycling technique…

Health and Fitness

From Couch to Marathon in 6 Months, Losing 85 Pounds on the Way!

I have to confess that inside of myself, even as I notched 5Ks, 8Ks and a half-marathon, I still held the notion that I wouldn’t be a REAL runner until I completed a marathon. And having just completed my first marathon – the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY – and having done it better than expected … I am now a REAL runner. At the beginning of June, I wrote about what I termed the “Adult Vanquishing of Childhood Monsters” … as I ran my first (and second) 5K Road Race and totally banished my self-imposed thought of myself as…

Gear Bits, News

Apparently People Aren’t Happy with the NFL Replacement Referees!

If you have checked your Facebook newsfeed on the last few Sundays or Monday Nights (or Thursday nights for that matter), chances are you have seen some significant rants about the ‘performance’ of the replacement referees brought in by the league while the normal officials are in contract talk lockout. The talk isn’t just the normal grousing you would expect when your favored team loses – I have seen friends complain when THEIR team won about the job done against the opposing team. And it extends to players and coaches as well – here are a few quotes: Packers coach…

Health and Fitness, News

Garmin Introduces the Entry-Level Forerunner 10 GPS Watch for Runners

When Carly and I went for our run at GearFest in July, something that came with each of us was our GPS watch. We compared and contrasted the features and results in a video here, but the bottom line is this: we both firmly believe that using a GPS watch has made us better runners. Two of the problems with GPS watches are that they are bulky and expensive. More recently watches have dropped below $200, which is the range both of our watches cost. But the bulky part has only somewhat diminished from the Garmin 305 days to current…

Editorials

These Guys Are NOT ‘Heroes’ … and Maybe We Are to Blame

Let me get a couple of things out of the way – I am not equating the potential actions of these two men, nor declaring guilt on them. There are many things we do not know and will never know. But the reality is that these two men – Lance Armstrong and Joe Paterno – are both famous due to involvement with sports, both had significant accomplishments in sport, and both have recently faced an increasing weight of evidence tarnishing their accomplishments and reputations. And both have legions of supporters who decry any attempt to say anything negative about these…

eBooks, Gear Bits, Outdoors

The Magic Bullet Against Showrooming Is in Running Shoes

Everyone in retail wants to bemoan “show rooming” or the tendency of shoppers to check products out in store, only to buy online. It’s a huge problem, and I am not the only person to point out that customer service can often make the difference between someone shopping in store versus hitting Amazon on their iPhone as they walk out the door. Runner’s World took a closer look at the statistics involved, and came up with some interesting conclusions. First, they looked at a survey that indicated the higher the discount online, the more likely shoppers were to not shop…

Health and Fitness

Lose 20lbs and Run Faster with One Easy Step!

I have seen some bizarre iterations of treadmills, but the one I have always wanted to try is the Alter-G. It adjusts how much gravity affects you through air jets, and is used quite a bit by elite athletes and physical therapists assisting people with injuries. Effectively, by floating the runner with air, you reduce the pounding on their joints. You can also “run” much faster on it. Unfortunately, it’s a wee bit pricey, like $25,000 and up pricey. Luckily, someone has invented a more low tech but equally cool solution: the LightSpeed. Instead of crazy air jets, you use…

Gear Bits, Outdoors

Slacklining Courtesy of Volvo and Adrenaline

Volvo cars may be known for being “boxy but good”, but I think their trucks need a better slogan…”boxy but stable enough to slackline across”? It’s a mouthful. Amazing, right? There is balance, grace, athleticism and courage, and then there is the mondo serving of all of the above that you need to walk a rope between two speeding trucks. That are about to go through two tunnels. And that will turn you into roadkill if you aren’t all the way across. Crazy! Via The Clymb

Health and Fitness

Gear Diary Bragging Rights, Mike’s 1/2 Marathon Edition

Last week we started our new health and fitness series. This weekend Mike put his sneakers where his mouth is. Yes, after months of training he just ran his first half marathon and – as you can see from this picture of him crossing the finish line, he made good time! Congrats Mike!

Health and Fitness

SkinnyBits, a NOT Recommended Product

Eat real food and improve your health. This is not a hard concept, and yet we all want shortcuts, no matter how badly they reek of snake oil (Shape-ups, anyone?). But nothing beats the smarmy, self-congratulatory press release we received this morning at Gear Diary. In it, we were assured of “Better Skin! Weight loss! Better nutrition!” And all it will take to accomplish this is algae tablets! Just 30 a day — though 40-100 would be even better (not surprising since the company charges $117 for 1,000 of them). Apparently, Spirulina is nature’s little miracle plant! Being the skeptical type,…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

Can a Leadership Shakeup Restore Faith in Komen?

Earlier this year, I wrote about the impact of the politically motivated move made by the Komen Foundation regarding Planned Parenthood in terms of a massive backlash. A couple of months later, I noted that the backlash was having a significant impact on the very important ‘Race for the Cure’ in terms of participants — and more importantly on the level of charitable giving. Since then, there have been a number of high level departures, peaking last week with the exit of founder and CEO Nancy Brinker as well as other high level leaders (president Liz Thompson and board members Brenda…

Health and Fitness

The Narrative of the Olympics Is What the Media Wants It to Be

The fascinating part of the Olympics to me isn’t just how badly NBC manages to screw everyone. It isn’t even the athletic achievements. What really catches my attention is the way certain stories are presented. We get fed storylines by the media to make us feel sympathetic towards one athlete, or disdainful towards another. It’s amazing how perspective on someone’s story makes a huge difference. Let’s look at the story of athlete A. There were major expectations placed on this athlete in Beijing, and she sadly failed to deliver. In the four years since, she’s suffered some ups and downs,…

News

Maybe the Athletes Are Making Water Balloons?

Have you heard about the latest Olympic scandal? No, it’s not more doping accusations. And no one else threw a badminton game. But it is hitting the Olympics where it hurts- their pocketbook. See, the Olympics have sponsors for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. So the organizers were quite unhappy to discover that non-Durex condoms were being distributed to athletes! According to the Guardian: London 2012 are investigating how a bucket of unofficial condoms found its way into the athletes’ village without official consent. The Australian BMX cyclist Caroline Buchanan tweeted a photograph of the bucket, which featured a sign…

Gear Bits, Outdoors

Fun Facts About the Olympic Marathons in History

It is track and field time at the Olympics, and that means it’s time for the men’s and women’s marathons! All of the running events are fun to watch if you are a runner, but the Olympic marathon is special. Since the women’s marathon is Sunday, Runners World has an awesome list of nine big moments in Olympic history. All of these will come in handy at your next quiz night, but my personal favorite is the story of Emil Zatopek: As the 1952 helsinki olympics drew to a close, Czech-oslovakia’s Emil Zatopek, 29, had already won the 5000 meters…

Editorials, Gear Bits

NBC’s Olympic Coverage Punishes Broadcast TV Watchers

There’s been plenty of ink spilled about how NBC is mishandling the Olympics. But Sarah and I are watching them tonight, and she just went on quite the rant that I hadn’t considered. See, NBC ran a whole special on the 1996 Women’s Gymnastics game, and Kerri Strug’s inspirational vault to seal the gold medal. It was followed up by an interview with Bela Karolyi. Both were nice to watch, but they highlighted a huge fail of NBC’s coverage: for so-called “prime time” Olympics, it was 8:30 before any current sports were shown! Yes, NBC has apps. And there are…

Outdoors

Rule 40, #NoBlackout, and Why Olympic Sponsorship is Broken

(the major Olympic sponsors, courtesy Puttles.com) If you follow any track and field athletes on social media, you may have noticed them tweeting with hash tags like #noblackout. Or maybe you saw a flurry of activity a few weeks ago where they frantically sent “one last thanks” to various sponsors. The International Olympic Committee has a blackout on athletes promoting sponsors during the Olympics, which isn’t unreasonable. However, if your sponsor is Nike or Adidas, there is no blackout. In other words, athletes not sponsored by one of these two companies cannot thank the businesses that supported them and brought…

Gear Bits, Outdoors

Stuffa Jacket Holds ALL Your Stuff

(image courtesy Stuffa) The folks at Gizmodo have stumbled upon a fascinating new clothing line, called the “Stuffa” jacket. It’s a jacket with pockets designed to hold several day’s worth of clothing. What an original concept. I wonder where they got the idea from… Actually, all sarcasm aside, the creator says he had the idea while watching people get creamed by baggage fees: I flew home late April with the remaining staff. It was at Geneva airport that the fun of checking in started and the idea for Stuffa first came to me. Everyone was having to pay the excess…

Gear Bits

NBC Skipped One of the Best Parts of the Opening Ceremonies

I don’t know about you, but every couple of years I watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, trying to get through the rather drawn-out and sometimes boring affair interspersed with way too many commercials and inane ‘up close and personal’ interviews. Last night we got to hear about the nicknames of a couple of gymnasts and about whether or not Michael Phelps is afraid of Ryan Lochte. But what we DIDN’T see was a moving tribute that many think was in honor of victims of the 7/7 London bombings that happened just days after the city was awarded the…

Outdoors

News Roundup on the Cusp of the Olympics!

Less than 24 hours until the start of the Summer Olympics! Hopefully, you aren’t too burned out on Olympics stories so far, there’s a long month of feel-good tales and endless shots of crowds ahead of you. Meanwhile, we have a quick roundup of apps and news to carry you through to the Opening Ceremonies! First, NBC has two apps to help you stick with the Olympics on the go. One is an aggregation of news and prepackaged articles and photos, and the other is for live coverage during the games themselves. So far, my personal experience has been a…

Outdoors

Getting Fit with Gear Diary!

(image courtesy indulgy) There’s more to life than just electronics, at least some of the time. And here at Gear Diary, we live to serve, so we’re pulling together a new weekly series focused around health, fitness, and the world outside the glowing screens. This week we’re looking at cool running gear, body image, superhuman races, and healthy snacks. Ready? Read on for more! Earlier in the week we showed you how to enter the Badwater Ultramarathon, and now that the race is winding down, here’s an idea of how the competition did: Mike Morton won in 22:52:55! That is…

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