Fitness | Gear Diary

Lance Armstrong’s Offenses Transcend Cheating, Are More About Abuse and Coercion

Last summer, I wrote about Lance Armstrong saying that he gave into the “need to be seen as better than all others that they are willing to go to any length – and take any number of people with them – to feed their ego-trips and need for adulation. Including cheating, and conspiracy, and use of drugs that have shown long-term health effects, and so on.” In his interview with Oprah he more or less confirms ALL of that … but as Carly pointed out, his motives were very likely not particularly pure. In terms of the interview itself, some…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

Why Lance Armstrong Deserves That Lifetime Ban Despite His Confession

I never really gave Lance Armstrong much thought before this summer’s news of lifetime bans and sanctions for doping. It was shocking to see some of the reports and the depth of performance enhancing drug use that had penetrated professional cycling. As much as it shocked some people (or confirmed the suspicions of others), professional runner Lauren Fleshman has a more personal view as a fellow athlete. Her response to Lance’s confession, and rumors that he is only confessing to get his ban on competing lifted, is an insight into how much of a dirty shadow Lance casts over professional…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness, Outdoors

Minimal-ish Shoes Trickle Down to Target

One of the big knocks on minimal running shoes is that the prices are anything but minimal. Most of the big brand name shoes cost around $100 a pair, which can feel steep for a slab of rubber and some cloth for the upper. But like all trends in fashion, designs do eventually trickle down to cheaper names. Target’s C9 by Champion offers all sorts of great athletic wear at low prices, and they’ve expanded that to shoes that look suspiciously like the Reebok Realflex, a popular transitional/minimal shoe! Target is calling it the “Champion Premier” line, but the shoes…

Game Diary, Reviews

Adidas miCoach Game Review on PlayStation 3

Looking to stay in shape after the holidays? Adidas miCoach connects fitness fanatics to professional trainers in multiple sports and existing Adidas media. The Hype Why leave your house when you can train with the pros right in your own living room? Take your fitness training to the next level, train with word-famous athletes, receive feedback in real-time and get the results you want with Adidas miCoach. Hook up your PlayStation Move and get ready for personal training like you’ve never experienced before. Automatically share your progress via miCoach.com Training Games: Move around your living room with fun sport-related games…

Editorials

For 2013 Make Sure Your Resolutions Are S.M.A.R.T.

From now until 2013, we’re going to take a look at some New Year’s Resolutions and a Gear Diary way to help you keep them. New Year Resolution: Attain My Goals in 2013 It is not breaking news that most New Year resolutions are broken – in fact at this time of year there are as many articles about how most will fail their resolutions by the end of January … and loads of advice columns about how to make yourself different. All of those columns are loaded up with analysis of why the typical resolutions fail, and also some…

Health and Fitness

10 Simple Ways to Eat Better in 2013

From now until 2013, we’re going to take a look at some New Year’s Resolutions and a Gear Diary way to help you keep them. New Year Resolution: Eat Better in 2013 I have been very public with my running goals and accomplishments as well as my weight loss this year on Gear Diary, Facebook, and in my daily life. As a result, I have often been asked in every forum ‘how do you do it’? The simplistic and truthful answer is ‘eat less and exercise’. Of course it is never so simple – my exercise routine has me running…

Health and Fitness

Get In Shape For 2013 With The Right Footwear

From now until 2013, we’re going to take a look at some New Year’s Resolutions and a Gear Diary way to help you keep them. New Year Resolution: Get in Shape in 2013 It’s a new year and you’ve decided to make it a new you! So you’re really going to buckle down and get fit, but before you pick up a new gym membership or start downloading “Map My Run” to your iPhone, you need the right gear– starting with your feet. Even if you aren’t going to head out for a run, footwear matters. You need a good…

Gear Bits, Outdoors

Caching in on Fun

Has anyone ever told you to go take a hike? Have you considered actually doing it? Do you enjoy scavenger hunts? If you answered yes to these questions, then geocaching is for you! Geocaching is a scavenger hunt appropriate for adults or anyone who can follow a GPS. The basic premise is that somewhere out in the woods, someone hid a treasure chest (or geocache), and in that chest is a collection of random goods including anything ranging from a heart necklace to a plastic stegosaurus. The GPS coordinates will help you get to the area, and then it’s your…

Health and Fitness, News & Features

Cool Story Behind a Great Picture

Chances are if you or anyone you know is into running, you have since the picture above this week. Running clubs and individuals have picked it up everywhere, but as so often happens it was done without attribution or a link to the original source. Today on my own local Facebook running group there was a link to the original source. In case the image isn’t clear, it says: 50 Fat Diabetic Ahead of you Turns out the picture was taken by a woman who blogs as the ‘T-Rex Runner’, and she tracked down the guy wearing the shirt and…

Editorials

How to Kill an Online Community in Three Easy Steps, by Runner’s World and Rodale

I used to love hanging out on the Runner’s World online forums. They were a treasure trove of information, support, and stories about running. I have met people from that site at races, and have challenged myself with online mileage games organized through the forums. Unfortunately, over the last year or so there has been a huge issue, so much so that it’s actually driven users away from the forum entirely. Want to know how Rodale is killing a thriving online community? Read on! Step one: SPAM! Everyone hates spam. Does any reasonable person actually click on the “make $1,000…

Health and Fitness, Reviews

Magellan Switch Review – a Full-Featured Yet Flawed ‘Wrist-GPS’

I recently reviewed the Garmin ForeRunner 10, and have been thrilled with it as a simple, entry-level running GPS-watch. But what if you want to use a heart-rate monitor, ride a bike, go into the water and so on? At that point you need a new device – something like the Magellan Switch series. Magellan is very explicit that the Switch is designed as a multi-sport device, and was kind enough to send along a review sample of the Switch for me to check out (UPDATE: Magellan recently sent me a pre-release update for the Switch, and I will comment…

Health and Fitness

Outdoor Exercise in Winter – 5 Important Things to Remember

Last weekend the mercury climbed to above 70 F for the last time (until some time in at least April) where I live, and it was bookended by mornings below 20F last week and this week. We also ‘fell back’ an hour, which no longer provides a two-week respite from total darkness at the start of my runs. Winter has arrived in terms of darkness and temperature, and with it we need to remember some basics of safety as we embark on our morning – or evening – exercise routines. Wear a Headlamp and Reflective EVERYTHING Or maybe a waist-lamp…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

Virtual Runner iPad App Lets You Experience Great Race Locations From Your Treadmill!

While I have not been so thrilled at the number of sub-freezing morning runs these past couple of weeks, and I have truly relished the couple of warm shorts & t-shirt runs these past couple of days … I cannot ever see myself exercising inside again, unless injury or extreme weather demanded it. But for many, including a good friend at work for whom joint issues derailed her running habit, each morning includes some time on the treadmill. Now imagine that instead of watching CNN or reading a book, your treadmill time could include heading up Heartbreak Hill on the…

Health and Fitness, Reviews

Standapp Review

Type of app: Fitness Platform/where to buy: iOS App Store Developer: Lyonel Douge Description: Desk job? Sit too long and often? Did you know sitting can be deadly in the long run? Standapp helps combat “Sitting Disease”. Price: Free Major features: Standapp aims to help you not sit so much. Sitting is bad for our bodies for a number of health reasons, but it’s not always practical to have a standing desk. I know in my office I sit in a cube farm, and it would look awfully weird if I was standing and looming over the top of all…

News & Features

Should the New York City Marathon Be Cancelled?

Sunday is the New York City Marathon. This is a huge event, with 40,000 runners, several thousand volunteers, and countless spectators. Unfortunately, New York was hit extremely hard by Hurricane Sandy, and many runners are unable to make it to the city, or facing difficulties with hotel rooms, transportation, and logistics. Despite the devastation, the mayor of New York and New York Road Runners want the race to continue…but many are wondering if it’s worthwhile! Competitor.com’s editor Mario Fraoli had a great editorial on why the marathon shouldn’t be run at the tail end of such a disastrous week: New…

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

Beware the ‘HumbleBrag’!

Despite the fact that in February of next year I will mark 24 years since I first ‘went out for a jog’ at almost 23 years old in order to help lose weight, it has been less than 6 months that I can say that I have really been ‘in love’ with running – and even less that I have considered myself ‘a runner’. I recently wrote about achieving a major milestone by completing my first marathon … and it is something I am proud of and want to share. As I have progressed through my training and various road…

Editorials, Health and Fitness

Should Doping in Sports Be Considered Cheating?

I like to skim my news RSS feed every morning just to catch up on headlines, world events, etc. Most of the time I blow off CNN’s Opinion columnists, because frankly they tend to be either fluffy rehashes of public opinion or purposeful bear-poking statements. Today’s, though, has me outraged, as the author had the gall and ignorance to argue that performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs, should be legalized in the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal. Rather than just rant on my feelings regarding doping (spoiler alert: I think it’s cheating), let me go piece by piece through Prof…

Reviews

Pivothead Durango Video Recording Eyewear Review

Every now and then a product comes along that really surprises us … in a good way. Actually, truth be told, this happens more than one might expect. And when it does, we want to make sure we say it loudly. Case in point, Pivothead Durango Video Recording Eyewear. They are comfortable sunglasses that protect your eyes AND record HD video along with high-quality audio. They may sound like a gimmick, but they aren’t. They are, in fact, pretty awesome. I LOVE THEM!! Here’s a video look followed by some of the specifics. Here’s a rundown of the features they offer. Sure,…

Editorials, Health and 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…