Go Crossfit!

I hate running on the treadmill. But this crossfit workout was a fun way to spend an hour at the gym and get a couple of miles run in too:

Run half a mile and then immediately follow with ten dead lifts, ten box jumps, ten push-ups, ten ball slams, ten kettle bell swings and ten shoulder presses.

Then simply repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat as many times in the hour as possible. I kept the running distance the same throughout the workout, but decreased the number of reps of the other exercises with each cycle through so the time between runs decreased.

Check it out.

Sartorial Support for Congo Women

The added bonus with training and hitting the gym so much? (And therefore not really blogging as often as I want.) Feeling like I have strappy-top-ready arms for once. Just call it the Michelle O effect.

The added bonus with these cool shift dresses from Lauren Pierce? The fact that the fabric comes directly from craftswomen in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Launched last year, Vogue just featured this ethical collection that's now been picked up by Barneys. According to Vogue, you get to choose from five dress silhouettes and a host of fabrics before ending up with a unique hand-dyed piece complete with your name and the artisan's name featured on the tag.


This one-shouldered number suddenly makes all those chin-ups and push-ups worthwhile.

On the Fashionable Fast Track

I have a soft spot for animal prints right now. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve been gravitating to them. Have I succumbed to the fashion herd mentality?

So, it’ll come as no surprise that I was weirdly enamored by these a-little-too-expensive-to-sweat-in leggings by Stella McCartney for Adidas.


What do you think, a little too Lady Gaga for your average run?

Time to Ditch the Running Shoes?

When I first spotted a barefoot runner it was at about mile 14 of the San Francisco marathon. Really bad blisters I thought? Just plain crazy? He was clocking at least a 9-minute mile pace, so something was working in his favor -- and not just the adulation he was getting from the spectators.

But if recent research reported in PM&R (that’s the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) catches on, we could see a lot more barefoot runners on our streets. The news that’s getting the barefoot running community all abuzz? Studies show that running shoes could actually be the culprit behind runners’ knee injuries, not simply running itself.

To be honest I’m not sure if I’m ready to go sans shoes and hammer my naked feet against the pavement every couple of days. Let’s just say I tried it once when a couple of Guinesses made me think that peeling my shoes and socks off and getting a sneaky extra run home from the pub was a genius why-don’t-I-always-do-this? idea. Well, why don’t I always do that? My shins hurt like hell the next day from all the un-cushioned pounding, not to mention how black they looked. If only I’d known about the nifty glove-like shoes you can now find from Vibram. They may make you look a little amphibian, but I think they could be fun for a beach run.

Reasons To Run

The full body scan.



Need I say more?

It's a Primal Thing

Diet and exercise fads come and diet and exercise fads go. They are, after all, to New Year what fireworks are to July 4, bright, sparkly and exciting, yet totally forgettable once they’ve faded into obscurity. January just wouldn’t be the same without them. So it’s pretty rare to hear about a regime with such longevity that it started 15,000 years ago. Yep, you read that correctly, that’s 15,000 years ago. According to today’s New York Times the hottest (or I should probably say coolest because workouts include barefoot running in freezing temperatures) fitness trend among New York’s skinny young things is in fact the Paleolithic diet.

Involving the consumption of “large quantities of meat and then fasting in between meals to approximate the lean times distant ancestors faced between hunts,” the Paleo diet is more of a lifestyle than your typical New-Year-New-You quick fix. Waiting 36 hours between chowing down on handfuls of raw beef doesn’t sound enticing enough? How about “scooting about the underbrush on all fours” and “playing catch with stones” as part of the exercise regimen?

And apparently, just like those prehistoric men in the Geico advert they don’t like to be called cavemen either. Just ask Erwan Le Corre, the man behind the Paleolithic inspired Mouvement Naturel who prefers to think of the whole thing as more about “trusting your primal heritage” than simply becoming a caveman.

Now I’ve just got to decide, will it be deer ribs or organ meat for dinner tonight. Read more about it here.

What's on the to-do list this weekend?

Oh, that's right.

I have a ten miler planned for tomorrow and methinks revisiting a running trail of yore might amp me up. Perhaps Los Penasquitos Canyon? It's been a loooo-ng time since I've run there. Lots of scrambling on very hot rocky paths, lots of close encounters with animals ("well hello there sunbathing rattlesnake in the middle of the trail"), but also some beautiful, shaded stretches of peaceful running. So peaceful that more than once I've convinced myself mid-run that I could be eaten by a mountain lion or attacked by a coyote and no-one would know (see "off-beat ways to boost your running pace.")

A couple of summers ago I had to make friends with some horses in the paddock at the mile-five turnaround and ask them to share some of their water. Believe me I would have asked a human mammal had I seen any. Gross, yes. Do I decide to wing it with the water belt on long runs anymore? No.

Hmm, if only I'd known about the Lemonadeberry.