We've had no power (or water) since Thursday at 5 pm thanks to a little snowstorm, and AEP is not promising restoration until Tuesday evening. So this is being put together quickly from a coffee shop!!
Nutrition and Health
- Gut-busting restaurant meals named 'dis-honorees' by Saundra Young, CNN (January 16, 2013) - Care for dessert with that 3120 calorie Bistro Shrimp Pasta from the Cheesecake Factory?
- The Fallacies of Fat - Science Friday podcast (January 11, 2013). I listened to this on a run the other day and found it very engaging and not the usual ho-hum nutrition talk. Endocrinologist, obesity doc, and author Robert Lustig talks about his book, Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease. Basic points I took away: exercise is important and good but a minor player in weight loss, calories don't matter but insulin values do; our bodies are not equipped to handle the amount of sugar we ingest; sugar addiction is real and can take weeks to get under control. The difficulty is that sugar is in nearly everything processed.
- How to Read Egg Labels by Joseph Erdos, Huffington Post (June 20, 2012) - cage free, organic, omega-3s, free-range, etc, it's hard to know what to buy. Skip the video but go through the slide show at the bottom and read about how so many of these egg carton labels are unregulated! I buy local eggs as often as I can.
- 2013 Report on the State of Endurance Coaching - TrainingPeaks (January 15, 2013). Neat look at coaching - what coaches charge, what they earn, the number of athletes they coach. Coaches are the unsung heroes of triathlon - most go so far beyond coaching, athletes expect so much of them, and they are not compensated anywhere near their value and contribution, mine included. Thanks, Coach Jim, I'm grateful for every day of your nearly four years of coaching!
- Running form: How you can become a better runner without increased fitness by Owen Anderson. I referenced this in a blog post earlier this week. It's a great write up on stride length and cadence as they relate to run speed and age-related changes, pulling from research by Nancy Hamilton at University of Northern Iowa who is a noted expert.
- Sole Man: Shoe Trends for 2013 by Brian Metzler, Competitor (January 12, 2013)- The minimalism movement is receeding somewhat and the real focus is on light/moderate weight shoes with a minimal heel drop. I could have told him that!
- Conner and Cayden Long - Sports Kids of the Year - Probably most folks have come across this news this week - Seven-year-old Cayden has cerebral palsy and together with his 9-year-old brother Conner they race together in triathlons. The video will leave you teary-eyed.
- These guys demonstrate tremendous strength and balance on playground equipment and in public spaces. Awesome.
Funny
swim/bike brick workout
Sumo run (turns out there are entire races of sumo runners!)