* Here’s a new cross-training idea: shivering in the cold. Okay, it’s doubtful that shivering is as effective at building up cardiovascular endurance as running is, but apparently it does stimulate the conversion of (mostly) useless white body fat into (much more) useful brown body fat. Brown body fat is “a tissue that is metabolically quite active. Unlike white fat, it burns calories and generates heat.” So I guess this means if it’s too icy/snowy/frigid to get in a run (and you don’t have access to a treadmill), you can at least accomplish something by standing outside and shivering….
* If shivering in the cold is not to your liking, you can always ramp up the bodyweight strength training on days in which it’s too cold to go running. Apparently, push-ups, pull-ups, and lunges are actually more effective at calorie burning than previously thought, which would make them the opposite of the calorie trackers on treadmills, which (unfortunately) overestimate the calories burned.
* Do you get nervous before races? I sometimes have trouble sleeping the night before a race, which I’m afraid sounds silly because it’s not like I’m a professional runner or anything. If you’re like me, here are four pre-race strategies for overcoming nerves.
* It’s a new medical diagnosis: adult onset runner. Maybe you suffer from it. It’s definitely got me pegged.
* When I was in high school, the official senior trip consisted of heading out to the Grand Canyon and hiking down the Bright Angel Trail in the morning and hiking up the South Kaibab Trail in the late afternoon. I remember on our way down being passed by some people running the trail. It seemed insane to me at the time. (Actually, it still kind of does, considering it’s about a mile down and a mile back up in elevation change….) But if it’s something that strikes your fancy, here’s some advice about it.
* About setting the treadmill incline to 1% to simulate outdoor running (something I do) . . . not so fast. According to a new research report, that’s needed only if you’re running around 7:09 min/mile or faster. Hmm….
* I race with my smartphone in my hand, but that’s so I can run RunKeeper and get quarter-mile updates on my distance run, average pace, and so on. I never would’ve thought of taking a “selfie.” But here’s a story about a guy who did it . . . while running from the bulls in Spain!
* Last week, Run Oregon blogger Anne Milligan shared the really cool story of the key role that running a marathon played in her meeting her fiance. If you are a single runner looking for love, here are some tips for finding someone who can be a running partner in more ways than one.
* During last week’s Oregon snownado, Ducks econ prof Bill Harbaugh, who runs the U of Oregon muckraking blog UO Matters (that is, he muckrakes about U of Oregon), complains that the university cancelled classes because (among other things) it couldn’t shovel sidewalks, but it did manage to clear the running track. While I do think that FBS conference teams tend to bow too much to their football overlords, I’m going to side with the university on this one. I mean, it is running we’ll talking about!
* You know that saying, “My sport is your sport’s punishment“? Well, a former Olympic 10K medalist is upset that the British education secretary wants to impose running laps as a punishment in British schools: “Running laps was listed along with weeding school grounds, reporting to school early, and cleaning school grounds.” I can see the former Olympian’s point, but hey, sometimes people just need a gentle (or not-so-gentle) nudge to get them out there running. . . . Of course, there might be an unintended consequence in that some delinquents might think, “Ha ha, let’s go TP the principal’s office . . . we’ll get to go run laps!”
